The New York Times today had a good piece on Dell. In fact the article is a text book example of an industry leader under attack by more adept competitors. Kevin Rollin’s offers the following:
When pressed for an explanation of why revenue growth has slowed
drastically and why profits have fallen, his explanation is short. "We
got a little too far ahead on profit, and that allowed competitors to
sneak in," he said in an interview at the company’s headquarters here,
referring to Dell’s profit-margin goals. "Our competitors got better,
and that allowed them to get strong."
Back in April 2005 I commented that:
"Lately Dell and his lieutenants have been on a bragging crusade" as evidenced by Steven Levy’s 02.21.05 column
in Newsweek titled "Steamrollered by the Dell Machine". Don’t get me
wrong, I think it’s fine to celebrate success and even taunt the
competition now and then. But you should never, ever tempt fate. Which
is what the boys at Dell seem to be doing…
Consider fate tempted.
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