ASSIGNMENT ON DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT ON

SUBMITTED TO :
PROF. AJAY BANSAL

SUBMITTED BY :
SWETA KUMARI

11PGDM114

TABLE OF CONTENT
OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT.........................................................3 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................4 HISTORY OF DELL............................................................................4 ORGANISATION................................................................................5 STRATEGIC DIRECTION.................................................................6 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL.............................................................8 SELLING THROUGH INTERNET...................................................9 SUPPLIER..........................................................................................9 KANBAN PROCESS.......................................................................11 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT................................................12 DELL SUPPLY CHAIN PROCEDURE..........................................12
E- COMMERCE USED BY DELL TO IMPROVE SUPPLY CHAIN...........13 PRICING STRATEGY.....................................................................................14 PRICING ISSUE...............................................................................................15 CHANNEL CONFLICT...................................................................................17 COMPETITIVE STRATEGY..........................................................................18 QUESTIONNAIRE..........................................................................................19 FINDING.........................................................................................................20 CONCLUSION................................................................................................21

Objective of the Project

This project report is on the THE STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL OF DELL. This report is made for DELL with their distribution points. Objective of the every organization is to satisfy the needs and wants of their customer in which distribution channel plays a vital role. The study is conducted by collecting secondary data and primary data. Secondary data is collected from books, journals, government websites, company documents whereas primary data is collected by means of survey questionnaire distributed among channel partners and the end customers. Participants of research would be intermediaries in the distribution network and the end customer. In order to select the participants the study has made use of stratified random sampling method in order to make sure that major demographic segments are represented while selecting the samples. This study helps us in the following way: To know performance of existing distribution channel To know if there are any flows in the channel To know their retailers satisfaction level with respect to the existing channel

INTRODUCTION
Dell Inc. (formerly Dell Computer) is an American multinational computer technology corporation based in Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells, repairs and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide. Dell is listed at number 44 in the Fortune 500 list. It is the third largest PC vendor in the world after HP and Lenovo. Dell has grown by both increasing its customer base and through acquisitions since its inception; notable mergers and acquisitions including Alien ware (2006) and Perot

Systems (2009). As of 2009, the company sold personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is well known for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce, particularly its direct-sales model and its "configure to order" approach to manufacturingdelivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications. Dell is the sixth largest company in Texas by total revenue, according

to Fortune magazine. It is the second largest non-oil company in Texas behind AT&T and the largest company in the Greater Austin area. On February 5, 2013 Dell announced a leveraged buyout by founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners with additional funding from Microsoft. However South eastern Asset Management, the largest shareholder of Dell stock with about 8.5%, is opposed to the deal at the per share price of $13.50 to $13.75 as they value the company at $23.72 a share. The buyout would save Dell between $4 and $5 billion in taxes they would otherwise have to pay on repatriated profits controlled by tax haven subsidiaries.

History of Dell
Michael Dell founded Dell in 1984 while he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin. Michael Dell believed that consumers would value the ability to customize their computers and purchase them directly from the manufacturer rather than through a retail store. Consequently, Dell's initial marketing strategy was to convince individual and

corporate computer purchasers to buy computers directly from Dell via the Internet. In its early years, Dell targeted most of its marketing efforts at medium and large businesses that needed to purchase numerous highly customized computers that would fit seamlessly with their business processes. Dell began advertising at electronics trade shows, in trade magazines and through other mediums targeted at corporate chief technology officers, who were responsible for their companies' computer purchases. In marketing to these executives, Dell highlighted the ease of customizability, the simplicity of placing orders through Dell's website and Dell's rapid order fulfillment abilities. The company also promoted its "Premier Pages" service, which provides corporate customers with 24-hour technical support services. This marketing effort allowed Dell to become a dominant supplier of computers to medium and large businesses in the 1990s and early 2000s.

ORGANIZATION
The board consists of nine directors. Michael Dell, the founder of the company, serves as chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Other board members include Don Carty, William Gray, Judy Lewent, Klaus Luft, Alex Mandl, Michael A. Miles, and Sam Nunn. Shareholders elect the nine board members at meetings, and those board members who do not get a majority of votes must submit a resignation to the board, which will subsequently choose whether or not to accept the resignation. The board of directors usually sets up five committees having oversight over specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues, including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles financial matters such as proposed mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters (including nomination of the board); and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating antitrust laws. Day-to-day operations of the company are run by the Global Executive Management Committee, which sets strategic direction. Dell has regional senior vice-presidents for countries other than the United States, including David Marmonti for EMEA and Stephen J. Felice for Asia/Japan. As of 2007, other officers included Martin Garvin (senior vice president for worldwide procurement) and Susan Sheskey (vice president and Chief Information Officer).

