Business to business marketing case study - microprocessors

computers are designed to withstand adverse weather conditions including heat, dust and humidity and can run on alternate power sources, including car batteries. The chassis is designed to keep the motherboard cool at temperatures as high as 45 degree Celsius, and resistant to humidity levels of 70-85 RH (relative humidity). The total power consumption of all the peripherals is less than 100 watts. The platform comes installed with a certificate-based access, allowing banks to verify the validity of instalment payments against the purchase of the PC. For manufacturing of these ruggedized PCs, Intel has entered into an agreement with HCL Infosystems. HCL has a considerable experience for designing personal computers for the Indian market (an important business deal was with the State Band of India, which catapulted HCL into the top tier). It aims to leverage this expertise along with advanced know-how and components from Intel to produce this ruggedized PC. Intel in turn, stands to benefit as well from this transaction as it aims to introduce such PCs in other markets as well. Wintel Effect  One of the most important partnerships in the global computer industry is that of Intel and Microsoft. Cheap PCs using processors (CPUs) from Intel, coupled with operating system (OS) software from Microsoft, have defined low--cost computation for most people. The partnership was dubbed `Wintel' -- Windows from Microsoft, on computers with CPUs from Intel.  Through the 1980s and the 1990s, the Wintel partnership worked smoothly. Intel had the highest volumes of production of CPUs, and PCs were ubiquitous low--cost computers. In order to use PCs, there was no alternative but OSes from Microsoft. Microsoft kept releasing slower software, forcing users to require faster CPUs. As long as Windows worked only on Intel processors, Intel had an interest in supporting Microsoft. As long as non-Microsoft OSes did not run on Intel CPUs, Microsoft had an interest in supporting Intel. Anyone who chose one of Wintel tended to use the other. Apple dumps IBM microprocessor for Intel (2005, San Francisco Chronicle)  Intel's microprocessor development roadmap promises features like more efficient power consumption that Apple did not foresee in similar plans for the IBM PowerPC processor.  We are thrilled to have the world's most innovative personal computer company as a customer," said Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, said in a statement. "Apple helped found the PC industry and throughout the years has been known for fresh ideas and new approaches. AMD AMD marked its transition into advanced 65-nm process technology with the launch of Athlon 64 X2 dual core desktop processors, which uses less power and gives better overall performance. AMD has entered into a contract with Sahara Computers and Electronics Limited (SCEL), a joint venture between Sahara India Pariwar and Sahara South Africa, to build and sell a range of Sahara-branded computers based on AMD processors in the Indian market. Sahara is a household name in India and combined with the consistently improving brand image of AMD, it hopes to make a successful entry into the Indian computer market. Sun Microsystems has expanded its industry-standard comprehensive product line based on Solaris x86 OS and the AMD Opteron processor, and has announced the Sun Fire V20z Server Enterprise Essentials Promotion that can help dramatically reduce customers' total cost of acquisition over three years. What AMD does??  AMD utilizes strategic industry partnerships to further its business interests as well as to tackle Intel's dominance and resources  AMD also formed a strategic partnership with IBM, under which AMD gained silicon on insulator (SOI) manufacturing technology, and detailed advice on 90 nm implementation, the partnership was announced by AMD to be extended to 2011 for 32 nm and 22 nm fabrication related technologies. Further, AMD is loosely partnered with end-user companies such as HP, Compaq, ASUS, Alienware, Acer, Evesham Technology, Dell and several others to facilitate processor distribution and sales. Computer System vendors: Apple: In the middle 1980s Apple Computer's strategy was focused on developing desktop publishing as a competitive advantage. The Macintosh was the first computer to integrate laser printing and page layout at popular prices, and Apple had a huge advantage. However, it took several years to make people understand what desktop publishing was, and by the time the message was clear Apple's managers were tired of it. So while the strategy was desktop publishing the managers focused on multimedia and personal digital assistants instead. Budgeted marketing activities didn't focus nearly as much on desktop publishing as the strategy dictated. That was a lack of strategic alignment that failed to support and implement the desired strategy. Apple Computer Inc. generates buzz for its new products by obsessively enforcing a strict secrecy policy. The mystery helps Apple attract crowds at its retail stores and generally garner much more visibility than its relatively modest advertising budget would suggest. Apple spent $287 million on advertising last fiscal year, compared with $995 million for Microsoft and $1.1 billion for H-P, according to the companies' filings with securities regulators. While new wares from Dell Inc. or H-P rarely get front-page treatment, Mr. Jobs has repeatedly appeared on the covers of Time, Newsweek and Fortune showing off a new iPod or Macintosh computer. Said another way, Apple achieves visibility and coverage worth at least $600 to $700 million a year from its tight-lipped ways, all because it doesn't pre-announce. Every Mac uses a chip based on Intel Core technology, the next generation in processor design from the world's leading chip maker. HP: HP has transformed its organization to be more customer centric by focusing on three things: 1. Integrating the customer to drive the business. 2. Measuring and managing what matters to the customer. 3. Inspiring employees to drive customer centricity. These themes weave their way through all of today's presentations, but HP's added challenge of executing them in a B2B context shows that customer centricity is possible for all types of marketing organizations. They recognized a relationship between customer loyalty and business results, measured how they evolved over time, and focused investments on what mattered to customers. In addition to the relationship between customer loyalty and business results, HP also found a relationship with their sales partners and loyalty, so they established a closed-loop process to deal with customer feedback. And they inspired employees by training all of them and building programs that allowed them to more easily share the customer feedback they received. The focus on customers has paid dividends for HP. In 2003, customer loyalty scores were abysmal and there were threats to sell HP's PC business. In Q3 06, employee passion for the customer, an HP-specific measure, increased 15% and both customer satisfaction and PC market share were #1. ACER: Future trends Google Inc and Intel Corporation are leading a coalition of technology businesses and environmental groups to help conserve electricity and curb global warming emissions by making the computers and servers more energy efficient. The environment-friendly computing initiative, organised by the two companies, has set ambitious industry targets to increase the energy efficiency of computing gear over the next four years. The target aims to cut by half the amount of electricity computers consume by using existing power-saving technologies by 2010. Currently, the average PC wastes about half of the power it consumes, while the average server wastes about one-third. Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president for Intel's digital enterprise group, said, "Let's create a more efficient IT industry by driving up the efficiency of computers. We think we can have huge savings in terms of carbon footprint and energy costs." The initiative hopes to achieve savings of over $5.5 billion in electricity costs by 2010 and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions of 54 million tons that contribute to climate change.