3,
There is an extremely interesting interview with Michael Dell by David Kirkpatrick of Fortune magazine. New issue March 2, 1998. The interview gives his assessment of the Compaq deal. This interview occured in Davos, Switzerland. When asked about the Compaq acquisition:
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MICHAEL DELL: "I gotta believe these guys have just handed us a huge gift", he said. Sure Compaq had just bought a huge service organization. But what good is that, Dell asked? The bidders for big corporate projects typically include IBM,HP,maybe Digital, and then a host of independent service firms like Andersen Consulting, EDS, and KPMG, which team up with a hardware provider like Compaq or Dell. Consultants will look twice at pairing with Compaq, said Dell: "WE'VE HAD CALLS FROM VIRTUALLY ALL THE BIG SERVICE COMPANIES, SAYING, 'WE DONT THINK THIS DEAL IS A GOOD IDEA. THESE GUYS WILL BE OUR COMPETITOR. WE NEED TO WORK MORE CLOSELY WITH YOU'".
The interview continues with questions about buying somebody. The answer is an emphatic NO:
DELL: "Investment bankers always come to us and say, 'You ought to buy this or that,' and I tell them, 'We're growing 50% a year anyway--
why should we buy anything?' They dont have a good answer."
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You gotta love these guys. With all the cookie jar temptations in the technology industry, Dell has and will remain focused on the purity of their business model, partner where advantageous, and continue to be the lean,clean, money machine they currently are. I dont know when this will be posted on the net. This interview is from the current paper copy.
stephen |