Strategic Direction
Dell is a completely customer centric organization and its business has been built for a direct sale of the products to the customers. They follow the concept of build-to-order strategy for manufacturing and selling PCs. Dell originally sold PCs to individual PC users, by the end of 1980s; it made its way into the corporate market. Dell's direct approach didn't need the various services provided from resellers. Dell concentrated on its efforts on working closely with those departments to simplify their lives and lower the price of PCs to the end customer. Dell developed a sales force to deal directly with the top executives of companies, and it penetrated into the corporate accounts that had long been dominated by vendors such as IBM, HP and DEC. Dell has glued to its inherent model of build-to- order business model to increase their profit margins. A main advantage of this build-to-order production is that quite expensive inventory does not pile up and lose its value before it can be sold. The inventory turnover rate of Dell is 60 times per year compared to that of indirect vendors which is 12-15 times more. Customers often pay for the product before the sale as it is built to order and Dell pays its suppliers for the parts that go into the PC after the customer pays them, which shows that Dell operates on negative conversion cycle. One of the most important benefits that Dell gain are the customer relationship which is the key area for many businesses. Unlike many manufacturers who do not know who is their end customer is Dell knows its end customer and how much he is spending with the company and feedback the customer gives after the usage of the product. Dell uses the feedback of the customer to offer add-on and keep-on products and services. Dell provides system maintenance and customer support services to the customer to help the customer plan PC replacement and to upgrade themselves with the latest technologies. Dell calls itself a PC outsourcer as it takes the responsibility for managing customer's PC inventory, from purchase to disposal. Its manufacturing operations and systems are set up to support their business model which is building PCs to a customer's requirements which includes pre-loading software and making a hard drive image of it in the factory, and

providing an asset tag that can be scanned to compare to that of the PC throughout its lifecycle. The build-to-order process is being practiced for years, and involves the entire production process and supply chain. A Dell PC is designed to minimize manual activities in production. Suppliers are selected with an assurance of high quality material, suppliers are also integrated into production process and system, and the entire production is managed by the combination of all information systems which are internal as well as external.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Dell has prepared an enormous trade of developing an innovative and formal channel big business representation and this formal model is a vital to its organizational success. I would be giving the impression of being at Dell's inventive distribution channel management which has literally revolutionaries the importance of Direct Marketing in the customer electronics space in the world. Direct marketing is still the most important distribution channel methodology within Dell. I would be documenting the development of this concept within Dell accurate from its modified sales administration during Personal Computer's narrow to the compound and complicated systems that it employs at present situation. I would be presenting an illustration of the complete distribution arrangement that it situates in the present day environment. It has countless of the rudiments concentrated, while developing a new formal model. Dell's true channel success could be determined in how it can extent its channel volume and transactions and this will be a great deal influenced by the steps it acquires to enhance product accessibility and moderate possibility for its partners. Dell is incorporated with mainly direct marketing approach but new technology of internet marketing changes that strategy, means now Dell is operating their marketing operation both with direct channel and internet marketing channel.

Selling through Internet

With the growing use of Internet and e-commerce in 1994, Dell started its online shopping as it withdrew from the retail market in the US. It believed that electronic selling will provide a new opportunity for their growth in sales and it would help them to restore their growth. In the year 1995, after the Internet the buying and selling through the internet had started, Dell has created its own website www.dell.com to provide information and assistance to its customers in technical support and product related information. The web site also contained the company's information such its annual reports, stock price, and other statistical data.

Suppliers
The suppliers for hard drives for Dell are those which are same for the others in the same group such as Intel, Seagate, Quantum, Maxtor, Philips, Nokia, Samsung, Acer etc. The notebook range of systems of Dell of the lower end models are manufactured completely by mainly Quanta and Arima which are suppliers from Taiwan. The base units of higher-end notebooks are manufactured by Dell. Dell completely relies on Intel for microprocessors which is a smart decision and which will make the task of product development easy for them. More than 70% of procurement is done from the Asia pacific region though the manufacturing is concentrated completely in the US. Dell has redesigned its computers so that same components can be utilized for different models, which in turn helps in the reduction of number of parts in inventory, its cost, economies of scale, and the process of managing their procurement. From the years 1992 to 1997, the suppliers for dell were reduced by more than 75%. The suppliers who produced more than 85% of their material were also reduced. Dell has a multiyear planning negotiating and supplying with its suppliers by reducing the complexity of procurement and inventory management. External Relationships: From Value Chain to Value Web Dell's core part of the business is based on the value chain. Like other PC manufacturers it does not focus on designing and selling the models and by relying on others to provide components software and parts for its models. Dell sells its products directly to the end users by cutting out the distributor and reseller.

