电子商务中虚拟集成的途径

Introduction引言

戴尔是全球最主要的电脑程序开发、电脑生产、销售以及计算机服务器供应商，它支撑着全球的个人电脑市场。虽说全球的电脑市场竞争十分激烈，不少厂商都在努力拯救疲软的销售市场和下跌的数十亿美元的份额，但是戴尔仍在获得市场份额并继续获利。该项创新策略——虚拟整合，都是因为戴尔的创始人麦克戴尔在企业中商业模式的成功应用起到的显著作用。

Dell Corporation is one of the largest vendors for computers and servers all around the world which mainly develops, manufactures, sells, and supports personal computersfor the global market. Although the market for computer industry is competitive and many of manufacturers are struggling with slumping sales and billions of dollars in losses, Dell is still gaining market shares and profits. The innovated strategy---the virtual integration, which was brought by the founder of Dell, Michael Dell plays the significant role in Dell's successful business model.

当大多数竞争者还在使用传统的营销策略的时候，戴尔独具一格的打破了传统的界限，并且开始营销上的革命。然而戴尔的营销模式概念十分的简单，它复杂在模式的执行上。因此本报告将评估戴尔在营销策略和营销手法上的利用案例，并从基本的理论上来应用这些关键问题。
When most of the competitors are still utilizing the tradition marketing strategies, Dell's unique strategy breaks the traditional boundaries and starts the marketing revolution. However, Dell’s marketingmodel is simple in concept, but complex in execution.Therefore, this report will evaluate the strategic and tactical marketing practices in the Dell case study and identify the critical issues in this case by utilizing and applying the theoretical underpinning from the module. The major factors for Dell's business strategy consist of direct marketing strategy, customerization, inventory control, customer segmentation, customer relationship management. Through the factors and components consisting the Dell's unique business strategy, we can have a better understanding of the background, operation and advantages of virtual integration.

 

Strategic and Tactical Marketing Practices in Dell' Marketing Strategy戴尔的营销策略战略和战术营销行为

 

Direct marketing strategy is a pioneering business model in computer industry which proves to be quite successful. "The traditional value chain in the personal computer industry was characterized as'build-to-stock.'PC manufacturers, such as IBM, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard,designed and built their products with preconfigured options based on marketforecasts" (Achtmeyer, 2002, p. 2 ). They used to produce every components of computer by themselves, and focus on the research and development of latest components. The fate of company depends on who can create more updated products, who can bring fresh products faster. And then the products are transferred from the manufacturers to the whole sellers, then to the retailers. The profit margins for the manufacturers are narrowing under so many links. Under such a competitive market, Dell's direct marketing model brings a fresh look to the computer industry. Theoretically, direct marketing is any unsolicited contact your business makes with existing or potential customers in order to generate sales or raise awareness (business link, 2008). The chart below clearly shows the traditional marketing model and Dell's direct marketing model.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Dell Computer: Using the E-commerce to Support the Virtual Company, 2001 戴尔电脑：利用电子商务来支持虚拟公司

 

The utilizing of direct marketing works on some premises: Firstly, the customers do not require intense personal introduction about computers by salespeople, they have better understanding of the technology of the components, what they need and what is suitable for them. Secondly, the different components of computers are becoming standard modules, permitting mass customization in computer configuration (Achtmeyer, 2002). With the direct marketing strategy, Dell could best understand the consumer needs by selling computers to them and receive direct information from customers, and promote to provide more suitable products. What is more, the whole process operates fast.

 

The direct marketing not only brings success to Dell from the very start by eliminating the additional cost on retailer shops but also brings a number other critical business advantages:

 

By dealing directly with its customers, Dell can understandexactly their needs. This ensures that expectations are met and that customers are not disappointed. In addition, Dell receivesthe views of various individual customers and gains a deep understanding of their individual requirements. As each computer is "built to order"(business 2000, 2005). The customer can specify the features they want. That particular computeris then built and delivered to that particular customer. This kind of computer is totally customized and the service is highly personalized, too. The updating is fast,if a new technology emerges Dellcan know quickly from customers and includeimmediately, which is quite difficult for acompany with stocks of ready-made computers. Besides, inventory itself costs a lot of money on location expenses and management etc.

