Table of Contents
Executive Summary 2
Company Background 2
Company Research 3
Value Chain Analysis 3
Customer Profile 4
Competitors 4
External Analysis 5
Internal Analysis 7
Financials 8
Situation Analysis 8
Alternatives 9
Recommendation 11
Implementation 11
Contingency 12
Bibliography 14
Appendix 15
Executive Summary
Microsoft has been a leader in the software industry for many years. As the technology industry has changed, so has the type of devices. This change has created a market with a focus on mobile devices and access to data through the cloud. Microsoft has made headway into this mobile driven market, however, they face competition from Apple, Google, and other tech giants. Microsoft must find a way to stay relevant in the technology world. Various different strategies will be analyzed to determine which one best fits Microsoft and will help to position Microsoft in this changing marketplace.
Company Background
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft has always focused on software but the types of devices have changed over time. Initially Microsoft’s software was developed primarily for desktop computers and this continued until the mid-2000s when computers shifted from desktop computing to mobile devices (mainly laptops). In 2011 Microsoft started rebranding the company to fit en even more mobile market. They previewed their Windows 8 operating system with a focus on touch screen devices with different touch screen form factors. Microsoft also entered into the hardware business with the creation of its Surface tablet in 2012. Microsoft has always had a big impact in the commercial market providing many different software packages including: Windows, Windows Server pr...
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Microsoft was once a small software business ran by a young Bill Gates in a tiny
Quick Ratio – Constant grow for the last three years. From 3.56 in 2001 to 3.76 in 2002 to 4.17 in 2003. The reason of grow is constant increase in Current Assets.
At just twenty years old, Bill Gates cofounded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. He is now the richest man in the world with over $85.2 billion to his name. So why did Microsoft end up being way more successful than any computer program like it? The answer is because of the free enterprise system, and competition. Gate's product was considered new and innovative at the time, which made customers want to try it out.
...e graph to contrast Gmail and Yahoo!’s email user was found to be surprisingly difficult and provided unrelated results: a link to “A List of Mergers and Acquisitions” on Wikipedia popped up as the second choice when typing in the key words “google vs yahoo email graph” into the search bar. When one searches for maps, Google presents Google Maps in 1 in 13 search results, while MapQuest and Yahoo! Maps seem nonexistent. Additionally, Youtube (which was acquired by Google in 2006) and Google Video enjoy higher ranks while Bing Video is 6th in line. Google’s market share over the search industry has increased rapidly over the last decade, but that doesn’t mean the results it provides are reliable. Google therefore is characterized by monopolistic traits because its increasing influence and control allows it to manipulate markets to further promote company popularity.
Since the time when computers began to become an everyday item, we have seen a leader emerge. Microsoft Corporation has over the ages proved through technological advances and new innovations that it is a leader among computers and new upcoming technologies. Microsoft offers a variety of products some of which include operating systems for laptops and desktops, cell phones and gaming consoles. They also offer services that help us with everyday questions and tasks such as Microsoft Office, which most people use in their daily life to write reports, make presentations and keep track of accounts. They have a search engine called Bing, which is a rival to Google and an instant messaging device, Windows Live. Microsoft with its vast categories of services and products has a market value of 215.44 billion dollars falling behind Apple inc. who has a staggering 306.23 billion dollars which leads the market. Market capitalization is the total dollar market value of all of a company's outstanding shares. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company's shares outstanding by the current market price of one share. The investment community uses this figure to determining a company's size, as opposed to sales or total asset figures. The annual revenue for Microsoft in 2010 reached a record of $62.5 billion, an increase of 7 percent compared with the previous fiscal year. The number of employees employed at Microsoft as of 2010 was 89,000. Google who is a well know competitor has 24,400 employees and Apple who employs 49,400 employees.
Two friends named Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque. They started out with a small company and turned into an empire that employs 100,932 people (as of December of 2013). Before there was Microsoft there was Traf-O-Data, which kept track of traffic data, which at that time was groundbreaking. Microsoft is now a multibillion-dollar company and is a household name. Microsoft has now expanded to selling many different, successful products. Some of their very popular products include Skype, Xbox, the Surface tablet and Bing. Microsoft has 1.5 billion dollar revenue. Even though Microsoft had market dominance at one...
