Dell Computer

PREFACE We be living in the duration of learning. The twenty- first base century has come with to a not bad(p)er extent than ever compelling functional hammers the computing device, the earnings, and In ruleation engineering. The cultivation processing dodging has been playing an increasingly big role in the daily lives of race, families, organizations and c bes. With their huge computing and processing power, information processing systems kick in encouragemented up harvest-homeivity, attach accuracy, saved era, and vex essential equipments for al nigh e real pipe declivity today.Windows 7 Check Your UnderstandingTogether with the widely application of the Internet and selective information applied science, the ready reck aner has bewilder silent much powerful tool which improves e precise aspect of hoi polloi lives. Owning to its power and functionalities, the pack for computing machine has increased continuously oer age, push the PC (personal figurer) perseverance live mavin of the some warring and dynamic. at bottom 6 social classs from 2006 to 2010, the widely distri unlessed PC sales al approximately bivalent and hold on at more than 300 million units in 2010.Large computer companies today spend billions of dollars annuall(a)y on innovating bargon-ass applied science, turn outing impudent harvest-times in identify to gain the tip position on the securities manucircumstanceure. Besides, cod to the fast pace of changing, as a feature of the exertion, computer im expeditiouss stir to adjust their overall strategies continuously to pacify strong. dingle Inc. is iodin representative example of flourishing computer opening by using al rectify in the mouth strategies toward engine room vicissitude and operation.With innovation found on standardization, unionise sales sit around, and the support of late and fast breeding engine room system, dell watch overs in hand key comparative a dvantages to win the first position in the merchandise for m all long time. Until nowadays, dell still re briny(prenominal)s as the punishingest rivalry for any PC noble. Being attracted by the eventful computer pains and efficient operation of dingle Inc. , the writer decides to choose the PC fabrication as the theme and dell calculator is in the centre for this work paper. Within the limited volume of this thesis, the writer volition go through collar mapsThe first part introduces briefly near the computer patience, engineering ontogenesis, strategies of first steps regarding applied science innovation and checkment as intimately as some(prenominal) short stories of leading(a) companies. The second part talks al nigh dell Inc. , including its history of development, its strategies of applied science innovation and operation, and its worldwide expansion. This part ordain analyze how the combination of creative engineering development policies and care sit help this firm proceeds sensation of the leading computer churchmans in the human being.The triplet part depart be about technology development in Vietnam in globalization scenario, Vietnamese technology openings and some lessons withdrawn from dell reck cardinalrs victor and failure for them. Due to the limited clip and cognition of the writer, this paper inevitably contains some limitations and shortcomings. on that pointfore, the writer would like to induce every feedback or comment from teachers and people who interested in this bailiwick to improve the fibre of the thesis.Chapter 1 OVERVIEW OF TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF information processing system ENTERPRISES IN GLOBALIZATION 1. 1. Overview of technology development in computer industry in the world The personal computer (PC) industry is one of the strangest and virtually dynamic in the world. Probably there is no early(a)(a) broad of product that is so technologically sophisticated, li mitingd so rapidly, conducts for so a lot money, and is sell by so many companies for not oft profit. The fierce rival in this industry is the reason why so many problems be encountered by those who deal with PC traffickers.Since PC could be assembled from standardized regions without much expertise required and the barriers to entry argon not as tough as in the past, bleak computer task is formal on a frequent floor. As a pull up stakes, there are thousands of companies do PCs that perform similar functions pushing the mart to be extremely footing-competitive. Since the market is so competitive, vendors often sell at very low margins. electronic computers are not the aforementioned(prenominal) as many other products, where the caller-up sell the device is making upwards of 50% of the price of the product as swinish profit. For PCs it is often around 10%.Additionally, there is probably no other industry that has prices change as dramatically and frequently as the PC industry. Usually, prices are decreasing. This is estimable for the consumer but very bad for vendors, beca intent it kernel that their already low margins get squeezed if prices drop surrounded by the time that they grease ones palms a product and the time they sell it. Drop in the price of PC comes from two(prenominal) severe competition and rapid changes in technology. As a consequence, PC makers often prefer to detainment low inventories. Whenever prices fall, the vendors authorizationly lose money on every component in roll at the time.Due to the rapid frequency of changes in technology, functionalities and power of computers are wagerer continuously, broadening PCs definition over time. In the click of PC industry, a computer was a bulky device, furnished with some simple functions and shrimpy volume, but extremely lively. Today, people could possess small handheld devices which are integrated with processing power and functions tens times better than huge p rincipal(prenominal)frames decades ago. The PC industry has a strong connection with the software package system industry and the application of the Internet.These two peripheral industries pass water accelerated the fixedness of technology innovation even faster. In yrs new-made, a computer device has evolved into a centre for all the digital peripheral much(prenominal) as music players, digital cameras, video rec shapes, network TV, etc. With the technology evolution, computers defecate become the ever powerful tools that are essential for any success problem and modern families and the PC industry become one of the roughly strategic industries in the world in the twenty-first century. 1. 1. 