A big part of its components are manufactured by other manufacturers and suppliers and are shipped directly to the customers. In terms of designing manufacturing and delivering PCs Dell works in a different way than the others. Because of its unique way of operating and selling PCs, it has changed the general value chain with a new model which can be called as a value web or a virtual corporation. Indirect value chain Co-ordination and control of the value network is completely in control of the company, which creates a direct relationship with the end user. Customer feedback can be taken easily. The necessary information can be passed on to suppliers who actually manufacture the components. The value web model illustrates how Dell's distribution model can respond immediately to customer feedback. As all the traditional mediators are removed from the system the gestation period of customer order to receiving the product is reduced substantially.

Kanban Process
Kanban Process is defined as a technique for work and inventory release, is a major component of Just in Time and Lean Manufacturing philosophy (Fujitsu, 2002). The concept was originally developed at Toyota in 1950; it is an efficient factory production system. The Kanban process also demands huge amount of trust between the company and its supplier The company works closely with its suppliers and customers. The company makes use of Internet to integrate its customers and suppliers to its manufacturing and logistic function which is based on Just in time management model. The company relies on its robust organization to get the supplies and components when and where required. Any alternative components are acquired through the time of the production process by making use of the Kanban' System. The suppliers of Dell deliver parts when they receive the request or an empty transportation giving request for refill. Apart from the company also makes use of integrated Kanban' process to be more efficient, the integrated Kanban process is divided into two parts. The first part is the transport Kanban and the other is the production Kanban and the key difference between both of them is the schedule, the transport Kanban works on every day basis where components are manufactured by the suppliers based on the specific order for that particular day. Because of made to order system at times it can be challenging for Dell to identify or forecast the components which would be required which justify the use of Kanban process. The production Kanban gives details about the completion of the production by a specific unit or workstation, depending on which the suppliers are able to find out the time when the assembly line would need their product. The process is based on the production schedules that are fixed and autonomous in nature which helps in successful and effective logistic process. The company makes use of information technology in the best possible manner to encourage trust and cultivate health relationship (Internal Reports).

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Dell has implemented an outstanding supply chain system that has made their business even better. They use supply chain software by i2, which gives them the ability to get materials from suppliers over the web in real time, and get those supplies to the factories every two hours to meet customer needs. The key to the success of this method is that Dell has suppliers within close proximity to all of their factories. Basically, Dell never runs out of an item, and if they need something, they can get it so quickly that they can take an order for a custom computer and have it in the mail and on the way to the customer in a couple days or less. By maximizing their supply chain capabilities and developing excellent customer service, Dell computers has established themselves as one of the front-runners in the computer business. Their ability to provide customers with custom-built computers in a matter of days at an affordable price is unheard of in their market, and their business has thrived as a result.

DELL SUPPLY CHAIN PROCEDURE

Due to efficient supply chain management, Dell is capable of shipping a PC within 24 hours of receiving an order. The introduction of the internet and e-commerce has helped Dell improve this efficiency and profitability. First we need to understand what is involved in a supply chain. A simple supply chain covers the whole process of the production of the goods for sale. Once the goods are produced, they lie in the stock at the outlet until an order is made. When an order is processed, the specific goods are delivered to the buyer and payment is received by the seller. A computer manufacture depends on suppliers for parts when designing and manufacturing a PC for the mass market. The complete product will then be sold to a distributor, who in turn will sell it to a retailer who will eventually sell it to end customer. When a customer walks into the retailers shop and decides to purchase a PC, the PC has been manufactured well in advance at this stage. When customer pays for his order, the PC is taken from the stock and handed over to him. At Dell, the traditional supply chain has two fundamental differences: disintermediation and real time production. Dell sells directly to its customer, cutting out the middle man, the

distributor and the retailer. When a layer that exists between two other layers is removed like this, it is known as disintermediation. As Dell manufactures the products and then sells them directly to the customer, Dell creates disintermediation the outside retailer is cut out of the process. This reduces time and costs in the process and also ensures Dell is better positioned to understand its customers needs directly. Crucially, Dells supply chain costs are reduced on the storage side too by its efficient relationship between orders and production. Each individual PC that is ordered is only manufactured after the order is received and only using the freshest raw materials, which are delivered to the factory several times a day. This is known as just-in-time production or realtime production. There is no warehouse for either raw components or finished goods. Each computer has been paid for and has been built for a specific customer before it is shipped. Real time production ensures no costs are incurred from rising inventory stocks. Outputs is always driven by actual customer demand. Each individual product is created with the latest technology and each product is custom-made to exactly what the customer wants. Dells direct selling started off using the customer channels of mail order and ordering using toll- free phone numbers and this has grown to embrace online sales channels too.

