Coordination of the value web is accomplished electronically through legacy systems,the Internet, extranets,e-mail,EDI and newer applications such as i2 and Ariba. These technologies not only reduce costs and improve quality, they make it possible to coordinate a much broader value web and transact larger volumes of business than could possibly be done in their absence. Taken together, the foregoing uses of IT enable the value web to be coordinated in real time and in a relatively seamless fashion,allowing Dell to continually refine the direct model to achieve greater customization,faster response times,higher quality and lower cost for customers
Dell is now using the Internet and e-commerce to create closer relationships with customers that it has previously considred transactional-individual consumers,the home and the small business market. If Dell succeeds,it will have found a low cost,effective way to exetend its reach to new customers in undeveloped and emerging markets that have been too expensive to cultivate in the past.This would include markets outside the U.S. where Dell is just beginning to concentrate.If Dell is unable to develop such new markets profitably ,its growth rate will continue to decline.Thus,Dell's ability to extend its successful IT and Internet-enabled business model beyond its core mark of large U.S. organizations is a key to tis future growth