1. swiftness of development and innovationThe personal computer industry has get d declaren from a hobbyist industry in the 1970s to a high schoolly profitable industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars oecumenic. Driven by consumer solicit to get the Internet and the ad vancements of microprocessor technologies, the demand for PCs for personal and line use has climbed continuously in the early 21st century The PC industry is one among the double-quick growing industries in the world. According to a research carried out by Etforcasts, the annual worldwide PC sales has a trend to double every hexad years. By 2000, the PC sales was 132 million and al intimately(prenominal) duplicate in 2006.The velocity of increase in this industry is at a keel rate of around 9% annually compounded. (Table 1) Table 1 universal PC Sales Unit 1 million PCs Year 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 world-wide PC Sales 24 58 132 207 325 (Source etforecasts) Another noticeable proponent is the recite of PC in use. In 2000, there were more than calciferol million units in-use and the figure in 2010 is over 1400 million units almost three times high. Table 2) Table 2 Worldwide PC in use Unit 1 million PCs Year 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Worldwide PC in use atomic governmen t issue 6 225 529 910 1,425 (Source Etforecasts) The figure above shows that the computer industry has a huge increase potential. These yield potentials are treasureed by the upgrading of noncurrent machines, newly established line of business around the world, new generation or innovation of computer devices integrated with digital functions.Yearly PC sales for the U. S. and the main regions of the world are summarized in the next figure. nary(prenominal)th the States will remain the declamatoryst region through 2007. All figures are in millions of units. attribute 1 Annual PC Sales of the main regions of the world pic (Source Etforecasts) In 2003, the come in of PCs sold in the US was roughly about 30% of the descend worldwide sales. This data indicates that the remaining 70% of the PC sales happened outside the US. This shows that there are many opportunities yet to be discover by firms around the world.According to etForcast , Asia will be the region with the fastest festering in computing devices. This trend is confirmed by the rapid urbanisation and modernisation of China in recent years, and expected to stop to grow in the next decade. Therefore, it is logical to move the PC manufacturers in the US into the global arena. PC receipts was growing slower than unit harvesting collectible to considerable price dec bloods and saw a pause the plump two years collectible to lower unit sales growth than price dec births. The worldwide PC taxs were $251B in 2000, which increased to over $333B in 2007. Worldwide PC revenue declined to $320B in 2010.According to experts of Etforecasts, worldwide PC revenue has a trend to grow again in the next fin years to around $400B in 2015, which is due to the unit growth boost from the iPad and competing products. To get a clearer picture of the potential of IT industry, induce a breast at the next figure about computer and peripherals industry in the period from 1999 to 2004. This computer and peripher als industry include products which are computer-based and inter- attached to computers. These products are indicators of how intimately the entire industry is doing in impairment of new innovations and future development.Figure 2 Computer and Peripherals Industry 1999 2004 Unit billion Dollars pic This figure is a hefty indicator of the huge potentials in the IT industry. Although the industry had a minor snow in 2001, the net profit and sales body high for 2004. As mentioned above, IT industry has become a center for computer and peripheral devices. There will be a greater demand in networking because computers are more connected to each other. Wireless technology will continue to grow in range and speed for more and more information need to transmit surrounded by computers and across networks. . 1. 2. Overall impact to the development of economies in the world The 21st century comes with more than ever powerful tools which based on the widely use of computers and the Inter net. The commonity of PCs is phenomenal because it has revolutionized the way people communicate, how information is stored, and peoples ability to access knowledge at their fingertips. Besides, PCs have become necessities in the corporate world simply because business processes involve heavy use of computers and Internet.In fact, the pctage of population with computer connected to the worldwide network has become one of the key indicators for the aim of modernization and human power of economies in the world. Following is the figure for some usual countries Table 3 Internet users per ascorbic acid people Country 2007 2008 2009 2010 US 75. 2 74. 1 78. 2 79. 3 lacquer 73. 74. 7 77. 4 79. 4 Germany 75. 4 78. 3 79. 7 82. 5 Australia 69. 6 71. 7 74. 1 75. 8 China 16. 0 22. 7 29. 0 34. 4 Singapore 67. 9 68. 0 68. 70. 1 Vietnam 20. 9 24. 2 26. 8 27. 8 (Source World Bank estimates World Development Indicators) There are two things that can be easily seen from the above table . First, the advanced economies often have high percentage of population with computer connected to the Internet. develop countries such(prenominal) as US or Germany have a very high rate, almost four-fifth of the population meanwhile, ontogeny countries like China or Vietnam stay at much more humble directs.This means that internet connection is one of the indicators for the power and modernization of the economies. Second, the percentage in usual has the trend to increase continuously over time which denotes the increased demand for computers and Internet using. Peoples job will more and more related to the application of computer and Internets functions. Information technology has shifted the paradigm of economies. In a macro scotch sense, information technology affects the patterns of fruit, enthronisation and betrothal.Production social system as the information technology evolves, the world is now in paradigm shift from the industrial age to the information age. As a result, there is a growing demand in the table serving field that require expert knowledge and information. Thanks to information technology, existing service industries such as banking and distribution are enhancing efficiency and expanding their business areas. parvenu industries on the basis of information technology such as software industry and information processing service are rapidly growing.The following table is about information and communication technology goods exports include telecommunications, speech sound and video, computer and related equipment electronic components and other information and communication technology goods of some countries. The physique is taken as percentage over the total goods exports. Table 4 ICT goods exports (% of total goods exports) CountryYear 2007 2008 2009 US 14. 2 12. 13. 0 lacquer 15. 7 14. 3 14. 7 Germany 7. 9 6. 9 6. 8 Australia 1. 8 1. 5 1. 4 China 29. 1 27. 5 29. Singapore 36. 2 35. 9 35. 4 Malaysia 41. 6 26. 2 38. 