Serial

TOPIC Page Number

No.
1. Synopsis 2-4
2. History of Dell 5 - 17
3. Competitors 18 - 21
4. Specifications of Dell Vostro 23 - 34
5. Conclusion 35 - 36
6. Suggestion 37 - 38
7. Recommendation 39 – 40
8. Bibliography 41

1
Date: 20.01.2019
(SIGNATURE)

Dell Incorporation is an American computer- hardware

company, which is the largest manufacturer of personal
computers, devices, servers; software network switches,
etc and was founded by Michael Dell in 1984 with a
capital of just $1000.

2
The Direct Model of the company and Just in Time
methods are the core competencies of the company.
With the help of these features, the company is able to
offer its products much faster and cheaper than its
competitors to its customers. In the year 1999, Dell
Computer Corporation was in the second position in
computer manufacturing behind Compaq (Tan & Young,
2003).The company sells different products in the
different market segments according to the products’
brand name. In the business class segment, the
company sells various products such as OptiPlex-
Desktop computers Dell N-Series, Latitude- the
commercial notebook, Vostro- mainly designed for the
small businesses, Precision- high performance notebook,
power edge, Power Vault, etc.

3
At the level of home and consumer class, the company
sells the following products: XPS- high performance
system, Inspiron- the consumer desktop and notebook,
dell monitors, LCD Plasma TVs monitors, etc. The
company also sells the products for the services and
support to the customers such as ‘Dell on Call’ for EMEA
customers, hardware and software support products,
etc.

4
Dell is an American multinational computer technology
company based in Round Rock, Texas, United States,
that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers
and related products and services. Named after its
founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest
technological corporations in the world, employing more
than 103,300 people in the U.S. and around the world.

5
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data
storage devices, network switches, software,
computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3
players, and electronics built by other manufacturers.
The company is well known for its innovations in supply
chain management and electronic commerce,
particularly its direct-sales model and its "build-to-
order" or "configure to order" approach to manufacturing
—delivering individual PCs configured to customer
specifications. Dell was a pure hardware vendor for
much of its existence, but with the acquisition in 2009
of Perot Systems, Dell entered the market for IT services.

6
Dell traces its origins to 1984, when Michael Dell created
Dell Computer Corporation, which at the time did
business as PC's Limited, while a student of
the University Of Texas At Austin. The dorm-room
headquartered company sold IBM PC compatible
computers built from stock components. Dell dropped
out of school to focus full-time on his fledgling business,
after getting $1,000 in expansion-capital from his family.
In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its
own design, the Turbo PC, which sold for $795. PC's
Limited advertised its systems in national computer
magazines for sale directly to consumers and custom
assembled each ordered unit according to a selection of
options. The company grossed more than $73 million in
its first year of operation.

In 1986, Michael Dell brought in Lee Walker, a 51-year-

old venture capitalist, as president and chief operating
officer, to serve as Dell's mentor and implement Dell's
ideas for growing the company. Walker was also
instrumental in recruiting members to the board of
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directors when the company went public in 1988.
Walker retired in 1990 due to health, and Michael Dell
hired Morton Meyerson, former CEO and president
of Electronic Data Systems to transform the company
from a fast-growing medium-sized firm into a billion-
dollar enterprise. The company dropped the PC's Limited
name in 1987 to become Dell Computer Corporation and
began expanding globally. In June 1988, Dell's market
capitalization grew from $30 million to $80 million from
its June 22 initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at
$8.50 a share. In 1992, Fortune magazine included Dell
Computer Corporation in its list of the
world's 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell the
youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever.

8
In 1993, to complement its own direct sales channel Dell
planned to sell PCs at big-box retail outlets such as Wal-
Mart, which would have brought in an additional $125
million in annual revenue. Bain consultant Kevin
Rollins persuaded Michael Dell to pull out of these deals,
believing they would be money losers in the long
run. Margins at retail were thin at best and Dell left the
reseller channel in 1994. Rollins would soon join Dell
full-time and eventually become the company President
and CEO.

Growth in the 1990s and early 2000s

Originally, Dell did not emphasize the consumer market,

due to the higher costs and unacceptably low-profit
margins in selling to individuals and households; this
changed when the company's Internet site took off in
1996 and 1997. While the industry's average selling
price to individuals was going down, Dell's was going up,

9
as second- and third-time computer buyers who wanted
powerful computers with multiple features and did not
need much technical support were choosing Dell. Dell
found an opportunity among PC-savvy individuals who
liked the convenience of buying direct, customizing their
PC to their means, and having it delivered in days. In
early 1997, Dell created an internal sales and marketing
group dedicated to serving the home market and
introduced a product line designed especially for
individual users.

