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STARTING AN IT COMPANY STARTING AN IT COMPANY Group 8 Mutia Putri Sona Hovasapyan William Prada

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STARTING AN IT COMPANY. Group 8 Mutia Putri Sona Hovasapyan William Prada. STARTING AN IT COMPANY. OVERVIEW CISCO TECHNOSOFT DELL SUMMARY. Emerging of Digital Economy 2002. Digital Economy 2002 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

STARTING AN IT COMPANY STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Group 8

Mutia Putri

Sona Hovasapyan

William Prada

Page 2: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

OVERVIEW CISCO TECHNOSOFT DELL SUMMARY

STARTING AN IT COMPANY STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Page 3: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Emerging of Digital Emerging of Digital Economy 2002Economy 2002

Source: Digital Economy 2002, Economic and Statistics Administration US Department of Commerce, February 2002

Digital Economy 2002

“Despite and economic slowdown and recession, U.S Industries have continued to build the IT capital stock, to marshal the human skill and IT services that make the installed base of IT capital more productive, and to create as a result the enduring foundation of a stronger economy”

Page 4: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

- “During 2000, business investment in IT-producing industries accounted for 37% of the U.S. GDP.”

- “By contrast, in 2001 reductions in business investment in IT-producing industries had a negative effect on economic growth.”

Source: Digital Economy 2002, Economic and Statistics Administration US Department of Commerce, February 2002

Highlights in Highlights in Economy 2002Economy 2002

Page 5: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Investment in Information Processing Equipment and Software

1995 1996 1997 1998 200120001999

400

300

500

600

200

700

400

300

500

600

200

700

2000

2001

1999

Percent change 4Q95 – 4Q00:

20% annual rate

Percent change 4Q00 – 3Q01:

-14% annual rate

Billion of 1996 dollars, annual rate

Source: Digital Economy 2002, Economic and Statistics Administration

US Department of Commerce, February 2002

Page 6: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Highlights in Highlights in Economy 2002Economy 2002

“Despite the 1.4 % decline in the total private sector employment during 2001, employment grew by 0.5% in telecommunication services and 1.4% in computer software and service-industries.”

Source: Digital Economy 2002, Economic and Statistics Administration US Department of Commerce, February 2002

Page 7: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Continued Strength in IT Service JobIndex, January 1999 = 100

1995 2000 2001

105

100

110

115

95

130

120

125

105

100

110

115

95

130

120

125

Recession

Computer services

Telecom services

Private nonfarm

Source: Digital Economy 2002, Economic and Statistics Administration

US Department of Commerce, February 2002

Number of employees (in thousand)

Page 8: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

- Some estimates indicate that surge in dot.com failures that began in mid-2000 peaked in first half of 2001 and has begun to subside.- 10% of the 7, 000-10, 000 “substantial” internet companies that received some venture funding closed between Jan 2000-December 2001.- Through middle of 2001, these failures, staff cuts at surviving dot.com companies had resulted in an estimated 135, 000 layoffs .

Source: Digital Economy 2002, Economic and Statistics Administration US Department of Commerce, February 2002

Page 9: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

STARTING YOUR OWN STARTING YOUR OWN IT COMPANYIT COMPANY

Page 10: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Company Life CycleCompany Life Cycle

Promising Transitional Corporate

Start-Ups Initiatives Initiatives

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 11: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

What differentiates What differentiates companies?companies?

Nature of the opportunitiesNature of the opportunities

Different initial conditions:

different level of project uncertainty,

amount of investment,

and likely profit

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 12: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Tasks and StrategyTasks and Strategy - degree to which they rely on prior

analysis and planning rather than

adaptation to unforeseen circumstances

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

What differentiates What differentiates companies?companies?

Page 13: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Personality and TraitsPersonality and Traits Characteristics of founders that differentiate the successful initiatives from the unsuccessful one

Social and economic contributions:Social and economic contributions: different sizes and maturity affect the development of new technologies and market, and the interaction with existing economic structures

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

What differentiates What differentiates companies?companies?