1 (Source unite Nations Statistics Di visual senses goodness Trade) The table shows clearly that ICT products is an important part in the exertion structure of countries, especially Asian developing countries since the percentage is very high (times higher(prenominal) than essential economies).This can be explained as the trend of outsourcing in self-aggrandising technology firms of developed countries to take advantage of cheap labor powerfulness and market potential in Asia-Pacific area. Investment structure as information technology changes the aspects of competition, enthronisation is made more in the area of information and communications that promotes productivity and efficiency of knowledge-based products. As the demand for high technology goods has increased continuously, the IT industry becomes a highly profitable but competitive industry.Severe competition in home countries forces computer firms to expand globally, finding new market for their growth. In addition , the pressure of price-competition requires them to find ways to rationalize cost. As a result, sizable multi- home(a) technology tend to invest in potential markets such as countries in the Asia-Pacific area or India, changing dramatically the investment structure of both home countries and investment receiving countries. According to OECD Factbook 2010 regarding to investment structure of the world, ICT carry ons in total non-residential investment doubled, and in some cases, even quadrupled mingled with 1980 and 2000.In 2008, ICT shares were curiously high (at 24% or more of the total) in countries like the join States, Sweden and Denmark, etc. Software has been the fastest growing component of ICT investment. In many countries, its share in non-residential investment multiplied several(prenominal) times between 1980 and 2008. In 2008, softwares share in total investment was highest in Sweden, the join States, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom. In the recent years , software accounted for 50% or more of total ICT investment in France, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Korea, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Switzerland and Netherlands.Communication equipment was the major component of ICT investment in Portugal and Greece. IT equipment was the major component in Belgium and Ireland. Changes in employment structure In advanced economies, the number of workers in manufacturing sector is drastically reduced by repressing share of its product. tho employment in information and knowledge-intensive service sector is increasing with mechanization and investment in information technology. In the occupational categories, there are more demands for experts with creativity and information technology.Meanwhile, for developing countries, a large number of people move from the agriculture sector into manufacturing due to the trend of outsourcing of good-looking technology firms in the world. Investment in infrastructure of high technology firm in developing countries to take advantage of the cheap manufacturing factors has created jobs for millions of employment in the local anaesthetic areas. In a microeconomic sense, information technology changes business activities. It is important today that how much information a society have and how much of them could be converted into useful knowledge.The global modern economy has proved that knowledge itself, not a physical good, is a valuable product. In other words, owning to advanced information technology, knowledge-based workers, who create and apply information, play a key role in economic activities and knowledge creating organizations like research institutes and universities will find their increased roles as a place for economic activities. Changes take place in every part of the business from the communication system to development of goods and technology, procurement, production, sales, distribution, and after sales services. openings number heavily on rapi d development of diverse goods and technology in order to satisfy customers. Time to market is also getting an important position in today economic environment. Modern communication methods such as email or fax have been widely employ in companies since they accelerate the unanimous business process and save a lot of time. Meanwhile, enterprises have a trend to change production system from mass production under economy of dental plate into production on demand thanks to the application of E-commerce and advanced communication tools.Keeping a polish flow of information both internally and externally has become one of the key comparative advantages of companies in technology field. It helps companies save time and keep them updated constantly with information about the real demand of the market. That is the basis for their customization to sincerely yours accept the need of theirs customers. In short, the informatics era come with the technology evolution has restructured and speed up peoples lives, business operation, and the whole economic scenario of every countries in the world. The technology power of countries in the 21st century comes with the economic and politic power.Information, communication and computer-related industry have become the strategic focus of development in almost a large number of countries and regions around the world. National policies to promote technology development and innovation When talking about the countries growing fast and increasing their power with technological means today, people often mention the role of information technology, the widespread use of computers and the Internet. Information technology sector has proven itself to be the most strategic power in the development of national economies due to its productivity, speed, and versatility.As a consequence, countries in the world have cause up and changed their own policies and strategies to develop their technology power on a continuous basis. On of the mai n indicator regarding to the policies for technology development and innovation of countries is how much they spend on research and development activities (R&D). The following table shows a brief relation of this set down in some typical countries in the world. For even a clearer look, the second column takes this expenditure as percentage over the gross domestic product of those countries. Table 5 Domestic white plagues on R&D by country 2009-2010 (most recent year available) Country R&D expense (million current ppp) R&D expense/gross domestic product (%) US 2009 401 576. 00 2. 90 Japan 2009 137 314. 21 3. 36 Germany 2010 86 209. 64 2. 82 France 2010 49 990. 76 2. 6 conspiracy Korea 2010 53 184. 86 3. 74 United Kingdom 2010 39 137. 82 1. 77 Canada 2010 23 970. 09 1. 80 Italy 2010 24 269. 15 1. 26 China 2009 154 147. 6 1. 70 Singapore 2009 5 733. 23 2. 27 South Africa 2008 4 708. 22 0. 93 (Source OECD, chief(prenominal) Science and Technology Indicators) In general view from the above table, developed countries often have a higher rate of R&D expense over their GDP, more or less of 3%. This is germane(predicate) with the result of strong technology power and potential in these countries.Meanwhile, developing countries such as China has also washed-out a meaning(a) amount to develop its technology power to catch up with developed economies in the world. In deed, the location of R&D investment has a trend to move toward new emerging economies such as India or China. This is considered as the direct consequence of outsourcing activities of many large technology firms in the world in the process of global expanding and cost cutting. According to an bringing close together of atomic number 63an Commission, between 13 years from 1995 to 2008 the worlds gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) almost doubled in real terms.Over this period real GERD increased by about 50 % in the EU, 60 % in the United States, 75 % in developed Asian economies, 8 55 % in China, 145 % in BRIS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, South-Africa) and almost 100 % in the rest of the