E- COMMERCE USED BY DELL TO IMPROVE SUPPLY CHAIN

When internet technology arrived, Dell was quick to set up the e-commerce processes that would enable it to also sell directly online to customers. Selling online allows the whole process to be automated and more efficient. Since 1996 when dell opened its website www.dell.com for e-commerce, the company has had huge sales success. By 1997, the company recorded $1 million in online sales. By 2000, the companys internet sales had reached $50 million a day. The product range is online with detailed information to help the customers to help them make their decisions. They simply have to follow the easy automated instructions that come up on screen. These allow the customers to customise the computer they want with the features they need. They can increase, say, their hard disk space and see the difference that

increase makes to the overall price. Then they are given varieties of options on how to pay, either directly online or, via a customer service operator. There is even an automated leasing option available through a financing arrangement that Dell has here with Permanent TSB. The customers order is then passed automatically through to the production department at dells factory where it will be manufactured to his specification, tested and shipped out to him. All of the systems relating to the sales are done through e-commerce order placement, order tracking, payment processing, inspection, testing and delivery. Similarly, internally at Dell, the whole purchase and procurement of materials is automated between Dell and its suppliers. At www.valuechain.dell.com, dell shares information with its suppliers on a range of topics, including product quality and inventory. The crucial benefit is the automation of the whole process, which not only makes it faster and more efficient, but also much more cost effective, especially given the volume of business involved. Dells global website receives more than 1 billion page request per quarter at 80 country sites in 28 languages and 26 currencies. Dells approach to e-commerce simulates the benefits of face-to-face contact between the buyer and the seller. This ensures that staff can be focused on delivering a quality product and providing excellent customer service and support.

PRICING STRATEGY OF DELL

Direct Business Model
Dell's direct business model is behind the firm's continued success. Competitively, it: eliminates the need to support an extensive network of wholesale and retail dealers, in turn eliminating dealer mark-ups, avoids higher inventory costs associated with "best estimates" of product demand; avoids large inventories of obsolescent finished products due to the rapidly changing technological market; and gives the firm the ability to maintain, monitor, and update a customer database that can be used to shape future product offerings and post-sales service and support The bottom line and of course thats where the direct business model must truly be weighed is that Dell Computer Corporation is able to bring the latest technology to its customers faster and more competitively priced than many of its competitors. Most recently Dell has taken the idea of directly selling to customers on the Web, and sales at Dell's Web site now make up 30 percent of corporate business. Mass Customization From the start up of Dell Computer, the entire company - from research and development to manufacture to sales has been listening to the customer, responding to the customer, and delivering what the customer asked for, in line with the direct model. o High performance products: The standard, then, was set by IBM, and that was what customers wanted - and what Dell offered. o Direct relationship with customers: Dell had an ongoing dialogue with customers. The information gave the company a competitive advantage in tailoring its products and communications to customer thinking. Direct marketing also communications to customer thinking. Direct marketing also avoided dealer mark ups.This remains true today - even with the prices of PCs declining, such rates may still be as high as a quarter of purchase price. o Efficient and Flexible Manufacturing: The fledgling firm didn't have much capital and the issue of inventory was a serious one. Although the firm now garners most of the market share, it continues to monitor inventory levels, practicing JIT to remain continues to monitor inventory levels, practicing JIT to remain flexible to build machines to customers' orders.

