Business Week March 23, 98
Analysis of PC industry
By Peter Burrows in Palo Alto, Calif., with Gary McWilliams in Houston, and Robert
D. Hof in San Mateo, Calif.
A long article here is an excerpt from it. Long live Dell Longs!
"That means computer makers must adjust costs now or wither. The No.1
cost-efficiency mantra is death to inventory: by letting resellers assemble computers as
orders come in from customers, PC makers can limit the amount of inventory in stock
and get it sold faster, before prices fall. Yet while Compaq and IBM intend to use such
tactics, they'll still be far behind direct-sales juggernaut Dell Computer Corp. The
build-to-order king, whose costs are roughly nine percentage points less than rivals,
continues to roll along. Michael Kwatinetz of DMG Technology Group expects Dell to
post a 50% jump in profits, to $294 million, on a 49% rise in sales this quarter." |
