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

To: John Carpenter who wrote (33121)	3/8/1998 8:09:00 PM
From: Jack T. Pearson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

"What barrier to entry is there to stop CPQ, IBM , or HWP from adopting DELL's highly successful direct sales/inventory method?" Lets say CPQ starts selling direct. Direct prices will be lower than through traditional channels because there isn't extra transportation, inventory management, and profit to distributors and retailers. So their traditional channels loose sales to Compaq direct sales or distributor and retailer margins get cut or both. As a retailer, I'd be better off promoting IBM and HP product where margins are higher and where my advertising dollars don't wind up helping sell more Compaqs direct.

To: John Carpenter who wrote (33121)	3/8/1998 10:28:00 PM
From: David E. Taylor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

CPQ has clearly decided to head in a different direction than DELL's direct sales model. CPQ flirted with buying GTW last year to give them a direct sales division, but apparently concluded that GTW wasn't competing very well with DELL, and that having a direct sales division would only eat away at sales from their channel distributors. In other words the sum of CPQ and GTW would be less than the two separate parts as far as sales go. With DELL munching steadily away at CPQ's lunch and CPQ unable to slow it down, CPQ has decided to move up the food chain and eat IBM, SUNW, HWP's lunch. Last years acquisition of Tandem and now DEC this year is a clear signal of CPQ's strategy. In my view, CPQ in the long term is going to win more from IBM/SUNW/HWP than they lose to DELL, and that's why I have a major long term holding in CPQ as well as DELL. At least the two experiences are presently kind of balancing each other out! David T.