Dell 2007 Annual Report Download - page 11

Table of Contents
employees, 7,200 temporary employees, and 1,200 DFS employees) at the end of Fiscal 2007. In December 2007, we purchased CIT
Group Inc.'s 30% interest in DFS. As such, the total of regular employees at February 1, 2008, includes DFS employees. Approximately
29,300 of the regular employees at the end of Fiscal 2008 were located in the U.S., and approximately 53,400 were located in other
countries.
In the first quarter of Fiscal 2008, we initiated a comprehensive review of costs across all processes and organizations, from product
development and procurement through service and support delivery, with the goal to simplify structure, eliminate redundancies, and
better align operating expenses with the current business environment and strategic growth opportunities. As part of this overall effort, we
expect to further reduce headcount, exclusive of additions due to acquisitions.
Government Regulation and Environment
Our business is subject to regulation by various federal and state governmental agencies. Such regulation includes the radio frequency
emission regulatory activities of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission; the anti-trust regulatory activities of the U.S. Federal
Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and the European Union; the consumer protection laws of the Federal Trade Commission;
the export regulatory activities of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Treasury; the import regulatory
activities of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the product safety regulatory activities of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission; and environmental regulation by a variety of regulatory authorities in each of the areas in which we conduct business. We
are also subject to regulation in other countries where we conduct business. We were not assessed any environmental fines, nor did we
have any material environmental remediation or other environmental costs during Fiscal 2008.
Sustainability
Our focus on business efficiencies and customer satisfaction drives our environmental stewardship program in all areas of our business —
reducing product energy consumption, reducing or eliminating materials for disposal, prolonging product life spans, and providing
effective and convenient equipment recovery solutions. We are committed to becoming the "greenest technology company on the planet",
a long-term initiative we announced in June 2007. This multi-faceted campaign focuses on driving internal business innovations and
efficiencies, enhancing customer satisfaction, and partnering with suppliers and people of all ages who care about the environment.
In Fiscal 2008, we announced our commitment to becoming carbon neutral in calendar year 2008. In partnership with The Conservation
Fund and Carbonfund.org, we launched the "Plant a Tree for Me" program, which enables customers to offset the electricity required to
power their computers. We also extended our commitment to design the most energy efficient products in our industry. Several of our
workstations, desktops and laptops met Energy Star 4.0 ahead of a deadline set by the EPA. We are a founding partner of Green Grid, a
global consortium dedicated to developing and promoting energy efficiency for data centers and information services.
We are committed to making recycling free and easy, and remain focused on raising consumer awareness about the importance of
recycling and increasing the volume of products we recover from consumers. During Fiscal 2007, we voluntarily initiated a no-charge
recycling program for our U.S. customers. This recycling offer is designed for consumers and includes responsible recycling of used
Dell-branded computers and peripheral equipment at no-charge; this service does not require a replacement purchase. We also help
commercial customers responsibly and securely manage the retirement of used information technology through our product recovery
services. Since November 2003, we have offered a no-charge recycling program for Dell-branded products in Europe and also currently
offer no-charge consumer recycling in Canada. Since 2004, we have offered U.S. consumers no-charge recycling of any brand of used
computer or printer with the purchase of a new Dell computer or printer.
Backlog
We believe that backlog is not a meaningful indicator of net revenue that can be expected for any period. There can be no assurance that
the backlog at any point in time will translate into net revenue in any subsequent period, as unfilled orders can generally be canceled at
any time by the customer. Our business model generally gives us
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