| Project 1: | | | | SWOT analysis: |
| Introduction: | | | | Strengths: |
| Dell is an American company which deals with | | | | Strength of the Dell company is that the company |
| computer and computer related products, the | | | | offer customised products to its consumers, the |
| company employs over 78,000 employees, this | | | | company products are built to order, the customer |
| company is the second largest company in the | | | | orders and he or she is shipped the product, for this |
| computer industry while Compaq is the largest. The | | | | reason therefore the customer gets what he or she |
| company was funded by Michael Dell in 1984 hence | | | | wants, this is a strength through which the company is |
| the name Dell. | | | | able to communicate with its customers and they are |
| Competitors: | | | | able to understand their needs which is a key to |
| The Dell Company faces major competition from | | | | success in every business. |
| other companies, this include Apple, Sun Microsystems, | | | | The Dell Company has some weaknesses where one |
| Gateway, Sony, Asus, Toshiba and Hewlett Packard | | | | of its weaknesses is that it highly depends on the |
| which is also referred to as HP. All this companies are | | | | suppliers of components. This makes it a weakness in |
| its competitors but HP is its major competitor, | | | | that it depends on other companies to supply them |
| competition increased when HP merged with Compaq | | | | with computer components instead of them producing |
| in the year 2006, this meant stiffer competition and the | | | | their own computer components. |
| company lost its market position to become the | | | | Opportunities: |
| second largest seller of computers and computer | | | | There is a market potential in many regions in the |
| appliances. | | | | world where Dell has not introduced its products, these |
| Success of Dell: | | | | markets especially are in china, India and Europe, and |
| Dell has succeeded in changing their products when a | | | | for this reason therefore this company has the |
| new technology emerges. This is followed by a well | | | | potential to expand their market size in these regions |
| organised supply chain where products are offered in | | | | where the company would experience an increase in |
| the market, for this reason therefore Dell has been | | | | the market area. |
| successful due to their quick adoption to new | | | | Another opportunity of this company is that it would be |
| technology that emerge in the production of | | | | in a position to under price its competitor and in turn |
| computers and computer products. | | | | increase sales levels which will result into higher profits, |
| Performance measures in the computer industry: | | | | for this reason therefore the company should invest |
| Performance measures are those indicators that help | | | | more in discovery of new technology which will ensure |
| a company to define and measure the progress of | | | | that they are in a position to provide latest technology |
| the company, the computer industry has come up with | | | | products at low prices to its customers. |
| benchmarks to measure performance, the Raw | | | | Threats: |
| speed is one of benchmark used to measure | | | | Currency fluctuations in countries which are outside the |
| performance in this industry, it is a measure from | | | | united states also pose a threat to the company, this |
| SPEC which stands for standard performance | | | | fluctuations may lead the company to loose their |
| evaluation Corp, this benchmark measures the central | | | | earnings as customers order goods from outside the |
| processing unit, however this measure does not | | | | united states and the currency fluctuates. |
| consider how fast data can be retrieved from the | | | | Financial ratios: |
| hard disk and this measure is complicated. | | | | The gross margin is a financial ratio that defines a |
| Another test checks the CPU integer performance. | | | | companies amount of contribution toward its enterprise |
| This means checking how the CPU handles simple | | | | after payments of it production costs, the value of |
| tasks, the other measure is the SPECINT95 which | | | | gross margin for Dell company is 18.71%, the gross |
| checks how the product handles complex | | | | margin is derived from revenue minus cost of goods |
| mathematics. Another performance measure is the | | | | sold divided by revenue then multiplied by a hundred. |
| graphic performance benchmark, it is aimed at | | | | The market capitalisation for Dell is 42.8 billion dollars |
| measuring how fast computers will run graphic | | | | while total shares outstanding are 2.2 billion, the |
| intensive applications, and the graphic performance | | | | earnings per share ration in this company is equal to |
| measure is provided by the GPC which stands for | | | | 1.33. |
| Graphic performance committee. | | | | References: |
| Project two: | | | | Haim M. and Johannes Z. |