Page 14: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Common Perceptions for Common Perceptions for IT Start-UpsIT Start-Ups

Brilliant ideaBrilliant idea

Breakthrough creativityBreakthrough creativity

High capacity to innovateHigh capacity to innovate

Leadership & Leadership &

Management SkillManagement Skill

Technical educationTechnical education

High tolerance for risk/lossHigh tolerance for risk/loss

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

SUCCESSFUL??SUCCESSFUL??

Page 15: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Initial Conditions:Initial Conditions:IT Start-upsIT Start-ups

most successful business started most successful business started

with the notion of with the notion of no proprietary ideano proprietary idea

and no verifiable human capital and no verifiable human capital

( such as: ( such as: no knowledgeno knowledge, and , and no no

reputation reputation ))

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 16: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

““Most promising business started byMost promising business started by

someone who is working for anothersomeone who is working for another

business, who sees a small nichebusiness, who sees a small niche

opportunity. And the person jumps in opportunity. And the person jumps in

with very little preparation and analysis - -with very little preparation and analysis - -

and pretty much does what somebody and pretty much does what somebody

else is already doing, but does it better else is already doing, but does it better

and faster.” – and faster.” – Amar Bhide

Interview of Inc.com editor-in-chief George Gendron with Amar Bhide,

author of The Origin and Evolution of New Business, February 1 2002

Page 17: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Initial Conditions:Initial Conditions:IT Start-upsIT Start-ups

most successful business started most successful business started

with with no exceptional trainings no exceptional trainings

and and no managerial experiencesno managerial experiences

(i.e.: Bill Gates, Michael Dell,(i.e.: Bill Gates, Michael Dell,

Steve Wozniak ….)Steve Wozniak ….)

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 18: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Initial Conditions:Initial Conditions:IT Start-upsIT Start-ups

most start-ups most start-ups do not have do not have

significant up-front investmentsignificant up-front investment

uncertain market niches uncertain market niches

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 19: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Nature of Opportunities:Nature of Opportunities:IT Start-upsIT Start-ups

Entrepreneurs pursue Entrepreneurs pursue highly highly uncertain projectsuncertain projects

Face significant constraintsFace significant constraints

Unlikely to generate large profitsUnlikely to generate large profits

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 20: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Tasks and Strategy: Tasks and Strategy: IT Start-UpsIT Start-Ups

Strategy to face the problems:

Opportunistic adaptation- High uncertainty requires entrepreneurs to extensively adapt to unexpected circumstances and opportunities- High uncertainty limits the value of prior planning

and research

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 21: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Personality and Traits: Personality and Traits: IT Start-UpsIT Start-Ups

Important attributes: High tolerance for AmbiguityOpen-mindednessAmbition “IT takes a really extraordinary individual to

build on a start up business – extraordinary in terms of someone who has an almost maniacal level of ambition,…”– Amar Bhide

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 22: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

…… …… ContinuedContinued Resilience Perceptiveness about the wants and

needs of customers

Sales skills

Self-control

The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide

Page 23: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Proportions about Proportions about

Promising Start-UpsPromising Start-Ups Entrepreneurs with

meager endowments

INITIAL CONDITIONS

No proprietary

idea or technology

+

Limited verifiable

human capital

Unavailability of

outside funding

NATURE OF

BUSINESSES

Low investment

High uncertainty

Low likely profit

… thrive in …

… face the tasks of …

… requiringOPPORTUNISTIC

ADAPTATION

to unforeseen circumstances

TRAITS AND

SKILLS

Tolerance for ambiguity

Open-mindedness

Resilience

Sales Skill

Self Control

Page 24: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

• the world leading supplier of enterprise internetworking solutions

• expanded from a small startup to an industrial leader with around 19 billion net income

• captured 85.5% of the market for routers*

• one of the most successful companies to emerge from Silicon Valley

Cisco SystemsCisco Systemsone of the World’s most admired companies

http://www.nwfusion.com/news/0516cisshare.html

Page 25: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Nature of Business

Core activities (at the time of start-up):

the first product – the router;

manufacturing networking and communications products;

