Strategic Analysis of Microsoft Inc.

Microsoft has their dominance of the industry at stake. They could potentially come out on top if left to continue their current tactics. They are masterfully “marketing their products” and it is paying off for them (Love, 1997).

They have expand their business from only on computer software and hardware to online search engine, home gaming devices and smartphone, those business are the popular business in the world, Microsoft is trying to adapt the new market.

This is a difficult market to engage. Looking at the likes of a Google and Apple, which are in this market, their systems are just as beneficial. In addition, a better operating system than Windows would come from the likes of Apple. This company has been abele to produce an operating system like no other, by appealing to those individuals such as early adopters and convincing them that that there technology is the next best thing. With that said, it will be hard for Apple to unseat Windows due to their ability to allow a compatibility with any system no matter the computer or device, which reduces inefficiency within the organization. Apple can take one thing into consideration when trying to implement their OS amongst the world, which is focus on the target audience and organizations for which a market share can be built. This may include the likes of the military due to Apples OS being one of the fastest thus allowing for lower levels of viruses. Also the youth, seeing that are appealed to new technology. In the end Apple have controlled the hardware & software bundles and model updates, so every Mac operates smoothly without worry on lagging,

Porters Generic Competitive Strategies: The relative position of a company within its industry concludes whether the profitability of the firm is above or below the industry’s average. The above average profitability of the firm is fundamentally showing the sustainable competitive advantage in its long run. According to Michael Porter, competitive advantages originate from the value of a firm and there are two types of competitive advantages, which a company can own. These are low cost or differentiation. For any company, in

Microsoft was founded in 1975, and is the worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions (Career). Microsoft is proud to offer great products and employ outstanding people. Previous Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer once said, “There are many things that are true about Microsoft. We have big goals, big dreams, and big aspirations for the future. We are both competitive with our products and in the way we attract and retain talent. For me, the most important factor is competition for talent, because I know our success comes from the people who work here” (Foley).

Microsoft is a highly diversified company. Its technologically-related products span from software to music players to game consoles to web browsers to search engines to phones. However, its flagship product, the product which has been the primary driver of its profits has been Microsoft Windows, the ubiquitous operating system that runs on virtually every computer in the world. Windows has been deemed so critical that even Microsoft's competitor Apple was effectively forced by market pressures to allow its Macs to run Windows, in an effort to boost sales. "As astounding as Apple's success has been, it hasn't put a dent in the Microsoft Office monopoly. [Current CEO] Ballmer and company still profit on every Macbook running Word, Excel and PowerPoint" (Greg 2012).But while Microsoft continues to make its highly profitable Windows products (despite industry criticism about its user features); it has struggled to diversify in its many critical areas, most notable in its music, phones, and Internet service.

The five generic competitive strategies are low-cost provider, broad differentiation, focused low-cost, focused differentiation strategy, and best-cost provider strategy. According to the textbook, “a company’s competitive strategy deals exclusively with the specifics of management’s game plan for competing successfully” (Gamble, 93).

History of Microsoft Microsoft Corporation, leading American computer software company. Microsoft develops and sells a wide variety of computer software products in more than fifty countries. Microsoft's Windows operating systems for personal computers are the most widely use operating systems in the world. Microsoft had revenues of $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ending June 1998, and employs more than 27,000 people in 60 countries. Microsoft has it's headquaters in Redmond Washington.

Microsoft are situated within the top 20 largest companies functioning in the world, with turnover figures of 60-70 billion dollars a year (E-how, 2011).

Microsoft operates in many geographic locations around the world and are behind the world’s most popular desktop operating system in the world. Microsoft is primarily a software company but have flexed their arms into internet services and are behind certain products in consumer market which is directly against Google. Microsoft’s market includes end-customers, enterprises and institutions just like Google. Some of the key Microsoft products are Bing which is a search engine just like Google.com and Microsoft ad center which is a direct

Microsoft Corporation is a public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975 to develop

Microsoft Corporation is an American global technology firm develops, manufactures, and sells computer software, electronics, and personal computers. The firm has its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Bill Gates founded the corporation in 1975 to develop and sell necessary interpreters; it rose with time to become the dominant player in the computer operating system operating system it had its initial public offer (IPO) IN 1986. Its fast growth in the industry has enabled it to acquire Skype technologies in 2011 at the cost of $8.5 billion. The firm has plans to make more acquisitions this year. The profit margin of the company lies at US$16.79 billion.

Kuzmicki, Jana F. “The Five Generic Competitive Strategies.” (2009) The McGraw-Hill Companies. Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation.

in order to create possibly the most effective and versatile workforce of any corporation in existence. To study Microsoft's way of doing business is to look at the company from many angles, from a managerial and organizational standpoint to its process of developing products and services for its customers and its competitive environment. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Microsoft from a strategic fit

Porter’s generic strategies describe how a company attains competitive advantage across its chosen market scope. There are three generic strategies-cost leadership, differentiation and