The Success Story of Dell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Success Story of Dell - Essay Example So, we had to prove that what we had was better. And that forced us to invent a lot of new ways of doing things that delivered a lot better value. And so we looked all across the supply chain and the demand chain for innovations that would drive success for our customers (Michael Dell quoted at Holzner, 2005, 29). Dell, the world’s premier, and most profitable computer hardware technology company is engaged in manufacture and sale of a vast variety of IT related products including personal computers, servers, data storage devices, computer peripherals, laptops, notebooks, netbooks, network switches, displays, projectors, monitors, and televisions. The consumer class notebooks and desktops are sold under the brand names of Dimension, Studio, Inspiron, and XPS, while the commercial class desktops The product portfolio of Dell also includes software, managed services, professional services, and training and certification services. Besides, Dell provides services such as systems integration and infrastructure consulting. Dell Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell provides financial services to business and individual customers. The company was founded by Michael Dell, with a start-up capital of $1000, while he was a student at the University of Texas, at Austin, in 1984. Its original name was PC’s Limited. Four years after its inception, the company went public in 1989, raising $30 million in its IPO, thus increasing its market capitalization to $85 million. By 1989, the US sales of Dell had touched $257.8 million. By 1990, the company had set up subsidiaries in Italy and France to cater to the markets of Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Dell has successfully implemented Just-in-time manufacturing to effectively curtail inventory overheads. In 1997, the company was placed in the fourth position after IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq, in the manufacture and sales of computers and related products.

International Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

International Relations - Essay Example When this state of affairs took place in Europe, jobs were created for the increasing number of workers, but in poor countries, this economic manipulation has had a damaging impact, throwing a number of workers out of production. It thus impedes the launch into sustainable development and self-supported progress (Halevy 1981, 67-68). This is the inherent problem in the relationship between the core and periphery, which Immanuel Wallerstein attempted to resolve. But was he successful in resolving this problem? This essay thus tries to prove that he is indeed so. Overview of Wallerstein’s Theory of Semi-Periphery Immanuel Wallerstein tries to analyse and understand the growth of the West—the ‘core’—and the retarded growth of the third world—the ‘periphery’—as regards to world system governed by capitalistic structures which has facilitated economic penetration from the core to the periphery. As explained by Wallerstein, this world system which grew during the 16th century has shown the vital and extraordinary attribute of being economically integrated but politically disunited (Jackson & Sorensen 2007, 191). Earlier world systems were characterised by global empires where in massive stretches of lands, peopled by various racial/ethnic groups, were governed by a single political machinery. These empires were successful in acquiring huge quantities of surplus, for a while, by collecting taxes from faraway lands in return for political security (Jackson & Sorensen 2007, 191). Yet, eventually, the cost of sustaining this security (e.g. military expenses) exceeded the economic gains of exploitation and manipulation, and the systems were hence fated to collapse. On the contrary, the European world system has not been hindered by an overruling political body; thus its natural strength, stability, and flexibility. This system, on its own, has been able to acquire surplus which does not have to be used up on the preservation of world order; thus, it on its own has been a major contributor to the growth of capitalism (Baylis, Smith, & Owens 2008). An economic world system was not merely favourable for the growth of capitalism; it was a requisite of it. This is due to the fact that crucial, initial capital accumulation did not take place substantially in the ‘core’ where in capitalist structures in fact grew, but instead in the ‘periphery’, from which it was embezzled through the world system dynamics for the core’s interest and gains. Such initial capital accumulation in the periphery was facilitated because the capitalist ventures of landholders there had enhanced productivity by opening up ventures with low ‘per capita output’ such as major plantations (Halevy 1981, 68). Forced labour and cash crop, which supported these ventures in the periphery, was hence the important foundation for the preliminary growth of capitalism in core countries. Th e capitalist landholders of the periphery have been trading their products on a global market and thus have been in constant rivalry against each other. The benefits of high output or productivity that they have attained have consequently been equalised by their products’ lower prices. Their boosts in efficiency and higher