Currently provides a broad line of products for transporting data,

voice, video over LANs, WANs and all over the Internet provides strategies and solutions that can help solve

critical business problems services associated with the equipment and its use

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 26: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Nature of Business

Target Market (at the time of start-up):

• higher education and research institutions

• large size corporations

Currently targets also small size businesses

Page 27: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Customers:

“Nasdaq, the world’s largest electronic stock market, is only as good as our network, and we have built this network with Cisco technology”.- Steve Randich, Executive Vice President, Operations and Technology, and CIO, The Nasdaq Stock Market

  “At Sprint, the bottom line satisfying customers. We were able to increase Sprint IP network capacity by a factor of nine, positioning the company to quickly meet new customer requirements in Europe and the US” -Bob Azzi, VP, Network Engineering, Sprint

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 28: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Customers:

“With more than 3.5 billion viewers watching the 2002 Olimpics, the network had to be 100 percent reliable. There was no margin for error and we met our goal”. -Bob Donohoo, Chief Network Engineer for Olympic Operations and Olimpics Network Manager, Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games, IKANO Communications, Inc.

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 29: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Since the beginning of 2001, 53 public telecom companies have filed for bankruptcy.

In 2002, publicity held telecom companies announced 165,840 job cuts. In the last 18 months, some 500,000 telecom jobs have been axed.

“We have been stunned as just about everybody else has, by the severity of the downturn in telecommunications business” *Anthony Muller, Chief Financial for JDS Uniphase headquarters in San Jose

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Chris O’Brien, Mercury News, Telecom Failure Hitting Home in Silicon Valley", Sun, Jul.7, 2002

Page 30: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Net Income(Loss)(Dollars in billions)*

1.32

2.7

-1

1.9

'98 '99 '00 '01 '02

Cisco Systems, 2002 Annual Report

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 31: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Cisco’s fiscal 2002 revenue of 18.9 billion resulted in major market share gains compared to their competitors.

Fiscal 2002 net income according to GAAP was 1.9 billion and earnings per share were $0.25, as compared to FY 2001 loss of $1.0 billion and loss per share of $0.14.

Average cash flow from operations(FY 2002) $1.5 billion per quarter

Cisco Systems, 2002 Annual Report

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 32: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

8.5

12.2

18.9

22.3

18.9

0

5

10

15

20

25

'98 '99 '00 '01 '02

Net Sales (Dollars in Billions)*

Cisco Systems, 2002 Annual Report

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 33: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Key players: John T. Chambers,

President and CEOWidely recognized as one of the great motivators and customer driven chief executives in the technology business.

John P. Morgridge, Chairman of the Board

Donald T. Valentine, Vice Chairman of the Board

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 34: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

2001 – “Best Investor Relations Officer” and “Best Investor Relations by a CEO” - Baron’s and Investor Relations magazines

2002 World Communications Award For Fixed Networks

“Best Trained Sales Force” - Sales and Marketing Magazine

Customer satisfaction rating 4.63 in a five-point scale

Cisco Systems, 2002 Annual Report and http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/ts_102402.html

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 35: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Sandra Lerner of Stanford University Business School and Leonard Bosack of the Computer Science Department wanted to send love letters to each other via university e-mail, but… the local computers at different departments would not talk to each other. So they invented the router – the black magic box

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

The LegendThe Legend

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 36: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Leonard BosackLeonard Bosack

Education: major in electrical-engineering from University

of Pennsylvania Stanford master's degree in Computer Science

Personal Characteristics: Open-minded Philosophical Non-confrontational Hard working Sense of humor

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 37: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Sandra LernerSandra Lerner

Education: an Economics major from Stanford University Stanford master's degree in Statistics and Computer

Science

Personal Characteristics: Aggressive Intelligent Notoriously extravagant Hard working

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 38: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Sandy – the director of the computer facilities at Stanford University Business School

Len - the director of Stanford's Computer Science Department

Cisco Systems:Cisco Systems:

Behind the LegendBehind the Legend

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 39: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Needed to find a way to get thelocal computers networked!

