Microsoft's Brand Reputation Related to Empirical Literature of the Corporate Identity, Corporate...

RESEARCH PAPER

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AUTHOR(S):

HJERTVIKREM, ØYVIND

DATE: SUBJECT CODE: SUBJECT NAME:

MAY 18, 2012 REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

STUDY PROGRAMME: NO OF PAGES/APPENDIX: BIBL. NO:

B.S. 23/0

SUPERVISOR(S):

TITLE:

MICROSOFT’S BRAND REPUTATION RELATED TO EMPIRICAL LITERATURE OF THE CORPORATE IDENTITY, CORPORATE IMAGE AND CORPORATE REPUTATION

ABSTRACT:

This project is handed in for evaluation and accreditation at Aalesund University College.

Microsoft’s Brand Reputation Related to Empirical Literature of the Corporate Identity, Corporate Image and

Corporate Reputation

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Abstract

Microsoft is known as global brand especially with respect to innovation operating systems.

Current study highlight the strategies adopted by Microsoft and the brand’s corporate identity,

reputation and image in today’s competitive scenario. Consumers always desire better and more

effective products, services and technologies. Innovation grants this desire. In an extremely

competitive industry like that of the technology industry, continuous research and innovation is

not just a boon, it is mandatory. Microsoft encourages employees to communicate directly with

senior officials to share their views, suggestions and probably even complaints. Senior

employees keep their doors open to facilitate such communication. Even with such a casual

atmosphere, the work ethic in this organization is concrete and well defined. Microsoft has

proved itself in the technology innovation area over the past few decades by competing

successfully in the industry and enabling people, processes and organizations to work,

communicate and run better.

Keywords: Corporate identity, corporate reputation, corporate image, technology industry,

technology innovation, corporate branding.

Introduction

Microsoft Corporation is a global brand name unparalleled in the technology industry. It single

handily dominates the home and office computer system market making it a software giant.

Microsoft leads the IT industry because of multiple reasons; the user friendly nature of their

operating systems, the quality of their products, the importance they give to customer service and

feedback and the huge funds invested for research and development in order to ensure that they

live up to their motto “Be what’s next”. Providing these amazing solutions obviously comes at a

cost and also involves the purchase of expensive licenses. These costs and the growing demand

for web based applications have challenged Microsoft’s position in the IT marketplace.

Microsoft is working towards addressing these issues by researching and developing improved

software that meet the continuously growing needs of the customer and also making them cost

effective by reducing licenses etc.



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Competition has significantly increased in all areas, be in operating systems, servers,

communication media etc. Microsoft is constantly undergoing changes and innovation in order to

retain its position as the leader of the industry. This paper aims at analyzing Microsoft from all

angles: the industry it belongs to, its current situation and what the road map of this great

organization may look like and thereby present some strategies/suggestions that could be

implemented and how it would affect the organization.

Microsoft’s Overview

Microsoft History & Products

Microsoft came to being on April 4, 1975, when William H. Gates and Paul Allen decided to

develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800 ( a microcomputer design ). It is now

headquartered in Redmond, Washington (Bick, 1999).

Things started looking bright in 1980 when Microsoft received a contract from IBM. IBM was

working on a PC and wanted Microsoft to come up with an Operating system for the new PC. In

order to honor the contract, Microsoft bought Q_DOS operating system from a programmer for

around $50,000 and renamed it to MS-DOS. MS-DOS helped Microsoft dominate the home

computer operating system market in the 80’s. Microsoft was incorporated in 1981, following

the release of the IBM PC with MS-DOS (Bick, 1999).

The Initial Public Offering got the company 61 million US dollars after it went public in 1986.

Windows, the OS that we are all familiar with, was initially called Second generation operating

system, OS/2 in 1987. Microsoft continued research and innovation and came up with Microsoft

office later on. Microsoft office is now the most widely used Office Suite available today. The

beginning of the century saw a major change in the organizational structure of the company.

