A 15 page paper that provides a SWOT (Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of Gateway Inc. Gateway has had significant problems over the last few years. Gateway acquired eMachines in March. eMahines' CEO Inouye took over as President, CEO, and Director of Gateway and began making changes almost immediately. This essay explores the external threats and opportunities and the internal strengths and weaknesses. Specific examples are included. There are also sections on planning, organizing, controlling and influencing. Bibliography lists 19 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: MM12_PGgtwy.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
1985. The purpose of the company is to help "people improve their lives through technology" (gateway, 2004). External Environment The computer industry is highly competitive world-wide. It is
one that sees high peaks and low valleys in terms of sales. The state of the economy always has a direct impact on computer sales. When the economy is sluggish,
many businesses and most consumers tend to put off high-cost purchases. This has been seen in the computer market as well as in other markets. Gateways products include portable and
desktop PCS and network servers for both enterprise customers and consumers (Lower, 2004). The company also offers a variety of third-party peripherals, such as printers, and consumer electronics, such as
LCD and plasma televisions, home theaters, and digital music players, DVD and CD recorders and players (Lower, 2004; Client Server News, 2004). The non-PC items have a higher profit margin
and in 2003, accounted for 31 percent of Gateways revenue (Lower, 2004). The greater amount of revenue came from PC and related sales. Threats Gateways major competitor has been
Dell Inc. Dell was founded in 1984 (Gateway, 2004), Gateway was founded in 1985 (Dell, 2004). Both companies used the direct-to-customer sales approach, first by telephone and then adding the
Internet (Gateway, 2004; Dell, 2004). Since these were the only two computer companies selling directly to the customer and not using any retail venues, they became direct competitors. Dell has
always been a threat to Gateway and Gateway has been unable to keep up with Dell. Today, Dell is the worlds #1 direct-sale computer company, it is also the largest
computer company in the U.S. (Lower, 2004). Furthermore, Dell and Hewlett-Packard compete for the largest PC company in the world spot (Lower, 2004). One author commented that Gateways "PC business