Gateway Essay -- essays research papers

access Inc.IssuesThe US personal computing device market continued to struggle and Dell had just lowered its bells close to 20%. As a result, its stock price rose 13% and it gained more market share.How should ingress respond to Dell and its recent price cuts?oLowering Gate direction prices could jeopardize gross profit margins oConversely, unit sales were already down so there was the nemesis of additional sales lossResource AllocationoShould Gateway focus on US consumer sales more or US communication channel sales?Keeping in mind that Gateway int check to discontinue company-owned operations outside North America at the end of 2001oHow should Gateway run its sales and advertising operations? (Keeping in mind, the 2001 advertising budget is about $20 million little than in 1999 at $239.6 million)How much emphasis should be placed on PCs and PC-related units v. beyond-the-box products and services?Where should Gateways marketing efforts be directional customers telephone a nd its website or to its Country Stores?Operating issues in regards to selling, general and administrative (s, g, a) expensesoOverall company s, g, a expenses would decline due to shut of North America manufacturing, sales and service operationsReduction in the number of Country StoresLess advertising fees and expenditures End of alliance with OfficeMaxoHowever, decisions about continued s, g, a expenses still needed to be make Does the Gateway store concept need more thought pertaining to Gateways business model of operating as built-to-order?Gateways gross margin and operating costs needed attention in order to once again be profit sufficientoThe influential aspects among its customer sales strut, its product sales mix and its sales mix across its 3 distribution channels needed to be monitored a... ...f both(prenominal) and combat Dells lower prices. Ways in which this could potentially happen is by offering basic beyond-the-box products with the purchase of a PC and aggressive ly encourage upgrades and additional features customers cant refuse. Another way to counter other PC manufactures is through differentiation. By Gateway counseling on operating its build-to-order method as efficiently as possible, exploiting its obvious third channel of stores and staying technologically as innovative as possible, it is able to differentiate itself apart from its competitors.Lastly, in addition to its pursuit of the consumer market, I study Gateway could benefit from more assertively targeting the business segment that has been rule by Dell. Its a fact, that PCs sold for business-use melt down to be of a high quality and therefore, more expensive with higher margins. In 2000, 65% of Dells PC sales went towards the business sector whereas Gateways main market was from consumer sales, which is often less profitable. If Gateway could go after the business market, without completely losing its consumer sales base, it would be able to better compete, especially wit h Dell.