现代大学英语精读第三册 03b

　　Michael Dell's Two-Billion-Dollar Dream

One afternoon in 1977, as his parents and

two brothers fished in the Gulf 1 of Mexico, 12-year-old Michael Dell sat on the

beach, painstakingly 2 putting together a trotline, a maze 3 of ropes to which

several fish hooks could be attached. "You're wasting your time," the

rest of the family called to Michael, as they pulled in fish. "Grab a pole

and join in the fun. "

Michael kept working. It was dinnertime

when he finished, and everyone else was ready to call it a day.

Still, the youngster cast the trotline far into the water, anchoring it to a

stick that he plunged 4 deep in the sand.

Over dinner his family teased young

Michael about coming away empty-handed. But afterward 5 Michael reeled in his

trotline, and on the hooks were more fish than the others had caught all

together!

Michael Dell has always been fond of

saying, "If you think you have a good idea, try it!" And today, at 29,

he has discovered the power of another good idea that has helped him rise in

just a few years from teen to tycoon 6. He has become the fourth-largest

manufacturer of personal computers in America and the youngest man ever to

head a Fortune 500 corporation

Growing up in Houston, Michael and

his two brothers were imbued 7 by their parents with the desire to learn and the

drive to work hard. Even so, stories about the middle boy began to be told

early.

Like the time a saleswoman came

asking to speak to "Mr. Michael Dell" about his getting a high-school

equivalency diploma. Moments later, eight-year-old Michael was explaining that

he thought it might be a good idea to get high school out of the way.

A few years later Michael had another

good idea, to trade stamps by advertising 8 in stamp magazines. With the $ 2000

profit he made, he bought his first personal computer. Then he took it apart to

figure out how it worked.

In high school Michael had a job

selling subscriptions 10 to the Houston Post. Newlyweds, so he figured

were the best prospects 11, so he hired friends to copy the names and addresses of

recent recipients 12 of marriage licenses 13. These he entered into his computer, then

sent a personalized letter offering each couple a free two-week subscription 9.

This time Dell made $18 000 and

bought a BMW. The car salesman was flabbergasted when the 17-year-old paid cash.

The next year Dell enrolled 14 at the University of Texas in Austin. Like most

freshmen 15, he needed to earn spending money. Just about everyone on campus was

talking about personal computers. At the time, anyone who didn't have a PC

wanted one, but dealers 16 were selling them at a hefty markup 17. People wanted

low-cost machines custom-made to their needs, and these were not readily

available. Why should dealers get such a big markup for so little added value

Dell wondered. Why not sell from the manufacturer directly to the end user?

Dell knew that IBM required its

dealers to take a monthly quota 18 of PCs, in most cases more than they could sell.

He also knew that holding excess inventory 19 was costly 20. So he bought dealers'

surplus stock at cost. Back

in his dorm room, he added features to improve performance. The souped-up

models found eager buyers. Seeing the

hungry market, Dell placed local advertisements offering his customized

computers at 15 percent off retail 21 price. Soon he was selling to businesses,

doctors' offices and law firms. The trunk of his car was his store; his room

took on the appearance of a small factory.

During Thanksgiving break, Dell's

parents told him they were concerned about his grades. "If you want to

start a business, do it after you get your degree," his father pleaded.

Dell agreed, but back in Austin he

felt the opportunity of a lifetime was passing him by. "I couldn't bear to

miss this chance," he says. After one month he started selling computers

again--- with a vengeance 22.

The quarters he shared with two

roommates looked like a combat zone- boxes piled high, computer boards and tools

scattered 23 around. One day his roommates heaped all his equipment into a pile,

preventing Dell from entering his room. It was time to come to grips with the

magnitude of what he had created

The business was now grossing more than $ 50 000 a month.

Over spring recess 24, Dell confessed to

his parents that he was still in the computer business. They wanted to know how

classes were going. "I have to quit school," he replied. "I want

to start my own company. "

What exactly is it that you want to

do?" asked his father.

