Dell in charm offensive to calm down suppliers

THE CEO of Dell has flown to the tiny island of Taiwan in an attempt to persuade his computer suppliers to accept cost cuts the firm wants to impose.

The Taiwan Economic News reports that suppliers of kit to Dell are up in arms over suggestions that they take the hit along with their customer. So Kevin Rollins, the firm's CEO, will attempt to charm the pants off his suppliers.

Dell spent a staggering $10 billion of computer orders with suppliers from Taiwan ROC (Republic of China) during 2005, the newspaper said.

But the suppliers are so incensed at having to pare down their already slim margins they may defect and refuse the cuts, the paper said. They are eying up HP and Acer.

Dell is between a ROC and a hard place. While its low cost non channel model has served it well over the years, most of its eggs are in one basket, and that basket has its headquarters in Old Taipei. µ

See Also
Dell puts squeeze on notebook makers

L'INQ
TEN