 

Customerization ensures the long-term development and virtual integration. Dell has established customer websites, "premier pages" (Dell Devotion, 2006) for their business customers, whose employees can then order computer configuration by themselves when having the approvement from their IT departments. It is said on the premier pages website that "It’s your personalized purchasing portal, and it’s got a great new easy-to-use layout and improved product content. You now have immediate online access to contract pricing and configurations specific to your company’s needs" (Dell Devotion, 2006). Dell's operation means more than pioneering new markets or delivering custom-made products at lower prices, they are transforming the practice of marketing from being "seller-centric" to being "buyer-centric". And from the customer's perspective comes to the customerization (Wind, J. and Rangaswamy, A., 2000). Some doubts may come out pointing that face to face is the best way to sell, but the environment changes and customers' changes. With the popularity of computers, more and more customers are kind of expert in the hardware and software, they understand what they prefer, which part of their computers should be advanced, and they will hardly satisfy with the fixed computers on sale. Besides, they have more percific requirements: comparable levels of pricing, on time delivery and after sale services. Referring to after sale service, Dell is quite creative: "If Buyer purchases additional service to be provided by seller, seller will, in addition to the above Standard Warranty, provide service to Buyer in accordance with the specific terms and conditions in the additional service contract between Seller and Buyer "(Dell, 2008). One of my classmates bought a Dell laptop, and the sales person told her that she had choices to buy extra insurance which means if your laptop is broken after the warranty, you can still enjoy the repair service from Dell without extra charge. This term offers more choices for us, as we can decide the warranty by ourselves according to our usage level. If we use the computer very frequently and cause lot of wear and tear, an extra insurance might be beneficial to us as we can get official service for free.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Customerization is a great strategy, but it has some requirements to operate effectively. Knowledge exchange with customers is the first one. For customerization to work effectively, there must be an exchange of information between customers and company. In order to reach information exchange, the company needs to show some of its internal processes and structures to its customers, and customers need to be willing to share their preference, likes& dislikes and affordable price with the company. However, with increasing online competition and concerns about privacy, companies need to carefully design privacy guidelines and incentive structures to facilitate the knowledge exchange. Secondly, the company should know something about the customers. In other words, firms have to find creative ways to customize the shopping experiences of their customers. For example, what style of computer might attract the teens, what kinds of keyboards are preferred by game players etc? Thirdly, customers expect the product they receive to perfectly match their needs and wants, if it fails to meet these higher expectation, they would buy a standardized product on shelf directly next time, who should have been good customers. Customerization is a win-win strategy for both customers and business and sustains the whole marketing process.

 

Inventory control leverages the direct marketing and is a key challenge for the virtual integration. The operation of direct marketing strategy and customerization all require the effective inventory control." The key challenge and the biggest change from business as usual is changing the focus from how much inventory there is to how fast it's moving" (Magretta, 2000, p.76). If a customer chooses an individual computer from the internet, it is quite a issue for Dell to deliver it to him/her in time. Because traditional marketing for most industries are build to sell, inventory has been a security. It is normal that a warehouse full of finished products imply that there are enough supply on hand to meet customers' demand. In other words, it is a certification of market share. But ever since the 1980s, when General Motors began adopting Toyota's pioneering methods in lean manufacturing, fast companies have reengineered their assembly lines and supply chains by stripping inventory and spare capacity from their operations (Breen, 2004). In computer industry the condition is the same, and no one goes as far as Dell. The most important factors for a smoothly operated inventory control are supply chain and assembly lines.

