Dell and Business Strategy

John Hagel, a noted technology strategist, commenting on DELL's decision to divest of its manufacturing and logistics operations, writes:

In brief, most companies today are still an unnatural bundle of three fundamentally different, and often competing, business types:

Infrastructure management businesses – high volume, routine processing activities like running basic assembly line manufacturing, logistics networks or routine customer call centers

Product innovation and commercialization businesses – developing, introducing and accelerating the adoption of innovative new products and services

Customer relationship businesses – building deep relationships with a target set of customers, getting to know them very well and using that knowledge to become increasingly helpful in sourcing the products and services that are most relevant and useful to them