Geoff -
From reading your post, a reader would never know that IBM's pc division, which I assume is what this discussion is all about, is losing money.
I think this is exactly the point. If Dell's 'pc division' loses money, Dell loses money, since Dell has no other business. IBM, HP and CPQ can (at least in theory!) generate good overall profits independent of the health of their pc business. They can generate overall offerings which link up a range of components, some of which are pc products, to meet the overall needs of the enterprise.
Dell, through careful management of the customer, excellent execution, good cost management, and innovative delivery models, can make a business in the enterprise. But they can hardly sweep the other players from the enterprise field when they can only offer 15% of the products those enterprise customers demand. |