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From 1997 to 2004, Dell enjoyed steady growth and it
gained market share from competitors even during
industry slumps. During the same period, rival PC
vendors such as Compaq, Gateway, IBM, Packard Bell,
and AST Research struggled and eventually left the
market or were bought out. Dell surpassed Compaq to
become the largest PC manufacturer in 1999. Operating
costs made up only 10 percent of Dell's $35 billion in
revenue in 2002, compared with 21 percent of revenue
at Hewlett-Packard, 25 percent at Gateway, and 46
percent at Cisco. In 2002, when Compaq merged
with Hewlett Packard (the fourth-place PC maker), the
newly combined Hewlett Packard took the top spot but
struggled and Dell soon regained its lead. Dell grew the
fastest in the early 2000s.

Dell attained and maintained the top rating in PC

reliability and customer service/technical support,
according to Consumer Reports, year after year, during
the mid-to-late 90s through 2001 right before Windows
XP was released.
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In 1996, Dell began selling computers through its
website. In the mid-1990s, Dell expanded beyond
desktop computers and laptops by selling servers,
starting with low-end servers. The major three providers
of servers at the time were IBM, Hewlett Packard, and
Compaq, many of which were based on proprietary
technology, such as IBM's Power4 microprocessors or
various proprietary versions of the Unix operating
system. Dell's new Power Edge servers did not require a
major investment in proprietary technologies, as they
ran Microsoft Windows NT on Intel chips, and could be
built cheaper than its competitors. Consequently, Dell's
enterprise revenues, almost nonexistent in 1994,
accounted for 13 percent of the company's total intake
by 1998.

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Three years later, Dell passed Compaq as the top
provider of Intel-based servers, with 31 percent of the
market. Dell's first acquisition occurred in 1999 with the
purchase of Converge Net Technologies for $332 million,
after Dell had failed to develop an enterprise storage
system in-house; Converge Net's elegant but complex
technology did not fit in with Dell's commodity-producer
business model, forcing Dell to write down the entire
value of the acquisition.

In 2002, Dell expanded its product line to include

televisions, handhelds, digital audio players,
and printers. Chairman and CEO Michael Dell had
repeatedly blocked President and COO Kevin Rollins's
attempt to lessen the company's heavy dependency on
PCs, which Rollins wanted to fix by acquiring EMC
Corporation.

13
In 2003, the company was rebranded as simply "Dell
Inc." to recognize the company's expansion beyond
computers.

In 2004, Michael Dell resigned as CEO while retaining

the position of Chairman, handing the CEO title to Kevin
Rollins, who had been President and COO since 2001.
Despite no longer holding the CEO title, Dell essentially
acted as a de facto co-CEO with Rollins.

Under Rollins, Dell acquired Alienware, a manufacturer

of high-end PCs targeted mainly towards
the gaming market.

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Disappointments

In 2005, while earnings and sales continued to rise,

sales growth slowed considerably, and the company
stock lost 25% of its value that year. By June 2006, the
stock traded around US$25 which was 40% down from
July 2005—the high-water mark of the company in the
post-dotcom era.

The slowing sales growth has been attributed to the

maturing PC market, which constituted 66% of Dell's
sales, and analysts suggested that Dell needed to make
inroads into non-PC businesses segments such as
storage, services, and servers.

Dell's price advantage was tied to its ultra-lean

manufacturing for desktop PCs, but this became less
important as savings became harder to find inside the
company's supply chain, and as competitors such as
Hewlett-Packard and Acer made their PC manufacturing
operations more efficient to match Dell, weakening Dell's
traditional price differentiation.

15
Throughout the entire PC industry, declines in prices
along with commensurate increases in performance
meant that Dell had fewer opportunities to up-sell to
their customers (a lucrative strategy of encouraging
buyers to upgrade the processor or memory).

Dell 2.0 and downsizing

Dell announced a change campaign called "Dell 2.0,"

reducing the number of employees and diversifying the
company's productsWith the return of Michael Dell as
CEO, the company saw immediate changes in
operations, the exodus of many senior vice-presidents
and new personnel brought in from outside the
company.

