Assignment$-$ Sustaining Competitive Advantage

Rivkin, Jan W$.,$ and Michael E$.$ Porter. $$Matching DELL$.$ Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Case $9-799-158,$ June $06,1999.$

Ghemawat, Pankaj, and Jan W$.$ Rivkin. $$Creating Competitive Advantage.$$ Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Case $9-798-062,$ January $25,1998.$

Questions for Discussion

i$.$ How and why did the personal computer industry come to have such low average profitability?

ii$.$ Why has DELL$$ been so successful?

iii. Prior to the recent efforts by competitors to match DELL$(1997-1998),$ how big was DELL$$s competitive advantage? Specifically, calculate DELL$$s advantage over Compaq in serving a corporate customer.

iv$.$ How effective have competitors been in responding to the challenge posed by DELL$$s advantage? How big is DELL$$s remaining advantage?

DELL$$ is properly being presented as one of the most innovative companies, the creator of a business model that has received a great deal of attention in the networked economy. Questions i$.$ and ii$.$ can be addressed using Porter$$s Five Forces and Porter$$s Value Chain frameworks respectively. The third question allows for you to do some numerical calculations to quantify DELL$$s advantage over Compaq. You are welcome to work in groups in preparation of this analysis.