At nineteen, Michael Dell started his company as a freshman at the University of Texas with $1,000 and has since built an industry powerhouse. As Dell journeys through his childhood adventures, ups and downs, and mistakes made along the way, he reflects on invaluable lessons learned.
Part 1
Chapters
- The Birth of Being Direct
- Growing Pains
- Learning the Hard Way
- Finding Our Footing
- Narrowing Our Focus
- Dialing Up, Deliberately
- Revolutionizing an Industry
Part 2
Chapters
- Create a Powerful Partnership
- Build a Company of Owners
- Learn, Direct from the Source
- Develop a Customer-Focused Philosophy
- Forge Strong Alliances
- Bring Your Partners Inside Your Business
- Differentiate for a Competitive Edge
- Thrive on Change in the Connected Economy
Marvin’s take on Direct from Dell
They say a decade in technology is a lifetime.
Direct from Dell is a book first published in 1999 and has since been slightly more than a decade now.
I was recommended to this book by a fellow blog reader JoV who’s an avid book reader.
Direct from Dell is a journey of Dell (the company and Michael Dell himself) from rags to riches. At the age of 19, Michael started the assembling PC business in his dorm and with strategies that see his business growing through the roof!
The business grew from a 1,000-square-foot office to a 30,000-square-foot facility in 1985.
In this book, Dell speaks of the tremendous growth of the company with doing “Direct” as its business model instead of the usual selling of PCs via retail stores.
He was quick in identifying opportunities and seizing it to become the market leader, especially with the Lithium ion battery installed into the Latitude notebooks that have the longest record of battery life in 1995 and of course, the most fantastic strategy is still by selling computers via the internet on www.dell.com.
One thing that I’m familiar with is their Managed PCs. I’m not a system administrator but Dell had made it so easy for companies to manage their computers and focus on their business with Managed PCs.
These are PCs that have the features, flexibility and power with remote management capabilities that allow network administrators to configure, manage and maintain hardware and software from a central location.
Dell exponential growth and success is not without any fair share of failures. It had issue with excess memory chips while undergoing extreme growth, then with a failed project – the “Olympic computer” which was never launched. It was supposed to be the computer with technology that far exceeded anything in the industry during that time but Dell found out that it is not what their customers wanted.
Dell tried to get into the retail market in 1990 and when later found out that it was a lost bet, they exited the retail market.
Somehow, in Malaysia where Dell has a office in Penang, Dell computers are still available in retail stores.
This is where the book is actually dated with its information, as even Dell is not the world’s No 1 PC maker anymore in 2010, but this is a good read nevertheless.
Dell has regional headquarters around the world, Limerick, Ireland; Penang, Malaysia, Xiamen, China; Alvorado, Brazil and Round Rock, Texas.
Do you know that in 1992, Fortune magazine included Dell Computer Corporation in its list of the world’s 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell at the age of 27 the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever?
Books, Review, Technology
Catherine Fredman, Collins Business Essentials, Dell, Direct from Dell, Michael Dell, Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry
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