Crossing the business and cultural divide
(August 2003)
To achieve high levels of growth on an international scale, companies must understand how their customers' geographies, languages, and societal values affect business challenges. More specifically, if a business wishes to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive global market, it must respond to customer needs with region-specific products and services.
As Dell strengthens its hold on the PC, server, and storage markets around the globe, the North Asia region promises to yield a wealth of opportunities for us to increase our presence in the area. A subregion of Asia Pacific/Japan (APJ) consisting of China, South Korea, and Japan, North Asia has rapidly growing PC, server, and storage markets that
present numerous business opportunities for Dell.
Competing globally means competing locally
Many of the competitors in the North Asia region are huge, local home-electronics companies. Not only do they aggressively seek to be technology leaders by incorporating audio/visual features into PCs, but they also focus very seriously on the local customers' preferences and needs in terms of product designs—such as extremely thin, light notebooks.
Dell takes a similar approach. To better compete against large local companies and meet customers' needs, Dell has launched region-specific products in the North Asia region. In China, Dell launched the Smart PC in July 2001. Other region-specific models include the DellTM OptiPlexTM L60, OptiPlex GX50n, and Dell DimensionTM 2350n. In Japan, Dell launched the Dimension 4500C in May 2002, and has since launched the Dimension 2300C, Dell LatitudeTM V700, and Dimension 4590T.
From Austin to Asia, Dell meets customer needs
All of these region-specific products were very well received by our customers because they addressed specific needs of this customer segment. By communicating closely with the Product Group in Austin, we continue to provide products that are in line with the regional market's technology trends. Regional councils also help us to establish and
implement best practices that are unique to the North Asia region.
In a market where customers have so many choices, brand recognition is key. We know that a robust brand can be developed only by consistent delivery of high customer satisfaction. For Dell, the goal to provide a positive customer experience is a
never-ending journey.
Hiroshi Hamada is vice president, North Asia Region, Dell
