IMO, the reason that a leading tech company doesn't lose the edge is because once the market adopts one proprietary standard, it is almost impossible to change to a different standard. Thus, MSFT and CSCO both have this advantage. INTC has this advantage, too, to a certain extent, though not as strong and their market share is falling as a result. So my impression is that Dell doesn't have this advantage, since one PC generally works with any other PC, and pretty well anyone can build a PC. (ie. PCs are close to being commodities.)
So, I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm curious about your reasoning. Why is it true that when a tech company is on the leading edge, it rarely loses its edge? (I agree that it is true; I'm interested in why you think that it is true.) Plus, I'm interested in your opinion of what characteristics Dell has that will enable it to keep its leading edge. (If your argument is just "most high tech companies on the leading edge tend to win. Dell is on the leading edge. Therefore, Dell would tend to win." that's a perfectly decent, reasonable argument, but I'm curious if the argument has more depth.)
Richard |