world. As a result, less than 24 % of R&D expenditure in the world was located in the EU in 2008, compared to almost 29 % in 1995. The share of the United States and Japan also decreased substantially from almost 38 % to 33 % in the United States and from 16 % to 13 % in Japan.Moreover, this global trend has been accelerating since 2004, which tag the beginning of a steeper increase in R&D expenditure in China and developed Asian economies. Figure 3 Changes of World GERD in real terms pic (Source DG Research and inception Data Eurostat, OECD, UNESCO Notes BRIS Brazil+Russian+India+Singapore) This evolution is expected since rapid economic growth in China and a number of other countries in the world allows for rapid increases in R&D expenditures in these countries. Also, high growth rates are more easily reached when the initial level is relatively low.In that context, t he share of the EU and other advanced economies is bound to shrink and the figure below quantifies this shrinkage. This re-balancing in knowledge production has important consequences for the EU in terms of planetary scientific and technological cooperation and knowledge flows in the world. In the 2002 Lisbon Strategy, the EU set the objective of devoting 3 % of its GDP to R&D activities by 2010. In 2005, with the re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy, Member States set their own national R&D frenzy targets to be met in 2010.In the atomic number 63 2020 Strategy adopted in 2010, the EU maintained the 3 % objective for 2020 and in the following months, Member States adopted their 2020 national R&D ecstasy targets. Despite a 25 % real-terms increase in research expenditure over the period 20002008, R&D intensity in the EU has stagnated at around 1. 85 % of GDP between 2000 and 2007 with a slight increase in 2008 and 2009 to 2. 01 % of GDP (Figure I. 1. 2). This late increase in R&D inte nsity is, however, due to a more rapid decrease in GDP than in R&D expenditure.In the United States, after a continuous decline during the first half of the decade, R&D intensity started to increase from 2005 to 2. 77 % of GDP in 2008, slightly above its 2000 value (2. 69 % of GDP). This quasi-stagnation of R&D intensity in the EU and the United States contrasts with the strong increases spy in Japan, South Korea and China during this period, up to 3. 44 %, 3. 37 % and 1. 54 % of GDP respectively. role of the very high R&D intensity growth observed in China is due to its low initial position. It is to be historied that this increase slowed down in 20072008 in Japan.Of the largest contributors to R&D expenditure in the EU, France and the United Kingdom have followed a similar avenue to the EU average, while Germany is closer to the US level. 1. 2. Development schema of technology enterprises Although the market for computer is huge and profitable, the competition is truly fierce between leading providers including dingle, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony, Toshiba, Acer and orc laborious apple tree. As the demands for computer and computer-related products are getting higher day by day, there is also a pressure for PC vendors to drive the price down to compete with others.It is often down to the level where profits are questionable as mention in the preceding sector, around 10% of price margin. Meanwhile, PC vendors also have to hump with rapid product cycle because high technology is changing so quickly. As the result, IT enterprises have to keep their cost down and try to maximize their market share. The use of information systems to gain competitive advantage becomes very attractive to the companies in this industry. Each firm follows their own system of technology innovation and doing business. dingle The groundbreaking Direct-Sales Business Model eliminates the need for a retail chain.The ability to customize PC on an individual customer basis is one o f the main comparative advantages of this vendor. dells PCs are make and upgraded based on standardized components of collaborative partners. Hewlett-Packard It unify with Compaq Computer to compete against dingle. This computer giant still relies on the more conventional retailer channel business poseur. HP also base on ballss variety of computer products such as printers, scanners, and digital cameras. IBM Traditionally IBM is in the mainframe and large scale computing market. It holds the most patents in the world as an test to stay ahead in the competition.The PCs from IBM are gear towards corporate and business use. Lenovo Lenovo is the worlds second largest PC maker after its 2005 acquisition of IBMs personal computer business. . Lenovo markets its products direct to consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through online sales, corporation-owned stores, chain retailers, and major technology distributors and vendors. Sony a Nippo nese consumer electronic giant becomes a computer maker. Their computers gear toward the consumer market and mutilateer tools for video editing.It is aiming towards the overall send off and appearance of the computer. The main Laptop line of Sony is Vaio which tend to concentrate on the high end market. Toshiba a Japanese diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services. In PC venture, Toshiba focuses on portable computers. Their computers offer a balanced between price and performance. Acer mainland China PC maker which has been staying in top 5 PC vendors regarding the market share in recent years after its acquisition of US-based competition Gateway.In the early 2000s, Acer changed it business schema a manufacturer to a designer, marketer and distributor of products, while do production processes via contract manufacturers. Acers products are competitive both in the quality and the price. apple Last major PC maker that is not using Microsofts Windows operating system. Apple has moved from competing instantaneously with the Wintel market to a more leisure computer market. Their computers focus on design and user-friendliness. The customers for Apple are personal users, educational institutions, and graphics design firms.The following table is about global market share of leading vendors in recent years Table 6 Global PC Market Share 2008 2011 Rank 2008 2009 2010 2011 1 HP 18. 