Dell's 10-K

1- What is Dell’s strategy for success in the marketplace? Does the company rely primarily on a customer intimacy, operational excellence, or product leadership customer value proposition? What evidence supports your conclusion?

• For success in the marketplace, Dell’s business strategy combines its direct customer model with a highly efficient manufacturing and supply chain management organization and an emphasis on standards-based technologies (SEC 2005). Although Dell uses a combination of customer intimacy, operational excellence and product leadership, this strategy primarily relies on the “Customer Intimacy” approach. This is true because the key tenets of Dell’s business strategy are: “A direct relationship is the most efficient path to the customer” (SEC 2005).

2- What business risks does Dell face that may threaten its ability to satisfy stockholder expectations? What are some examples of control activities that the company could use to reduce these risks?

• • Business risks that Dell faces that may threaten its ability to satisfy stockholder expectations are the fact that product transitions present some of the greatest execution challenges and risks for any technology company. Accordingly, if Dell is unable to effectively manage a product transition, its business and results of operations could be negatively affected (SEC 2005). Control activities that the company could use to reduce these risks are to hire the best talent in the field of technology and to continuously invest their earnings into research and development.

3- How has the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 explicitly affected the discolosures contained in Dell’s 10-K report?

• • The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 explicitly affected the disclosures contained in Dell’s 10-K report because it states that the annual report must contain an internal control report and that independent accountants have to certify the company’s internal control over its financial reporting, where...