Case Study: Dell's Strategy in a Changing Market - BUS 300

This case study report provides a comprehensive analysis of Dell's business strategy, competitive advantages, and challenges in a changing market. It begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction that sets the stage for the analysis. The main body critically evaluates Dell's sustainable competitive advantages, examining how they have evolved over time, and discusses the implications of these changes for Dell's strategic moves into enterprise solutions and services. The report explores the challenges Dell faces due to its acquisition strategy, particularly in the areas of communication, employee retention, and cultural integration. It also critically discusses the main strategies taken by Dell since 2005 in terms of innovation, and uses the BCG matrix to position Dell's products and services, discussing strategic options available to senior management. The study concludes with strategic recommendations for Dell, justified by the analysis, and includes references for further research. The report uses theoretical frameworks and critical analysis and incorporates evidence from the case study and other sources. The report also provides recommendations for Dell's future strategies, considering the dynamic market conditions and industry reports.

BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This assignment is prepared in context with Dell which is a US based global company,
successfully operating in each continent and almost every country. In earlier time, Dell had
consolidated the entire market but with changing time, this consolidation was reduced
considerably. This report is going to discuss about competitive advantage of Dell in recent times
and ways by which this advantage can be maintained. Also,challenges due to acquisitions like
cultural difference, high employee turnover etc. reduces the overall effectiveness of the
organisation. To overcome these problems, strategies are discussed in this report. BCG matrix is
used so that products and services of Dell can be positioned in an appropriate manner. At last,
recommendations like contracting with new suppliers, investing more in R&D, customer surveys
are given so that overall effectiveness and productivity of firm can be enhanced.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Critical evaluation of sustainable competitive advantage of Dell and mention how it change
over five years.............................................................................................................................1
Implication of analysis for new strategy of Dell to move into enterprise solutions and service
.....................................................................................................................................................2
Challenges faced by Dell during acquisitions while expanding its activities in Enterprise
solution and services...................................................................................................................2
Critically discuss the main strategies taken by company since 2005 in terms of innovation.....3
Use BCG matrix to position the services and products of Dell and discuss strategic options
available for senior management................................................................................................4
Recommend some strategies for Dell and justify the reasons behind giving those
recommendations........................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business management is defined as managing coordination and organising business
activities so that all the organisational activities can be performed in an appropriate manner. It
involves management of machines, materials, money and other aspects which are related to a
business (Uhl and Gollenia, 2016). This assignment is prepared for Dell which is a US based
multinational company which repairs, sells and develop computers and associated accessories.
This company came into existence in 1984 and headquartered in Texas, US. At present, company
is operating in global manner and expand their business into Enterprise solution and services .
This project will cover about sustainable advantages of Dell and analysis about new strategy to
deal with enterprise solution and service. Also, challenges faced by firm via acquisition are
discussed and BCG matrix is applied to position offerings of company. At last, appropriate
recommendations for company are given to achieve high growth.
MAIN BODY
Critical evaluation of sustainable competitive advantage of Dell and mention how it change over
five years
In general, business management is a tool-set which is used for strategic planning and
tactical implementation of policies, guidelines and procedures. Dell is a computer making and
repairing company which is headquartered in Texas, US. This company is in existence from
1984 and provide tough competition to the other organisations operating in the same field. By
evaluating sustainable competitive advantage of Dell, it can be acknowledged which aspects of
company helps in in getting advantage and which of the aspects are not in favour of the firm
(Burns and Dewhurst, 2016).
As a multinational company, Dell is highly competent in management and execution of
their global strategies. This helps the firm in gaining competitive advantage in the earlier years of
2000. Major source for Dell's initial advantage can be given to build to order and direct selling
approach. Also, Just in time strategy benefits the company in operating with lowest inventory so
that production and operational costs can be minimised and high revenues can be earned. Direct
selling helps the company in bypassing intermediaries like retailers and wholesalers so that costs
can even reduced further but in later years this sustainable advantage is lost and company has
seen a low. Main reason for it is the reliance of firm towards direct selling model and their
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traditional strategies to manage business. But, company had not taken initiatives to bring
innovation and learning to their firm which leads to the shift of interest of people from the
services of company.