Ballmer was appointed CEO and Gates the Chairman and Chief Architect. Windows XP, the

most successful and stable windows to date, was launched in 2001. The year 2001 also saw the

birth of the legendary video game console Xbox which is still loved and admired to this day.



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Research, innovations and upgrades continued and in 2007, Microsoft launched the Windows

Vista whose user interface was nothing short of a visual treat. Microsoft Office 2007 also saw

the light of day in the same year. On a more personal front, Bill Gates took a break from his role

as Chief Architect in 2008 in order to focus on some personal commitments. He however

continued to be the Chairman and took decisions on areas of research and key development

areas. By 2009, Microsoft, which started as a simple software development company, had its

presence felt in almost all areas of the IT industry ranging from software products and hardware

devices to software development tools and Internet services.

Microsoft Goals

Microsoft’s main goal is to address the most pressing issues and to provide immediate attention

to resolve these issues.

Microsoft Culture

The work culture at Microsoft Corporation is one that is desired and craved by anyone who

works for the IT industry. The company itself and the individuals in the company value integrity,

honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continuous self-

improvement, and mutual respect. Along with these core values, the entire organization is

committed to its customers and partners and works hard on its passion for technology. The work

culture permits employees to dress casually thereby keeping them comfortable at all times. Work

life balance is never a concern as working hours are flexible along with a Work from Home

option when necessary (Dowling, 2001).

The work culture at Microsoft encourages innovation, research and development, recognizes and

awards innovative ideas, and does not shy away from risks. Even while Gates has been away

since 2008 on personal commitments, the work culture has still managed to be the same. This is

attributed to Gates passing on his ways to the other senior board members and management. In

short the Microsoft culture is smart, effective, aggressive, and focused towards achieving its goal

of technological excellence (Bick, 1999).



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Branding

A strong brand is a precious invaluable advantage as the battle to attain customers is intensifying

day by day. A brand is nothing but a sign, symbol or name that uniquely identifies the product or

service being sold. In the following few paragraphs, let’s take a deep dive into understanding

how the concept of branding came into place and what its implications are (Dowling, 2001).

Origin

Studies show that the term “brand” is derived from the Norse word “brand” which meaning “to

burn”. Here it actually referred to the practice of burning a mark into a product to mark

ownership of the product. In earlier days the “product” could be cattle (branded by farmers) or

also slaves (branded by their masters). The branding was generally done by the use of a hot iron

stamp. However, branding methodologies are no longer the same as before. Slavery of course

has been abolished and cruelty towards animals is a heinous crime (Haig, 2003).

Some of the earliest examples of branding to identify and distinguish good quality products from

the bad one does can be seen in the oil lamps made in the Greek islands. A special mark (or

brand symbol) was placed on the lamp for people to understand that it was the longer lasting one.

This is exactly what happens in the competitive marketing industry today. Companies build

brands and market them in such a way so as to tempt customers to opt for the new branded

products. When a brand is an immense success for a company it becomes the flagship product of

the company. A legally protected brand name is called a Trademark (Haig, 2003).

Definition

The brand is a huge concept. Having just one definition for it may not be optimum. One has to

consider a lot of scenarios when it comes to defining branding namely visual, perceptual, and

positioning, added value, image and personality of the product or service. In simple terms a

brand can be defined as a product, service or concept that is publicly distinguished from other

products and services. Individuals and scholars have given their own definitions for branding.

For e.g., Brassington and Pettitt have defined branding to be the “creation of a three dimensional



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character for product, defined in terms of packaging, colors, symbols etc., that distinguish it from

other products provided by competitors” (Kwon, 2005).

Brand Image and Brand Identity

Creating a brand alone never helped. Marketing and advertising it in the right manner also has to

follow for success. Every brand has a brand image and a brand identity. As the name suggest,

brand identity is nothing but how outwards expression of a brand including its name, trademark

logo, visual appearance etc. Brand image on the other hand refers to mental picture that the

customers have on the brand. It is important to bridge the gap between brand image and brand

identity in order to secure and attain success (Kwon, 2005; Lilien & Rangaswamy, 1999).

