Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: Dell, HKEX: 4331) is an American multinational information technology corporation based in Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide.[2] Dell is listed at #38 on the Fortune 500 (2011).
Dell has grown by both organic and inorganic means since its inception—notable mergers and acquisitions including Alienware (2006) and Perot Systems (2009). As of 2009, the company sold personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is well known for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce.
On May 3, 2010, Fortune Magazine listed Dell as the 38th largest company in the United States and the 5th largest company in Texas by total revenue. It is the 2nd largest non-oil company in Texas (behind AT&T) and the largest company in the Austin area.[3]

Product design requires the expertise and decision-making skills of all parts of the organization. Marketing, engineering, operations, finance, accounting, and information systems all have important roles. Marketing's role is to evaluate consumer needs, determine potential impact of competitive pressure, and measure the external environment. Engineering's role is to shape the product through design, determine the process by which the product will be made, and consider the interface between the product and the people. Operations' role is to ensure that the product can be produced in full-scale production. Finance's role is to develop plans for raising the capital to support the product in full-scale production and to assist in the evaluation of the product's profit potential. Accounting and information systems provide access to information for decision making. Cross-functional teamwork and knowledge sharing are thus keys to success.

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product design is more important than ever because customers are demanding greater product variety and are switching more quickly to products with state-of-the-art technology. The impacts of greater product variety and shorter product life cycles have a multiplicative effect on the number of new products and derivative products that need to be designed. For example, just a few years ago, a firm may have produced four different products and each product may have had a product life cycle of ten years. In this case, the firm must design four new products every ten years. Today, in order to be competitive, this firm may produce eight different products with a life cycle of only five years; this firm must introduce eight new products in five years. That represents sixteen new products in ten years or one product every seven and one-half months. In this fast-paced environment, product design ceases to be an ad hoc, intermittent activity and becomes a regular and routine action. For an organization, delays, problems, and confusion in product design shift from being an annoyance to being life threatening.

PRODUCT DESIGN AND SUPPLY
CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Product design can also be an important mechanism for coordinating the activities of key supply chain participants. As organizations outsource the production of sub-assemblies and components, they also may be asking suppliers to participate in product design. As they outsource design capabilities it is essential that they manage and coordinate the flow of information among the supply chain participants. This can be especially important as firms outsource components to two or more suppliers. Now, there may be important design interfaces among two, three, or more suppliers. These interfaces must be properly managed to ensure cost effective and timely designs. Clearly, information and communication technologies become important parts of this effort.

PRODUCT DESIGN: A KEY
TO ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

Product design is an essential activity for firms competing in a global environment. Product design drives organizational success because it directly and significantly impacts nearly all of the critical determinants for success. Customers demand greater product variety and are quick to shift to new, innovative, full-featured products. In addition, customers make purchase decisions based on a growing list of factors that are affected by product design. Previously, customers made purchase decisions based primarily on product price and/or quality. While these factors are still important, customers are adding other dimensions such as customizability, order-to-delivery time, product safety, and ease and cost of maintenance. Environmental concerns are expanding to include impacts during production, during the product's operating life, and at the end of its life (recycle-ability). In addition, customers demand greater protection from defective products, which leads to lower product liability losses. Safer and longer lasting products lead to enhanced warrantee provision, which, in turn, impact customer satisfaction and warrantee repair costs.

Programs and activities are being put in place so organizations can cope with these dimensions. Organizations are embracing concepts such as mass customization, design for manufacturing and assembly, product disposal, quality function deployment, and time-based competition. They are using technology such as rapid prototyping and computer-aided design to examine how products function, how much they may cost to produce, and how they may impact the environment. Firms are searching for and implementing new technologies to determine ways to design better products. They are examining legal and ethical issues in product design as well as the impact of product design on the environment.