In 2013, Dell change its status from public to private company as their worldwide market
shares have reduced to just 10.4%. From last five years, company is more focusing on managing
business clients, reflecting changing needs of market, hardware based enterprise storage so that
their competitive advantage can be raised. Also, to deal with the increased use of cloud
computing and multi cloud operations, Dell has purchased VMware worth of 65 billion dollars.
Also, from last some years, Dell has invested in more than 160 investments giving major
considerations to software, security solution and cloud computing to maintain their competitive
advantage in marketplace (Adekola and Sergi, 2016). To overcome all the earlier issues, in
recent years the company had also established contact with appropriate suppliers due to which
secured and less cost supplies were easily available. This helps the dell in regaining their lost
position. All of these aspects benefits Dell in regaining their existing high place in market.
Implication of analysis for new strategy of Dell to move into enterprise solutions and service
Dell organisation is resident into three core businesses that includes client solutions,
infrastructure solutions and Dell EMC services. Our client solutions business includes of Dell's
client solutions Group that retains Dell Brand. This include printers, projectors, PC's, software of
third party etc. All this will help Dell to expand it's business and increase the market share of the
company. The infrastructure solutions, the information of EMC helps in enabling digital
transformation of customers by trusted hybrid cloud and big data solutions (Derr and DeLong,
2018). The Dell EMC services is trusted advisor to the customers and partners which provides
strategic guidance, technology expertise and outstanding execution for driving business
outcomes effectively. Dell has announced online sales strategy for selling custom products and
solutions to the small businesses. This will help this company to expand the business in
successful manner and capture more number of customers. These type of implications if done in
right manner can provide bright future to the profit of company.
Challenges faced by Dell during acquisitions while expanding its activities in Enterprise solution
and services
Enterprise solutions and services helps in integration of multiple facts of an organisation
through information interchange from different procedures and associated database. These
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solutions allows an organisation to disseminate and retrieve mission-critical data through real
time information operation. In order to achieve high profits and revenues, Dell has undergoes
multiple acquisitions. These acquisition brings some positive and negative impacts on the
company. Main challenges which can be faced by Dell organisation due to acquisition strategies
are mentioned below:
 Communication challenges: It is one of the main factor which can bring lot of
challenges for a business organisation. When an acquisition takes place, employers and
staff members of the company are left in dark. Lack of answers and fear of employees
resistance can stops a company to share proper knowledge & information with staff. This
can impact Dell negatively and leads to communication gap at workplace. This can
reduce the satisfaction level of workers due to which overall productivity of firm will be
compromised (Håkansson and Snehota, 2017).
 Employee retention challenges: At the time of acquisitions, major challenge is retaining
employees within organisation. This is because employees feel that acquiring another
company will increase their burden and workload which will impact their mental health
in a negative manner. To avoid this situation, employees of acquiring firm starts leaving
their job. Earlier also, many companies has face this issue in a considerable manner. As
Dell is also acquiring other companies, Multiple acquisitions within short time period can
leads Dell towards high turnover rate of employees.
 Cultural change challenge: Acquisitions usually takes place due to business and
financial rationale add up, but a company forgets to realise about the cultural implications
which can also takes place. There are different studies which shows that 30% of
acquisitions failed in three years due to disparities and less avidness in organisational
culture (Van Der Aalst, La Rosa and Santoro, 2016). As Dell is also doing acquisitions,
this challenge can be faced by them also and impacts their working and productivity in
negative manner. Sudden shift of culture can bring disruption and unease to the
workforce of Dell.