16
Michael Dell announced a number of initiatives and
plans (part of the "Dell 2.0" initiative) to improve the
company's financial performance. These include
elimination of 2006 bonuses for employees with some
discretionary awards, reduction in the number of
managers reporting directly to Michael Dell from 20 to
12, and reduction of "bureaucracy". Jim Schneider
retired as CFO and was replaced by Donald Carty, as the
company came under an SEC probe for its accounting
practices.

On April 23, 2008, Dell announced the closure of one of

its biggest Canadian call-centers in Kanata, Ontario,
terminating approximately 1100 employees, with 500 of
those redundancies effective on the spot, and with the
official closure of the center scheduled for the summer.
The call-center had opened in 2006 after the city
of Ottawa won a bid to host it. Less than a year later,
Dell planned to double its workforce to nearly 3,000
workers add a new building. These plans were reversed,
due to a high Canadian dollar that made the Ottawa
staff relatively expensive, and also as part of Dell's

17
turnaround, which involved moving these call-center
jobs offshore to cut costs.

Dell's major competitors include Hewlett-Packard (HP),

Hasee, Acer, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, Asus,
Lenovo, IBM, MSI, Panasonic with its Tough book
series, Samsung and Apple. Dell and its subsidiary,
Alien ware, compete in the enthusiast market
against AVA Direct, Falcon Northwest, Voodoo PC (a
subsidiary of HP), and other manufacturers. In the
second quarter of 2006, Dell had between 18% and 19%
share of the worldwide personal computer market,
compared to HP with roughly 15%.

18
In late 2006, Dell lost its lead in the PC-business to
Hewlett-Packard. Both Gartner and IDC estimated that
in the third quarter of 2006, HP shipped more
units worldwide than Dell did. Dell's 3.6% growth paled
in comparison to HP's 15% growth during the same
period. The problem got worse in the fourth quarter,
when Gartner estimated that Dell PC shipments declined
8.9% (versus HP's 23.9% growth). As a result, at the end
of 2006 Dell's overall PC market-share stood at 13.9%
(versus HP's 17.4%).

IDC reported that Dell lost more server market share

than any of the top four competitors in that arena. IDC's
Q4 2006 estimates show Dell's share of the server

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market at 8.1%, down from 9.5% in the previous year.
This represents an 8.8% loss year-over-year, primarily to
competitors EMC and IBM.

As a multinational enterprise, Dell is very competent in

executing its global strategy, giving the company a
competitive advantage that was unrivaled in the first half
of the 2000s.

One of the sources of Dell’s initial competitive advantage

can be attributed to its famous direct selling and build-
to-order approach. This just-in-time (JIT) strategy
allowed it to operate with the lowest inventory level in
the industry.

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Reducing excess inventory provided Dell with a
significant cost advantage as component costs
depreciate as much as 1% weekly in the electronics
industry. Direct selling has also allowed Dell to bypass
intermediaries such as wholesalers and retailers,
reducing costs even further. In addition, Dell offered
customizable options that proved to be customer-centric
and attractive.

Dell’s global force of 200 suppliers had access to

automated and real-time information such as demand
trends and volume expectations for different
components. This close relationship with suppliers and
the direct selling model had allowed Dell to balance
demand and supply remarkably well.

21
Dell conducts its business operations worldwide in many
different foreign markets. One of Dell’s motivations to
internationalize was to secure supplies and gain access
to low-cost factors. Dell situated manufacturing plants
across the world, seeking out location-specific
advantages such as low labour costs and highly
productive workforces.

The manufacturing operations are also in close

proximity to important regional markets to minimize
delay between purchase and delivery.Dell’s choice of
locations had indeed armed it with an initial competitive
advantage.

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Dell Vostro is a line of computers from Dell aimed at the
small businesses. In 2013, this line discontinued on
some Dell websites but continued to be offered in other
markets, such as Malaysia.

Prior to Vostro, Dell's home and small business

computers were sold under the same lines: Dimension
for home and small business desktops and Inspiron for
home and small business portables. With the
introduction of Vostro, the Dimension line was
discontinued, and the Inspiron line changed to include

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all computers for the home market; regardless of form
factor. One marked difference between the Inspiron line
and the Vostro line is that the Vostro line is cheaper but
comes with shorter technical availability.

