Will the availability of the Internet as a marketing channel for competitors quickly erode Dell's competitive advantage?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Will the availability of the Internet as a marketing channel for competitors quickly erode Dell's competitive advantage?

Riding with the technology wave, many firms invested in the internet and related technologies in an attempt to try to gain competitive advantage over rivals by being the first to offer their products or services online. Many firms although have found serious problems with pursuing this. The profitability of the industry was often undermined as companies competed on price in order to try to build up their market share. Many firms also saw the development of internet capabilities as a separate strategy and not an integrated part of the firm's strategy, often resulting in failure of its online operations. Over the last years Dell, as a company, has proved that the increase in product variety offers the possibility of customisation, when this is combined with modern production techniques, using the internet to take customised orders, it can prove to be a very serious competitive advantage, for the company that cannot erode easily.

The sales numbers for Dell's web-site are enormous, at March 1997 Dell was selling $1 million per day through the web-site and by March 1998 this