PRICING ISSUES
Since the computer manufacturer re-entered the channel nearly 18 months ago, its dodged issues of conflict for what it offers registered partners for prices on products and what customers can find by shopping direct on Dells Web site. Now Dell is engaging the channel through distribution. In a deal signed with Ingram Micro and Tech Data, Dell offered 14 desktop and notebook units from its business-class Vostro line through distribution giants Ingram Micro and Tech Data. Dell says solution providers can buy direct from Dell or through distribution. The benefit of buying through a distributor is having one source for comparative brand pricing, a broad line of products for building holistic solutions and credit. Distribution, in theory, often offers better pricing than what manufacturers charge end users, but slightly more than what solution providers can get direct from suppliers. Dells pricing conflicts with the channel are nothing new. Dells 2002 attempt at a white box program proved disastrous. The company offered solution providers "unbadged" Dell PCs for resale, but there were a lot of problems with the model. First, the white box versions were often more expensive than Dell-branded systems. Second, the removal of the Dell label made the systems less desirable to customers. And third, Dell only offered a limited selection of low-end PCs to its partners. Channel Insider checked out the prices of the new Vostro systems sold through distribution against the prices of comparable systems available direct from Dell and from Dell competitors. Dells foray into the distribution model consists of the companys Vostro product line, with approximately 14 desktops and notebooks available. The Vostro product line is aimed at business users and sport mid-level features and performance. Vostro should have particular appeal to the small business user due to affordable pricing and competitive software bundles. While on the surface, it looks like Dell is taking the right approach in regards to pricing for the channel, but one needs to consider Dells frequent specials and offers. For example, Dell.com is currently offering a "Desktop Deal" Vostro 220s equipped much the same as the distribution system, with 2 GBs RAM and a 19-inch LCD monitor included for $559.

Solution providers buying through distribution are going to find it difficult, if not impossible, to compete with that offering. Those looking to compete with Dells pricing may turn to Lenovo or Hewlett-Packard for similarly equipped systems. Lenovos Think Centre A57 9702, when equipped similarly to the Vostro, costs about $470; an HP Compaq Business Desktop dx2400 costs about $540. This shows that on the bottom end, Dell can beat most other vendors when it comes to basic pricing. On the other hand, system builders may be able to under-sell Dell by carefully choosing components. For example, a system builder should be able to build a comparable system for about $435 using an Intel E7300 CPU, Intel DG31 Motherboard, Antec case/PSU, Maxtor 160 GB hard drive, Corsair RAM, Lite-on Optical drive, generic keyboard, mouse and Windows Vista Business Edition. At this time, Dell did not have any "Dell Deals" on the Vostro 1510, meaning that until a special offer develops, the best place for a solution provider to buy the Vostro 1510 is through distribution. Of course, Dell is not the only notebook manufacturer. Toshiba offers a similarly equipped Satellite Pro S300 for $799 and Lenovo offers an SL500, with a P7370 Intel CPU (2.0 Ghz) for about $680a bit cheaper than Dell, albeit with a slightly slower processor. In our tests, Dells pricing against both distribution and competitors either doesnt conflict or is within a reasonable variance. Even so, solution providers will have to pay careful attention to Dells "specials" when pricing systems. Those not looking to sell Dell products may have some work cut out for them, where it may be difficult to beat Dells prices feature by feature.

Channel Conflict
As revealed by Micro Scope in September, Dell trialled an initiative with one internal team and a bunch of resellers to create channel advocates among its direct sales force and foster a new culture of partnering. Direct sales teams have been given sales targets that will be difficult to achieve without leaning on resellers, said outgoing EMEA channel boss Josh Claman, who is moving to lead the public sector division in the region. "We will be assigning quotas that will be hard or almost impossible to achieve without using the channel, we'll tell them that there are partners working on their patch and to hit targets they will have to use the channel," he said. In January, Dell merged its channel account and direct sales team into four global customer segments including Public Sector, SME, Large Enterprise and Consumer. This structural change together with the overhaul of internal reward mechanisms are designed to minimise channel conflict which according to UK partners continues to dog the vendor a year after it launched the Partner Direct scheme. "I think that is why we called for a pretty dramatic change in how we structure the channel. I can't imagine anything more that we could do to train channel advocates in our direct sales teams," said Claman. The recent departure of Andy Dow, UK channel director at Dell, has unsettled partners and caused some to question if Dell was committed to them for the long term. The company has also recruited two new heads to run Europe as revealed last month. Emmanuel Mouquet has been appointed as EMEA channel sales director and Kathy Schneider as EMEA channel programme manager. Mouquet said: "There are lots of things that partners can do which we can't. Will our internal [direct sales] culture change overnight? No, but it is changing day by day." In two to three years Dell will become the preferred vendor of choice for partners, said Greg Davis, vice president of global commercial channels. "We listen to our partners and we make adjustments to our programmes, it is going to take some time but I am confident that the structural changes we are making will lead to greater opportunities to collaborate with partners," he said. The instances of conflict may have reduced in the last year but Dell is banking on partners having a little patience while it plays catch up with rivals that have been operating in the channel for the last 25 years.

