1. Dell's sales grew from $3,475M in 1995 to $5,296M (52% growth) in 1996. How much operating assets did Dell increase from 1995 to 1996? How did Dell fund its growth? Did they raise external funds? 2. Did Dell become more efficient in their operations? In what parts of their operations were there improvements or reductions in Dell's efficiency in 1996 relative to 1995? (Hint: Think about margins and working capital management such as A/R, A/P and Inventory) 3. Dell forecasts its sales will grow 50% in 1997. How might the company fund its growth internally? 4. If Dell also repurchased $500M of common stock in 1997 and repaid its long term debt, by how much is the balance sheet out of balance? 5. If Dell wants to achieve the financing objectives described in question 4, working capital would need to be reduced by the amount of the deficit found in question 4. Assume that there were no other improvements in their operations nor no external funds were raised. By how many days would the cash conversion cycle have to decrease? Are these operating changes feasible and wise? 6. Alternatively, if Dell wants to achieve the financing objectives described in question 4 by how much would the operating margin need to increase in order to fund the growth internally, holding all else constant? Are these operating changes feasible