VALUE-CHAIN (DELL COMPUTERS INC.) (DELL COMPUTERS INC.)
Introduction to Value-Chain The Value-Chain was conceptualized
and popularized by Porter in 1985 through his book, a best-
seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior
Performance. The main thrust of “the value-chain” is to
categorize the generic “value-adding activities” of an
organization. The value-chain management tool recognizes two
value-adding activities in an organization, the “primary
activity” and the “support activity”. The primary activities
includes the following, inbound logistics, production, outbound
logistics, sales and marketing, and maintenance. Support
activities include administrative infrastructure management,
human resources management, research and development team and
procurement (2003). According to (1985) a firm's value chain is
embedded in a larger stream of activities that he termed the
value system. Suppliers have value chains (upstream value) that
create and deliver the purchased inputs used in a firm's ch