"Compete with IBM," he

answered simply.

Compete with IBM? Now his parents

were really worried. But no matter what they said, Dell stuck fast

So they made a deal; over summer vacation he would try to launch a computer

company. If he didn't succeed, he would have to go back to school in September.

Returning to Austin, Dell risked all

his savings 25 and incorporated Dell Computer Corp. on May 3, 1484.

He was 19. Under a deadline, his pace

was frantic 26. He rented a one-roam office on a month-to-month lease and hired his

first employee, a 28- year-old manager to handle finance and administration. For

advertising, he grabbed an empty pizza box and on the back sketched 27 the first ad

for Dell Computer. A friend copied it onto paper and took it to the newspaper.

Dell still specialized 28 in direct

marketing 29 of stripped-down IBM PCs to which he added custom features

As orders came in, Dell rushed around gathering 30 up the right parts to assemble

each order. First-month sales topped $180 000; the second, $ 265 000. Dell

barely noticed when the new school year arrived.

Within a year, he was selling 1000

PCs and hired more staff. Customers phoned orders to an 800 number, and then the

staff assembled the units. Parts were ordered only as needed, keeping inventory

and overhead low. UPS trucks picked up daily that day's production for delivery.

It was very efficient-- and very profitable.

Just when it seemed the sky was

the limitand sales had topped $3 million, the manager that Dell had hired quit. But, as

Dell always told himself, " Every time you have a crisis, something good

comes out of it. " From necessity, he learned accounting 31 basics- experience

that would prove invaluable 32 in the years ahead. "It's a lot easier to learn

something if it's important to you," he says.

Unlike other manufacturers, Dell gave

his customers money-back guarantees. He also realized that when a computer is

down, the customer wants it back up and working right away. So Dell guaranteed

next- day on site service for his products, and introduced a 24-hour-a-day toll-free

line for customers to talk directly with computer technicians. Ninety percent of

computer technical problems, according to Dell, can be solved over the phone.

Constant telephone contact with

customers kept the company close to the market. Customers let Dell Computer know

directly what they liked or didn't like about a particular model. "My

competitors were developing products and then telling customers what they should

want, instead of finding out what the market really wanted and then developing

products," Dell says.

By the day Michael Dell would have

graduated from college, his company was selling $ 70 million worth of computers

a year. Dell quit dealing 33 in souped-up versions of other companies' products,

and started designing, assembling and marketing his own.

Today Dell Computer has wholly owned

subsidiaries in 16 countries, including Japan. The company has revenues of over

$2 billion, employs some 5 500 persons, and Dell's personal fortune is between $

250 million and $ 300 million. To encourage even greater productivity, Dell

Computer gives its employees awards for ideas worth trying even if they don't

pan out. "Our success has forced the giants to become more

competitive," Dell says. "That's good for the consumer. "

Dell, his wife and their two-year-old

daughter lead a pretty normal life. His charity is generous but quiet. Recently

the couple announced the donation of a parcel of land for a civic 34 center

to Austin's Jewish community. Dell also regularly lectures on entrepreneurship

to MBA students at the University of Texas Graduate School of Business in

Austin.

What concerns Michael Dell is that

our country is losing its competitive edge. "There's

too much of an entitlement attitude nowadays," he says. "' I deserve

this' needs to he replaced with 'I earned this.' "

He credits his own success to the

fact that Alexander and Lorraine Dell expected their three sons to learn and

work hard- and draws a lesson. "The reason our schools are failing isn't

because classroom sizes are too big. I can show you schools in Thailand where

kids study in unbelievably crowded classrooms - and yet they're learning much

more than our students. Why? Because they want to learn. Because they want to

work hard. Because their parents and their teachers expect that of them. "

Back when his firm was two people in

one room, Dell told his friends his dream was to become the world's largest

personal-computer maker 35. He was unrealistic, they said.

Why would anyone want to be second or

third or tenth?" he replied. His message to us all: why not at least try to

realize your dream, what deep down you would truly love to achieve?