Summary Direct From Dell

The must-read summary of Michael Dell and Catherine Fredman's book: "Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry". This complete summary of the ideas from Michael Dell and Catherine Fredman's book "Direct from Dell" tells the story of how Dell grew from a start-up company in 1984 to become the second largest manufacturer and marketer of computers in the world. In their book, the authors explain how Dell's success is due to its ability to approach things differently from everyone else in the same industry. By reading this summary, you can learn from one of the world's biggest companies and adapt their strategies to ensure the success of your own business. Added-value of this summary: • Save time • Understand key principles • Expand your knowledge To learn more, read "Direct from Dell" and find out about the secrets behind the success of one of the world's biggest computer manufacturers.

At nineteen, Michael Dell started his company as a freshman at the University of Texas with $1,000 and has since built an industry powerhouse. As Dell journeys through his childhood adventures, ups and downs, and mistakes made along the way, he reflects on invaluable lessons learned. Michael Dell's revolutionary insight has allowed him to persevere against all odds, and Direct from Dell contains valuable information for any business leader. His strategies will show you effective ways to grow your business and will help you save time on costly mistakes by following his direct model for success.

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER From Michael Dell, renowned founder and chief executive of one of America’s largest technology companies, the inside story of the battles that defined him as a leader In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy—or destroy it completely. Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it. For the first time, Dell reveals the highs and lows of the company's evolution amidst a rapidly changing industry—and his own, as he matured into the CEO it needed. With humor and humility, he recalls the mentors who showed him how to turn his passion into a business; the competitors who became friends, foes, or both; and the sharks that circled, looking for weakness. What emerges is the long-term vision underpinning his success: that technology is ultimately about people and their potential. More than an honest portrait of a leader at a crossroads, Play Nice But Win is a survival story proving that while anyone with technological insight and entrepreneurial zeal might build something great—it takes a leader to build something that lasts.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,0, Pforzheim University, course: Management Seminar SS 2005, language: English, abstract: "No other technology company listens to customers, collaborates with partners, adds its own significant layer of innovation and delivers relevant technology more efficiently and effectively than Dell." These words from Michael Dell point out more than anything else how the Dell company managed to advance to the worldwide number one in the computer industry. From a little company founded by an undergraduate student at the University of Texas, Dell Inc., headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, has developed into a huge corporation with more than 55,200 employees today and an annual turnover of nearly $50 billion. This report aims to analyse how the Dell company performs in the competitive environment of the computer industry, which factors are essential for success and how Dell successfully takes advantage of its business structure. Furthermore, an internal analysis will be conducted and the resulting strengths and weaknesses will be presented. The future developments of the computer industry in general and of the Dell company in particular, will be examined at the end of this paper.

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: A, St. Mary's University San Antonio, Texas, language: English, abstract: Dell was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell on a simple concept: by selling computer systems directly to customers. Its corporate headquarters are located in Round Rock, Texas, and it conduct operations worldwide through subsidiaries. The company’s core business strategy is built around its direct customer model and highly efficient manufacturing and logistics. Nowadays they are expanding that core strategy by adding new distribution channels to reach even more commercial customers and individual consumers not only in the USA but around the world. Recently, company also has begun to pursue a targeted acquisition strategy designed to augment select areas of its business with more products, services, and technology. Dell’s goal today is to provide the best possible customer experience by offering superior value; high-quality, relevant technology; customized systems and services; superior service and support; and differentiated products and services that are easy to buy and use [1]. But what pursued Dell to change its strategy and to reevaluate its direct model?

