Dell Case Study Analysis: Procurement and Supply Chain Management

This case study analyzes Dell's unique supply chain strategy, highlighting the crucial role of procurement and sales in its success. Dell maintains a constant flow of information between its sales and procurement teams, suppliers, and customers, enabling accurate forecasting and efficient demand fulfillment. The study examines how Dell effectively utilizes supply chain drivers and internal procurement through outsourcing, allowing the company to focus on customer satisfaction and retention. It explores Dell's reliance on independent suppliers, emphasizing the benefits of specialization and flexibility. The analysis also discusses how Dell can eliminate redundancies and maximize value in its procurement process by continuing its outsourcing strategy and fostering strong relationships with its suppliers. The study uses references to support its arguments and provide a comprehensive overview of Dell's supply chain management practices.

Running head: DELL – CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Dell – Case Study Analysis
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1DELL – CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
1. Understanding the Role that Procurement and Sales plays in the Unique
Supply Chain Strategy of Dell
A continuous flow of information or data is maintained between procurement and sales
officials, suppliers and the Dell authorities. This puts Dell as a company in a position to know
how well forecasts can be supported and handled effectively and efficiently on the part of the
suppliers. The information that is made available by the sales and procurement team at Dell and
by suppliers in general, and the regular and consistent communication that is carried out between
Dell and its suppliers is something that enables the company to compete with its rivals globally
and not just in a specific place or location. Hence the role that is played by the procurement and
sales team in the supply chain strategy of Dell is very vital. The sales and the procurement team
connects important suppliers with the Dell authorities and facilitates continuous communication
between and among them, something that in turn helps the company to establish competitive
advantage or a competitive edge over its rivals at the international or global level (Parvez et al.
2018).
2. Understanding how effectively different Drivers of Supply Chain and
Internal Procurement are Utilized by Dell
Dell is a company that does not focus merely on revenue increase. It makes extensive use of
the concept of outsourcing, albeit at quite an early stage, while adding considerable value to this
concept at the same given time through the use of advanced IT mechanisms. By outsourcing
activities for the most part, Dell is able to cut costs considerably while running its business
operations with a great degree of efficiency. As part of its outsourcing activities and also as part
of its business relationships in general, Dell is seen to maintain a close relationship with its

2DELL – CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
internal procurement team and suppliers. Through the direct sales model, the Dell Company is
able to acquire large volumes of information pertaining to customers and this is then shared with
the suppliers as well as the internal procurement and sales department. Such a close and
connected relationship with the internal procurement and sales team as well as the suppliers puts
Dell in a position to understand what and how much has to be supplied in real time and how
precisely and quickly demands have to be met while maintain low inventory costs at the same
given time (Christopher 2016).
3. Understanding why Dell purchases most of its components that goes
into its PC from independent suppliers
One of the reasons why Dell purchases most of its components that goes into its PC from
independent suppliers instead of making more itself is the fact that this is an activity that helps
the company to focus more on important areas such as customer retention and customer
satisfaction. It is the belief of the Dell authorities or the management at Dell that the company
should focus its energies on the tasks or operations that it is good at and to allow the suppliers of
the company to take care of the rest. Dell has a lot of faith and belief in its independent suppliers
and by allowing its suppliers a considerable degree of autonomy and flexibility, the company is
able to focus on keeping its customers happy and devising strategies or ways and means by
which customers can be retained by the company over the long term. Clients are treated with the
utmost value by Dell and client satisfaction and retention form a very important component of
the business activities of the company (Lakshmi 2018).

3DELL – CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
4. Understanding how Dell can Eliminate Redundancies and Maximize the
Process of Procurement Today
Eliminating redundancies and maximizing value from the procurement process is something
that Dell is going to be able to do by focusing on its current strategy of outsourcing. By
outsourcing most of its activities to its suppliers, Dell is able to focus on its internal operations
successfully and by delegating much of the responsibilities associated with the business to
outsiders or suppliers, who are competent enough to handle such responsibilities and ensure good
profit for Dell while enabling the company officials to focus on what it is that they are able to do
best (Min et al. 2019). It is clear from reading the scenario that has been provided that Dell is a
company for which the strategy of outsourcing has proven to be largely successful. By
outsourcing many of its operations to suppliers, the company has been able to focus on the
matter of quality and it has managed to keep its customers happy in the bargain while being able
to retain much of its clientele as well. Dell should ideally continue with this strategy in order to
reduce redundancy and gain as much value as possible from the process of internal procurement
(Mangan and Lalwani 2016).

4DELL – CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
References
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Lakshmi, S., 2018. Make To Order Strategy at Dell Corporation: A Case Study. Aweshkar
Research Journal, 25(2).
Mangan, J. and Lalwani, C.L., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley
& Sons.
Min, S., Zacharia, Z.G. and Smith, C.D., 2019. Defining Supply Chain Management: In the Past,
Present, and Future. Journal of Business Logistics, 40(1), pp.44-55.
Parvez, M., Ullah, N., Sabuj, M.A. and Islam, S., 2018. Profit Maximization of DELL Inc.
through Build-to-Order Supply Chain for Laptop Manufacturing. American Journal of Industrial
and Business Management, 8(06), p.1657.