Brand image is a result of a lot of information. It could be word of mouth information,

experience with purchasing the product or service, advertising, packaging etc. modified by

perception of the product, beliefs, norms and also possibly forgetting about the product. Ensuring

proper quality and keeping customers happy helps build brand image. Brand identity cannot

succeed without a strong brand image. It is important that the stakeholders understand the

essence and expression that the companies reflects about their brands (Brønn & Ihlen, 2009;

Kwon, 2005).

Importance of Branding

Great branding along with marketing and advertising can achieve

1) Greater credibility

2) Motivation to the consumer

3) Setup user loyalty showing confidence that the customer has towards the branded product.

4) Deliver the necessary message clearly => communicates information about the product and

the way you do business (Lilien & Rangaswamy, 1999).



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A brand is thereby not something to be considered lightly and every business should and will

have a brand profile. The brand should be given focus, attention and should undergo innovation

in all aspects so as to give the company the above mentioned advantages and many more as well.

Branding can help springboard the company forward thereby giving the firm a competitive edge.

Let’s move on to see in detail the importance of branding considering different areas (Lilien &

Rangaswamy, 1999).

Branding in private organization

Be it the public sector or the private sector, the importance of branding cannot be neglected.

Branding in the private sector is not only beneficial to the company but also gives the employees

satisfaction in the fact that they are working for an organization of repute and also pride in the

same (Melewar, 2008). The very idea of having customers who will choose your product

regardless of what other companies and brands are offering helps boost the company’s morale.

Brand loyalty is something that all companies drool over. Take for example Microsoft and

Virgin Group. Microsoft is the world leader in technology and this makes it a brand worth

working for. Employees stay loyal to the brand name and try to touch the sky in terms of

productivity. Richard Branson, on the other hand can be considered as the sole reason for morale

boost in Virgin group with his great profile and clear cut purpose (Melewar, 2008).

Strong and successful branding also makes it difficult for new organizations to get into the same

sector. This is because strong branding gives a strong reputation to both the company as well as

its leading competitors. This makes it difficult for a new organization to come up with a brand

and compete against existing strongholds. A brand can never last unless it continues to be

trustworthy, of high quality and cutting edge. Advertising and commercial will be futile if it does

not meet these basic requirements of a brand. With branding, there also comes a need to maintain

customer relations. Keeping customers happy with their products ensures success of the branding

profile (Brønn & Ihlen, 2009; Haig, 2004).



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New Products

Having a good brand image makes it easier to introduce new products that have the brand name

of its existing older products. Customers loyal to the older products know that the brand is of

great quality, reliability and repute and will have no problem trying out the new products.

Consider for e.g. Heinz regularly introduces new products into the market. Customers trust Heinz

as a brand owing it to their high quality and packaging and are hence like to try the new products

as well. This explains how a brand image can propel the company’s profits. Moreover, by

introducing a new product in the brand, it indirectly acts as promotion to the already existing

products (Brønn & Ihlen, 2009).

Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty can be defined as the customer’s commitment and faith in the brand to make

repeated purchases in spite of market pressure from other competing brands. E.g. Apple has a

huge customer base that is willing to overlook other developments and only buy apple computers

and tablets. Brand loyalty helps the company attain stability and enables better use of resources.

Some of the key factors influencing brand loyalty may include perceived value of the product,

trust, satisfaction and repeat purchase behavior. When brand loyalty is achieved, the firm can use

this loyalty to sell its products at premium prices. However a premium prices does not mean an

unreasonable price. In order to maintain brand loyalty, the seller has to ensure that the prices are

kept reasonable (Moingeon & Soenen, 2002).

