Sample cover letter for Internship position at Toyo

The computer industry is highly competitive and is characterized by large number of competitors and price based competition. Factors like technology, income levels and internet usage are drivers of growth in the industry. In this industry Dell and Apple have followed two distinct strategies to succeed.

Dell has Just-in-time manufacturing facilities, direct sales to customers, mass customization and build-to-order manufacturing. It basically operates assembly plants and purchases all the components from partner suppliers and tries to achieve a virtual integration of suppliers, manufacturing and customers. Dell products appeal to customer segments that are looking for affordable, high performance products and are typically large businesses. The manufacturing practices at Dell have helped in cutting costs and delivering latest technology products to the customers. The direct sales strategy has also provided Dell with a feedback mechanism which helps it forecast demand trends much better and reduce the risk. R&D at dell is geared towards process improvements and quality controls. Dell however, cannot bring architectural innovation, and it is limited to helping its suppliers with improving their component based technology.

Apple makes high quality, user-friendly products with high aesthetical value. It targets customers who are willing to pay a premium for the innovative devices and are looking for user experience. Its retail stores also serve as a place for providing pre-purchase experience of using the products. Apple makes use of scale economies and has outsourced its manufacturing facilities. It keeps it suppliers in tight control and is able to get huge discounts because of the volumes. Even though Apple cannot rollout the technological advancements in components as quickly as dell it is able to create architectural innovation and provide customers with and integrated product with bundled features of high quality networking and media. Forecasting is an important aspect at Apple as well, and it can forecast the demand for each store and plan production schedule accordingly. It spends heavily on R&D to improve the product performance and bring frequent product launches.

The marketing, HR and support functions at Dell and Apple are designed accordingly to create an unified strategy for both firms. Dell focuses on providing solutions to its customers and has a resonating focus CVP whereas Apple has a CVP of favourable point of difference. Dell has huge variety and mass customization whereas apple looks to reduce customization as far as possible. Service and support of both Dell and Apple are of high quality, for Dell it is a strategic choice in order to maintain long term relationship with customers, whereas for Apple it is in line with the overall high quality image of the company.

Some functions at Dell are characterized as Cheetah, like roll-out of technology, high variety, and small drop sizes. Whereas some characteristics like build-to-order and forecasting are responsible for minimizing risk.

Apple overall has the essence of an artist. However some functions like manufacturing deriving scale economies, bulk purchasing are characteristics of an elephant. The distribution function at Apple has the characteristics of a Cheetah during product launches.