Final Project of Microsoft

8/9/2019 Final Project of Microsoft

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Final Project of GLOBAL MARKETING

Group Members :1. Ali Hassan

2. Raheem Faraz Khan

3. Usman Asghar Cheema

4. M Farhan Zaidi

Submitted To :Mr. Waqas Qurashi

Due Date :7/01/2008

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A HUMAN BEING CAN NOT CREATE ANYTHING WITHOUT THE HELP AND

GUIDANCE OF ALLAH ALMIGHTY. ALL PRAISES AND GRATITUDE TO

ALMIGHTY ALLAH WHO BESTORD UPON US THE INTELLECT AND

SOUND SENSE OF CONCEPTION FOR HIGHER IDEAS OF OUR LIVES.

WE EXPRESS SINSERE GRATITUDE TO OUR RESPECTED TEACHER FOR

HER CONTINOUS SUPPORT, GUIDANCE, SUGGESSIONS,

CONSTRUCTIVE, CRITICISM, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND PERSONALINTEREST.

WE ALSO THANK ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO COPERATED WITH US IN

THIS PROJECT AND SPECIAL THANK FOR A.RAFEH FOR HELPING US IN

THIS PROJECT. WE HOPE THAT PROJECT IS ACCEPTABLE TO THE

TEACHER.

WE HOPE THIS PROJECT WIL BE INFORMATIVE TO ANYONE WHO

REFFERS TO IT.


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DEDICATIONSDEDICATIONS

We as a team would like to dedicate our project to our parents who have been an

inspiration for us throughout our lives. Last but not least our teacher has been a

great help for us so we would also like to dedicate our effort to our respected

teachers.

INTRODUCTION to MICROSOFT


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Historical Background:Microsoft was formed by a Harvard College Dropout called Bill Gates. Bill Gates

was born William Henry Gates III on October 28, 1955. He was born to a family

that was successful in business, living a comfortable upper middle class life inSeattle, Washington.

Early in his elementary school days, Bill Gates quickly shot to the head of the

class, consistently outscoring his peers in most subjects, but especially math and

science. His parents soon enrolled him in Lakeside Prep School, where the

atmosphere was intellectual enough to stimulate the young Gates. This move to

Lakeside would prove historic, for it was here, in the spring of 1968, that he was

introduced to computers.

Paul Allen saw the first microcomputer on the cover of a magazine. He bought

the magazine and went immediately to show it to Gates. They realized the time

was right. The home PC business was about to explode and someone would

need to provide software for the machines. By stretching the truth somewhat,

Gates arranged for a meeting with the Altair manufacturers. He had called them

to let them know he had a program written for them. After the appointment was

made, Gates and Allen stayed up for nights, feverishly writing the program he

had promised. It worked perfectly at the meeting, and everyone was impressed.

They sold the program, and saw that this was something they could do for real.

Within a year, Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.

The company went through some rough first years, but eventually was able to

license MS-DOS to IBM. The IBM PC took the public by storm, and its success

signaled the success of Microsoft. Microsoft continued writing software, for

businesses as well as the consumer market. In 1986, the company went public,

and Gates became a 31-year old billionaire. The next year, the first version of

Windows was introduced, and by 1993 a million copies per month were being

sold.
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In 1995, Gates knew that the Internet was the next area of focus, and the course

of Microsoft shifted dramatically. The popular Internet Explorer browser soon

became a bestseller. Today, Microsoft software is everywhere.

In the beginning, www.microsoft.com was just one computer tucked under a table

at the end of a long hallway. It was designed to test Microsoft's first 32-bit

Windows implementation of TCP/IP, the software plumbing in Windows that

enables internet communication.

Microsoft legend says that this machine once lived under the desk of the site's

first official administrator, Mark Ingalls, but like most legends that's only half true.

A staging server for microsoft.com was actually housed beneath his desk, and itwas relocated because too often Ingalls reached down and turned off the wrong

machine by mistake.

Today, microsoft.com is the fourth-largest Web site powered by internal and

external servers all over the world and visited by an average of 5 million

customers a day. How the site got where it is now in just six high-velocity years is

a story of smart decisions, some very public snafus, and all in all, a story we

thought you might like to read as we close out 1999.

Six years may not sound like a lot of time, but in "Internet time" that's almost half

a lifetime. Internet time is sometimes likened to dog years - the first year is like

14, and every subsequent year is roughly equivalent to seven virtual years. By

that reckoning, microsoft.com is pushing 50.

As we prepare to enter the year 2000, it makes sense to reflect on all that hashappened since 1994 - the year that microsoft.com launched its public Internet

Web domain with a home page. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive account of

the early days of Microsoft on the Web, just a short compilation of history and


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reminisces by some of the "old timers" who helped build the foundation for

microsoft.com.

