Critical appraisal of the growing dominance of Dell in the marketplace Research Proposal

Critical appraisal of the growing dominance of Dell in the marketplace - Research Proposal Example The importance of engineering principles will be extensively covered as well as legal and ethical issues associated with conducting business online. In section two, we will critically appraise the business models used by Dell, identifying their sources of competitive advantage. The technology used to facilitate their success will also be addressed. Dell is the largest merchant in selling all types of computer sizes and understand the customer well. It has a great website and the critical appraisal of the website is done for fetching the business model and knowing the sue experience. Besides buying products, Dell allows users to search for products, technical support, articles and solutions, read reviews/ content of the investor relations and corporate governance, recommendations /personalized services. It also provides its customers with online tutorials and order tracking. Users can interact with the technicians via chat services with technicians. Dell also provides intensive support services. Dell was an early and enthusiastic convert to the Internet, creating its first web site in 1994 and moving many of its business activities to the Internet ahead of its competitors. (Kraemer & Dedrick, 2001) The company witnessed that its direct model gave it a lead in selling online. Unlike indirect vendors such as Apple, IBM, HP and Compaq, Dell did not have to worry about channel conflict with resellers and distributors when it began selling online. It operates in business to consumer model (B2C). Describe Revenue Model Dell represents a new breed of retailers; changing the way business is conducted online with their business to consumer model (B2C.) It is a virtual reseller, one of the main new intermediaries (Sarkar et al, 1996.) They are an electronic-commerce only intermediary; business and customer relationship management (CRM) is conducted purely via their website. Describe Marketing Mode Dell's marketing is done through their site itself. They also resort various other forms of marketing like e-banners and web advertisement in social bookmarking websites. Analysis of Co. Web Site Usability Dell's homepage provides the user with an overview of their whole site, most importantly it speaks about all the products it sells, which is vitally important as (Nielsen, 2002) explains "The homepage is your company's face to the world." User friendliness Dell use standard blue hyperlinks, mouse over navigation, browse box, graphics and a search input box to help users interactively navigate the site, which is very user