MASS CUSTOMIZATION

Mass customization is the low-cost, high-quality, large volume delivery of individually customized products. It is the ability to quickly design and produce customized products on a large scale at a cost comparable to non-customized products. Customization, cost effectiveness is the ability to produce highly differentiated products without increasing costs, significantly. Consumers expect to receive customized products at close to mass-production prices. Customization volume effectiveness is the ability to increase product variety without diminishing production volume. As markets become more and more segmented and aggregate demand remains constant or increases, firms must continue to design and produce high volumes across the same fixed asset base. Customization responsiveness is the ability to reduce the time required to deliver customized products and to reorganize design and production processes quickly in response to customer requests. It would be counter-productive to pursue mass customization if a customized product takes too long to produce. Speed in product design and production is an indispensable criterion for evaluating an organization's mass customization capability.
people the chance of achieving their fantasies and making them real. The company is a joint venture of the Walt Disney and Hong Kong Government, sine the latter would want to enhance their tourism industry. However, the management have not been able to anticipate the problem because of its poor performance in terms of number of tourists visiting the theme park. Accordingly, the expectation of the investors have not been met as the number of visitors are still not increasing since its opening in September 2005. One of the reasons why this is happening is because of the unpopularity of the mainlanders with Disney characters. In order to solve such issue, the marketing department were appointed to determine and explore other reasons for this unpopularity. In this study, a survey was conducted.

This research study considered the use of both qualitative and quantitative research approach through the use of primary and secondary data. In this study, it has been found that the low popularity of the Disney characters among local residents was one of the reasons for its low profit. On the other hand, other reasons include the price of the ticket and restaurants in the theme park. In order to solve such issues, recommendations of management approaches that can be used were provided.



II. COMPANY BACKGROUND

Founded in 1922, the Walt Disney Company has been known for its production of quality entertainment for children and adults alike. From its previous developments, the company is now able to operate at the global level, with thousands of employees and shareholders worldwide. The Walt Disney organization is a highly diversified company operating within four major business segments including Media Networks, Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts and Consumer Products.

Walt Disney’s Media Networks is comprised of the organizations radio and television networks, international and cable/satellite broadcast operations, television program production and distribution as well as internet operations. The company’s Studio Entertainment business segment on the other hand, handles and creates the animated and live action motion pictures, musical recordings, live stage plays and television animation programs [1].

The Parks and Resorts segment operates the company’s four destination resorts within the United States, France and Japan. In late 2005 or early 2006, Hong Kong Disneyland is scheduled to open as Disney’s fifth resort. Finally, the Consumer Products business segment is in charge of license issuance of all the original character creations and intellectual properties to retailers, manufacturers, publishers and show promoters.

Hong Kong Disneyland was opened on September 12, 2005 and is under control of Hong Kong International Theme Part. This is a joint venture of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and Walt Disney with shares 57% and 43% respectively. It can be said that at present time, there are not other Disney Park which is owned partly by the government. The aim of Walt Disney is make Disneyland closer to people as part of the international expansion strategy.[2]

The opening of Hong Kong Disney Land has marked the first Disney theme park in Mainland China and lasso the 11th Disney Theme Park in the world. It consists of four major parks which include the Main Street U.S.A., Fantasyland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland. Although it is said to have a total area of 126 hectares, it is still considered as the smallest Disneyland compared to other Disneyland's in the worlds. The company aims on expanding with new ventures, align with its continuous innovation management and operation to meet the needs of their target market..[3] The major target market of HK Disney are the local people of Hong Kong and Mainland China tourists.

However, the company’s expectation of competitive advantage has not been met which is to have 5.6 million visitors for the first year of their operation. During its first year, the market has only recorded 5 million visitors.[4] Both the sales and attendance expectations have not been achieved. The management is worried that if these trends will not change, then their promised performance from investors and bank lended will then be pushed for refinancing the US$294 million (HK$2.29 million) in debt taken out for the theme park.[5] To solve this issue, a market research will be conducted through survey questionnaire approach to determine the reasons for the low popularity of the theme park and Disney characters among visitors.



III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH PROBLEM

The main goal of this study is to determine the reasons why Hong Kong Disneyland on its opening has a low popularity as compared to the total number of 25.5 million visitors[6]. herein, the total number of mainland visitors arrivals recorded for the following years was 13.6 million, in which 51.9% of them have traveled under Individual Visit Scheme. The secondary data have shown that the visitors from the mainland are unfamiliar with Disney Cartoon characters which may explains the reasons for the low percentage of the visitors from mainland as compared to the total number of the arrivals of the visitors. In order to have some substantial evidences, a survey will be considered. In addition, this aims in exploring other possible cause for the low number of visitors than the expectations of the management.
 