Critically discuss the main strategies taken by company since 2005 in terms of innovation
Innovation is describes as a new thought, idea or concept which helps in creation of a
new service or product. Innovation benefits in satisfying the changing needs of people so that an
organisation can earn high profits and revenues. It is also defined as an application of good
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solutions which helps in fulfilment of unarticulated needs in a proper manner. In order to remain
competitive in market, a company is needed to be innovate new offerings on regular basis so that
tough competition can be given to rivals. In the initial years, Dell was a market leader and
operates in an advantageous manner. But due to lack of diversity and innovation, company faces
set backs in their market growth and their business faces a severe low in terms of profits and
revenues. Hence, the owner of company has decided to adopt some innovation strategies in late
2005 so that they can again acquire an advantageous position within marketplace (Mburu, 2018).
Dell has taken an innovative position in creative efforts to convert waste products and materials
in the useful goods so that overall wastage can be reduced and burden on earth can be lessened.
In many countries, boxes of Dell are printed with the ink that is made from the pollution which is
captured from diesel generators. This has helped the environment in reducing air pollution.
These initiatives has benefited Dell in sustaining a positive image in the minds of customers due
to which their sales and market shares faces a hike.
Other than this, company has also upcycles used gold of the electronic waste into the new
motherboards as Dell Latitudes under 5285 in 1 device along with Jewellery line. Dell has also
shown innovative initiation in finding ocean bound plastic and used it in their Dell's XPS13 2-in-
1 laptop ship packaging. From last ten years , Dell has recycled more than 73 million pounds of
the recycled material in their new products. This all shows the innovative aspect of company so
that they prevent environment and gains the trust of people in a positive manner. This will
benefits the concerned organisation in earning more revenues and profits so that they can operate
their business as a market leader. If company will not adopt innovative strategies and aspects
then it will be difficult for them to differentiate themselves from the rest of the organisations.
This will reduce their effectiveness and productivity due to which customers may feel
complexity in accepting the products of company (Lakshmi, 2018).
Use BCG matrix to position the services and products of Dell and discuss strategic options
available for senior management
The BCG matrix of Dell and this company is involved in operating in information
technology and giving robust products to the customers and clients. Dell Inc. is a well known
company which has recently changed to the privately owned firm. There are various products
managed by the company for evolving from a computer manufacturer into other technology
related areas such as cloud based solutions, data management. Dell company has increased it's
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scope of operations by joint ventures and acquisitions. Following is BCG matrix of the company
in which products of Dell are placed in categories of stars, cash cows , question mark and dogs.
Cash cows - within the BCG matrix, cash cows is used for products or services which
have high market share in their respective industry. Also, industry has reached it's potential and
there are no further innovations. There is limitation for any further growth for product. There are
some products of Dell which are categorised as cash cows on the basis of high market share and
revenues made on these products. The prominent example for this category is Dell PC. This
product has enabled the company with profits. The positioning of Dell PC within marketplace
will help this organisation to maintain a strong position in market (Jeevan and Bhargav, 2016).
Stars – According to the BCG framework, stars include category of products which have
potential to grow in market. Dell monitors falls under this category. This is due to the reason that
stars own to the innovative ideas and appeal that innovative products can create in target market.
The Ultra thin monitors are growing in the industry and this new innovative product will help in
making profits. Another example which has made profits to the company and made significant
revenue is it's laptops, XPS 13 and this is marked by a high degree of flexibility.
Question mark – The BCG matrix is focusing on products which have uncertain future.
These products are ones which become success case for the firm by improving financial
performance and becoming the prime candidate for divestment. Cloud computing of Dell falls
under category of question mark. Cloud computing technology's future of Dell is an emerging
phase. This area can become profitable for the company. The trend of cloud computing will
provide opportunity for Dell to make high revenues and profits for the company. This product
segment is question mark as future progress in this is uncertain.
Dogs – This category under BCG matrix includes products of low performing items or
business units which are not able to make major revenues. These products have low market share
and this is an additional issue for managing production of the items. Dell company has launched
cellphones of its own and they acted as dogs. This company expected that smartphones launched
by the company will make high revenues Prajogo, 2016). But on the contrary, they acted as
dogs. In the smartphone market there are different competitors including Apple, Samsung, Vivo,
etc. The market entry in mobile industry was not successful for Dell.
