Manwah, Denise, China Trader and Thread,
I have a few questions that you may be able to shed some light on, regarding the B-T-O.
DELL is undoubtedly the leader in BTO. I can see how this model benefited DELL in the consumer market. They don't even have to guess what the consumers want, just make what they order.
What I don't understand is how this model benefit DELL in the business sector, servers and corporate clients? Do you suppose that the CIO of some big corporation, when making a major purchasing decision, sign on to the internet and buy 500, 1000 PCs or a multi million dollar order of some combination with a corporate credit card via the internet? Wouldn't it be more logical that he/she solicit bids from each of the major vendors? I seriously doubt that HWP, IBM, CPQ would go back to the buyer and say "sorry, we only have these configurations to choose from, take it or leave it." They will be bidding on a BTO basis, just like DELL. What is DELL's advantage in this case?
Is it possible that DELL's high growth in this sector is merely a reflection of the sector, not DELL's specific performance? Is it possible that IDC type growth rate data are only for the consumer PCs, excluding growth in other sectors? Does anyone here actually subscribe to the pay services such as Dataquest and have better breakdowns?
Thanks in advance to any response.
Ramsey |
