The King of personal computers, Michael Dell is an interesting bloke, who seems to polarise opinions, much like Virgins Richard Branson.
In my opinion, what Dell did- and continues to do- is outsmart his competition through effective and efficient execution of a logistics system. A system that supplies cheap personal computers to a broad market. No a lot of "real" innovation, just superior execution of product distribution. With such a fantastic business model, it was no surprise that Dell has moved into printers. The only surprise was that it took so long... So it was interesting to read Dell's comments on the move in a recent New York Times article:
"The biggest mistake I've made,'' confesses Dell, "was not getting into printers sooner."
Yep, the printers (rebranded Lexmark machines) are moving nicely. So nicely that it has caught the eye of Carleton Fiorina, the chief executive of the Hewlett-Packard, the powerhouse of the printing business. She notes that her company's printers and cartridges, especially the inkjet printheads--clusters of nozzles, each smaller than a human hair, spurting out millions of superheated droplets a second--are the result of two decades of sophisticated semiconductor and nanotechnology research.
"Somebody doesn't just come along, particularly a company that is not an innovator, and say, 'We're going to do it better,'" Fiorina said. "Dell isn't doing anything. It's just distributing other people's products."
The confrontation between Hewlett-Packard and Dell is more than a particularly lively bout of competition in the $106 billion-a-year printing industry. It is a clash--and an intriguing test case--of two different models of innovation and corporate strategy.
But according to Dell, things are just beginning, "Stay tuned. There's a lot we can and will do," he said. A better business model, he explains, will beat a better technology, and he insists the odds are on his side in the printing business over the long run. "The days of engineering-led technology companies are coming to an end," Dell declared.
For her part, Fiorina will take that bet. "We're the biggest,'' she said. "We're the best, and we're getting better in a growing market."
Poor Fiorina, she the boss of a big corporate dinosaur that obviously has its head buried deep in the sand. Is she just upset that HP can't distribute it's products like Dell can, and at the end of the day, we don't care too much about all her industrial chemists and ink gurus.
You gotta listen to the market Carleton... we couldn't care less if you are "the biggest" or not.
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