Our business strategy is evolving as we combine our direct customer model with relevant technologies and solutions, highly efficient manufacturing and logistics, and new distribution channels to reach commercial customers and individual consumers around the world. Using this strategy, we strive to provide the best possible customer experience by offering superior value; high-quality, relevant technology; customized systems; superior service and support; and differentiated products and services that are easy to buy and use. Historically, our growth has been driven organically from our core businesses. Recently, we have begun to pursue a targeted acquisition strategy designed to augment areas of our business to gain more access to products, services, and technology that our customers value.
Our core values include the following:
• We simplify information technology for customers. Making quality personal computers, servers, storage, and services affordable is Dell’s legacy. We are focused on making information technology affordable for millions of customers around the world. As a result of our direct relationships with customers, or “customer intimacy,” we are best positioned to simplify how customers implement and maintain information technology and deliver hardware, services, and software solutions tailored for their businesses and homes.
• We offer customers choice. Customers can purchase systems and services from Dell via telephone, kiosks, and our website, www.dell.com, where they may review, configure, and price systems within our entire product line; order systems online; and track orders from manufacturing through shipping. Customers may offer suggestions for current and future Dell products and services through an interactive portion of our website called Dell IdeaStorm. Commercial customers also can interact with dedicated account teams. We have recently launched a retail initiative and plan to expand that initiative by adding new distribution channels to reach additional consumers and small businesses through retail partners and value-added resellers globally.
• Customers can purchase custom-built products and custom-tailored services. Historically our flexible, build-to-order manufacturing process enabled us to turn over inventory every five days on average, thereby reducing inventory levels, and rapidly bring the latest technology to our customers. The market and our competition has evolved, and we are now exploring the utilization of original design manufacturers and new distribution strategies to better meet customer needs and reduce product cycle times. Our goal is to introduce the latest relevant technology more quickly and to rapidly pass on component cost savings to a broader set of our customers worldwide.
• We are committed to being environmentally responsible in all areas of our business. We have built environmental consideration into every stage of the Dell product life cycle — from developing and designing energy-efficient products, to reducing the footprint of our manufacturing and operations, to customer use and product recovery.
