es. Quality-adjusted prices have fallen at a rate of 25% per year. IBM PC clones, or so-called white box PCs, are sold such low prices that there are few barriers to owning a computer.
As distribution channels and served-customer segments expanded over time, firm marketing activities included the development and implementation of integrated and coordinated marketing campaigns as well as corporate image programs. It is important for competitors and entrants to recognize that having a "brand name" in general purpose computers or even in general purpose personal computers, will not be sufficient to guarantee an effective brand presence in another market segment (Bayus, Erickson, Jacobson, 197).
The distribution channel for PCs appears to be rebounding after a period of adjustment to the new realities of the marketplace. One of these realities is the willingness of PC manufacturers such as IBM, Compaq, Dell and others to sell direct to consumer. One reason for its re-emergence of the distribution channel has been efforts by major distributors to enhance their value-add services to their customer base. It has been years since distributors did virtually nothing but pick, pack and ship PCs. According to Computer Reseller News, distributors have been investing millions of dollars in order to offer additional value added services to customers to bolster their relationship with customers. While certain professional services are largely the domain of solution providers, there are occasions where distributors can play a role in delivering professional services on behalf of solution providers (Campbell, 28).
According to Steven Burke & Jeff O'Heir, the pricing disadvantage and channel conflict that solution providers are facing against the direct-sales arms of vendors such as Hewlett-Packard are fueling growth in the white-box server and desktop markets. As a result, the number of solution providers building white-box servers is up. ...