 

A supply chain is dynamic and involves the constant flow of information, product, and funds between different stages. When a customer purchases a product online from Dell, the supply chain includes the customer, Dell's Web site that takes the customer's order, the Dell assembly plant, and all of Dell's suppliers and their own suppliers. The website provides the customer with information regarding pricing, product specification and product availability (Chopra, Sunil and Meindl, P., 2004). Because the supply chain require a tight cooperation among outside suppliers and contract manufacturers, a network of suppliers and manufacturers supports the production facility, which has difficulty in controlling the quality and speed. Dell sources the material locally with global component, which is being well served with more experiences.#p#分页标题#e#

 

When the supply chain is perfect, the assembly line is required to be speedy and flexible. Dell recognized early the need for speed, quickening the pace at every step of assembling. In other words, the more workers handled, or touched, the product along the assembly process, the longer the process took and the more of quality concerns.   When the components are ready, the parts that are needed to fill the order are taken out of the inventory, scanned in to make sure the right parts are used, and then transported to the next available spot in the assembly line. As mentioned above each part is bar coded at the delivery and scanned multiple times during the assembly process to fit absolutely for the customer's requirement. The assembly line is helpful for the inventory control and tracks any errors so remedy could be taken out that might sustain the completion of an order (Sassen, 2003).

 

Segmentation is the basis for developing targeted and effective marketing plans (the manager. Org, 2001). Market segmentation is an important element of each marketing strategy, especially for computer sales. We have analyze above about the customerization that nowadays the customers understand what they prefer, which part of their computers should be advanced, and they will hardly satisfy with the fixed computers on sale. Besides, they have more percific requirements, too. These situations give stress to the importance of market segmentation that the buyers of a product or a service are no homogenous group. Since it is difficult to meet every customer’s individual characteristics and requirements, marketers group customers to market segments by their commons which allow a reasoned marketing mix for most customers in the segment. The chart below shows Dell's finer segmentation:

 

The Power of Virtual Integration: 虚拟整合的力量

An Interview with Dell Computer's Michael Dell, 2000  戴尔电脑老板麦克戴尔专访
 

From the chart we can see that since1994; Dell grows from a $3.5 billion company, $7.8 billion Company to $12 billion Company. And segmentation is becoming finer and finer, from the large customers & small customers at the start to the global enterprise accounts, large companies, large companies, middle size companies, federal, state and local, education, consumers etc. Through the segmentation and its feedback, Dell is able to forecast what customers need and when first and then coordinates the flow of that strategic information all the way back to its suppliers. For example, if there are some trends in education, any software, or reforms, the company should sense this quickly and make some preparations. Without segmentation, it is difficult to summarize the common points of the mass customers. As stated above, segmentation is the basis for developing targeted and effective marketing plans. Furthermore, analysis of market segments enables decisions about intensity of marketing activities in particular segments (the manager. Org, 2001). The importance and advantage of segmentation lies in better service: from Dell's website, you can not only find product groups list (desktops, notebooks, servers, printers etc), but also customer groups list (privates, small businesses, large businesses, public/state organizations) (Dell, 2008); opportunities for growth: customers change their preferences all the time and they can get guidance by always offering them a special solution for their particular needs; stimulating innovation: customers' preference changes a lot, only a planned development of new or improved products that better meet the wishes of these customer groups could survive. If a product meets and exceeds a customer’s expectations, the customers normally is willing to pay a higher price for that product and trust the brand more. Therefore, segmentation brings Dell closer to customers, allowing Dell understand the customer in a deep way.#p#分页标题#e#

 

CRM (customer relationship management) is a long-term and important approach to business. Traditional marketing strategies focused on the four Ps (price, product,promotion, and place) to increase market share. The focus was toincrease the volume of transactions between seller and buyer (Wyner, 1999). CRM are applied in many marketing lines in much performance, e.g. call center, after sale services, etc. Any industry that has brand may need customer relationship management for further development. As we all may have more than one computer, sometimes we change another because the previous is broken, sometimes we just need a updated one. When a customer has bought a computer from Dell, it is a potential customer for another purchase, more likely than others. Therefore, customer relationship management, which "involves all of the corporate functions (marketing, manufacturing, customer services, field sales, and field service)" (Gray, P. and Byun, J., 2001) plays an significant role in sustaining the long-term customers. For Dell, CRM can be divided into three parts which closely connected.