Data could be transmitted more quickly, reliably and safely

BusinessDpt

Computer ScienceDpt

ARPAnet IMPterminal worth of

$100.000

Data Traffic

ARPAnet IMPterminal worth of

$100.000

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 40: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

The Breakthrough Idea:

The Router – allows the two LANs to remain distinct, while being able to communicate.

The Stanford experimenter Bill Yeager developed a crude router based on a DEC minicomputer.

Bill, Len, Sandy, Kirk Lougheed and others created the interface to connect DEC minicomputers to the Ethernet network.

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 41: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Started the company in late 1984Start-up Budget:

financed their own start up costs with their credit cards.

Brand Name: cisco Systems (with a lowercase c, as in

the tail of San Fran)1986 - cisco shipped the black magic box named a router

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Initial Conditions

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 42: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

“My take on the Cisco vision: it was a very clever way to sell software by the simple expedient of concealing the software inside hardware. They (Bosack and Lerner) were in the right place at the right time. They also are very smart, very hard working and incidentally, very lucky. They also had the benefit of being in an environment that was on the cutting edge of applying networking on a large scale”.

–Ralph Gorin, Stanford University, former Director of Computer Facilities

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 43: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Getting Customers:

no professional sales staff or official marketing campaign

founders fired out commercial e-mails to friends and colleagues, asking them to spread the message to others over the Web's early links

have not purchased their first advertisement until 1992

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 44: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

1987 - Donald Valentine, founder of Sequoia Systems agreed to front $2.5 million dollars, recruit management and salespeople for a 32 percent share in the company

"Apple in 1977 solved no problem. It had to create the application. Yahoo! in 1997 had to create a business model. But Cisco in 1987 filled a desperate need. I never met a company that entered the market in such a timely way with no competition”. –Donald Valentine

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 45: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

- 1987, Congress made a commercial Internet possible

- The demand for routers increased dramatically by the late 1980s

- Cisco's financial success was the need for corporations to find solutions for connecting computer networks. Without the router, they would not be able to connect to other parts of their businesses.

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 46: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

“As more and more people were replaced with employees that Valentine brought in, animosity grew between himself and the founders, particularly outspoken Sandy”-David Bunnell

1988, John P Morgridge, president and chief executive officer (CEO)

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

David Bunnell, Making the Cisco Connection, UpSide Media 2000

Page 47: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

February 16, 1990 - Cisco went public

Cisco stock opened at $18 a share and closed at around $22.50

In August 1990, Sandy left Cisco Systems

In December, 1990, two founders of cisco decided to sell their two-thirds stake in cisco for about $170 million

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 48: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Len - started a new venture, XKL, producing

server-class computing and networking equipment

Sandy - founded a cosmetics company Urban Decay in 1995.

Cisco SystemsCisco Systems

Page 49: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Ashok Subramanian –

entrepreneur

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

Page 50: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Ashok SubramanianAshok Subramanian

EDUCATIONEDUCATIONPh.D.University of Houston, Business Administration,

1992Major: Management Information SystemsMinor: Marketing.

M.B.A.University of Houston, Business Administration, 1987Major: Marketing.

B.Sc.University of Bombay (India), 1980Major: ChemistryMinor: Physics.

http://www.umsl.edu/~subraman/ashokvit.html

Page 51: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

EMPLOYEMENTEMPLOYEMENTAssociate Professor

Management Science and Information Systems

School of Business Administration

University of Missouri - St. Louis

Ashok SubramanianAshok Subramanian

http://www.umsl.edu/~subraman/ashokvit.html

Page 52: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Ashok SubramanianAshok Subramanian

How did he conceive the idea of his business?How did he conceive the idea of his business?

“I founded that there was a gap between high level IT Consulting Group and the mid-size company --- Our company provided the IT consulting service with lower cost.”