Competitive Strategy
Dells competitive strategy is the key to the companys success and its their distribution model and its lean cost structure. Both of these strategies have given the company a competitive advantage over others in the industry. The companys business strategy is based on the direct business model. With this model, they can deliver the best customer experience through direct, comprehensive customer relationships, cooperative research and development with technology partners, computer systems built to customer specifications, and service and support systems geared towards customer needs. Dells direct model gives the company several competitive advantages over others in the industry. First of all, it eliminates the need to support a network of wholesalers and retail 11 dealers. This avoids dealer mark-ups. Second of all, this model reduces inventory costs, which are associated with the wholesale/retail distribution channels. Inventory is big in the technology industry. Dell uses JIT (just-in-time) inventory practice, which means that they keep very minimal inventory of components on hand. Not only does this reduce expenses on the financial statements but it also keeps technological components from being outdated. Other companies in the industry have had a hard time reducing their inventories. By the time they go to use the component it had become outdated so it increases their costs. Dell keeps their inventory costs at a minimum. Dells inventory turnover rate is about 4 days while the industrys is around 15. This model also helps to avoid competition for shelf space in the retail markets. Dells direct distribution strategy can be credited for the companys lean cost structure. The company is heavily exposed to the slow growing PC market however, Dells market share continues to accelerate compared to the rest of the industry. As the industry continues to move towards standardized technology, cost structure will become a key issue and Dell already has an advantage over the rest in this area.

Questionnaire
1.
I. II. III. IV.

The number of years the channel partner has been working with Dell
less than 5 years between 5-10 between 10-20 more than 20

2. I. II. III. IV. V. 3. I. II. 4.

Rate the service of Dell in terms of orders and pickups Best Good Not sure Average Worst Have you had any issues with Dell ? Yes No

Do you Trust Dell? I. Yes II. No

5. I. II. III. IV. V.

Rate the quality of the communication systems at Dell. Best Good Not sure Average worst

6. I. II. III. IV. V.

Rate the technological systems used by Dell to assist the channel Partners. Best Good Not sure Average worst

FINDINGS
The key themes or findings of the questionnaire response are summarized as below: * Almost 90% of the participants have had encounter with a Dell machine at one point of time which shows the popularity of the system among students and employees * In response to the questions to rate the service of Dell, 75% participant considered it to be good , however there is still gap of 25% on which the company can focus to improve its customer service. In case of UK it is recommended to have physical contact with the customer rather than outsourcing the customer service to some other country. * Most of the consumers were happy with the delivery schedule of the company which shows the timeliness and quality of its distribution channel. There is still room for improvement however. * 72% of the respondent considered the quality of the Dell system to be good whereas around 28% were either not sure or did not considered it to be good. The company here can focus on the quality that is being supplied by its channel partners. * 73% customers were happy to recommend Dell to their family and friends whereas 27% were not. This showed that there is still some gap the company can capitalize on when it comes to bringing about customer satisfaction. * Cost, quality and service were the key criteria when it came to making decision of buying a new computer system (laptop and PC). Brand image, looks and after sales services were rated average in terms of importance. Provision of Finance was least important when the customer considered making a purchase of computer system * Maximum channel partners have worked between 10-20 years with Dell. This shows the commitment and long terms partnership Dell establishes with its channel partners. This is only possible if there is professional and trustworthy relationship between the channel partners and Dell. * 95% of the channel partners were happy with the service of Dell in terms of deliver and order pickup. * Around 30% of the channel partners said they have had issues in the past with Dell. * All the channel partners replied that they trust Dell * 85% channel partners agreed that the communication systems at Dell were Good whereas 15% did not believe it to be good.

Conclusion
The discussion above has presented a comprehensive explanation of the channel of distribution of Dell. The deliberations established out that the point of accomplishment presently enjoyed by the companionship is for the most part influenced by these different areas. In particular, the revise even pushed it additional by maintaining that these fundamentals are surrounded by the issues that make a payment to the aggressive improvement of the organization greater than the rest of the competitors in the marketplace. Considering the circumstances concerned in the exterior surroundings of Dell the utilization of such method authorizes effectiveness for the reason that it is understandable who their consumers are along with the piece of information that an enormous demand for their various products is observable from these consumers. It must also be distinguished that such an organization would not be possible as it is if a successful level of control is reachable to the company. Based on the deliberations above, the company is well responsive on how to supervise their marketplace as well as the method on which it could further obtain a superior market share throughout their channels of distribution.