Problems of Early Growth
The company’s early rapid growth resulted in disorganization. Sales jumped from $546 million
in fiscal 1991 to $3.4 billion in 1995. Growth had been pursued to the exclusion of all else,
but no one seemed to know how the numbers really added up. When Michael Dell saw that
the wheels were beginning to fly off his nine-year-old entrepreneurial venture, he sought
older, outside management help. He temporarily slowed the corporation’s growth strategy
while he worked to assemble and integrate a team of experienced executives from companies
like Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, and Apple.