In 1984, with only $1,000 in startup capital, Michael Dell established Dell as the first company in its industry to sell custom-built computers directly to end users, bypassing the dominant system of using resellers to sell mass produced computers. Since a young age Michael Dell has been intrigued and fascinated in the idea of eliminating unnecessary steps. So it was not surprising when he established a company where there marketing strategy was based on eliminating the middleman. “We sell computers directly to our consumers, deals directly with our suppliers, and communicate directly with our people, all without the unnecessary and inefficient presence of intermediaries. We call this “the direct model,” and it has taken us, to use a common phrase at Dell Computer Corporation, “direct to the top””. The direct business model eliminates retailers that add unnecessary time and cost, that could diminish Dell’s understanding of customer expectations. The direct Continue reading
Business Strategies
Takeover Bid – Meaning and Types
This is a technique for affecting either a takeover or an amalgamation. It may be defined as an offer to acquire shares of a company, whose shares are not closely held, addressed to the general body of shareholders with a view to obtaining at least sufficient shares to give the offer or, voting control of the company. Takeover Bid is thus adopted by company for taking over the control and management affairs of listed company by acquiring its controlling interest. While a takeover bid is used for affecting a takeover, it is frequently against the wishes of the management of Offeree Company. It may take the form of an offer to purchase shares for cash or for share for share exchange or a combination of these two firms. Where a takeover bid is used for effecting merger or amalgamation it is generally by consent of management of both companies. It Continue reading
Case Study: Why Woolworths Failed as a Business?
The British Company, Woolworths is normally categorized as a variety store dealing in retailing of a range of varying products. Historically it was established as a subsidiary of an American Company F.W. Woolworth &Co, in 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth It was incorporated in England on 23rd July, 1909 as private limited company with initial capital of 50,250 pound sterling. It, first time floated a new idea of selling all the products at a cost not more than five cents. This idea gained popularity amongst the customers resulting in fast growth of the subsidiary. Its first shop at Liverpool attracted about 60,000 people in first two days because of attractive one penny, three penny and six penny products put at sale. It continued to open new shops at various cities that attracted heavy rush of customers and visitors. It was company’s policy to purchase the products directly from manufacturers, who Continue reading
Case Study: Success Story of Pfizer Inc
Pfizer was founded in 1849 in Brooklyn, New York. It started as a company that focused primarily on human health services and products. Now it focuses on three major segments of the health care industry, namely Pharmaceutical Health, Consumer Health and Animal Health, or Veterinary Services. Pfizer has headquarters in New York. Initially it was a small company operating in the USA. Currently, it has more than 115000 employees in 180 countries. It has over 70 manufacturing facilities around the globe and invests $7.7 Billion in R&D annually! Furthermore, Pfizer’s R&D locations are spread out in five countries and Pfizer also has 18 therapeutic areas across the globe. A total of 15 medicines made by Pfizer are leaders in their respective segments. Lipitor, for example is the world’s largest selling medicine which is a cholesterol reduction medicine. Other names that are noteworthy are Listerine and Sudafed which can be found Continue reading
Takeover – Definition and Types
Acquisition can be undertaken through merger or takeover route. Takeover is a general term used to define acquisitions only and both terms are used interchangeably. A Takeover may be defined as series of transacting whereby a person, individual, group of individuals or a company acquires control over the assets of a company, either directly by becoming owner of those assets or indirectly by obtaining control of management of the company. Takeover is acquisition, by one company of controlling interest of the other, usually by buying all or majority of shares. Takeover may be of different types depending upon the purpose of acquiring a company. A takeover may be straight takeover which is accomplished by the management of the taking over company by acquiring shares of another company with the intention of operating taken over as an independent legal entity. The second type of takeover is where ownership of Continue reading
Case Study of Burger King: Achieving Competitive Advantage through Quality Management
Burger King Corporation (BKC) is the world’s second largest fast-food hamburger chain which trailing only McDonald’s. Over 11 million customers visit their restaurants worldwide each day and over 2.4 billion of its burgers are sold each year across the global. How do they able to achieve it? What are the reasons? Apart from their strategies, the main cause that leads to have these results today is their quality. By having a good quality, it will bring the company to have a good reputation. This is important because it can affect the entire organization from suppliers to customers, by incurring the lower cost and obtain higher profit. Therefore, through managing and improving the quality, the firm will be able to build and implement successful strategies as well as provide competitive advantages. In order to achieve competitive advantages in the fast-food industry, Burger King Corporation had put many efforts in their strategies Continue reading