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1.0, Western Carolina University, course: Marketing Management & Mature Consumers, language: English, abstract: Michael Dell founded Dell Computer in 1984. At the time he was only 19 years old, and in his first year of studies at the University of Texas in Austin. Michael Dell had a simple but powerful vision: that personal computers could be built to order and sold directly to customers. This followed from his belief that the PC, made up of little more than software from Microsoft and chips from Intel, was rapidly becoming a commodity product. Dell's new approach to the PC business had two advantages: (1) bypassing distributors and retail dealers reduced marketing and sales costs by eliminating the markups of resellers, and (2) building to order greatly reduced the costs and risks associated with carrying large volumes of both and finished goods. Michael Dell started his company with only US$ 1,000 of capital. DellComputer experienced its share of difficulties in the first few years, to the point where some family members and friends wondered whether it had been wise for Michael to drop out of university. Several times it had to refine its strategy even as it was implementing it. The company started off by using the direct sales model for upgraded versions of IBM-compatible PCs. However, within a year it was selling its own brands of PCs. Most of Dell's customers in the 1980s were hobbyists and experienced PC consumers. Not surprisingly, Dell Computer was an early and enthusiastic convert to the Internet. It gained a first-mover advantage by setting up its first Web site in 1994, a year in which its total revenues were US$ 3.5 billion. By 1998, its Internet sales accounted for more than half of the firm's total revenues, which by then had surged to more than US$ 20 billion. At that point, Michael Dell had joined Bill Gates of Microsoft and Larry Ellison of Oracle among those who had become high-technology billionaires after dropping out of university. Michael Dell believes that his biggest challenge now is to have his company's direct business model as widely accepted outside the United States as it is across Dell's home market. He sees a need for aggressive marketing activities to develop customer trust and some modification of the basic model to account for institutional weaknesses and cultural differences in places like China and India. Michael Dell does not seem to be particularly concerned about the efforts of competitors to duplicate his build-to-order business model: [...]

In 1983, Michael Dell, a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, drove away from his parents' Houston home in a BMW he'd bought selling subscriptions to his hometown newspaper. In the backseat were three personal computers. Today, he is the chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corporation, a $30 billion company and the second largest manufacturer and marketer of computers in the world. Founded on a deceptively simple premise-to deliver high-performance computer systems directly to the end user-Dell Computer is the envy of its competition. It has consistently grown at two to three times the industry rate, its stock went up more than 90,000 percent in the last decade, and Dell is now selling more than $35 million worth of systems per day over In Direct from Dell, you will learn why it's better for any business starting out to have too little capital rather than too much why your people pose a greater threat to the health of your business than your competition how you can exploit your competition's weakness by exposing its greatest strength how intergrating your business virtually can make the difference between being quick -and being dead and much more

In 1931, Emily Thornhill, one of the few women in the Chicago press, covers the murders of Asta Eicher and her three children and, obsessed with finding out what happened to this beautiful family, allies herself with the man funding the investigation.

The spiraling growth of digital information makes the ISM book a "must have" addition to your IT reference library. This exponential growth has driven information management technology to new levels of sophistication and complexity, exposing a skills gap that challenge IT managers and professionals alike. The ISM book, written by storage professionals from EMC Corporation, takes an ‘open’ approach to teaching information storage and management, focusing on concepts and principles – rather that product specifics – that can be applied in all IT environments The book enables existing and aspiring IT professionals, students, faculty, and those simply wishing to gain deeper insight to this emerging pillar of IT infrastructure to achieve a comprehensive understanding of all segments of information storage technology. Sixteen chapters are organized into four sections. Advanced topics build upon the topics learned in previous chapters. Section 1, "Information Storage and Management for Today’s World": Four chapters cover information growth and challenges, define a storage system and its environment, review the evolution of storage technology, and introduce intelligent storage systems. Section 2, "Storage Options and Protocols": Six chapters cover the SCSI and Fibre channel architecture, direct-attached storage (DAS), storage area networks (SANs), network-attached storage (NAS), Internet Protocol SAN (IP-SAN), content-addressed storage (CAS), and storage virtualization. Section 3, "Business Continuity and Replication": Four chapters introduce business continuity, backup and recovery, local data replication, and remote data replication. Section 4, "Security and Administration": Two chapters cover storage security and storage infrastructure monitoring and management. The book’s supplementary web site provides up-to-date information on additional learning aids and storage certification opportunities.