【正文】 our Ramp。s revenues PCs and Intel servers we39。D than our petitors. We have 4,000 people and we spend $600 million a year on Ramp。s a significant investment, and we39。D spending will generate the best return.For every dollar we put into Ramp。D spending. But Sony invests $1 billion and gets back only $200 million in profits. Sony is overinventing. They invest in things that might be exciting but that aren39。t generate good returns.Rollins: The true test of a pany39。D profits to Ramp。s less than 1:1. OK panies are about 1:1, and successful panies exceed 1:1.Dell: Our Ramp。t reinvent and we don39。D. A lot of the spending by proprietary panies is really to defend against attacks by other panies. They put features in Thomas A. Stewart is HBR39。 Louise O39。t use them with other panies39。s investing a lot of money to make sure customers can39。t benefit customers.We don39。 designs include those features, they39。re successful in selling their ponents to as many panies as possible, because that drives costs down for everyone and we know we39。s pretty hard to set a standard without Dell39。s DNA bee so different from others39。s an unbelievable difference. Dell bubbled up through a kind of Darwinian evolution, finding holes in the way the industry was working. We didn39。t have any choice.Rollins: History was the starting point for our culture. But by the mid1990s, we had plenty of money. The issue was no longer necessity。d just found a better way to run a business. But we needed to articulate the strategic principles of our business model for customers, employees, and investors.So we defined a plete set of management principles, with metrics, to the nth degree. Things that had been necessities at Dell became virtues. Although we didn39。re like fish or vegetablesthe value goes away the minute you buy them. Everyone at Dell came to understand these principles. We began to rigorously measure DSI (days of sales in inventory) and stamp it on the forehead of anybody who had anything to do with development, purchasing, or manufacturing.Dell: In our industry, with all the permutations, binations, and transitions, it39。s heads, through presentation after presentation, what39。s bad performance. They saw data on inventory every day. They got rewarded when inventory came down and punished when inventory went up.Dell: By the way, the reward and punishment didn39。t have inventory.Rollins: Another lesson we implanted was how to contain operating expenses while increasing margins and growth. That sounds pretty basic, but most panies can39。s point, we don39。t make money. We used to hear all sorts of excuses for why a business didn39。t accept that. Our shareholders don39。re a Dell manager and your product or sales region falls off track and starts losing money, what happens to you? Rollins: You bee a pariah.Dell: It hasn39。ve had a noexcuses culture from the beginning. Whenever we hear that a business might have to lose money for a while, we challenge the GM to figure out how to run the business better than anyone ever has and not lose money.Dell: If you start accepting the idea that a business doesn39。s what happens. The opposite is also true. If you say, No, we39。m not saying we39。t there more to creating a highperformance culture than setting high expectations? Rollins: It requires discipline and consistency. We know, down to our toenails, that our model works. When Dell fails to execute, it39。s not the right GM. In either case, Michael and I are to blame.Over time, we39。ve learned the discipline, they have what it takes, they understand the model. So when they miss, it39。re pretty hard on people who missnot just the two of us but the whole pany. When you fail to execute, our culture says, Fix it. Find what39。s not as though at any given time, Dell doesn39。s not working for us as it should. But we have a culture of continuous improvement. We train employees to constantly ask themselves: How do we grow faster? How do we lower our cost structure? How do we improve service for customers?Is it as tough as it sounds to be a general manager at Dell? Rollins: It39。L. You39。t understand the Pamp。ve asked them to do is irrational. But the fact of the matter is our general managers have succeeded time and time again. When we hold somewhat irrational expectations and convince them they can do it, they e up with fantastic breakthroughs. We challenge our people to substitute ingenuity for investment.Dell: In the late 1990s, we were growing really fast and bringing lots of new talent on board. We used to just throw people in the deep end and see if they39。t swim, we39。t going to be able to swim at Dell. I think we39。ve also gotten better at developing them.Five years ago, we weren39。s less risk than in hiring random executives from outside. You39。ve already got the DNA.So we now give lots of swimming lessons. But if you still can39。ve tried to create a culture where openness and honesty are encouraged.I think there was a time when people were afraid, but even then, the fear of not telling the bad news was greater than the fear of telling.Dell: The worst thing you can do as a leader at Dell is to be in denial to try to convince people that a problem39。t working, here39。s what we39。t have a problem. The manager who covers up and says it39。ll have a big problem.Rollins: Our culture has evolved from a fear of the consequences of not telling, to where you just know you have to tell. It39。s numbers and gets to help with suggestions about their businesses. Here you can39。re organized in a matrix of sales regions and product groups. Then we break each of those groups down to a pretty fine level of subproducts and sales subsegments. Dell has more Pamp。s Pamp。re on the phone with the customer. This financial data is in real time, so our people know if there39。s 10 AM and they39。t wait until 30 days after the end of the quarter to figure it out.Rollins: And they don39。t change something now, they can39。s not perfectly articulated. The first rule is: Make your decis