Dell Vostro 15 3546 4th gen Intel Core i3/ 4 GB/1 TB is

an affordable business laptop. It has a 15.6 inch HD
LED Backlit display with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution.
The laptop has Intel Core i3 1.9 GHz processor, NVIDIA
GeForce GT 820M 2 GB DDR3 graphics processor and
runs Windows 8.1 OS. The laptop has 1TB HDD, 4GB
RAM, inbuilt DVD Drive and comes with a 1 year
warranty. Other features included are a built in HD
Webcam with microphone, multi media card reader and
a 4 cell Lithium ion battery.

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Dell Vostro 15 3546 4th gen Intel Core i3/ 4 GB/1 TB is
a stylish and powerful Mainstream Laptop and is
powered by Intel Core i3 (4th Generation) processor
clocked at a speed of 1.9 GHz and sports a 15.6 inch HD
LED Backlit anti glare Display that comes with a
resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, so the picture quality is
crisp and detailed. The screen size is big enough for an
enriching gaming, surfing and video watching
experience.

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On the memory front, the laptop is equipped with a
hard drive of 1 TB and a 4 DDR3 RAM, thereby making
it possible to store ample amount of data. All the above
features ensure that you breeze through all your tasks
throughout the day. The connectivity options available
on the device are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0,2 x USB 2.0, 1 x
USB 3.0, VGA. It supports an optical Drive, comes with
Built in HD Webcam (1 MP), Multi media card reader. It
is loaded with 2W x 2 Stereo speakers and Waves Maxx
Audio for a great audio experience

Strengths

Dell's Direct Model approach enables the company

to offer d i r e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h c u s t o m e r s
s u c h a s c o r p o r a t e a n d institutional customers.
Their strategic method also provides other forms of
products and services such as internet and
telephone purchasing, customized computer
systems; phone and online technical support and
next-day, on-site product service. This extensive
range of products and services is definitely one of Dell’s

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strengths. Dell Computer's award-winning customer
service, industry-leading growth and consistently strong
financial performance differentiate the company from
competitors for the following reasons: Price for
Performance – Dell boasts a very efficient
procurement, manufacturing and distribution
process allowing it to offer customers powerful
systems at competitive prices. Reliability, Service and
Support – Dell’s direct customer allows it to provide top-
notch customer service before and after the sale.

Latest Technology – Dell is able to introduce the

latest relevant technology compared to companies
using the indirect distribution channels.

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Weaknesses

Dell’s biggest weakness is attracting the college

student segment of the market. Dell’s sales revenue
from educational institutions such as colleges is not
much. Dell’s focus on the corporate and government
institutional customers somehow affected its ability to
form relationships with educational institutions. Dell is
obviously popular among the college student but the
deterrent is the options available is either costlier
than competitors and most of the time not available
off the shelf.

Threats

In a volatile market such as personal computers,

threats a bound. Computers change in a constant

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sometime daily basis. New software, new hardware
and computer accessories are introduced at a
lightning speed. It is essential for Dell therefore to be
always on the lookout for new things or introduce new
computer systems.The threat to become outmoded is a
pulsating reality in a computer business. Not only that,
companies must produce products that are high in
quality but reasonable in price.

This is one challenge that Dell contends with. One of

the biggest external threats to Dell is that price
difference among brands is getting smaller. Dell’s
Direct Model attracts customers because it saves cost.

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Since other companies are able to offer computers at
low costs, this could threaten Dell’s price-
conscious growing customer base. With almost
identical prices, price difference is no longer an issue
for a customer. They might choose other brands
instead of waiting for Dell’s customized computers.
The growth rate of the computer industry is also
slowing down.

Opportunities

Personal computers are becoming a necessity now more

than ever. Customers are getting more and more
educated about computers. Second-time buyers would

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most likely avail of Dell’s custom-built computers
because as their knowledge grows, so do their need to
experiment or use some additional computer features.
Demand for laptops is also growing. As a matter of fact,
demand for laptop has overtaken the demand for
desktops. This is another opportunity for Dell to grow in
other segments. The internet also provides Dell with
greater opportunities since all they have to do now is to
visit Dell’s website to place their order or to get
information. Even if a Dell’s retail not available nearby,
the online stores would surely make up for its absence.
It is also more convenient for customers to shop online
than to actually drive and do purchase at a physical
store.

