Introduction
Stakeholders involved in the activity of Dell Technologies include employees, customers, business partners, and many more. The company has several sponsorships, such as McLaren Technology Group (Dell Technologies). Dell aims to maximize the level of technological assistance for the automotive manufacturer, bringing technology to different teams working under the name of McLaren. Those teams include McLaren Racing, McLaren Applied Technologies, and World’s Fasters Gamer, which stands for the esports program organized by McLaren (Dell Technologies). In addition to supporting McLaren technologically, Dell uses its website to provide its customers with information on McLaren’s achievements, making the automotive manufacturer more popular among Dell’s users. Advertisements of Dell Technologies are on McLaren racing cars, as well, which makes this partnership mutually beneficial.
Another business partner of the PC-making firm is PGA Tour, a non-commercial company organizing golf tours in the U.S. and North America. According to Dell’s website, the company powers the digital transformation of the golf industry, creating various virtual courses and implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) analytics (Dell Technologies). One of the primary goals of this partnership is to encourage positive health status, well-being, resiliency, and academic achievements among youths. The company claims that technology integration into the golf industry takes it to the next level using features like robotic arms (Dell Technologies). Similar to the McLaren case, both companies – Dell Technologies and PGA Tour – engage in mutual advertisements, assisting each other on multiple levels.
Another significant stakeholder in Dell Technologies, like any other major company, is its employees. As a technological company, Dell utilizes its nature to enhance its relationships with its employees, offering them a chance to be a part of the world’s technological progress. There are many different fields where people can express themselves and apply their talents in Dell Technologies – software engineering, technical support, 5G teams, digital production, and many more (Dell Technologies). The company constantly seeks talented and dedicated people to complement the global corporation.
As it is known, customers should be the priority of any business-related organization in most cases. Dell is not an exception since the company constantly works to improve its customers’ experiences and increase the quality of products and services (Dell Technologies). However, the firm under discussion pursues one more highly significant goal. Dell seeks to contribute to the world’s technological progress, helping people bring their most valuable ideas to life and promoting innovation with the help of intelligent technologies (Dell Technologies). In other words, people who buy PCs and other products created and distributed by Dell Technologies are not the only customers of the company. The most significant customer of Dell is the humanity overall and the world itself. The firm tries to make the world a better place by accelerating technological progress and promoting innovation. It means that the general public and the community are also stakeholders of Dell Technologies.
Dell Technologies is a major worldwide company, and its organizational activity spreads to almost every part of the world. Many more stakeholders are involved in the company’s activity, contributing to and encouraging its development. They may include but are not limited to investors, environmental support groups, and suppliers. However, the information provided on Dell’s website does not seem sufficient to make definitive conclusions about those particular stakeholders.
Dell Technologies’ Strategy
Like many other business companies, Dell is part of a particular strategic group within the technology industry of the development of computers and related products. According to Hill, strategy is a “set of related actions that managers take to increase their company’s performance” (6). That definition illustrates how important it is for any business company to develop and implement a solid organizational strategy that could allow the firm to be successful and competitive within its respective industry. A strategic group, in turn, is another business-related concept associated with the strategy utilized in each separate company. Carroll defines strategic groups as “sets of firms that are homogeneous within groups and heterogeneous between groups in terms of strategy” (60). In other words, if several firms working in the same industry implement the same or similar strategies to achieve their respective goals, they represent the same strategic group. If two companies implement different strategies within their professional activity, they cannot be in the same strategic group, even if their field of activity refers to the same business industry.
Dell’s strategy appears to be significantly focused on the company’s employees’ effectiveness, making the organization a part of the corresponding strategic group. As mentioned before, Dell puts much effort into seeking talented and dedicated employees to work in the corporation. For example, the firm has many internships and development programs, providing many opportunities for young specialists (Dell Technologies). Such a strategy can efficiently attract young people with fresh minds to the team to bring new ideas and boost performance. Attracting new people to the company seems a reasonable objective since the company operates in the technology industry, which constantly requires new opinions and approaches. Furthermore, Li states that Dell Technologies makes considerable investments to improve its employees’ health and well-being (128). Everything mentioned above illustrates that the core of Dell’s strategy is empowering and taking care of its employees. The company puts much effort into increasing employees’ performance and effectiveness by supporting them on multiple levels.
