Knowledge@wharton

The day after Michael Dell’s visit to Wharton on August 29 2006 the Wall Street Journal published a front-page article entitled ”Consumer Demand and Growth in Laptops Leave Dell Behind.” The article replayed the drumbeat of bad news that has recently hit the $56 billion PC maker -- a 51% decline in second quarter earnings from the same period a year ago a stock price that is down 60% from its high in 2000 the exodus of key executives to rival manufacturers -- and suggested that the company’s strategy of ignoring the consumer market plus its failure to maintain an efficient customer service operation have hurt its competitive position especially with respect to rival Hewlett Packard. But Dell himself in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton brushed aside the numbers and focused on the upside. He highlighted the company’s success in emerging markets its record market share new tools and training to beef up customer service and his confidence that the preference of consumers to buy online will contin