- Ashok Subramanian

Interview in person with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Page 53: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Company Initial ConditionCompany Initial Condition

started in August 2000started in August 2000

- story- story start-up budget : $500,000.00start-up budget : $500,000.00

3 founders 3 founders

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

Interview in person with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Page 54: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Company ProfileCompany Profile

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

Number of employees11 people (including 3 owners) in US60 employees in India :

- 50 software architects

- 10 administration staff

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Page 55: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

Company ProfileCompany Profile

1st year (year 2000) : $200,000

2nd year : not even covered cost

Average Annual Revenue

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Page 56: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

NATURE OF BUSINESSNATURE OF BUSINESS

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Company core activities:Company core activities:

- providing high level strategic consulting

work

- Offshore software development

- Providing IT engineers

Page 57: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

NATURE OF BUSINESSNATURE OF BUSINESS

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Company target market:Company target market:

mid-size companies

- more receptive with the idea of

offshore development

Software development clients

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

Page 58: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

NATURE OF BUSINESSNATURE OF BUSINESS

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

How did the company get the customers?How did the company get the customers?

Based on personal contact

Word of mouth

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

Page 59: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Company shut down, in Nov. 2001Company shut down, in Nov. 2001

Economic slowdownEconomic slowdown

Marketing the product Marketing the product

- hard to penetrate into market - hard to penetrate into market

- hard to find new market - hard to find new market due to lack of reputation

The company could not meet the set targetThe company could not meet the set target

What were the challenges?What were the challenges?

TECHNOSOFTTECHNOSOFT

Page 60: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Ashok SubramanianAshok Subramanian

““We did not have any problem with We did not have any problem with technology. Technology is easy technology. Technology is easy to create.”to create.”

- Ashok Subramanian

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

Page 61: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Ashok SubramanianAshok Subramanian

Personalities / TraitsPersonalities / Traits

Interview with Dr. Subramanian on 10/31/02

It is important to have high tolerance for ambiguity

Open mindedness

It is important for entrepreneurs to know when to quit from business

“It is not good to say, “well, I will keep doing this business regardless anything.” – Ashok Subramanian

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Michael Dell entrepreneur

                                              

Page 63: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONDell was born on February 23, 1965 in Houston, Texas, and attended the University of Texas in Austin. Dell has earned the titles of:“Entrepreneur of the Year” from Inc Magazine“Man of the year” by PC Magazine“Top CEO in America Business” by Worth Magazine“CEO of the Year” by Financial World & Industry Week Was on Business Week’s list of “Top 25 Managers of the Year” from 1997-1999

Dell became the youngest CEO to earn a spot on the Fortune 500. He also sits on the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology.

Source: NCOE-Stories of Entrepreneurs-Michael Dell http://www.ncoe.org/toolkit/stories_dell.html

Page 64: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Education:

Dell enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin after graduating from high school in 1983. (In reality when he was eight years old, he earned his GED equivalent high school diploma). His major was biology, but computers fascinated him. He finished out his freshman year in the spring of 1984, but instead of selecting classes for next semester, he used his savings to incorporate his business as PC Limited.

SOURCE: Newsmakers, Issue 2, Gale Group, 1996

Page 65: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

COMPANY PROFILE: Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Dell is world’s most

preferred computer system company and a premier provider of products and services required for customers worldwide to build their information-technology and internet infrastructures.

Dell climbs to market leadership is the result of a persistent focus on delivering the best possible customer experience by directly selling computing products and services based on industry-standard technology.

Revenue for the last quarters totaled $32.1 billion and the company employees approximately 36,000 team members around the globe.

