But the very purity of the Dell model, which helped to make it America's fourth-most-admired company in a recent poll in Fortune, could be a double-edged sword.
Retailers such as Levi's and Brooks Brothers are already experimenting with the Dell Computer model, where customers order products that are made especially for them.
The strategy is similar to the model Dell is pursuing with its Streak tablet.
Design-wise, it's identical to a model Dell announced earlier this year, only now it runs Windows 8, not 7.
Leroy's model is Dell, which has built its entire business on fast response times to incoming orders.
Leroy's model is Dell Computer, which has built its entire business on fast response times to incoming orders.
While Dell maintains the CTO model for our enterprise and large customers, there are definitely efficiencies and cost-savings to be realized in our factories with the shift in the consumer market.
Dell Computer has used this model to build computers in the U. S. for some time.
For more than a decade, Dell rode its direct sales model and surging demand from businesses for bland, affordable personal computers to industry dominance.
And with Dell moving away from its direct-only sales model and pushing into Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, Dell can afford to take a chance on anything--except being bland.
So Dell is held up as a model of social engagement as its sales falter.
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Ultrabook shoppers looking for a well-built, unusually compact 13-inch model should consider the Dell, but the relatively poor battery life might be a deal breaker for some.
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Dell's no-frills business model has long allowed it to crank out PCs more cheaply than anyone.
In the 1990s, it was easy for Dell to use its direct-sales model to take share from companies like Compaq that were selling through higher cost retail stores.
Both should also benefit some from the recent problems that Dell is having with its direct sales model, once thought to be a bigger threat to retail store computer sales.
These were good years, during which Dell became the world's largest and most profitable computer-maker, with a supply chain that was easily the most efficient in the industry, if not the world, and a direct-sales model that seemed to keep Dell one step ahead of rival companies selling computers through old-fashioned stores.
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Dell, long known for its direct-sales model, began selling computers through retail outlets last year.
Dell's build-to-order business model means it is among the first to be exposed to price changes in the supply chain.
And with Dell moving away from its direct-only sales model and pushing into Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) and Sam's Club, Dell can afford to take a chance on anything--except being bland.
This thinking and the painfully long time it took DELL to learn it was wrong is precisely what led DELL down the wrong road and is the reason why DELL is still struggling to build a durable business model.
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Compaq's attempts to embrace Dell's direct-from-the-web model have appeared half-hearted.
Michael Dell and others strode in with their Web direct-sales model and changed the rules.
Taking a page from Apple's playbook, Dell is hiring designers as it moves away from its old model of building custom-made computers and begins bypassing traditional retail outlets in order to sell its machines directly to customers.
However, it was painful for DELL to strip back the fixed costs associated with its desktop operating model that once gave it strength.
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The acquisition was not so much for Compaq's PC business-- Dell Computer 's (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) relentless cost-cutting model has taken out most of its competitors' profits there--but in the hope of building a consulting business, particularly in managed services, that could complement HP's highly profitable printing business.
An important part of Dell's success has been that along with its direct-sales model it offers a customisation service.
Is Dell going to make more for shareholders if it tries to radically change its business model or not?
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Companies seeking to build a similar business model to IBM include HP, Cisco, Oracle, and Dell.
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