External Macro-environmental Analysis
The macro-environment in which Dell operates has undergone significant changes in recent years. The coronavirus pandemic has considerably increased the importance of the technology industry because of the necessity to reduce personal interactions between people. Therefore, computer technologies have become much more demandable on the market, which is why Dell Technologies now has to work harder to meet the increasing demands of its customers. For example, Dell enhanced organizational work flexibility in order to be able to allow the company’s employees to work from any place in the world (Dell Technologies). Significant technological advancements of recent years combined with the concepts of Dell’s Connected Workplace program made such a level of flexibility possible. Overall, Dell Technologies had to confront many challenges recently, but it seems the company was able to deal with them successfully and even take advantage of the macro-environmental situation.
Dell Technologies Correlations
The research conducted on Dell’s website can reveal various types of available information that strategic managers and stakeholders can use. For instance, a strategic manager may analyze the website to trace the emphasis Dell makes on its current and future employees. As mentioned previously, the company highly values its workers, taking care of their well-being, providing various programs for young specialists, and helping them adjust to the technology industry to perform effectively in professional terms. Having analyzed that information, a strategic manager can utilize it to identify Dell’s employees as the company’s strong side. Therefore, the resource investments in the organization’s employees might be much more effective than similar investments in other company activity components.
The groups of stakeholders identified in this paper can utilize the information on Dell’s website to make certain conclusions, as well. For example, business companies that seek partnerships and sponsorships can view the pages related to McLaren’s and PGA Tour’s sponsorships to analyze the potential benefits of being Dell’s business partner. The current sponsorships are perfect in terms of demonstrating the collaborative diversity of the company under discussion. Dell is a technological firm specializing in the development of computers and related products, McLaren is an automotive manufacturer, and PGA Tour organizes golf tours. Three companies represent three completely different industries, and yet Dell has managed to find similarities and become a partner of the latter two. Other organizations may see it as a sign of the benefits that Dell’s sponsorship may bring.
Dell’s customers and employees can also find valuable information on the company’s website. The customers might analyze various articles and blog posts related to the organization’s activity to understand the quality of the products offered by Dell Technologies. In addition, potential clients may review other customers’ feedback on the company’s services and view the list of goods Dell offers for purchase. The collected information can help people to understand whether they want to be Dell’s future customers or not. It is improbable, however, that the company’s employees will be able to find any valuable information on Dell’s website since all people working in the company probably have all the information already. Nevertheless, potential employees who consider joining the ranks of Dell Technologies can learn much about the organization from its website, which may contribute to the decision-making process.
Each component of Dell Technologies, including its stakeholders and strategic influence, appears to play a significant part in the company’s development. Stakeholders’ commitment, solid corporate strategy, and strong strategic influence have allowed Dell to become one of the leading companies in the technological industry. Although Dell values every individual and business organization involved in the company’s activity, its employees are the priority, apparently, being a considerable power that forces Dell Technologies to develop and prosper.
Conclusion
Each identified stakeholder involved in Dell’s business activity influences the company in one way or another. Hristov and Appolloni argue that stakeholders’ engagement is one of the critical factors affecting a company’s performance.McLaren and PGA Tour, as the organization’s business partners, provide the resources available within their respective industries to Dell Technologies, creating a collaboration that is much more powerful than a single company. For example, Dell and its partners advertise themselves, potentially letting more people know about the company and attracting many new clients. Customers, in turn, are a determining factor of Dell’s activity since any product or service created by a business entity is intended to be utilized by its clients. The company’s strategy depends on customers’ demands and needs, and its competitive advantage depends on how many individuals prefer Dell over other organizations operating in the same industry. Finally, employees, as mentioned previously, appear to be the core component of Dell Technologies. The company’s strategy is focused on its workers, which means they must have a significant impact on its activity.
Works Cited
Carroll, Charles. “Significant Clustering: Implications for Strategic Groups Research.” Australian Academy of Business and Economics Review, vol. 4, no. 2, 2018, pp. 60-73.
Dell Technologies. Dell Inc., 2022, Web.
Hill, Charles, et al. Strategic Management: Theory and Cases: An Integrated Approach. 13th ed., Cengage Learning, 2019.
Hristov, Ivo, and Andrea Appolloni. “Stakeholders’ Engagement in the Business Strategy as a Key Driver to Increase Companies’ Performance: Evidence from Managerial and Stakeholders’ Practices.” Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 31, no. 4, 2022, pp. 1488-1503.
Li, Yifan. “A Case Study on Dell Technologies and its CEO, Michael Dell.” Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management vol. 3, no. 3, 2022, pp. 128-131.