Dell Corporation’s influence on Sun Microsystems
When Dell entered the market, it was a major threat of substitute products or services for Sun Microsystems. Dell, on the other hand, had a low threat because not many other companies came out with customizable personal computers. It was easy for Dell to enter the market because it was one of the first companies to offer those products. So there was a huge threat from new entrants, but now that many companies offer customizable computers, it will be more difficult for new companies to enter the market. There is great rivalry among existing competitors in the computer market because you can only sell a certain number of computers. Every business is after the same customer and they need to compete to get the customer’s attention.
I think Dell had a similar impact on other PC vendors in the same server market because Dell was one of the first to create customizable PCs, so every other vendor was just as affected as Sun Microsystems. Sun’s supply chain now closely mirrors that of Dell Computers. They are both shorter. I think it’s wise to imitate a competitor relatively closely, at least in the computing field. If both companies have a shorter supply chain and can reduce costs in the eyes of the consumer, quality and price are the elements being compared. This makes competition and the playing field fairer. Blockbuster is now doing the same thing with Netflix. A customer can have a movie shipped to their home and keep it for as long as they want with no late fees. Comfort attracts people. Customers feel less rushed and aren’t wasting their hard-earned money on late fees. Sun’s software collection may be an integrated interface. The collection integrates information, provides a suite of applications, and shortens the supply chain. Organizations need to be very organized in the process of getting different vendors talking to each other. By knowing which vendors do the best work, they can order from specific vendors and keep the chain running smoothly.
Sun now makes customizable personal computers. They have increased efficiency in the supply chain so that product is delivered to customers within the promised time 95 percent of the time. This helps a lot with competitive advantage because it is very difficult for companies to guarantee a delivery time. Manufacturers take advantage of Sun’s order processing system and generate a customer invoice and shipping order for the customer. They also assemble, configure, and test your system before shipping it directly to you. The delivery time has made the company much more efficient. This created an information association with its supplier manufacturers.
Customer relationship management uses information about customers to gain insight into their needs, wants, and behaviors in order to better serve them. Principal’s efforts are a great example because it collects information such as age, marital and family status, salary, and benefits from its customers. This information helps the company advise customers on how to control their money. The information technology within Principal is both the top and the bottom. IT supports fast response times for transactions and is used to find information about customers. So for the top line to reach new customers and offer new products that will engage those customers, and for the bottom line like optimizing manufacturing processes and successfully processing almost 1 million online transactions per day. Principal’s focus is to grow and increase market reach, product and service offerings, and expand market share. Principal’s strategy would be to focus because it does a lot of research on its customers to offer products and services to a particular market segment. Principal focuses on clients who need financial advice primarily for retirement and specific advice to suit those clients.
Principal could use a software-only ERP system to organize and make its award-winning information technology more efficient. I believe that as service offerings become more and more popular, a service version of ERP might be necessary for companies that don’t have physical products yet to benefit from resource planning. If I were considering a client’s financial services needs, I would want to know about employment history, real estate, post-college education, driving history, and general interests.