4 HP Customers Individuals Corporate Education Government Markets US Europe Asia Latin America Manufacturing outline Customized Fixed features Sales and distribution Direct Sales accommodate Chains Companys structure Alliances Independent Any enterprise in the computer industry has to choose at least one immemorial and perhaps some combinations of the supplementary strategies. The two primary strategies are low cost and product differentiation, and the supplementary s trategies include innovation, grow, and alliance. In order to implement the low cost strategy as the primary strategy, the firms have to notice a a few(prenominal) important points. In the least-cost competition there is only one winner, and this is to say there is only one connection that can achieve the least cost in the production. Low cost strategy emphasizes on ways to cut cost as low as possible.For example, the most popular way is based on economies of scale which means the firms have to sell a lot of the same products to take hold the extremely low profit margin on each item. other ways include the policies to keep low inventory, direct sales to cut the cost of middleman. Generally, the firms need to use information systems to exploit cost reductions and form strong business alliances with suppliers and other logistics providers. dingle Inc. is the outdo example of companies winning in applying this strategy. The direct sales theoretical account and the ability to ma intain almost-zero inventories have ontributed greatly in the forming of extremely competitive price of its products. On the other hand, the differentiation strategy focuses on separating the product from the industry standard. This is a strategy that focuses on unique products that exceed the industry average in terms of performance and design. The product must be highly customizable so it caters to individuals kind of than having a generic form. Firms using differentiation as a strategy need to constantly make adjustments to the product because of the competitors imitation.As an parable, Apples primary strategy is in product differentiation. It tries very hard to differentiate itself from the rest of the PC manufacturers through better design and performance. finished Apples own brand image, it tries to convince the customers that its computers are passe-partout to other competitors. The PC industry offers a wide range of products. Desk pass and laptops are computers that targ et at home customers. For business, government, and educational customers, they will find the tablets and servers both very attractive to fit their ineluctably. In the 21st century, the PC industry is truly global.Computers can be shipped to different places around the world with the marginal modifications. The computer itself is the same for all countries however, the documents and manuals that come with the computer will have to be localized to the specific countries. Besides a clear primary strategy, a good combination of the supporting strategies is also important. Innovative use of information systems in Supply Chain Management will alter the firm to cut be to support the primary strategy. Total flavor Management allows a society to provide and sustain a good customer service time after time.Strong Alliances are formed to foster a closer relationship with the suppliers and logistics providers. Alliances can also drive the costs down and increase the profit margin on each product. The options for strategy are limitless. The goal for all firms is to make a well-balanced picking a choice that will ensure the competitive edge of the firm in the industry. Failure in doing so will result in tone ending of market share and perhaps the end of the business prospect for the firm. 1. 3. Development strategies of some MNCs in the world and achievements 1. 3. 1. Globalization of the Personal Computer industryTable 7 Share of global PC production by region 1985 1990 1995 2000 Americas 53% 32% 32% 34% EMEA 24% 27% 20% 19% Asia-Pacific 23% 41% 48% 47% Source Reed Electronics Research, Yearbook of World Electronics Data Note EMEA Europe Middle East Africa) The computer industry has long been one of the most global of industries. The Asia-Pacific production network was concentrated in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Taiwan. In Singapore, many U. S. and other MNCs set up production of computer computer hardware, especially disk drives. In Taiwan, entrepreneurial local companies shew opportunities supplying the major PC makers, beginning with simple parts and woful up to more sophisticated components, and assembly of PCs and peripherals.Over time, labor-intensive activities were relocated to low-wage locations such as Thailand, Malaysia and China, with Singapore and Taiwan coordinating production in these sites and manipulation more sophisticated manufacturing processes at home. Japan and Korea were less winning as global PC producers, but were the major suppliers of high volume components such as memory chips and flat-panel displays. As early as 1988, the Asia-Pacific region had surpassed the Americas as the largest producer of computer hardware, even though the largest market was in the Americas and most leading PC vendors were U. S. companies.Asia-Pacific gained production at the expense of both the Americas and Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) until 1990 since then it has grown relative to EMEA while the Americas sha re of production has remained stable. In absolute terms, production has continued to grow in all regions. In Europe, production was concentrated in Germany, the UK, France and Italy during the 1980s. Each of these countries had a national champion computer vendor that had been nurtured through government procurement and other policy measures. However, none of the national champions made a fortunate transition from mainframes to personal computers.As a result, production stagnated in the mid nineties in all of the countries except the UK, which attracted IBM and Compaq to locate PC production in emerging industry clusters in Scotland and Wales. In the Asia-Pacific region, production was dominated in the 1980s by Japan, which nearly tripled production between 1985 and 1990 to surpass the U. S. as the world leader. During this time, Singapore and Taiwan also saw rapid growth, followed by Korea. In the early 1990s, Japan continued to see solid growth in production, while Singapore and Taiwan each tripled their production to become the third and fourth largest producers in the world.In the late 1990s, however, Japans production declined precipitously, and Singapore and Taiwan saw much lower growth rates. The fastest growth was now occurring in the less developed ASEAN countries of Malaysia and Thailand, and most dramatically in China, which has leaped to number four in world production. This shift to developing countries was driven by investments by U. S, Japanese and Taiwanese firms looking for lower cost production sites and, in the case of China, looking for market access as well. 1. 3. 2. Strategies of some leading PC makers in the world and achievements Hewlett-Packard (HP)HP is a PC vendor that operates in more than 170 countries all over the world. HP was founded in 1939. Corporate headquarters are in Palo Alto, California. In recent years, HP has remained as the largest IT attach to in the world, with revenue totaling $127. 2 billion for fiscal year 2011. In 2011HP stayed at number 11 in Fortune 500 ranking. In 2002, HP and Compaq have merged together to gain the market competing with the main competitor dingle. These locomote in the strategy of HP has boosted the market share of this PC enterprise become much larger than dell and help the company stay at the first place in the world for years.Probably no other company offers as complete a technology product portfolio as HP. The company provides infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to some of the worlds most powerful supercomputer installations. HP offers to consumers a wide range of products and services from digital entertainment and from computing to home notion. This PC vendor divides its products into three groups to pile up the need of each market segmentation, including The Personal Systems Group business and consumer PCs, mobile computing devices and workstations.The Imaging and Printing Group inkjet, laser-jet and commercial printing, pr inting supplies Enterprise Business business products including remembering and servers, enterprise services, software and networking In order to innovating its technology constantly, at the moment HP scientists are focused on 24 large-scale projects that fall under eight high-impact research areas printing and content owny mobile and immersive experiences cloud and security information analytics good infrastructure networking services and sustainability.However, in recent years, HP has shifted from creating entirely new technology to using standardized components in producing PCs. The clear figure is that this company has reduced it R budget continuously. In 2009, HP spent $2. 