Microsoft's mission :


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To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full

potential.

Our ValuesAs a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness,

personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and

mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a

passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on

seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers,

shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing

results, and striving for the highest quality.

Competitive Advantage


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the perception of a guarantee, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are able to borrow

money at reduced interest rates. That and other advantages kept Fannie Mae in

the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio for many years.

The early-mover advantage

Although first movers can get valuable traction in markets, they also tend to

make costly mistakes, in terms of both money and time. Companies that follow

closely behind the trailblazers, though, can gain many of the benefits of being

early to market while avoiding some of the pitfalls.

A classic example is Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT ). Although Apple introduced the

first personal computers, it limited itself by trying to do everything -- building the

computers, creating operating systems, and developing software. Microsoft,

meanwhile, focused exclusively on the operating system, and MS-DOS soon

emerged as the default standard for personal computing. Microsoft used this

toehold to launch itself into productivity software, and who better to write software

for an operating system than the company that built it? Microsoft was not the first

mover, but its popular Office suite soon left competitors in the dust. The

company's conquest of Netscape in the Web browser market followed a similar

story. In short, Microsoft doesn't invent; it innovates -- and it's done that very well.

Size

In many cases, bigger is better. Large warehouse stores like Costco (Nasdaq:

COST ), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), and Wal-Mart now dominate the retail

industry that used to be made of small, local stores. They never had a chance

against the bigger and more efficient big-box outlets.

But the size advantage does not stop there. Because Wal-Mart is such a largecustomer, it has significant sway over its suppliers. In addition, Wal-Mart has

deep pockets that allow it to underprice its competitors. It even sells some items

at a loss to squeeze out the competition. So the size advantage tends to feed on
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itself -- more stores and better operations mean better prices for more customers

because of increased bargaining power over suppliers.

Conclusion

Competitive advantages are like a seatbelt for your investments. They allow a

company to remain in more control of its destiny when facing the uncertainties of

the future. And although competitive advantages don't guarantee that a company

will perform without failures, they do make it easier for a company to recover

from its missteps. Identifying meaningful competitive advantages in your

investments will therefore help you protect your investment dollars.

Target Market

Microsoft is focusing on the business organizations to individuals home Pcs they

basically want to give the best possible solutions to the work of business to

individuals work. Because they think that this era is digital era so they want to

make everything digital to solve any kind of problem or work so that everyone

utilize his work in best possible manner. For this they are trying to innovate the

best possible solutions for organizations and individuals.

SWOT Analysis

All this of course does not guarantee sound sleep to Mr. Bill Gates for too long.

Guarantee of success happens in no business, not even in a long-term

monopoly. Competition, technology compatibility and integration needs, pricing,

delivery and service parameters can precipitate substantial threat to Microsoft

and afford opportunities for other players. It is not that Microsoft is not aware of

this. It is focusing on R&D and business strategies to sustain market shares in its

own way. But is it enough and is it taking the right direction is the big question.

Others have started to seriously innovate and compete. For example changing

technologies like Wireless Communications and Networking (WAN) etc do not

complement Microsofts existing competencies. Over the next five years, in all


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developed countries, the majority of people will be connecting through broadband

and interacting with information through many devices: PCs at work and at home,

portable PCs, Tablet PCs, and pocket devices such as the phone, evolving from

simply a voice device to a data device. Having all these devices work very well

together and be secure and up to date are very significant challenges indeed.

Therefore there is adequate scope and opportunity to review, audit and

understand through SWOT analysis the company and its competencies and

facilitate a new debate on possible corporate business models and revised action

plans.

SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the

first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. It has to be a

continuous rather than a need based exercise.

Strengths

A) Key Strengths

Strong fundamentals-Microsoft has become synonymous to computers

over the last two decades. It has a massive market share and has

recorded impressive sustainability and growth even in the face of disasters

like 9/11.Impressive research base takes care of business cycle changes

and product life cycle limitations

Strategic tie-ups and Business Process Outsourcing both to utilize

technocrats all over the world and to optimize costs

Multinational Corporation operating through regional subsidiaries giving it

a truly global perspective of cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences inmore than 60 countries. This certainly affords a better business perception

and applications too

Relatively rapid product development processes that allow for timely

updating and release of new products


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Software products have high brand recall and recognition, generic

corporate and consumer acceptance (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access),

and numerous powerful features that are in use worldwide, thereby

promoting standardization and competitive advantage through their ease

of integration and cost-effectiveness

B) Other Strengths

Applications and operations divisions complement each other well

Recently created online service network divisions (MSN)

Flexible workforce through contingent workers for special projects

Very good Human Resource policies, in addition to good compensation,

an opportunity for employees to do well financially through stock

purchases Neptune, is a Window's interface and is an example of smart software.

