Dell Inc.'s direct-to-customer sales could allow it to turn a bird-flu outbreak into a revenue booster by letting buyers avoid shopping in public, the company's chief executive said Thursday.
"We deliver to homes," said Dell CEO Kevin Rollins. "People don't have to come to stores."
During the SARS epidemic, "our business in China boomed," he said, because people were either quarantined or sequestered themselves at home in order to avoid coming in contact with the deadly virus.
The same thing could happen again if there's a bird-flu epidemic, Rollins said.
Dell is working on strategies for dealing with a possible bird-flu outbreak that could affect any of its factories or call centers around the world, he said.
When it comes to dealing with that challenge, Dell is in the same boat as any other company, Rollins said. "That's a scary one."
He made the comments while speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the Boston College Chief Executives' Club.
