Dell Ranks No. 1 in Technology Business Research, Inc. 3Q99 CBQ Ranking; Compaq Maintains No. 3 Ranking Despite Struggling Commercial PC Business
HAMPTON, N.H., Jan 14, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Dell Computer broke its
deadlock with Sun Microsystems in TBR's (www.tbri.com) Computer
Business Quarter (CBQ) ranking. While last quarter the two companies
were tied for the top spot, this quarter, Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL)
retained the No. 1 ranking while Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW) slipped to the No.
2 spot due to continuing pressure on its product strategy score as a
result of aggressive offerings by the PC server vendors. The strength
of both Dell and Sun, as indicated by their leadership positions each
quarter in TBR's CBQ ranking, shows that each has the ability to recast
themselves to capitalize on emerging market opportunities. For example,
while Dell's success over the past five years was largely due to
desktop and portable sales, TBR expects that Dell's success in the next
five years will be driven by services, servers, and storage. Similarly,
Sun's ".com" initiative, coupled with the company's willingness to risk
innovation, broadens Sun's target market well into the future.
CBQ Benchmark Index for Third Quarter 1999
3Q99 Rank 2Q99 Rank 2Q99 3Q99
No. 1 Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) No. 1 6.64 6.40
No. 2 Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW) No. 1 6.64 6.14
No. 3 Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) No. 3 6.25 5.89
No. 4 Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP) No. 4 5.72 5.67
No. 5 Gateway (NYSE: GTW) No. 7 5.37 5.22
No. 6 Unisys (NYSE: UIS) No. 5 5.67 5.19
No. 7 Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) No. 7 5.37 5.12
No. 8 IBM (NYSE: IBM) No. 6 5.56 5.09
No. 9 Acer Group No. 13 4.64 4.97
No. 10 Micron (Nasdaq: MUEI) No. 11 4.78 4.71
No. 11 Toshiba America No. 12 4.75 4.10
No. 12 SGI (NYSE: SGI) No. 9 5.27 4.07
Source: TBR
Note: Data General (ranked No. 10 in 2Q99) is not included in this
quarter's ranking due to its acquisition by EMC, and Packard Bell NEC
(ranked No. 14 in 2Q99) is not included due to the company's retreat
from its core U.S. consumer market. TBR has initiated coverage of EMC
as an industry impact report.
"Sun and Dell's ability to recognize evolving market conditions and
react quickly continue to place them at the top of TBR's ranking," said
Lindy Lesperance, TBR's Director of Computer Business Quarterly. "Both
companies combine solid product strategies, focused marketing
initiatives, best-in-class manufacturing operations, and tightly
managed business models to excel against their competitors. These
strengths, coupled with an ability to articulate and successfully
execute new strategic directions, continually put these companies at
the top of our ranking."
Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) maintained its No. 3 position, despite a sequential
drop in score driven by its ailing commercial PC business. Compaq's
strategy going forward will be to execute a delayed embrace of the
Internet across its technologies, services, and platforms, while
redefining the commercial PC space with simpler products and new form
factors. These new products will be a vehicle for returning Compaq's
commercial groups to profitability, as simpler form factors will
simplify supply-chain and manufacturing logistics.
HP (NYSE: HWP) maintained the No. 4 position this quarter. In her first
full quarter as CEO, Carly Fiorina is shaking up HP's corporate culture
to reshape the organization into a high-growth, leading-edge Internet
company that is backed by hungry sales teams, inspiring technology
development through HP Labs, and executive compensation that is linked
to both internal performance and benchmarks against key competitors.
Gateway (NYSE: GTW) moved to the No. 5 position, up from No. 7 last
quarter. Gateway's initiatives during the third quarter speak directly
to global expansion, SMB penetration, and broader utilization of the
Internet. These three areas have been a major focus for Gateway over
the last year, but a certain level of clarity was missing in how
Gateway would execute this strategy. Through this quarter's
developments, it is now clear that Gateway will use its Country Stores
and local value-added resellers to expand into different geographies.
Unisys (NYSE: UIS) dropped to the No. 6 position this quarter, from No.
5 last quarter. Unisys' quarter was marred by revenue growth that was
below expectations and weak sales in the services business. The weak
financial results come at a difficult time for the company as Unisys
has gained so much momentum compared with where the company was two
years ago in terms of improving the balance sheet, targeting its
successful repeatable solutions business, expanding outsourcing
opportunities, and developing a strategy to accomplish tactical and
strategic goals.
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) maintained the No. 7 spot this quarter. Apple's
turnaround is proving to be a long-term success. The company has shown
that originality and differentiation continue to be welcomed by
consumers in the commodity PC market. Apple's challenge going forward
will be to continue to fuel demand for its products through innovation.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) dropped to the No. 8 position this quarter, from No. 6
last quarter. While IBM is generating much-needed visibility in the
growing service-provider and communications markets, and continuing to
leverage its e-business solutions in its traditional computing markets,
IBM's large installed base became a drag on top-line growth this
quarter due to Y2K-related data-center freezes in spending that
affected RS6000, S/390, and AS/400 revenue growth.
About TBR:
TBR's highly quantitative, proprietary benchmarking methodology ranks
the leading global computer vendors on a comparative basis every
quarter, based on effective implementation of product strategy,
marketing strategy, manufacturing strategy, and business model. TBR
specializes in the competitive analysis of the major players in the
global computing market through its industry standard Computer Business
Quarterly (CBQ) benchmarking.
Complete details are available to accredited journalists. For more
information, please visit TBR's website at www.tbri.com, or contact:
CONTACTS:
Lindy Lesperance, Director, Computer Business Quarterly
Technology Business Research, Inc.
PH: 603-929-1166; FAX: 603-926-9801
email: lesperan@tbri.com
Jon Lindy, Vice President
Technology Business Research, Inc.
PH: 603-929-1166; FAX: 603-926-9801
email: lindy@tbri.com
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