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Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: Dell, HKEX: 4331) is an American multinational information technology corporation based in Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide.[2] Dell is listed at #38 on the Fortune 500 (2011).
Dell has grown by both organic and inorganic means since its inception—notable mergers and acquisitions including Alienware (2006) and Perot Systems (2009). As of 2009, the company sold personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is well known for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce.
On May 3, 2010, Fortune Magazine listed Dell as the 38th largest company in the United States and the 5th largest company in Texas by total revenue. It is the 2nd largest non-oil company in Texas (behind AT&T) and the largest company in the Austin area.[3]

Product design requires the expertise and decision-making skills of all parts of the organization. Marketing, engineering, operations, finance, accounting, and information systems all have important roles. Marketing's role is to evaluate consumer needs, determine potential impact of competitive pressure, and measure the external environment. Engineering's role is to shape the product through design, determine the process by which the product will be made, and consider the interface between the product and the people. Operations' role is to ensure that the product can be produced in full-scale production. Finance's role is to develop plans for raising the capital to support the product in full-scale production and to assist in the evaluation of the product's profit potential. Accounting and information systems provide access to information for decision making. Cross-functional teamwork and knowledge sharing are thus keys to success.

PRODUCT DESIGN

Product design is more important than ever because customers are demanding greater product variety and are switching more quickly to products with state-of-the-art technology. The impacts of greater product variety and shorter product life cycles have a multiplicative effect on the number of new products and derivative products that need to be designed. For example, just a few years ago, a firm may have produced four different products and each product may have had a product life cycle of ten years. In this case, the firm must design four new products every ten years. Today, in order to be competitive, this firm may produce eight different products with a life cycle of only five years; this firm must introduce eight new products in five years. That represents sixteen new products in ten years or one product every seven and one-half months. In this fast-paced environment, product design ceases to be an ad hoc, intermittent activity and becomes a regular and routine action. For an organization, delays, problems, and confusion in product design shift from being an annoyance to being life threatening.

PRODUCT DESIGN AND SUPPLY
CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Product design can also be an important mechanism for coordinating the activities of key supply chain participants. As organizations outsource the production of sub-assemblies and components, they also may be asking suppliers to participate in product design. As they outsource design capabilities it is essential that they manage and coordinate the flow of information among the supply chain participants. This can be especially important as firms outsource components to two or more suppliers. Now, there may be important design interfaces among two, three, or more suppliers. These interfaces must be properly managed to ensure cost effective and timely designs. Clearly, information and communication technologies become important parts of this effort.

PRODUCT DESIGN: A KEY
TO ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

Product design is an essential activity for firms competing in a global environment. Product design drives organizational success because it directly and significantly impacts nearly all of the critical determinants for success. Customers demand greater product variety and are quick to shift to new, innovative, full-featured products. In addition, customers make purchase decisions based on a growing list of factors that are affected by product design. Previously, customers made purchase decisions based primarily on product price and/or quality. While these factors are still important, customers are adding other dimensions such as customizability, order-to-delivery time, product safety, and ease and cost of maintenance. Environmental concerns are expanding to include impacts during production, during the product's operating life, and at the end of its life (recycle-ability). In addition, customers demand greater protection from defective products, which leads to lower product liability losses. Safer and longer lasting products lead to enhanced warrantee provision, which, in turn, impact customer satisfaction and warrantee repair costs.

Programs and activities are being put in place so organizations can cope with these dimensions. Organizations are embracing concepts such as mass customization, design for manufacturing and assembly, product disposal, quality function deployment, and time-based competition. They are using technology such as rapid prototyping and computer-aided design to examine how products function, how much they may cost to produce, and how they may impact the environment. Firms are searching for and implementing new technologies to determine ways to design better products. They are examining legal and ethical issues in product design as well as the impact of product design on the environment.

