Top 3 PC makers can corner 80% of market in 5 yrs: Michael Dell

Interview with Chairman & CEO, Dell Inc

At a time when India’s start-up system is catching the fancy of many global tech giants, Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Inc, on Monday spoke to select media persons after meeting various start-up companies. He talks about Dell’s plan for India, the future of the PC industry, and how the government’s technology-led initiatives will help the country. Edited excerpts:

On growth in India

We have 28,000 people employed in India across eight cities. We focus on major industry segments such as telecom, banking, financial services, insurance, manufacturing and utilities. Our India business grew 30 per cent last year, the highest growth for the company globally, and India is also the third largest market for Dell. Dell India has 600 exclusive outlets and we are planning to expand to 825 by the year-end. We are making investments in all our businesses in India, including services, research, data centre, Dell Global Finance, support services and manufacturing.

Has going private helped Dell?

(After becoming private), we have seen good growth in 10 quarters while we are in the 11th quarter now. We will continue to grow market share. Going private allows us to focus on the future. Employee satisfaction is at the highest this year since we went private. We follow through our customers and invest for the future, not being disturbed by day-to-day changes in share prices. Privatisation has not only ignited our team; the speed at which we are taking decisions is also very fast. Almost 20 per cent of my time is freed up now, which I am spending with customers, products and team members.

On start-ups & investments

India’s start-up system has dramatically improved and it is a very different landscape today than it was five years ago. We want to be the entrepreneur’s best friend. We will support start-ups with technology, scaling up and also capital, wherever it is required. I met several interesting start-ups in Bengaluru, including InMobi and others. They are doing amazing work. All these start-ups are working on solutions that are unique and disruptive.

On consolidation in the PC market

If you look at the top three companies, they are gaining share. In the first half of the year we outgrew the other two companies in notebooks. In 10 quarters in a row we continued to gain market share. The top three companies only have 53-54 per cent market share. I believe the top three can corner around 80 per cent share, not in a year or two, but it might take five to seven years. We have been able to grow even though the market is shrinking. We have also been able to grow beyond computers to data centres and services.

On the smartphone business

We are not going to get into smartphones. I think there are maybe only one or two companies making profits in the smartphone business today. And, there are quite a few companies that lose substantial sums of money in this business. One of our competitors that recently acquired another large smartphone company has lost $1 billion. We will focus on our business as there is enough opportunity.

On companies like HP separating their hardware business

I am a little curious about the HP move. At a time when there is an explosion in the number of devices they are separating devices, and the data centre. It could be a wrong thing to do but only time will tell. I think they are certainly decreasing their scale. We don’t turn our strategy by watching these companies. The last thing we will do is to separate those businesses. Customers still need a device to access data, to create information.

On Dell’s India growth target

We don’t disclose our targets but you have to be sure that it is going to be inspiring for us to continue to grow here rapidly, to continue to reach more customers, and to outgrow the market

On the government’s digital agenda

We have been really pleased with the government’s focus on Digital India, Make in India, and smart cities among others. We are providing the technology which underlies a lot of these things. The initiatives are right and we have to give them some time. Not all initiatives will be successful in their entirety, but lots of those are already moving forward.

On Make in India

This will bolster the feeder supply chain to help us make our manufacturing more competitive, not only for India but for exports. Our factories here also export to the Middle East and Africa, which are growing markets for us. It is encouraging to see the supplier ecosystem is being set up here that will help us to get components directly fabricated here.

Entrepreneurship and job creation

I am an UN Foundation’s global advocate for entrepreneurship. Countries like India have lots of talent. If you look at where the jobs are coming from, the answer is that 70-90 per cent of the new jobs will be created by small and emerging companies, not giant ones.