Dell

Dell, Inc.

Founded	1984
Headquarters	Round Rock, TX, USA
Subsidiaries	Alienware (since 2006), Wyse (since 2012)
Website	http://www.dell.com/

Dell, Inc. is a large multinational company headquartered in Round Rock, Texas.

From his early beginnings in the computer trade operating in 1984 under the company name PC's Limited while a student of the University of Texas in Austin, Founder, Chairman & CEO Michael Dell had a clear idea how to go ahead and deal with the major players in the industry. Since the beginning he played smart recruiting a capable and experienced team of people that would turn a small business dedicated to assemble and sell IBM-PC compatible computers from stock parts into a medium sized firm, then eventually into a billion-dollar enterprise.

In 1987 the company changed names to Dell Computer Corporation and began expanding globally, then only a year later went public. By 1992, Michael Dell became the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever.

While Dell didn't focus originally on the consumer market, this changed when the company's Internet site opened in 1996 and began taking orders. At a time when its competitors were offering fixed systems at lower prices, Dell found its way among the more technically-inclined individuals who preferred the convenience of buying direct a PC that they get customized to their own needs and have at home in a fews days, even if they had to pay extra.

Dell kept growing until 2004 despite several industry slumps while gaining market share from competitors at a time when rival PC vendors were struggling to survive. Even the resulting Hewlett Packard after its merger with Compaq only remained the largest PC manufacturer temporarily, as Dell regained the lead by growing the fastest in the early 2000s.

In 2003 the company was rebranded as just "Dell, Inc." as it had already expanded its product line beyond computers to include TV sets, handhelds, digital audio players and printers.

In 2004, Michael Dell resigned as CEO while rataining the position of Chairman, handing the CEO title to Kevin Rollins but still acting as a de facto co-CEO. Among the changes introduced by Rollins there would be the acquisition of Alienware, which would be run as a separate entity but still provide Dell with access to new items, such as AMD microprocessors.

The decline

By mid 2006, sales growth had slowed considerably and the company stock traded 40% down from July 2005, its best period following the post-dotcom era. Dell's approach to keep expenses down -which involved, amongst other tricks, manufacturing its products close to its customers and minimizing inventory costs- became moot due to structural changes in the industry and the mature PC industry. Not only competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and Acer made their PC manufacturing process operations more efficient to match Dell, but Dell's previous key advantages became a double edged sword. For instance, the laptop segment had become the fastest-growing of the PC market, but Dell produced low-cost notebooks in China like other PC manufacturers which eliminated Dell's manufacturing cost advantages, plus Dell's reliance on Internet sales meant that it missed out on growing notebook sales in big box stores. On the other hand, Dell had long stuck by its direct sales model, however consumers had become the main drivers of PC sales in recent years, yet there had a decline in consumers purchasing PCs through the Web or on the phone, as increasing numbers were visiting consumer electronics retail stores to try out the devices first, again something that worked against Dell's approach. Lagging behind in the innovation front and failing to sucessfully adapt and gain a profitable share following the new trends, plus Dell's reputation for poor customer service since 2002 coming under scrutiny on the web, coupled with criticism that Dell was using faulty components for its PCs finally led to the inevitable despite Dell's efforts to revert the situation. On February 5, 2013 Dell announced a buyout deal whereby Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners would buy the public shares as part of the largest leveraged buyout backed by private equity since the 2007 financial crisis, and also the largest technology buyout ever.

Dell facilities

Dell's headquarters is located in Round Rock, Texas, though it previously had its headquarters in the Arboretum complex in northern Austin, Texas. Dell facilities in the United States are located in Austin, Texas; Plano, Texas; Nashua, New Hampshire; Nashville, Tennessee; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Peoria, Illinois; Hillsboro, Oregon (Portland area); Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Eden Prairie, Minnesota (Dell Compellent); Bowling Green, Kentucky; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Miami, Florida. Facilities located abroad include Penang, Malaysia; Xiamen, China; Bracknell, UK; Manila, Philippines; Chennai, India; Hyderabad, India; Noida, India; Hortolandia and Porto Alegre, Brazil; Bratislava, Slovakia; Łódź, Poland; Panama City in Panama; Dublin and Limerick, Ireland; and Casablanca, Morocco, though the US and India are the only countries that have all Dell's business functions and provide support globally.

Products

• Dell keyboards

Dating

Main article: Dating#Dell

Dell peripherals can be dated from the Dell label supplied. With mice and other smaller items, this label is on the packaging, but with keyboards, a second label is also affixed to the item itself, allowing it to be dated once the packaging is discarded.