Case Assignment: Dell Michael Dell established the Dell Computer Company in 1984 with $1000. Over the years Dell grew to be the industry leader in personal computers. Michael Dell used many aggressive strategies to help Dell accomplish great success in a relatively short period of time. These strategies included allowing customers to individualize products, giving 24 hour phone service, and cutting out the middlemen by allowing direct mail order business. Outsourcing allowed Dell to have less inventory and have a faster turnover to new technology which gave a huge advantage over their competitors. Dell created good relationships with suppliers and that allowed them to cut costs by guaranteeing returning business. All these strategies cut costs and allowed Dell to be a leader in technology and quality. As other companies began to copy these strategies, competition began to heat up. In the 1990’s Dell launched an unsuccessful line of new laptop computers and had to recall 17,000 units because they were to slow and expensive. With more competition Dell decided to enter into the retail market which slowed down their strategy of cutting out a middleman and allowing quicker turnover to new technology. In 1993 after 14 consecutive quarters of rising profits Dell profits were only 10 million which was half of what they projected. Stock dropped drastically and many were already expecting the end of Dell. Three major problems were identified to be the reasons why Dell took a step back and these problems would need to be solved if Dell wanted to go back to the success they had achieved since the beginning. The first problem was the retail market causing turnover to be slower and making it harder to find a premium. The next problem was lack of senior management being able to handle the fast growth throughout the years. And the final problem was Dell’s product development