Since the early 1990’s, the United States government and the Microsoft Corporation have ensued upon a battle in the United States courts. The main issue at hand is ultimately money, but one more importantly, the supposed "Microsoft Monopoly." The federal government maintains that Microsoft's monopolistic practices are detrimental to United States citizens, creating higher prices and potentially downgrading software quality, and should therefore be stopped. Microsoft and its supporter’s claim that they are not breaking any laws and they are just doing what they do; making money and providing a service. The only thing Microsoft is guilty of is taking advantage of free enterprise. There have been many arguments and issues that have been raised with the controversy over Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice’s claim against Microsoft of monopolistic practices in bundling its internet browser “Internet Explorer” into its popular Windows computer operating system. By doing this, Microsoft would effectively crush its competitors and acquire a monopoly over the software that people use to access the Internet.
This was the same year when Bill Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft. In 1981, Bill Gates’ company was hired to develop an operating system but rather than creating a new operating system they decided to buy a preexisting operation system called QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) for the amount of 50,000 dollars. After modifying the operating system they bought, they renamed the operating system to MS-DOS. After MS-DOS began selling it brought in a steady income for Gates due to the fact that the PC market was growing and there weren’t many competitors in the market for them to compete with. In 1986, when Microsoft Corporation went public, it made Gates into a millionaire overnight. The following year, Microsoft released their first ever version of
"Microsoft Corporation, is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44.28 billion and 71,553 employees in 102 countries as of July 2006. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, each of which has achieved near-ubiquity in the desktop computer market. Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360 and MSN TV" ("Microsoft").
In this paper, team B will discuss the internal and external factors of the Microsoft Corporation. We will explain how these factors affect the four functions of management, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Also, we will explain how globalization, technology, innovation, diversity and ethics will be delegated to manage the different factors. Microsoft Corporation was established in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico producing software for developing, manufacturing, licensing, and support for range of software products and service for different type of computing devices. Microsoft grew from six employees to the largest personal computer software company in the world. By 1978, Microsoft earned $500,000 in the first quarter, and by the end of the year they earned revenue of $1,000,000. In the early 1980s Microsoft, in collaboration with IBM they released MS-DOS as their first 16-bit operating system. However after the late 1980s, Microsoft started to build its reputation by creating the Microsoft windows operating system and Microsoft office product, which includes internet explorer, excel, PowerPoint, and word programs. Then in the late 1990s, Microsoft teamed with Sega to incorporated their windows software package into the game developer’s Dreamcast hardware. Also they developed their own gaming system called the Xbox and that eventually was replaced by the xbox360. Microsoft has come a long way and is no longer just a worldwide leader in computer programming but also a major part of the technology world. Microsoft windows have been the flagship and accounts for most of its revenue for Microsoft: but the company has also branched ...
What are the three or four most important drivers of Microsoft’s business model over the past 10 to 15 years that have accounted for the company’s spectacular results?
Microsoft is the leading and the largest Software Company in the world. Found by William Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 Microsoft has grown and become a multibillion company in only ten years. It all started with a great vision – “a computer on every desk and every home” - that seemed almost impossible at the time. Now Microsoft has over 44,000 employees in 60 countries, net income of $3.45 billion and revenue of 11.36 billion. Company dramatic growth and success was driven by development and marketing of operational systems and personal productivity applications software.
And then there's Microsoft themselves. After Bill Gates handed over CEO to Steve Ballmer, all hell broke loose as humans raged about him. During the first twenty years of Microsoft, they were considered an evil monopolistic empire, destroying all competitors that came their way. Back then, if you wanted word processing software, you used Office. Want a computer o...
To conclude, Microsoft Company recognizes that external stakeholders are important in its success and long-term sustainability. Therefore, Microsoft’s mission and vision recognizes both customers and the society in its business. Customers determine success or failure of a company, therefore, Microsoft has engaged in the manufacture of products that meet customers’ needs, both locally and internationally. It is vital to work hand in hand with the government, creditors, shareholders, and suppliers to ensure sustainability and long-term benefits (Weiss, 2008).
The acquisition of Nokia has brought the magnificent manufacturing capability in the smart phone business for Microsoft. Microsoft could leverage on the productivity and logistics of Nokia to differentiate itself in the smart phone business. The acquisition would help both companies to resist competitions, since the competition is getting more and fiercer as innovation happens every day in the technology industry. However, Microsoft needs to come up with new ideas to preserve the dominant status in the many sectors. In the meanwhile, Nokia needs to focus on the rest of its business that had not been sold to