 

Customer relationship management, 2001 客户关系管理，2001

 

Customer: The customersarethe source of the company’s present profit andfuture growth. However,idealcustomers, who provide more profit with lessresource, seldom appearbecause customers aremore expert than everand thecompetition is fierce, they know their needs. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish who is the realcustomer because the buying decision is frequently a collaborative activityamong participants of the decision-making process (Wyner, 1999).Therefore a professional software or group could effectively distinguish and manage customers.Relationship:The relationship between a company and its customers involvessustainedmutualcommunication and interaction. The relationship canbe short-term or long-term and repeatedor one-time.A good relationship between the company and customers could save expense on promotion for the company and save the time and effort for the customers to choose products. CRM is in charge of managing this relationship so it is mutually beneficial strategy, both for the company and the customer. Management:CRM is much more than a marketing part; it fastens the link between the company and the customers. Thecustomer information collectedand the new technologyare transformed into corporate knowledge leadingto activities that strives for moremarketopportunities.For Dell, it requiredhighly qualified employees to analyze the need of customers and the trend of the products, and frequent meetings are held for discussion.

 

Key account management (KAM) and global account management (GAM) are part of Dell's Customer relationship management, the importance of which should be noticed. These two theories have conflict on some perspective, but both are necessary for the market exploitation. With internal and external competition and pressure to perform, key account management is very goal oriented with a primary focus on selling other than cultivating relationship (Spielthenner, D. And Katzmair, H. 2005). To ensure key account management, such tactics are always utilized: building trust among existing customers and the company, in other words, customers' loyalty to the brand. Sometimes the power of brand and loyalty is huge, one stable customer might bring more customers. When one influential person is satisfied with Dell computer, he/she might influence more people to buy Dell's products. And mobilization of potential customers.is necessary.Sometimes, we may find that we actually do not know which one is suitable for us when facing a lot of selections. At this time, the one who sense the deep need or invisible desire would win the customer. The key account management often is short term, efficient but lacks of effectiveness and sustainability. On the contrast, global account management focuses on the long term cultivation of relationship between customers and company: good services leading to potential benefits, worldwide customer sales and support. However, global account management do have some challenges: the appropriate managers and resources with skills and knowledge to work in foreign environment; communication between all levels of management far away from each other and additional fixed costs. All the investment above are all Dell's problems there. The two strategies both have advantages and disadvantages, only the combination of the two and the utilization in reasoned situation could benefit the marketing.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Conclusion结论

 

According to all the analysis above, we have a deeper understanding of the strategic and tactical marketing practices in the Dell case study and the critical issues in this case and a better understanding of the background, operation and advantages of virtual integration. Dell breaks the traditional marketing and focus on: direct marketing strategy, a pioneering business model in computer industry which simplify the value chain; customerization, fastening the link between the customers and company; inventory control, leveraging the direct marketing; segmentation, the basis for developing targeted and effective marketing plans; customer relationship management, a long term but important approach to global and further development. Dell's innovated virtual integration is not the individual and independent pieces of the strategies and practices, but the combination of them to achieve new levels of efficiency and effectiveness for the entire value system. Virtual integration plays an important role in facilitating manufacturers to achieve greater manufacturing flexibility and comparative cost advantage. Besides, the speedy global market, the advanced technology all paves the way for the success of Dell's virtual integration. From the virtual integration in Dell's case, we can have an expectation to construct a lower cost, effective and mutual beneficial market.

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