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Strategic options available for this company
Dell can place cloud computing as a star and eventually a cash cow as cloud computing is
an emerging technology and there are opportunities of making high profits. When Dell invested
money in smartphone business, it came up with huge failure. For overcoming this loss, company
conducted market research. A lot of investment was involved in this process but there was no
increase in sales of smartphones. This company must conduct consumer analysis and business
competency before entering into new product sectors.
Recommend some strategies for Dell and justify the reasons behind giving those
recommendations
There are some recommendations which can be given to the manager of Dell so that they
can earn high revenues and profits without any complexities. Recommendations in this context
are listed below:
 Company is recommended to consider selective adding of vendors for their systems of
supply chain management. As global sales of Dell are increased, company is suggested to
add additional suppliers to their supply chain management. This will help the dell in
getting best materials and resources in less rates so that they can operate as a leading
technology company (Newman, Prajogo and Atherton, 2016).
 Organisation is given the recommendation to use Customer Survey to enhance their
market shares. As company performs their work well in overseas market but domestic
growth of company is reduced, taking regular surveys will helps the company in
acknowledging the changing needs of customers within domestic market. This will help
the firm in offering right products to the customers before their rivals. Due to this, overall
satisfaction level of clients will increase and they will prefer offerings of Dell more in
comparison with rivals.
 Manager of firm is recommended to invest more in R&D activities. By investing more in
development & research, new market trends and technologies can be identified
appropriately. This will help the firm in dealing with high market competition due to
adoption of innovative aspects on constant basis. Due to this, strategies of rival firms will
be counter measured. By this, firm will be able to achieve high revenues and profits in
marketplace.
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CONCLUSION
As per this given report, it can be concluded that Dell is a multinational company which
operates their activities and operations in the field of computers and service solutions. In earlier
time, competitive advantage of Dell was quite high but with changing time, value of firm has
reduced considerably. But, to achieve high success, company has acquired multiple companies
including enterprise solution and service. Main challenges faced by a company due to
acquisitions are culture change, employee retention and communication barrier. All of these
challenges can hinder the benefits which can be gained by acquisitions. With the help of models
like BCG matrix, services and products of a firm can be positioned. To improve their
performance, main strategies given to an organisation can be investing in R&D activities,
performing customer surveys and adding suppliers.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Uhl, A. and Gollenia, L. A. eds., 2016. A handbook of business transformation management
methodology. Routledge.
Burns, P. and Dewhurst, J. eds., 2016. Small business and entrepreneurship. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Adekola, A. and Sergi, B. S., 2016. Global business management: A cross-cultural perspective.
Routledge.
Derr, C. B. and DeLong, T. J., 2018. What business management can teach schools. In The
Management of Educational Institutions (pp. 127-137). Routledge.
Håkansson, H. and Snehota, I. eds., 2017. No business is an island: Making sense of the
interactive business world. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Van Der Aalst, W. M., La Rosa, M. and Santoro, F. M., 2016. Business process management.
Mburu, D. G., 2018. Mergers and Acquisition Effects to Competitive Advantage within
Information Technology Companies: A Case Study of Dell EMC Central, East
Africa(Doctoral dissertation, United States International University-Africa).
Lakshmi, S., 2018. Make To Order Strategy at Dell Corporation: A Case Study. Aweshkar
Research Journal. 25(2).
Jeevan, P. and Bhargav, V., 2016. A Study on Green Packaging-A Case Study Approach With
Reference To Dell Inc. International Educational Scientific Research Journal [IESRJ],
E-ISSN No.
Prajogo, D.I., 2016. The strategic fit between innovation strategies and business environment in
delivering business performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 171,
pp.241-249.
Newman, A., Prajogo, D. and Atherton, A., 2016. The influence of market orientation on
innovation strategies. Journal of service theory and practice. 26(1). pp.72-90.
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