SOURCE: http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/corporate/factpack_000.htm

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THE BIRTH OF BEING DIRECT FIRST EXPERIENCE

Power and the rewards of being direct Dell starts a stamp collection business

Bought stamps at an auction Created his own auction Advertised “Dell’s Stamps” in Linn’s Stamp Journal Created a twelve-page catalog and mailed it out Made $2,000 and learned an early power lesson

about the rewards of eliminating the middleman

Source: “Michael Dell.” Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Gale Group, 1999. <http://www.galenet.com/serviet/BioRC

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SEEING THE PATTERN

At 16, Dell got a summer job selling newspapers subscription to the Houston Post

Dell noticed a pattern. He noticed two kinds of people who almost always bought subscriptions to the Post. People who had just married people who had just moved into new houses or

apartments The enterprising teenager’s paper route made $18,000,

which he used to buy his first BMW.

SOURCE: Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 68: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

ENTER THE COMPUTER Computer interest started at 7, when Dell purchased his

first calculator. Played with the computers at Radio Shack Apple computer the most popular personal computer in

U.S. at the time. Dell got his first computer for his fifteenth birthday and

promptly took it apart to see how it worked Like had happens with the stamps, his hobby for

computers evolved into a business opportunity. Dell enhanced a PC the way another guy would soup up a

car, and then he would sell it for a profit. Dell learned about the latest prototypes and previewing

technology that would soon becoming to market in the 1982 National Computer Conference.

Page 69: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

CONT. Dell bought his first hard drive disk, and used it to set up

a bulletin board system on which he exchanged messages with other interested in computers.

An IBM computer that typically sold for $3,000 didn’t make a lot of sense to Dell because he could purchase the same components for $600

Another thing that didn’t make sense was that the people operating the the computer stores didn’t know much about PCs.

Dell started buying the exact same components that were used in those machines and he upgraded his machines and sold them to people he knew.

Dell thought, “Wow, there’s a lot of opportunity here.” and his mind started filling with questions: What did I already know that I could use? What did I need to learn? How could I learn it?

Dell left for college in his BMW with three computers.

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THE MAIN IDEA – THE BIG OPPORTUNITY Dell saw a great opportunity in providing computing

technology in a much more efficient way. That was the core idea of what became Dell Computer Corporation, and it’s one that he has stuck with ever since.

Dell also sensed that the demand for personal computers was not being sufficient met (1983).

Retail stores sold computers at high mark-up prices Employee salespeople who knew little or nothing

about the product There had to be a better way, and Dell quickly

thought of one – selling customized computers directly to purchasers through telephone orders.

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 71: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

HOW DELL STARTED HIS BUSINESS

Dell started the business with a simple question: How can we make the process of buying a computer better?

His answer was: Sell computers directly to the end customer.

Eliminate the reseller’s mark up and pass those savings on to the customer.

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 72: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

HOW DELL STARTED MAKING HIS OWN COMPUTER

Dell called six or seven engineers and a group of engineers that worked as a team and ask them:That he wanted to design a PC, a 286 computerHe asked what it will cost? How long it would take? and what the risks were?

Jay Bell, an engineer replied, “I can do it in about a week, week and a half, for $2,000.”

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 73: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

SALES FORCE

His sales force has to set up their own computers This give them a real sense of what the uneducated

customer would go through to set up his system and it help them to develop a more intimate understanding of the product they are selling

That marked the start of his reputation for great service, one of the tools for staying ahead of the competition

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 74: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

THE DIRECT MODEL, VERSION 1.0 What marked the official beginning of what they call

the “Direct Model” was: They were constantly talking with both perspective

customers and people who bought their products. It made more sense to Dell to build a business

based on what people really wanted rather that guest at what they thought they might want.

They started with little capital and not extra time to fool around with extra excess inventory.

The direct model is based on direct selling – not using a reseller or the retail channel.

Dell build a product that could meet the customer’s exact needs.

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 75: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

How the direct model works

There are two sales forces: Forces from the manufacturer to the dealer, and from the dealer to the customer.

How the indirect model works

There is just one sales force, ant it’s totally focused on the customer, and not just any customer, but specific type of customers.

The direct model it all evolved from the basic idea of eliminating the middleman.

