Dell entered the 21st century as the most successful company in the PC industry. Founded in 1984, the company had achieved phenomenal records in sales and profit growth. Engine of this success is Dell's Direct Model, which primary contains low costs for the manufacture and a direct customer relationship.
             Especially the computer business is characterised by the neck-breaking speed of new product development. As soon as a new technology emerges, it is immediately adopted in new products. IBM and also Compaq, for example, misjudged the market in 1994 and suffered a high loss in PC sales. Michael Dell on the other hand understood always to react currently to changed requests of the market and so he realised quickly that the retail channel didn't fit to his philosophy.
             The answer was the "Direct model", easy to describe, but difficult to duplicate. As orders come into the factory via website or call centres, the company relays to its suppliers details of which components it needs and when. All these hardware then rollup in vans to big bays at the back of the building and roll out again as complete computers just a few hours later. Because Dell's suppliers have real-time access to its orders via its corporate extranet, they can plan their production and delivery to ensure that there are always just enough of the right parts to keep the production line moving smoothly.
             Goal of this assignment is on one hand to introduce the different marketing instruments, whereby the focal point is on the formation of the Distribution system. On the other hand it will be shown Dell's special handling with these tools and the reasons for the success of the world's largest PC manufacturer.
             An outstanding example for using the possibilities given by the marketing mix is the computer company Dell. The most significant difference between Dell Computer and its competitors is to use the direct distribution and the "build to o...