economy - How the Dell-model ended in China

Most MBA-students still have a study on the Dell-model on their computer, a famous story on how the successful computer manufacterer changed the logistics of its industry. That heroic story now needs a new chapter: how the success reversed and how it started in China. Silicon Hutong wrote it.
In China it gave up on its idea it could be the low-cost leader in the market. Its Chinese competitors were able to do it cheaper.

Observers wrote off Dell's failure to market conditions that were specific to China. That was the easy answer, and it was short-sighted. The point was that it was cheaper for Dell's competitors to get product to customers than it was for Dell. The competition had managed to work more inefficiencies out of their system. The Dell model was not invincible, it had been replicated (or bettered) and it had failed in the second-largest and fastest-growing computer market in the world.

More at Silicon Hutong.
Read also my article on the Chinese price wars.
Inside Dell's lean machine: An article from: Works Management