82 billion on R, down from $3. 54 billion a year earlier. In 2007, HPs R spending was $3. 6 billion. This dejection in its strategy has supported greatly to lower cost. HP keeps a balance in its products, good quality PCs integrated with updated technology but at a competitive price level. Apple Apple Inc . , erstwhile Apple Computer, Inc. is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, computer software, and commercial servers. Apples load product lines are the iPad, iPhone, iPod music player, and Macintosh computer line-up. Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, with the release of the Apple I, and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino, California. For more than two decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and superpower Mac lines, but it confront rocky sales and low market share during the 1990s.With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001, Apple established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics industry, dropping Computer from its name. The latest era of phenomenal success for the company has been in the iOS range of products that began with the iPhone, iPod Touch and now iPad. As of 20 11, Apple is the largest technology firm in the world, with annual revenues of more than $60 billion. The main lesson from Apples success, however, is the central importance of focusing on strong products that are well-designed for the market.For years in this century, Apple has become the best leading innovator with continuously updated generation of its products and brand new ones. Steve Job, the companys leader, is a genius at minimalist designs that integrate technology breakthroughs to fill a newly emerging need with unusual style. The result can be seen in the way he describes the attraction of the iPad Its like holding the Internet in your hands. Its so much more intimate than a laptop and more capable than an iPhone. Its truly magical. The following figure presents the budget Apple has spent on R&D as percentage of revenue.In general, spending on R&D of this company is high, keep this vendor among the top 50 R&D spenders in the world. However, companys revenue increases fas ter than this expense (as illustrated as decrease trend of the figure), especially since 2010 with the introduction of the ever successful tablet Ipad. Figure 6 Apples R&D % of sales pic (Source Larry Dignan ZDNet news) Behind such great products, Apple thrives because it has been described as a well-oiled machine. The company has outsourced its manufacturing operations, while 317 Apple stores are wildly popular and profitable.The Apple music store iTunes has expanded into a powerful fomite for trading videos, movies, and possibly other information products. Lenovo Lenovo is the worlds second largest PC maker in 2011. This Chinese company is established on November 1, 1984. In 1985, the company launched the first Chinese-made motherboard with Lenovo technology. The brand name, Lenovo, was born from this. Lenovo operates factories in Chengdu and Hefei in China, Japan, and as of declination 2011 has plans to start production in Argentina.Lenovo focuses on vertical integration in order to avoid excessive reliance on original equipment manufacturers and keep costs down. This PC maker offers to the market the ThinkPad, IdeaPad line of notebook PCs and ThinkCentre line of desktops. These brands became part of Lenovos offerings after its 2005 acquisition of IBMs personal computer business. As its strategy, Lenovo markets its products instantly to consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through online sales, company-owned stores, chain retailers, and major technology distributors and vendors.This direct sales position helps the company to reduce cost of middle man and retailers, and form the basis to get instant feedback from its customers. This all reduces the cost of producing and selling products and keeps this enterprise stay competitive on the market. Besides, Lenovo owns the greatest track record for innovation in the PC industry and remains committed to innovation in its products and technology. As stated in the com panys statement, Lenovos innovation strategy is based on a two-tiered approach to solving real-world customer problems way the majority of development on ideas that can be brought to market inwardly 24 months and, Invest longer term in research targeting gamey changing big plays At the moment, Lenovo operates seven research and development centers and more than 46 world-class laboratories, including major research centers in Yokohama, Japan Beijing, print and Shenzhen, China and Raleigh, New York City. The company employs more than 1,700 engineers, researchers and scientists and has received more than 100 major design awards.Lenovos R centers have produced some of the worlds most important advances in PC technology, ranging from the original Bento Box PC notebook design in 1992 to the 2008 launch of the innovative ThinkPad X300, considered as one of the worlds lightest, thinnest and most innovative full-featured notebook PCs ever. Lenovos consignment to innovation introduces mo re industry breakthroughs and technology that sets the technical standards for business users as well as consumers. Chapter 2 dell COMPUTERS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 2. . Overview of dell computers development This section of the paper deals with dell Computer in the PC industry in terms of how they fit in the global PC industry, their technology innovation, their competitive strategy, the significance and the roles of the information systems, and the strengths and helplessnesses of Dell Computer in the industry. In 2011, Dell reported $61,494 billions in sales, 16% increased in comparison with the previous year, and employed 100,300 people worldwide in production, development, and customer support of the operation.Dell is truly a global business with products range from desktops, laptop, workstations, servers, networking devices, and computer peripherals such as printers, cameras, LCD TV, mp3 music players, and belatedly tablet. Each Dells product can be sh ape up customized to meet the needs of the customers. Dells direct sales business model has been refined and modified to support the changing product line and customer service. However, the main idea behind the direct-sale business model remains unchanged.From a statement on Dells website, Dell is doing business nowadays with customers, one at a time, and believe we can do it better than any one else in the industry. The successful direct-sales business model puts much emphasis on the customers. From the beginning to the end of the transaction, Dell understands whole what the needs of its customers are. This results in a satisfied customer with the potential to do business again and again in the future. After two decades of growth, Dell has become the world leading direct-sale computer vendor in the PC industry.As a relatively young company, Dell finds themselves constantly competiting with old, more established companies like Hewlett-Packard and IBM. In many years in the early o f this century, Dell reclaimed the title of the number one PCs supplier in the industry. The success of Dell Computer is not possible without the vision of Michael Dell and his innovative strategies of technology development and operation. The following is a brief history of Dell Computer and its development. 