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hotrodlincoln
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Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Posts: 1719
Location: Not in Austin anymore
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:55 pm Post subject: Dell says turnaround strategy is paying off |
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Shareholders hear about progress, but share tales of some persistent problems
By Dan Zehr
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The chill of what had been a bleak year for Dell Inc. still lingered on Dec. 4, when the computer maker hosted its last shareholders meeting.
The company had filed its overdue financial reports only a month earlier, and executives had few tangible results to show how the company's turnaround efforts were progressing.
It's a lot warmer now, and chief executive Michael Dell has more evidence to back up his claim that new initiatives are starting to pay off.
He shared some of it Friday at Dell's regularly scheduled shareholders meeting.
"While there's still a lot more to do, I'm feeling pretty good about our progress," Dell said in a brief interview before the meeting. "I think our teams have really embraced the changes, and they're starting to see it's working."
The company posted better-than-expected revenue and profit in its first fiscal quarter, which ended May 2. For the second calendar quarter in a row, Dell's computer shipments grew faster than the industry average and faster than top rival Hewlett-Packard Co., two research firms said this week.
"Customers are again embracing our products," Dell said.
To be sure, Dell has a long way to go before it recaptures its former glory in the computer industry. H-P also had strong shipment growth in the second quarter and kept its edge over Dell as the world's largest computer maker.
Dell's stock, despite the company's early signs of recovery, has increased only 2.6 percent since the meeting in December, thanks in large part to an 8.6 percent increase this week. But the computer maker clearly has come a long way from last July, when accounting investigations forced it to postpone its shareholders meeting, typically held in the summer.
At this point last year, Michael Dell had been back in the CEO chair about six months. He had reshuffled his executive inner circle and begun to fundamentally reshape his company and its strategies.
He even tinkered with key parts of the vaunted direct model his company uses to order parts, build computers and sell them to customers. The company now sells personal computers in more than 13,000 stores worldwide, for example, and it's on pace this year to sell $12 billion worth of products and services through other resellers.
Dell also set in motion plans to drastically cut costs, including layoffs that will trim more than 10 percent of its work force.
Amid all that, he identified five key initiatives to reignite the company's growth: home users, notebooks, large commercial customers, small businesses and emerging markets.
"One thing you'll notice is we're staying with the same initiatives," he said Friday. "These are the right long-term things."
But some problems linger. At Friday's meeting, Dell again faced questions about the company's use of stock options and its decision not to pay dividends, recurring themes for several years running. And the company has yet to completely shake the reputation for poor customer service that has stuck to it in recent years.
One shareholder traveled from Washington, D.C., to air her story directly to the company's executives and board.
"I think they heard me," said Elizabeth Berry, a former attorney and staff member at the Washington mayor's office. "But the only reason they heard me was, I took the time to come here."
Berry said she spent 12 days and made 40 to 50 calls trying to get her computer fixed, to no avail. She asked Dell what was being done to take care of problems like hers.
He "really need(s) to know that this is not a rare occurrence," she said.
Dell noted that internal and external surveys have shown customer-service scores are improving. He mentioned several examples, including a new Frost & Sullivan consumer survey that placed Dell as the leading brand in both notebooks and desktops.
Asked later whether she planned to sell the Dell stock she's owned for eight years, Berry said she's thinking about it but that her dad has urged her to hold onto it.
Other shareholders also pushed Dell and new Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden to explain their position on stock ownership and proxy rules.
Scott Adams presented a pair of proposals on behalf of two union-related investment funds. The first would require Dell to cover the cost of nominating competing board members. It received 33 percent of the vote. The second would give shareholders a nonbinding vote on executive compensation packages. It got 37 percent.
Shareholders voted by a wide margin to keep Dell's current board of directors and approve a new incentive bonus plan for top executives.
dzehr@statesman.com; 512-912-5932
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http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/07/19/0719dell.html |
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FallenAngel
Super Hater
Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 1516
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:16 am Post subject: |
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Ah yes, the magic word repeated so often in the article - shareholder.
Want to know why Dell is failing? Look no further. |
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HellComputer
Dances with Hate
Joined: 16 Feb 2006
Posts: 224
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 2:28 am Post subject: |
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More Zehr crap. Tempered crap mind you, but still crap. Things really don’t change much at dell. This article could have been written anytime in the past 9 years. A couple of points, Dells initiatives are “home users, notebooks, large commercial customers, small businesses and emerging markets”? This sounds like markets to me, not initiatives. How about, quality metrics, customer service, leading edge design, those kind of things?
“He even tinkered with key parts of the vaunted direct model” Now that’s a good description, “tinkered” like a kid jamming a screwdriver into a clock to get the birdie out….. |
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05TigerWong
Hates with a Vengance
Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 59
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| michael needs to the world a favor and go fuck himself. Either that or walk around mopac during rush hour. I am sure most customers and shareholders have the uncontrollable urge to run him over. |
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AngelusDaemonicus
Dances with Hate
Joined: 08 Mar 2008
Posts: 111
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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| HellComputer wrote: | | “He even tinkered with key parts of the vaunted direct model” Now that’s a good description, “tinkered” like a kid jamming a screwdriver into a clock to get the birdie out….. |
I think both birdie and screwdriver are firmly in Mikey's ears, actually. It would explain the level of brain-damage he displays on a daily basis. The guy is pond-scum.
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