Dell Computers Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Dell Computers - Case Study Example According to Technical Business Research (TBR) Quarter 2, 2007 Corporate IT Buying Behavior & Customer Satisfaction Study: x86-based Servers, Dell rank first in customer satisfaction for standards based servers, beating even HP and IBM. According to TBR, "Dell's overall weighted score improved 1.1 percent sequentially, while HP and IBM declined by 1.5 and 0.8 percent, respectively. Dell was the only systems provider to show an improvement in TBR's latest study, with customer satisfaction scores increasing in eight of the nine attributes measured, including server management, phone support, delivery time, value and ease of doing business." (Dell Named No. 1 in Server Customer Satisfaction 2007). Literature Review Customer contentment and Dell: Customers are the ultimate judges and creators of success or failure of a company. They are the veritable force behind flourishing enterprises. In the area of selling computer and related products, they exert importance in areas of quality and service of product lines. Dell is a company which produces good quality products for millions of customers all over the world. In the words of the founder of Dell, Michael Dell - "Our business is about technology, yes. But it's also about operations and customer relationships." (Michael Dell quotes 2009). From the beginning he had a bright view about the customers' needs. He kept the price of the products to an affordable range and started giving choices to select the product parts of their interest. Customer contentment is always related to the quality of the product and the affordability. In case of consumer electronic goods, especially in computer and related products, support and after-sales service is of huge importance. It is indeed a challenging... This paper describes the history of creating the Dell computer and the use of it in UK. First and foremost, â€Å"Dell was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell on a simple concept: by selling computer systems directly to customers, we could best understand their needs and efficiently provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs.† Michael started his company when he was a student in University of Texas at Austin with a capital of $1,000. At that time he named his Company as PC’s Limited. He dropped out of school in order to concentrate fulltime on his business. During 1985, his company developed a personal computer with its own design. It was termed as Turbo PC and it was sold for less than $800.The company started providing custom assembled ordered units on the customers’ selection with lower prices than of the other branded PCs. Dell, Inc. has a strong market share in UK.. All the ranges of their products are sold in the UK market. Main products sold in UK are PCs, Laptops, Servers, Network Equipments and other peripheral devices. From the starting of Dell in UK, it gave wide publicity to its products in media. Affordability is the leading aspect it implements in marketing. All the customers are well educated and hence, the technical details are mentioned in the classifieds. As UK is a developed country, the customers have special interests in high end technology and design. As the time goes, the customers’ attention goes more towards the quality and performance, rather than its price.

Sourcing Decisions of Arts and Media Organizations Essay

Sourcing Decisions of Arts and Media Organizations - Essay Example Likewise, the process of fund raising and donations has rather become a commercial activity that not only has resulted in more and more charity events but has also created a market within that is funded by such large organizations. The amalgamation of social services and media and arts has been an eminent result. Hence the market for sponsorships has thrived. These can be seen by the famous charity events by BBC and FOX news (Dan 2011). Thus, activities like fundraising, donations and sponsorships are of strategic importance to such organizations which is why sourcing decisions are of integral importance to not only a firm’s financial standing but also to its public relations. It has no become a necessity to get the charity events sponsored or to sponsor a charity event for that matter, as it adds to the reputation and good will of the company. Likewise, firms involved in fundraising are evaluated on the basis of their participation in social activities and on this has become marketing an essential marketing tactics to broaden their customer base and reach of the brand. Fundraising events or sponsorships act as a contact point for several untapped markets and increases brand loyalty of the existing customer base (Pope 2010). Therefore, sourcing decisions are imperative. ... These may include the extended reach of its brand awareness, the objective to increase its brand exposure by having logos placed on the event’s advertisements or simply the motif of profit maximization. These objectives might sometimes conflict with the objective of the firm especially if the event is a charity event (Pope 2010). In that case both the parties will aim for different incentives thus the marketer must provide more substance than just logo pasting. Moreover, the commercial benefit of the sponsor may often be in direct conflict with the firm’s strategic goals. Hence rounds are negotiations are often common when sourcing decisions are made which however incur much costs for the firm (Simmons 2006). Therefore, the most crucial step is the decision to choose from the various candidates. A firm must choose the sponsor who is the best fit with the company’s strategic goals as well as its public image. The Consumer Involvement theory suggests that consumers make purchase decisions based on the level of involvement they have with the brand and includes the aspects of consumer behaviour like amount of time spent on choosing the product or service, research about the specific product or service, asking friends and family etc. therefore, like the advertisements and promotions, sponsorships should be based on such considerations (Krohmer 2011). Given the nature of arts and media products and services, which are high involvement decision making processes involving emotion rather than rational, the sponsorship should be based on consumers’ preferences of the emotional brands that they associate themselves. Hence if an organization is unable to identify the purchase decisions of its