MichaelDell’smagicformulaforsuccess.doc

Michael Dell’s magic formula for success (Ms. Jin’s version) Direct Marketing is but skin-deep 1 Speaking of Dell Computer, the first thing that comes to most people’s mind is its direct-marketing model, which has been summarized by some as “Walmart plus Fed” and has been asserted to be the soul of Dell Computer. But the truth is direct marketing alone can never make a technologically mediocre company a leader in the IT industry where primacy of technology is a cherished belief. During an interview at the company’s headquarters, Dell, in response to a similar question, answered, “Direct marketing is easy in itself. Many competitors started to imitate/copy it more than a decade ago, but so far, none of them makes it work/ we are the only case of success.” 2 Mr. Dell’s answer is full of confidence/ an assured one. He knows that his competitors have only had the superficial knowledge of Dell’s success by copying direct marketing (/he knows that copying direct marketing reveals a superficial understanding of Dell’s success/ he knows that by copying direct marketing his competitors have taken his success at face value), as Steven Milosevic, a technical analyst with Meryth Investment Group, once remarked, “The Dell Model is like Jordan’s basketball feat. You see it, you understand it, but you can never get it.” Self-criticism reinforces cohesion 3 Mr. Dell is convinced that the cohesion of an enterprise is the first step toward success. Dell encountered a serious credibility crisis in the fall of 2001, when, despite Dell’s hunch that a renaissance/recovery in the IT industry was approaching, many of his employees were pessimistic about the future and quite a few were even depressed about Dell’s impersonal management style. The corporate opinion poll indicated that half of the staff would quit should better offers appear. 4 If such things occurred in other companies, senior managers would probably ignore the employees’ discontent and dissatisfaction