MASS CUSTOMIZATION

Mass customization is the low-cost, high-quality, large volume delivery of individually customized products. It is the ability to quickly design and produce customized products on a large scale at a cost comparable to non-customized products. Customization, cost effectiveness is the ability to produce highly differentiated products without increasing costs, significantly. Consumers expect to receive customized products at close to mass-production prices. Customization volume effectiveness is the ability to increase product variety without diminishing production volume. As markets become more and more segmented and aggregate demand remains constant or increases, firms must continue to design and produce high volumes across the same fixed asset base. Customization responsiveness is the ability to reduce the time required to deliver customized products and to reorganize design and production processes quickly in response to customer requests. It would be counter-productive to pursue mass customization if a customized product takes too long to produce. Speed in product design and production is an indispensable criterion for evaluating an organization's mass customization capability.
people the chance of achieving their fantasies and making them real. The company is a joint venture of the Walt Disney and Hong Kong Government, sine the latter would want to enhance their tourism industry. However, the management have not been able to anticipate the problem because of its poor performance in terms of number of tourists visiting the theme park. Accordingly, the expectation of the investors have not been met as the number of visitors are still not increasing since its opening in September 2005. One of the reasons why this is happening is because of the unpopularity of the mainlanders with Disney characters. In order to solve such issue, the marketing department were appointed to determine and explore other reasons for this unpopularity. In this study, a survey was conducted.

This research study considered the use of both qualitative and quantitative research approach through the use of primary and secondary data. In this study, it has been found that the low popularity of the Disney characters among local residents was one of the reasons for its low profit. On the other hand, other reasons include the price of the ticket and restaurants in the theme park. In order to solve such issues, recommendations of management approaches that can be used were provided.



II. COMPANY BACKGROUND

Founded in 1922, the Walt Disney Company has been known for its production of quality entertainment for children and adults alike. From its previous developments, the company is now able to operate at the global level, with thousands of employees and shareholders worldwide. The Walt Disney organization is a highly diversified company operating within four major business segments including Media Networks, Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts and Consumer Products.

Walt Disney’s Media Networks is comprised of the organizations radio and television networks, international and cable/satellite broadcast operations, television program production and distribution as well as internet operations. The company’s Studio Entertainment business segment on the other hand, handles and creates the animated and live action motion pictures, musical recordings, live stage plays and television animation programs [1].

The Parks and Resorts segment operates the company’s four destination resorts within the United States, France and Japan. In late 2005 or early 2006, Hong Kong Disneyland is scheduled to open as Disney’s fifth resort. Finally, the Consumer Products business segment is in charge of license issuance of all the original character creations and intellectual properties to retailers, manufacturers, publishers and show promoters.

Hong Kong Disneyland was opened on September 12, 2005 and is under control of Hong Kong International Theme Part. This is a joint venture of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and Walt Disney with shares 57% and 43% respectively. It can be said that at present time, there are not other Disney Park which is owned partly by the government. The aim of Walt Disney is make Disneyland closer to people as part of the international expansion strategy.[2]

The opening of Hong Kong Disney Land has marked the first Disney theme park in Mainland China and lasso the 11th Disney Theme Park in the world. It consists of four major parks which include the Main Street U.S.A., Fantasyland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland. Although it is said to have a total area of 126 hectares, it is still considered as the smallest Disneyland compared to other Disneyland's in the worlds. The company aims on expanding with new ventures, align with its continuous innovation management and operation to meet the needs of their target market..[3] The major target market of HK Disney are the local people of Hong Kong and Mainland China tourists.

However, the company’s expectation of competitive advantage has not been met which is to have 5.6 million visitors for the first year of their operation. During its first year, the market has only recorded 5 million visitors.[4] Both the sales and attendance expectations have not been achieved. The management is worried that if these trends will not change, then their promised performance from investors and bank lended will then be pushed for refinancing the US$294 million (HK$2.29 million) in debt taken out for the theme park.[5] To solve this issue, a market research will be conducted through survey questionnaire approach to determine the reasons for the low popularity of the theme park and Disney characters among visitors.



III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH PROBLEM

The main goal of this study is to determine the reasons why Hong Kong Disneyland on its opening has a low popularity as compared to the total number of 25.5 million visitors[6]. herein, the total number of mainland visitors arrivals recorded for the following years was 13.6 million, in which 51.9% of them have traveled under Individual Visit Scheme. The secondary data have shown that the visitors from the mainland are unfamiliar with Disney Cartoon characters which may explains the reasons for the low percentage of the visitors from mainland as compared to the total number of the arrivals of the visitors. In order to have some substantial evidences, a survey will be considered. In addition, this aims in exploring other possible cause for the low number of visitors than the expectations of the management.

Hey netra, i am really glad to see that people like you are sharing such a nice information and helping people. Well, i have also got some important information on Dell, Inc and would like to share it with you so that it may help more and more people.
 

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