Branding in Public Sector

So far we have pinpointed the importance of branding in the private sector. That does not make

the public sector any less important. Branding is not an exclusive right of the private sector.

However in contrast to the profit oriented branding techniques by the private sector, the public

sector does not really place more importance on profit earning. The public sector is no longer the

scary sector that controls the general population as branding has made it open approachable and

seemingly interested in building relationships with the citizens. The aim of competitive branding

in the public sector is to attain a target audience and not that of making profits. NHS is a good



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example of a branding in the public sector that aims at providing health care to all the corners of

the nation. Since NHS does not seem to be involved in the profit making business, the

competition against the organization is nothing short of zero (Melewar, 2008; Schmidt &

Ludlow, 2002).

As mentioned earlier, every organization should understand the essence and expression of its

brand. The main aim of NHS is to spread awareness and understanding among the people

towards safe sex practices by placing ads on TV or through newspaper adverts. The flashing of

the NHS brand name on TV brings about an immediate understanding that a lifesaving venture is

to follow immediately. Such ventures are taken seriously even though there is no profit involved

thereby enabling NHS to reach its goal of saving lives. Customers today live in a world filled

with branding. It would be wrong if the public sector did not move along with the changes

induced by time (Haig, 2011).

Potential Problems in Raising Brand Awareness

Brand awareness refers to the degree by which consumers associate their brand with a product.

Along with good marketing strategies and excellent advertising campaigns, a well knows brand

name has the ability to remain on top for years at a stretch. As per a reliable survey, the top 20

brand names in 2005 continued to be the top 20 brands in 2006. In order to attain brand equity, it

is important to build brand awareness. Creating brand awareness is extremely difficult due to the

increased flow of new products and brands into the market. Studies reveal that almost 90% of the

new products do not hold a shelf life of over 2-3 years because they failed to create brand

awareness during that period. Customers did not even know that these products existed. Brand

awareness can be improved by many mediums including advertising, social media and

networking sites, blogs, word of mouth publicity, sponsors, events etc. (Haig, 2011).



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Industry Situational Analysis

One of the fastest growing industries today is the technology industry driven by innovation.

Innovation comprises of research, design, development, demos and development and involves a

range of the organizations resources and personnel. The technology industry is growing at an

extremely rapid rate expanding from the developed to all over the developing countries as well.

Competition between companies in the industry is immense thereby keeping monopoly out of the

picture and keeping prices controlled.

Brand Competition Analysis

Cut throat competition is evident and easily noticed in the technology industry. New, exciting

and innovative high quality products enter the market every day and with aggressive pricing

schemes, marketing and advertising strategies keeps competition stiff. Consumers can also

choose any product they want and can switch loyalty as similar products are available in various

brands. Entry into such industries has a moderate threat as customers seem to accept any product

which stands out in terms of innovation, reliability and design. These intense competitions also

fuel rivalry between organizations (Schultz & Walters, 1997). Currently the battle seems to be on

for market shares, talent and intellectual properly in order to emerge as leaders in the technology

industry.

Brand loyalty, though present in immense numbers, seems to be losing out due to increased

competition and the availability of similar products with greater capabilities at lower rates. An

example of this can be seen in the tablet market with low priced tablets offering similar features

as that of the highly priced Apple tablet selling like hotcakes hampering the iPad market. This

demand for new innovative products encourages new products to hop into the industry and also

encourages the introduction of substitute products. The increasing popularity of open source has

increased the number of products to a great extent. Open source promotes free distribution and

access to design and implementation thereby enabling product customization and also ensuring

quality (Haig, 2011).



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Open source allows users to view, modify and redistribute software. This in turn has had a major

impact on the bargaining power of suppliers. Suppliers of software applications have been

reduced to the bare minimum. In order to reduce cost, most of the supplier support backward

compatibility thereby reducing costs. Bargaining power is still present for those brands that have

concrete brand images and brand names like that of computer chips, processors and operating

system. Other than for these few components, the bargaining power in the industry has been

severely diminished (Riel and Balmer, 1997).