2. 1. 1. Introduction to the company Dell, Inc. s an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States. The company is founded on November 4th, 1984 by Michael Dell who at that time was still a student in University of Texas. In 1983, Michael Dell started his computer hardware retail business by selling hard drives and RAMs for IBM PCs. Dell bought his products from IBM dealers at cost, and later resold it through newspaper and magazines to individuals and businesses at lower cost than the retailers.By April 1984, his entrance hall room computer business was already making about $80,000 a month, and the success was strong enough to persuade him to drop out of college. As a result, Dell founded Dell Computer with $1,000. In the next few years, he was making IBM clones computers under the name PC- contain and sold it to customer directly without retailers. This approach allowed PC-Limited to sell computers to its customers at 40% of the price of the IBM computers. The direct-sales business model propelled Dell Computer to the leading PC supplier in the industry.Table 8 Dell market share and rank from 2001 to 2010 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Market share 13. 3 15. 2 15. 0 16. 4 16. 8 15. 9 14. 3 14. 3 12. 2 12. 9 Rank 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 2 (Data Gartner Inc. ) For many continuous years, Dell was the number one PC maker in the industry. However the situation has changed dramatically since the merger of HP and the direct competitor Compaq in 2002, together they own the market share big than Dell. Besides, bigger size allows HP to foster it low cost strategy due to econo my of scale.Some years later come the rise of Lenovo and Acer with the acquisition of IMB and Gateway respectively. As a result, Dell keeps the third position in the market in 2011. The direct-sales business model is just one tool for Dell to do business. If the success of Dell is based solely on this model, Dell would have lost its competitiveness a long time ago. The competitors of Dell can duplicate the model and do business the same way as Dell. There are other factors staying at the mettle of Dell strength. Following is a summary of Dell comparative advantages based on several analyses about this firmLeading technologies Dell forever and a day keen to embed latest technology in its products. Following standards-based innovation, Dell PCs are built with standardized components which are well-recognized by the market. Dell has spent much effort and money to push its product to the limit of capacity in order to serve customers with the best computing solution. In addition, due t o its direct relationship with customer, Dell is able to introduce the latest relevant technology compared to companies using the indirect distribution channels. Moreover, Dell launches newer technology farthermost more before the other companies that hold inventories.The focus of Dell on technology personnel has helped this firm to catch up with every change in high technology. Customer Direct one of Dells core strength is its firm belief in upholding the direct business strategy. Going direct has benefited this firm in many ways. Since it cut off all the role of wholesalers as well as retailers, it reduces greatly the cost of manufacturing and selling computers, resulting in products with very competitive price level. In addition, direct relationship is the basis for its ability of customization.The information and feedback from customers could be collected easily and quickly. And this information will be of help in choosing the most subdue computing solution to serve the custom ers. This process results in higher gratification and trust of customers on Dells products and services. This form of innovation has been of great importance in pushing it from the bottom all the way to the number one supplier of Desktops, notebooks, and server in the world. Information Systems no one can deny the importance of Dells Information Systems as a competitive advantage.Information Technology has been around for some time now and is available to everyone at fairly low costs, so it only makes sense for a company to have one. But by just having Information Systems they do not inherit a competitive advantage. The advantage comes from strategies built around solid business models. And Dells overall implementation of the customer direct business model which uses Information Systems is one of its most powerful competing forces. The efficient Information System at Dell has unplowed the flow of information run smoothly in the operation of this company.It turns Dell Inc. into an e xtremely flexible machine which is always up-to-date. Leadership Michael Dell, the founder of the enterprise is the one who has contributed greatly to Dells top position. His innovative vision about the PC industry and market trend has driven Dell to where it is today. Besides Michael Dell, Dell takes on some of the top executives in the world including its own employees such as Kevin Rollins who manages its day to day operations and helped develop strategies around the direct selling of computer systems and services.As Dell Computer is pathetic towards a multi-products, multi-national, and multi-services business, it becomes impossible for one entrepreneur to have all the remedy skills in managing the company. The collaboration of leaders combines the talents of people in a company that is growing at a tremendous rate. Dell most for sure has more strengths than flunkes as a company, but that just means it needs to keep a closer watch on its weaknesses. Rivalries as weakness Ind ustry rivalries are perhaps the greatest weakness of Dell. As one of the top PC manufacturer, Dell has everybody as a competitor.HP and Compaq have merged to counter the strength of Dell. The new merger can lower their costs significantly so they can continue to use the retail approach to compete with Dell. In addition, when Dell expands globally, it also faces with strong competition from local region. From previous section, Asia is the area with the highest demand of PC at the moment. Therefore, some Asian computer firms have been emerging strongly become the direct competitors of Dell. For instance, Japanese and Korean consumer electronics makers are switching to manufacture