Dell to HP: Size is no formula for success

If HP thinks that growing in size by acquiring Compaq will guarantee success,

the company will come to regret that. Dell's company lost its hard-fought

position of the world's leading PC manufacturer when HP and Compaq combined

their PC operations. Dell said that size alone was no guarantee of success.

"If you look at this industry, I am not certain that size alone is enough.

At the start of the 1990s we were the 25th largest manufacturer of PCs in the

United States. Today we are the biggest. It's not because of size, but because

of the business model."

Dell wrested away the top spot in 2001 from Compaq after an aggressive price

war and a strategy of directly distributed made-to-order machines. Dell says he

expects his company to once again start gaining on HP and eventually retake the

top PC supplier spot.