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Last year, Packard Bell NEC joined the growing list of manufacturers that got the bright idea that they could distribute and service customers better than those earning their daily bread in the channel. And the company paid for its mistake.
Flash back to 1996, when Packard Bell NEC shipped more than 4 million units of desktops, servers and notebooks worldwide, even leadingDell Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. by 2 percentage points. Fast-forward to 1997 and a move toward the direct model: Packard Bell NEC's sales drop more than 8 percent while all of the tier-one manufacturers grow nicely.
The result? Packard Bell NEC ranked last in every subcategory in this year's Annual Report Card for notebooks and failed to rise above fourth in any criterion. This comes just one year after the company soundly took first place in the 1997 ARC. According to Jack McGloin, vice president of...