In 1965 the war in Vietnam continued to escalate, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, and private enterprise launched the first commercial satellite to offer telecommunication services to industry. Perhaps it was a propitious happening, then, that in such a year of social transformation and technological innovation an infant christened Michael Dell was born. Nineteen years later in 1984, with $1,000 capital and a revolutionary idea applicable to the personal computer industry, Michael Dell launched Dell Computer Corporation (Michael, 2001, 1). The revolutionary idea, much like that had by the founder of Amazon.com, Jeffrey Bezos, eliminate the middleman who adds little but cost to the sales equation.
Today, Dell Computer Corporation is the world’s number one direct-sale computer vendor and among the world’s top personal computer manufacturers counting Compaq, Gateway, and IBM as its chief rivals. Michael Dell is the longest tenured CEO in the personal computer industry and still retains 12% of the company (Dell, 2001, 1). Dell now operates sales offices in 34 countries with a staff of more than 40,000 employees (Michael, 2001, 1). From 1984 when the company was founded through 2000, the company grew from $6 million to $32 million (Michael, 2001, 1). In 1996 and 1997, Dell was the top-performer among Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Nasdaq 100, as well as the highest performing U.S. stock on the Dow Jones World Stock Index (Direct, 2001, 1).
The underlying strategy since the inception of Dell has been what is known as the Dell Direct Model. The entire idea behind the formation of Dell was to revolutionize the way people, businesses, and industry buy computers. Also known as the direct-to-customer business model, Dell’s strategy for success is customer dedication. This remains true whether it is an individual purchasing a computer for the first time or a corporation with 1,000s of employees looking for...