Dell puts focus on emerging markets

'This year, we will grow faster than the industry,' said Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc., at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

By SHARON WROBEL
Dell logo 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Dell logo 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Dell Inc., a leading personal computer maker, is gearing up to increase profitability amid the global economic downturn by targeting faster-growing emerging markets and expanding its consumer segment. "There are some fast-growing parts of the world and some not-so-fast growing parts of the world," Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc., said Tuesday at a press conference in Tel Aviv. "The financial sector in the US is experiencing some turmoil and it creates caution in the buying process. But at the same time, we are also seeing this tremendous increase in the number of users coming on-line, and so we are effectively redirecting our resources to where we see the growth." There was accelerated growth from emerging economies all over the world, Dell said. Dell Inc.'s third-largest market in the world for its products was China, he said, and it is growing quite fast in all aspects of Dell's operations. "This year, we will grow faster than the industry," Dell said. "What that growth will be, anyone knows. But our growth this year will be pretty healthy." Speaking during his first official visit to Israel, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dell Israel, Dell said the world was witnessing the most exciting and promising period for technology ever seen. "It's a new kind of age; users are connecting together," he said. "We call it the connected era. More than 1 billion people are on-line today. The second billion people coming on-line by 2011, many from the world's fast-growing and emerging economies, expect a different technology experience to the first. "The Internet has unleashed billions of new conversations and made it possible for people to connect in new ways. The opportunity of this connected era is arguably the most influential single trend remodeling the world today." In Israel, Dell said, some of the largest customers are reached directly, but primarily the focus was to work with channel partners to provide value-added offerings to other businesses. "In Israel, the number of units Dell sold grew 67 percent in 2007 through 11 resale partners," he said. "And this year, the company grew even faster in the first three months of 2008." Dell said the company was focusing on cutting costs to make its retail business activities profitable and broaden its reach to small- and medium-sized companies. "We do see opportunities for very interesting new product growth, which is smaller and lighter to address the more mobile user in a very cost-effective way," he said.