【正文】 argue that the winner will be the biggest Ramp。t execute as well as we do.Dell: Culture plays a huge role. As our industry transitioned to a standardsbased model from a proprietary model, with its 40% gross margins, protected franchises, and tiered distribution, a whole new set of business disciplines became important. Things like customercentricity, supply chain logistics, and cash flow management had been pletely off the industry39。t imitate WalMart. What WalMart does isn39。s headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. In this edited interview, the two describe how they39。s an organization that can turn on a dime and that has demonstrated impeccable timing in entering new markets. The pany now employs 53,000 people and operates in more than 80 countries. Last month, its founder and chairman reached the ripe old age of 40. Kevin Rollins, a former Bain amp。s sustained petitive advantage is due to more than its famous business model. Consistent execution requires realtime Pamp。31 / 32Title: Execution Without Excuses. Authors: Stewart, Thomas A.O39。L management, an emphasis on ingenuity rather than on investment, and a culture of accountability. MICHAEL DELL FOUNDED the puter pany that bears his name in 1984. Eight years later, at the age of 27, Dell became the youngest CEO in the Fortune 500. Soon the business world was abuzz with talk about the Dell business model, which allows the pany to bypass middlemen, sell directly to customers, and achieve superior management of information and working capital. The Power of Virtual Integration, HBR called it in a 1998 interview with Michael Dell. Since then, the pany has continued to gain market share while delivering better shareholder returns than any of its petitors. Initially capitalized with $1,000, Dell is now worth more than $100 billion.The secret of Dell39。 Company consultant who began working with Dell back in 1993 and joined the pany in 1996, was appointed CEO last year. Chairman and CEO work in adjoining offices. The wall between them is glass, and it has a large door in the middle that is never closed.While providing extraordinary rewards to its shareholders, Dell has created a culture that expects great performance from its people. In order to double its revenues over a fiveyear period, the pany has had to adapt its executionobsessed culture to new demands, as Rollins and Dell reveal. To discuss how the pany has sustained its advantage over two decades, Thomas A. Stewart, the editor of HBR, and Louise O39。ve worked together to refine Dell39。t rocket science it39。s radar screen. Dell changed the game.Rollins: We started talking about return on invested capital (ROIC), which focuses you on high returns at very low asset intensity. Before that, the market believed heavier asset intensity was better because you could charge huge margins for a proprietary product. We said, No, that39。D spender.Dell: That paradigm belongs in the Smithsonian with the dinosaurs.Rollins: Dell changed the strategic success factor for our industry from Ramp。t make your own chips and disk drives. Although we39。s an abundance of technology available.Rollins: Our petitors can39。D model. In fact, if you look at the products that still represent most of the industry39。D. That39。D, we get about six dollars back in profit. When Samsung puts in a dollar, it gets three or four dollars back. Those are both pretty healthy ratios. Microsoft earns about $18 billion in operating ine on about $ billion in Ramp。s innovation is whether the customer is willing to pay for it. Struggling panies have a ratio of Ramp。D strategy is shareholder focused. We don39。s editor。 products. For example, we have a petitor that39。t waste money building moats and walls. We tell potential ponent suppliers which product features are important to our customers. If the suppliers39。ll win our fair share of the market. This is how Dell defines standards. We think standards should be set in the marketplace, not in the patent office. Given our customer relationships and worldwide market share, it39。 in your industry? Dell: I founded the pany over 20 years ago with $1,000 in starting capital. By contrast, Compaq had been launched two years earlier in Texas with $100 million in capital. That39。 we39。s impossible to forecast. By getting rid of inventory, we created a pull rather than a push system and eliminated the need for a crystal ball.How did you implant the Dell DNA throughout the pany? Rollins: We drummed into our people39。t e from us, it came from our people seeing for themselves how much better their businesses worked when they didn39。t tolerate businesses that don39。t pay us to sit around and lose money.If you39。t have to make money for reasons that you might convince yourself are real then that39。re the only real men in the world, but we set expectations very high.Isn39。ve steadily improved the managerial talent at Dell. Our team of general managers is now very strong. They39。s wrong, and fix it. Or ask for help.Dell: We all make mistakes. It39。s really tough. To succeed as a GM here, you have to be smart and you have to be tough. You have to be a team player, and you have to understand the Pamp。L.Sometimes our managers think that what we39。d get someone else.Rollins: Now we believe we owe our managers more than that. Part of the problem was we were hiring the wrong people people who weren39。t spending much seniormanager time on people development. That has changed dramatically. Our promotions to VP and director have shifted from about 75% outside hires and 25% promotes from within to about 30% outside and 70% within. We now understand this yields better results. There39。t swim after the lessons, then this is going to feel like a tough place to work.Are you managing by fear? Or by truth telling? Rollins: We39。s what we think is wrong, here39。s really not as bad as it looks he39。t tell your boss or your peers, Stay out of my business. Openness and sharing are part of success at Dell.Dell: We also have a huge number of peop