C2000 in 1997 - A year of growth
All the indications are that Computer 2000 has had a good 1997.
The company's figures for the nine-month period ended 30 June showed a rise in sales of 30 per cent - well above market growth and in line with the previous year's figures, although boosted by the AmeriQuest purchase.
The company is set to achieve European sales of about $5.5 billion this year and this will keep it well ahead of its main rivals, Ingram Micro and CHS Electronics, both of which are someway behind.
Computer 2000 has invested a great deal of time and money in getting its centralised systems right and this, it believes, is key to competing in the broad distribution sector across Europe. It has also established local offices in each of the major countries with specific local knowledge of the markets they serve, and backup in the form of Computer 2000's economies of scale. This may be crucial to success.
It will also enable the group to provide a comprehensive service on all major product lines across the continent, providing competitive prices and availability with detailed and localised service and support - before and after the sale.
The company wants to get closer to its reseller customers, working with them on bids and projects. Only resellers in each local market will be able to say whether Computer 2000 really has the ability to do this effectively - it certainly has the resources and infrastructure to do so. One of the major advantages Computer 2000 has is that it started building its pan-European infrastructure many years ago.
There is no magic formula, no overall factor that makes Computer 2000 a better choice as a distribution partner. It cannot hope to fulfil the needs of every dealer across the whole of Europe all of the time - it can only do its best to meet most of the needs of most of the dealers, most of the time.
Its focus on getting the details right in the backroom systems give it the capability to do that, but the proof will only come in the company's actions. Only local resellers working with the localised operation will be able to say whether the model is really working for them and their customers.
There is every reason to be optimistic about the level of service Computer 2000 will provide. It appears to have sorted out its problems in the US and to have formed a sound set of business processes in Europe. There has been speculation that German conglomerate Viag may sell off Computer 2000 and that this might de-stabilise it in some way. The AmeriQuest acquisition has not worked out, and this may have made Viag a little hostile to it.
Even if Viag does look to off-load Computer 2000, and this may not happen for months or even years, the sale is unlikely to affect reseller customers in any significant way. Certainly Viag and its main logistics subsidiary - Klockner & Co, which owns Computer 2000 - is a powerful backer.
But Computer 2000 is a big fish in its own pond with annual sales of well over $5 billion in Europe alone and growing operations in Latin America, if not in the US. And the worst is almost certainly on the other side of the Atlantic. Who is to say that an independent Computer 2000 would retain AmeriQuest anyway?
Computer 2000 has the scale to deal with the largest resellers in a detailed way, across many countries if necessary. But resellers that operate in only one market should not be put off by Computer 2000's size or by its pan-European ambitions. The company understands the need to support local requirements in every country and to work in partnership with its customers.
It should be judged on the quality of its service at the local level.
If the quality is high, then the centralised operations behind the scenes will be doing their work. To the reseller it does not really matter how it happens - only that it happens.