Little Leeway for Dell

But 6% growth seems well below even the most pessimistic expectations.

So far, Dell's only discernible move to address its problems has been to trot out the price cuts that have served the company so well in the past.

In its preannouncement last week, Dell said it took pricing actions in the second half of the quarter to accelerate revenue growth in the future.

But many analysts and investors believe that price cuts are insufficient and even ineffective in an industry that has evolved and become increasingly competitive.

Future growth will come from the consumer markets and the non-U.S. markets -- areas that traditionally have not been the company's strong points, say analysts. To succeed, Dell may need to do things differently.

In particular, a re-evaluation of deeply ingrained business practices, such as Dell's exclusive use of Intel(INTC Quote) processors and its direct-sales model could be in order.

The latter has long been cited as a key to Dell's success, allowing it to keep costs low by avoiding an intermediary.

As the company strives to entice consumers in markets outside of the U.S., such as China, some analysts wonder whether Dell's lack of a retail presence could leave it at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Dell's unwillingness to sell PCs and servers that feature Advanced Micro Devices'(AMD Quote) popular line of processors appears increasingly untenable.

Dell's recent acquisition of Alienware, which makes high-end game PCs that use AMD chips, represents a first step toward a dual-source microprocessor strategy.

But many analysts believe that Dell needs to go even further.