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 QUICK SPECIFICATIONS

DISPLAY

Size 15.60-inch

Resolution 1366x768 pixels

Touch Screen No

PROCESSOR

Intel Core i3 5th Gen

Processor
5015U

Cache 3MB

MEMORY

RAM 4GB

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GRAPHICS

Graphics Processor NVIDIA GeForce 920M

Dedicated Graphic Memory 2GB

Dedicated Graphic Memory

DDR3
Type

STORAGE

Hard disk 1TB

SSD No

CONNECTIVITY

Wi-Fi standards supported 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth version 4

Ethernet 10/100 T

INPUTS

Web Camera Yes

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 Pointer Device Touchpad

Speakers 2 Speakers

PORTS AND SLOTS

Number of USB Ports 3

USB Ports 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0

HDMI Port Standard

Lock Slot Kensington Lock Port

Headphone and Mic

Yes
Combo Jack

RJ45 (LAN) Yes

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From the above study, it is concluded that Dell clearly
knows the factors that drive the success and business.
The company has developed knowledge about the
working of business and ways to serve the customers.
Dell believes in the philosophy of continuous
development and searching for the next boundary of
value, which they can create for their customers.
Therefore, it always focuses on the policy of valuable
interactions. Hence, it’s the company that gets
personally involved with the customers.

As a result of these interactions, Dell possesses

competitive advantage in relation to the speedy decision
making. Through the proper application of the
distribution and marketing strategy, Dell has major
opportunities of growth in foreign markets. Dell
Corporation’s strength lies in the huge volume of current
sales. The continuous advancement in the technology
and product also develops an opportunity to grow in the
market successfully. Apart from this, it is the leader in
the customization, Internet sales and latest technology.

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Moreover, the company has fantabulous growth rate and
low costs.

SUGGESTIONS

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Dell is falling behind in following areas and must find
out ways to maintain its position in the market
Commodity Products:

The large stream of Dell’s revenues comes from

computer, especially laptop, sales, which is a
commoditized product. Computer hardware (commodity)
products are sold with a very low profit margin.

Poor Customer Services:

Once praised, Dell’s customer services deteriorated due

to outsourcing its call centres offshore. Dell invested a
large sum of money in fixing this, but hasn’t yet
regained its previous reputation for customer services.

Low Investments in R&D:

The company spends a much lower percentage of its
income on R&D that its main competitors and thus,
missed an opportunity to develop strong products for
smart phones and tablet markets as well as to learn new
skill and capabilities.

Weak patent portfolio:

37
Due to low spending on R&D Dell hasn’t acquired a
strong portfolio of patents and is now finds it hard to
compete in lucrative smart phones and tablets market.

Too few retail locations:

Selling products online saves money and allows for

product customization but provides less visibility for the
products. The consumer finds it hard to trust the
products if it can’t hold it first in his hands.

Low differentiation:

Low price was once Dell’s competitive advantage but the

company is no longer able to provide competitive prices.
Apart from the price, Dell’s products are little
differentiated from competitors’ products and are in
competitive disadvantage if the price offered by
competitor is lower.

RECOMENDATION
S
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DELL VOSTRO laptop is very user friendly the most
impressive part of the laptop is solid build quality and
performance user friendly, good battery backup, runs 4
to 5 hours after fully charged.

Build design is absolutely pleasing, worth of money.

Price tag is not so high, honestly, dear friends anybody
wants to buy a Dell laptop with limited budget. then go
for it, this buy is worth for money. With brand like Dell,
service and support would not be an issue, as Dell is a
global brand.

Let me brief about each specification:

Reliability and satisfaction: DELL always satisfies its

customer with the build quality they use and the service
they provide for their products which makes it the
preferable chosen brand in this segment.

Value for Money:

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Got this awesome piece just for Rs. 28, 000 and also got
3 year extended warranty just by paying Rs.1000 as a
ongoing offer.

Service &Support:

Haven't received any issues in past 8 months hence

cannot comment on this but yes their on call support is
awesome. They fix the date for call back and follows
accordingly.

User Friendly:

Well it depends on OS you use for but in my case I have

used both Linux UBANTU as well as Microsoft
WINDOWS 10 and it is user friendly in both the cases.

A one line for this product would be I cannot take my

hands away when I am typing. Keyboard, display and
performance of Intel i3 processor feels a great and
usable product.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Software

https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/
about-dell

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.as
px/corp/en/about_dell?c=us&l=en

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