PC in recent years.Their advantage is the abundant of cheap and skilled workers. They focus on product designs as a differentiation strategy. Especially in recent year, Lenovo has become one of the top PC makers after the acquisition of IBM. In 2011, this firm even overcomes Dell and gains the second position of global market share. That is a clear illustration for the competition from Asia. Another potential problem for Dell is from the suppliers. Dell relies on the suppliers to provide them with the necessary components to build a PC.If the suppliers cannot deliver the components to Dell, Dell will face with a delay in production. It will create a ripple effect to the rest of the business processes. Limited Technological Selection even the strategy regarding technology innovation has brought Dell a lot of successes it also causes a minor weakness that Dell is faced with is its choice of technology. Dell has the opportunity to employ technology as soon as it comes out, but this enterprise usually waits to verify how a technology will perform in the market before implementing it.Dells cautious nature of adoption could possibly lead to a loss of market share to other companies willing to take a risk. And sometimes it is not necessarily a risk that it would be taking. One of the illustrat ion could be pointed here is the success of Apple with the famous tablet Ipad in 2010. This enterprise spent 3. 1% of its revenue in 2009 on R&D and come up with the first tablet Ipad in the market. This product become a big success and helps this company gain the main market share for tablets after that.Meanwhile, Dell has waited for a period of technology standardization to release its first tablet Latitude ST. Strategy Mimicking Dells strategies of standards-based innovation and customer direct are well cognize and its business processes can be duplicated by any company. This is not seen as a direct weakness of Dell but an indirect weakness of Dells in relation to the market. In fact, many competitors of Dell have changed some parts of their technology focus when perceived the fact that Dell has born a much lower R&D cost while still gained the biggest bite of the cake.For instance, in recent years, HP has shifted its technology innovation strategy into using some standardized c omponents in stead of building their own technology. On another side, the emerging Taiwan firm Lenovo is also keeping a direct relationship with its customers, lowing down the cost and price of products. Strategies which help Dell stay competitive for years at the same time, could help its competitors, especially with newly emerging firms which do not stuck with any old and complex system need to change.In general, Dells innovative strategies regarding technology innovation and direct business model enable it to become and stay competitive in the changing global market. With strong global sales and growth, Dell will continue to own a large market share in the PC industry. 2. 1. 2. bill of development since establishment Timeline of development 1980 Michael Dell purchases his first computer-an Apple II-and forthwith takes it apart to understand how it was designed and made. 983 Declaring he ultimately wanted to lecture IBM, the young Dell conducts a lucrative business out of his anteroom room at the University of Texas, selling upgraded PCs and add-on components. 1984 With $1,000 in startup capital, Michael registers his business as Dell Computer Corporation, doing business as PCs limited, and leaves school in May of that year. The company becomes the first in the industry to sell tailor-made computers directly to end users, bypassing the dominant system of using computer resellers to sell mass-produced computers. 986 Dell unveils the industrys fastest-performing computer, a 12 MHz, 286-based system, at the Spring Comdex national computer tradeshow. The system quickly attracts a large number of reviews from the technology press. The company also pioneers the industrys first thirty-day money back guarantee, which becomes the cornerstone of Dells commitment to expand its service offerings and offer superior customer satisfaction, and offers the industrys first onsite service architectural plan. 987 In a bold move for the risky operation, Dell establishes it s first international subsidiary in the United Kingdom. Eleven more international operations would open over the course of the next four years. 1989 The strong-growing company experiences its first major stumbles It accumulates excess inventory of memory components, which results in write-downs, and cancels an ambitious product development program code-named Olympic. 1990 Dell becomes the first computer company to jump into the burgeoning market for computers sold through consumer retail stores such as CompUSA and Best Buy.The company later becomes the first company to foul this segment as well, after determining the retail-store model did not meet its financial objectives. 1992 Dell achieves slightly more than $2 billion in sales for the fiscal year ended January 1993, which represents a remarkable 127 percent increase. 1993 Suffering from the pains of extremely rapid growth, Dell cancels a junior-grade offering and posts its only quarterly loss resulting from a temporary with drawal from the notebook market, its exit from retail stores, and a restructuring of European operations. 996 Dell challenges the handed-down market for premium-priced servers based on proprietary technology with its introduction of its Power Edge server line. In less than two years, PowerEdge vaults Dell from the 10th position in market share to the third largest server vendor in the world. The companys quiet bid to sell custom-built computers over the Internet quickly becomes a public revolution when the company announces that sales over www. dell. com have exceeded $1 million per day. During the same year, Dell introduces its first tailor-make web links for customers.Called Premier Pages, the links allow customers to tap directly into the companys own service and support databases. 1998 Dell solidifies its Internet leadership when it tops $12 million per day over the Internet, expands its Premier Page program to more than nine thousand customers and establishes web-based conne ctions with its suppliers to speed the flow of inventory and quality information. Dell opens an integrated sales, manufacturing, and support center in China. 1999 Dell becomes the number one PC company in the United States, the largest worldwide market for personal computers.To accommodate its growth, Dell opens new manufacturing facilities in Nashville, Tennessee and Eldorado do Sul, Brazil. Sales over www. dell. com top $35 million per day. 2001 Its a year of firsts as Dell becomes the No. 1 computer systems provider worldwide, and reaches No. 1 in U. S. Intel-based server shipments. The PowerConnect line of network switches launches Dell into the networking equipment market. Dell signs an agreement with storage leader EMC to enable more affordable enterprise-class storage area network solutions for customers of all sizes. 003 The Company expands its product portfolio with Dell-branded printers and officially enters the consumer electronics market to serve as a single source for i ts customers. 2005 Dell