Heads roll at Dell

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) lost the crown of being the premier PC company to Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) years ago. Now Asia companies like Lenovo and Acer are after its No.2 position. And, they are having some success.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Dell Inc. is preparing management changes that are expected to shake up an executive team that Chief Executive Michael Dell brought in as part of his turnaround plan for the big computer maker." The head of global operations and the chief of marketing will both be moved out of their jobs.

Dell has already done a lot of restructuring, laying off thousand of workers. Its stock is off almost 80% this year, compared to less than 30% for HP. Surprisingly, Dell's shares have done as well as Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) over the same period.

Most commentators will say that Micheal Dell is the problem and that the board should replace him, but that dodges the complexity of Dell's situation. It operates in world where PCs are often a commodities, sold on price as much as function. The new Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) operation system that runs them, Vista, is unpopular. Apple appears to have taken much of the high end of the market with its Mac.

Dell also faces a harsh economy which has already begun to erode its sales. One of the reasons Apple's stock is down so much is that it faces the same negative forces.

For the time being, it looks like even Dell cannot fix Dell. And, its situation in the broader marketplace is such that no one else can either.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.