Compare and Contrast of Two Business Professionals
Compare and Contrast of two business professional Dictionary.com defines business professionals as following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain. The two professional to look at are, Michael Dell and Andy Grove. Comparing people’s contribution to the information technology filed, along with identifying resistance each encountered, will help understand how they promoted their research, ideas, or programs. Noting any similarities between these two professionals will help point out their differences they may have. It will be helpful to look at their environmental, professional, and personal factors, which may have affected their success.
Contributions to the field Michael Dell’s contribution to field was consistently shaping customer value. The business community defines customer value, as customer satisfaction and repeat customers. Product planning is important to the overall success of any business because it allows you to understand your customers’ needs and wants. Potential customers are just as important as current customers in any successful business in order to stay ahead of the competitive edge (Krames, A.J. 2003). Andy Grove’s contribution to the field was far different from Michael Dell’s. Grove’s contribution was to develop the outsider perspective. An outsider perspective is defined by studying your organization as a competitor and looking at your company as an outsider would. This concept was used by Grove to help turn Intel’s downward spiral around. The Foreign competition was able to create the same product with better quality and lower cost (Krames, A.J. 2003).
The Resistance Grove may have felt resistance to change when he came up with the concept of the outsider perspective. This may have been when he had to change his whole product dealing with memory chips and started over. Michael Dell wanted to involve everyone in creating value for the customer. With that change came resistance. The most value lessons learned for Michael Dell was to involve customers as early in the process as possible and collectively involve the company in satisfying customers (Krames, A.J. 2003).
Similarities
One of the similarities that Grove and Dell shared is strategic inflection points. Strategic inflection points happens when a company's competitive position changes. For example Dell used customer input in his decision making process, which allowed his organization to continue to produce a quality and high demand product. Whereas as Grove abandon one product and implementing a new one. Another similarity is customer and employee satisfaction (Krames, A.J. 2003). Differentiations There are more similarities than difference with the two companies. They may have only been one major difference between Dell and Intel Corporation. Dell proactively planed for any market shifts. Whereas Grove underestimated his competition and implemented a reactionary, plan to restore the business.
Success Factors Society describes success as the achievement of a goal or the gaining of wealth. Looking at Michael Dell and Andy Grove’s contributions and their status within the community would allow one to say they have achieved success. Perhaps, one of the factors that would contribute to both successes would be political influence. This influence was in the form of government regulations treating these two US companies more favorable than foreign companies. Another factor to consider would be social influences where US consumers favors each company’s consumer value approach. Understanding the consumer’s demands has proven in both cases to be the recipe for success. Conclusion

One may say that Michael Dell and Andy Grove were very successful because of the contributions that they made in the field. Thinking like a competitor as Andy Grove would say helped save his company from demise. Michael Dell may have felt resistance with his consumer values but in the end, it proved to be the best strategy. The two had almost no difference but the one they did have was not enough to keep them from being successful.

References
Krames, J. A. (2003). Prepare the Organization for Drastic Change. In What the best CEOs know: 7 exceptional leaders and their lessons for transforming any business (pp. 55-77).
Krames, J. A. (2003). Prepare the Organization for Drastic Change. In What the best CEOs know: 7 exceptional leaders and their lessons for transforming any business (pp. 131-152).