Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #601760 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The PC business is full of rags-to-riches stories. But perhaps none is as dramatic as the rise of Dell Computer. In Direct from Dell, founder and CEO Michael Dell tells how he started his company from a dorm room at the University of Texas with less than $1,000 and built it into an industry powerhouse with a market capitalisation of well over $100 billion. What makes Dell Computer unique is not what it sells, but rather how it sells it. Dell was first in the PC industry to pioneer the direct-selling model, a method that competitors such as Compaq and Apple Computer are only now starting to embrace. By cutting out the intermediary and creating a direct link between manufacturer and customer, Dell was able to provide customers with computers that cost less and that were more apt to meet customer needs.

Direct from Dell is organised into two parts. The first recounts the history and the enormous growth of Dell Computer. The second part focuses on Dell's management approach, from developing customer focus to creating alliances with suppliers. The book manages to avoid most of the promotional and self-congratulatory air that seem to plague so many first-person CEO tomes. Anyone who has followed the PC industry or would like insight into Dell Computer's success should enjoy reading this book. Well written and easy to read. Recommended. -- Harry C. Edwards, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer and one of the world's top businessmen, explains how to foster and maintain a competitive edge, drawing lessons from his own formidable success. At the age of twelve Michael Dell earned USD 2000 selling stamps, and by the age of eighteen he was selling customized PCs from his dorm room. He went on to found one of the most successful computer businesses in the world, redefining the industry with his direct model process and pioneering customer support. Direct From Dell teaches you how to get to the front of the pack and stay there. Michael Dell shares his perspectives on: * Why, initially, it's better to have too little capital rather than too much * How studying customers, not competition will give you a greater competitive edge * Exploiting the Internet -- Dell sells an amazing USD 10 million-worth of systems per day over www.dell.com * Why your people pose a greater threat to your business than the competition * How to exploit the competition's weakness by exposing its greatest strength * How integrating vertically can make the difference between surivival and collapse Revealing nothing less than a new model for business in the information age, Direct from Dell is both a success story and a manifesto for revolutionizing any industry.

Customer Reviews

If you want to know about Dell, this is the best book
The only reason I give this 4 stars out of 5 is because I have no other books about Dell to compare it too. But as I was writing my dissertation based on how Dell and Amazon made it to the top of their respective industries, I needed a book that could help me find similarities between the two formulaes for success.

This book helped me to do that, not only does it give you alot of information into how Dell became what he is today, but also gives you crucial business ideas in potential ways of running your own business and essential assets within your business that you should definitely invest in if you want a chance to make it big. Perhaps even as big as Dell.

USE GREAT COMMUNICATIONS FOR FANTASTIC SUCCESS
This book adds a valuable case history about coupling lean manufacturing (custom-built, high quality products, rapidly built using just-in-time inventory -- see Lean Thinking) with great communications (to and from customers, employees, suppliers, technology developers, and product planners).

I have read every published article I can find about Dell Computer and every published speech by a Dell executive, and I learned a lot about what Dell did (and when), why, and what the results have been.

I came away with a much higher opinion of Dell Computer as a communications model for other companies. They reduce errors because they listen and act quickly. This is one of the biggest weaknesses of most organizations.

Recently, I had the chance to spend a day at Dell on a site visit and came away even more impressed with how well they communicate. Everyone I met had a thorough understanding of the company's vision, strategy, and business model. I have never experienced that before in any company of any size.

You may be tempted to ignore Dell Computer now that their growth and that of personal computers is slowing in 2000. That should affect your stock investing, not your best practices learning.

To the Dell model, you can further improve by considering best practices that Dell does not do enough of yet such as scanning the business environment to locate best practices that it does not yet use.

You can also consider the ideal best practice, which is to replace your product with a service that is better and less costly to the customer. In Dell's case, this would mean turning the network into the computer without the need for a computer in the first place. Since Dell recently announced it will be doing more with servers and services, that may well be in the company's future.

Dell Computer has also been very effective at overcoming the other sources of stalled performance at most organizations: Tradition, Misconceptions, Disbelief about new thngs and ideas, Bureaucracy, Avoiding the unattractive (such as angry customers), and Procrastination.

You can use an 8 step process involving measurements, anticipating the future best practice, exceeding that future best practice using best practices in new combinations, identifying the ideal best practice and approaching it, employing the best employees and incentives to create the results you want, and repeating this process. Then you will run rings around Dell Computer, unless Dell Computer begins to use this process before you do.

Buy, read, think about, decide how to apply the lessons of the book, and act. You will be glad you did.

Michael Dell spends 40% of his time with customers. A lot of the rest goes into designing improved ways to listen to customers. Should you be doing the same?

USE GREAT COMMUNICATIONS FOR FANTASTIC SUCCESS
This book adds a valuable case history about coupling lean manufacturing (custom-built, high quality products, rapidly built using just-in-time inventory -- see Lean Thinking) with great communications (to and from customers, employees, suppliers, technology developers, and product planners).

I have read every published article I can find about Dell Computer and every published speech by a Dell executive, and I learned a lot about what Dell did (and when), why, and what the results have been.

I came away with a much higher opinion of Dell Computer as a communications model for other companies. They reduce errors because they listen and act quickly. This is one of the biggest weaknesses of most organizations.

Recently, I had the chance to spend a day at Dell on a site visit and came away even more impressed with how well they communicate. Everyone I met had a thorough understanding of the company's vision, strategy, and business model. I have never experienced that before in any company of any size.

You may be tempted to ignore Dell Computer now that their growth and that of personal computers is slowing in 2000. That should affect your stock investing, not your best practices learning.

To the Dell model, you can further improve by considering best practices that Dell does not do enough of yet such as scanning the business environment to locate best practices that it does not yet use.

You can also consider the ideal best practice, which is to replace your product with a service that is better and less costly to the customer. In Dell's case, this would mean turning the network into the computer without the need for a computer in the first place. Since Dell recently announced it will be doing more with servers and services, that may well be in the company's future.

Dell Computer has also been very effective at overcoming the other sources of stalled performance at most organizations: Tradition, Misconceptions, Disbelief about new thngs and ideas, Bureaucracy, Avoiding the unattractive (such as angry customers), and Procrastination.

You can use an 8 step process involving measurements, anticipating the future best practice, exceeding that future best practice using best practices in new combinations, identifying the ideal best practice and approaching it, employing the best employees and incentives to create the results you want, and repeating this process. Then you will run rings around Dell Computer, unless Dell Computer begins to use this process before you do.

Buy, read, think about, decide how to apply the lessons of the book, and act. You will be glad you did.

Michael Dell spends 40% of his time with customers. A lot of the rest goes into designing improved ways to listen to customers. Should you be doing the same?