"Michael Dell founded his namesake company in 1984. Since then, dozens of consumer tech companies have risen and fallen - and he says he knows why. On the "Founders" podcast, Dell said that he watched many of his competitors make critical judgment errors. While he said there were many he could list off, three were top of mind. "I mean, there are lots of ways to fail, right?" Dell said."
"The first failure, according to Dell, was that companies "overzealously expanded." The CEO doesn't name any specific competitors, though tech history provides a graveyard of businesses that burned fast and bright. Compaq, for example, purchased the struggling Digital Equipment Corp. for $9.6 billion in 1998. By 1999, Dell Technologies had overtaken it, and by 2002, Compaq had been sold to Hewlett-Packard."
Three recurring causes of failure are overzealous expansion, product design errors, and failure to understand the competitive landscape. Rapid acquisitions and expansion can outpace capabilities, citing Compaq's purchase of Digital Equipment Corp. and subsequent decline. Poor product design can limit functionality and usability, exemplified by Dauphin Technologies' DTR-1 palmtop and its clunky keyboard. Misreading the market and not adapting to shifting customer segments or corporate sales channels can leave companies exposed, as happened to Gateway during the dot-com bust when it lagged in serving business clients.
Read at Business Insider
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