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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: edamo who wrote (152959)	2/3/2000 1:52:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Respond to of 176387

Ed, what must be considered is that the above is beneficial if the end assembler (dell) went thru programmed product changes, with full knowledge of no disruption of the downstream supply chain. in fact in a fast moving world of technology, the product transitions, say in the case of intc must always be flawless, or we will have again what recently transpired..... the bigger and closer to perfection the model gets, then the downstream must also maintain a similar size, focus and perfection. Absolutely true, and Dell's "virtual integration" on the supply side is an attempt to mitigate the problem. But what's the alternative? Stockpiling components? I don't think so -- the risk of obsolescence and capital requirements are entirely too great. Vertical integration by buying key component manufacturing plants? Very expensive with a very low ROIC. I really think that Dell's model is the optimal compromise between the two alternatives. I would rather have occassional lost sales because of component shortages than the huge capital outlays required to obviate the problem. TTFN, CTC