tel is a recognized market leader with an attractive customer base and a good reputation of creating an advanced quality product. Some of Intel’s strengths are its financial condition, brand-name image, good management skills and technical expertise.Financial Condition One of Intel’s major strengths is the ability to fund for research & development. The company has a high degree of profitability, cash flows from depreciation, and low dividend payout. Therefore, Intel can provide the financial resources and use their financial strength to fund the capital requirements associated with refurbishing existing plants and building new ones. Intel’s strategy to maintain a leader status in the industry and to accommodate expected demand is necessary for them to stay ahead of competitors by producing more advanced products and building new plants or refurbishing existing plants. In recent years, Intel has built a new fabrication plant about every 9 months and announced that its goal is to reduce that to every 6 months. Also, for the past 6 years, it has led the semiconductor industry in new capital investments.Brand Name Image In 1990, Intel initiated a marketing program to build the Intel brand and show PC users the benefits of Intel technology and products. The reason for the program was to increase sales of the Intel brand and lower sales of AMD’s cloned microprocessors. Their marketing strategy was to ask PC makers to put a distinctive “Intel Inside” sticker on their machines. They also sponsored television and print advertising campaigns promoting that an Intel-based PC provided customers with ultimate quality, reliability, software compatibility, and value. This was a major success and created a good brand name image for Intel.Management Skills and Technical Expertise Talented and skilled individuals from the beginning managed Intel. They had the expertise to manage Intel by choosing the rig...