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 76: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Business model Dell believed that by assembling computers to order

he could give customers exactly what they wanted at a price that was superior to what they might spend for a similar system in a retail outlet. (Computer stores example)

The best part of this model is that since the customer is buying directly from Dell, Dell makes more on each unit because they do not have to build a distributor’s markup into their sale price.

Provides a made-to-order personal computer that is shipped within 36 hours.

Customers can place orders by calling a toll-free number or by logging on to the company’s web site, where models can be customized on-screen, prized, and ordered with a credit card.

“Michael Dell” Business Leader Profiles for Students. Vol. 1. Gale Research, 1999

Page 77: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES

Speed to market Superior customer service A fierce commitment to producing consistently high

quality, custom made computer system that provide the highest performance and the latest relevant technology to their customers

Early exploitation of the Internet Finally, Dell’s most critical competitive advantage is

becoming a virtually integrated organization.

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 78: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

BIGGEST BARRIER TO SELLING

Fear of customers of shelling out $4000 to a company they’d never heard of without a physical store they could walk in.

Dell advertised a thirty-day money-back guaranty for it’s products. This gave Dell a reputation for reliability.

COMDEX ’86 Computer show (CCS) Showed the 12MHz 286 that had broken through the

12 MHz barrier.

Direct from Dell. Strategies that revolutionized an industry, 1999

Page 79: STARTING AN IT COMPANY

Target MarketComputer enthusiastsLarge corporations

Boeing Toyota Shell Oil

GovernmentEducational Institutions

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When he started the company?- Dell started his company in 1987 How much was the startup budget?- Dell started up his company with a budget of… 1,000

Dollars! Who were the customers?

College students and computer nerds What were the challenges on the way? At the end of 1990s, sales of PCs were on decrease

in the U.S. and Dell’s sales growth has also slowed. Dell has begun offering its products in the stores such as Best Buy and Wall Mart but could not get a foothold in the home computer market when battling against better-known Compaq and lower priced Packard Bell.

INITIAL CONDITIONS:

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CONT.

By mid 1993 the Dell Computer Corporation seemed to be coming apart in the following:

Communication between the different divisions of the company was poorThe sales division did not know the manufacturing division could handleProfits and losses could not be tracked by product typePlans for a laptop computer powered by a 386 microchip were scrapped at the last minute when Dell realized the product was already obsolete

“Michael Dell” Newsmakers, Issue 2. Gale Group, 1996 http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC

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SummaryFor role models to guide us toward our dreams, we need look no further than Michael Dell. A college dropout, with nothing more than $1,000 in his pocket and a good idea. In just 18 short years, Dell has built a computer empire recognized as one of the top vendors of personal computes worldwide. Dell’s sales have skyrocketed to a whopping #31 billion since its inception with over 33 thousand employees in over 170 countries.

SOURCE: http://www.islandconnections.com/edit/billionaires.htm

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Case Study ComparisonInitial Condition Nature of Business

Idea Startup Budget

Getting customers

Target Market

Techno-soft

To serve mid-size companies with lower cost

$500 000 Personal contacts

No advertising

Mid-size companies

Dell sell directly to the customer, bypassing the intermediaries(wholesalers, retailers)

$1000 Fellow students buying from his collage dorm room

Small, medium & large size organizations, home users

Cisco The breakthrough concept of the router

Personal funds -their own credit cards

Through email to the colleagues

large size corporation

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Case Studies Summary

Customers and

Projects

Challenges

Technosoft Strategic consulting work,

Off-shore software development

Providing IT engineers

Macroeconomic slowdown

Marketing the product

Dell Assembling computers and selling directly to customers

Building the trust selling computers

Cisco Higher-education and research institutions;

large enterprises;

Projects: connecting networks

Getting funding;

Marketing the product

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Ashok Dell Cisco

Ambiguity Tolerance

High High ?

Open-mindedness

High High High

Foresight High High High

Case Studies SummaryPersonal Characteristics

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Ashok Dell Cisco

Perceptiveness High High High

Resilience Medium High Medium

Selling Skills Medium High Low

Case Studies SummaryPersonal Characteristic