B) Revenues and profits rising at 30% a year with merger/acquisition or

investment in 92 companies over the past few years

Top rating from Fortune for best company to work at and most admired

company

Windows series, and Windows NT are globally known as the PC desktop

operating system with a market share of above 80% Participation in socially relevant philanthropic work in various countries

has been a significant value addition in terms of corporate PR

Weaknesses A) Major Weaknesses

Hardware manufacturers need to be motivated to pre-install Microsoft's PC

operating system. Although training of computer professionals and workers is by

and large done on Microsoft Architecture and this in turn creates a situation of inevitability for hardware manufacturers, their default support cannot be

assumed.

Peripheral player in the Internet space and few products for Internet

applications


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Local language adaptations are bound to favorably sustain growth. In India for

example most of the population uses Hindi language and applications software in

Hindi is a certain bet for success given the population and economic growth

process in the offing

Cheaper Internet connectivity and global telecommunication costs open new

markets and opportunities. Broadband access and affordable wireless

communication tools does present a plethora of opportunities for making gainful

strides in these key areas

Strategic alliances with Mobile phone applications and exploitation of personal

digital assistants provide Microsoft with opportunity in a market where it currently

has little or no significant presence.

Other opportunities

Popularity among people for Internet access, information, business and

applications and PC is still the widely used tool for it

Piracy control measures in various countries shall mean additional revenues

Internet security tools and reinforcement of LAN applications are going to be

useful value additions to Microsofts product mix

ThreatsA) Palpable Threats

IBM, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and others have collaborated on new platform

technologies for their hardware that replicate much of the value of Windows

Apple and Linux threaten Microsoft's huge market share of the desktop

operating market

Sun Microsystems, Netscape, Oracle, IBM, AOL, and other companies moved

into the Internet space almost a decade ago and defined it while Microsoft failed

to anticipate its growth, value or popularity

Demand for application/operation software and hardware is a function of

fluctuating exchange rates of currencies can negatively impact revenues in the


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global marketplace

Software piracy of commercial and consumer applications software on a large

scale threatens revenues especially in the face of free products like Linux.

Other Threats .

Hardware manufacturers (Sun Microsystems, Oracle, IBM, AOL, and

Apple) are issuing their own pre-bundled programs on their own hardware

Linux influence is growing steadily

Unix dominates high-end mission-critical applications and its customers

do not believe Windows can handle these operations

Personal computers, mobile-phones, personal digit assistants,

entertainment-oriented hand-held computers, and similar wirelessproducts for Internet access do not require Window operating system

products

Rapid development of mobile devices that will displace/replace personal

computers.

Recession or economic slowdown in the world impacts personal computer

equipment sales and their need for an operating systems

Technology life cycle is akin to product life cycle and needs to sustain

cash cow stage with updates and alterations/value additions and any

laidback approach to this crucial need shall have a debilitating effect on

future prospects

ConclusionSWOT is an important marketing management tool. . It can be used in

conjunction with other tools for audit and analysis, such as PEST analysis and

Porter's Five-Forces analysis to enable prospective R&D in marketingIn the light of what has been discussed about Microsoft, it is obvious that present

times are crying for deliberation and brainstorming to ensure continued success

of the company. Market forces are dynamic as is technology and innovation.

The corner stone or benchmark in business is market share. There are four ways

to look at it.


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-Improving market share by encashing opportunities of new markets and market

segments.

-Retaining market share in the face of threats and challenges


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-Improving market share by utilizing value addition/new application opportunities

of existing customer base.

-Product diversification and innovation leading to altogether new role and share

in the market. This has a telescopic effect on gross market share rather than on

limited niche share.

In the context of Microsoft all the above possible strategies have been discussed.

No doubt the company still enjoys pre-eminent position in its niche market. In theforeseeable future no major threat is perceived to this position. But the fact is its

niche market of today is threatening to lapse into dilution and redundancy due to

rapid overshadowing by Internet and Wireless devices and applications. This is

not of course going to make the company obsolete by any stretch of imagination.

However there are perceptible warning signals, which the company will do well to

recognize, invest in right research and innovation and sustain its leading edge in

spite of the market dynamics and increasing competition. The focus areas haveto be in tune with evolving technologies and applications. As marketing by

definition is to identify customer needs and to satisfy them, the company cannot

always hope to thrust its products and applications on the customers.

Microsoft has the resources to do it. It should be willing to just do it


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Final Project of Microsoft

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