From the buyer’s point of view, the availability of products is immense with the increasing

number of suppliers and the products they offer. This gives the buyer decent purchasing power as

in the buyer has the ability to choose from a load of product offerings, designs and the major

advantage being that most of the offerings have similar features e.g. personal computers.

Products that use proprietary software are unique and provide an exception to this case e.g.

Apple’s iOS, Linux.

The technology industry is so versatile and so fast growing that even the five forces namely

external factors that affect the visibility of the industry, new competitors, existing competitors,

buyers and suppliers cannot prevent profits from being generated for new, innovative and likable

products.

Driving Forces

The main driving forces that impact any industry are government regulations, customer base and

innovation.

This holds true from the technology industry as well. Of late, the Internet has been another

driving force with the potential to be the most dominating force in the industry. Web based

applications that are easy to use and have a decent user interface can be accessed directly from

home has been the biggest change in Internet recently, along with word processors, excel sheets

and presentation capable applications. It is mandatory that the seller keeps his products up with

the trend and never lag behind (Wheeler, 2003).



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With the steady inflow of new, improved and better products into the market, product innovation

should be considered as the most important driving force in the technology industry. Any new

innovation from another product should be countered with a more innovative cost effective

solution in order to maintain the existing customer base and to sustain customer loyalty, an ever

diminishing characteristic. In the technology driven world of today, competition keeps the prices

down. This is based on the fact that the consumers are willing to try out new products and are

even getting tech savvy. People crave for newer better products thereby creating opportunities

for the development of new desirable products (Wheeler, 2003).

Position of Major Brands

The table below gives us an understanding of the position and strategies adopted by the leading

in the technology industry. Microsoft of course is at the apex with Windows OS and Office Suite

spread all across the world. Apple, with its unique identity, amazing product innovation and

greatest brand loyalty, seems to be on the road to becoming the first trillion dollar company.

They are the biggest stronghold in terms of market share in the industry (Schmidt & Ludlow,

2002).

No technology company stands up to Google in the online domain. With humble beginnings as a

search engine, Google now dominates in various fields of the Internet including mail, maps,

photography, social networking or YouTube videos. Google has even begun to dominate the

smart phone market and tablet market with its Android operating system and has also gained the

first license for self-driven cars. Innovation seems to be happening in all areas at Google. Google

is even eyeing dominance in cloud computing which looks like the core area of interest for all

technology companies. Linux on the other hand, looks like a threat that Microsoft is aware of and

is working towards countering. The Linux operating system is not only powerful but is also open

source which helps it easily accumulate market share. The Android OS is based on Linux

platforms. Open source helps Linux innovate at an extremely low cost (Schmidt & Ludlow,

2002).



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Competitor Brand Strategies

Windows Azure is Microsoft’s best bet towards web solutions as it will be the platform to

develop web based programs to support its goal to dominate in the cloud computing field.

Innovation, as it always has been, will be Apple’s area of focus in order to bring exciting new

products with amazing features into the market. Apple is currently basking in the glory of the

immense success of their iPhone and iPad products. Google looks towards dominating the cloud

computing industry while also focusing on revolutionary innovation in the web platform as well

as their innovation in self-driven cars. Linux will continue to use open source in order to

generate market share. With each open source application that Linux provides that contains

functionality present in licensed software; Linux will grow and solidify its market share in the

industry (Schmidt & Ludlow, 2002).

Strategy Predicted Moves

Microsoft Broad differentiation across entire

technology industry

Launch Azure (cloud computing),

continue improving other products

Apple Narrow differentiation through

marketing and quality of products

Continue to successfully launch new

products into the market

Google Low-cost provider on internet-based

solutions

Launch cloud computing operating

system to compete with Microsoft

Windows

Linux Low-cost provider Continue innovation and improving

products to gain market share

Table 1.0: Analysis of competitors by strategy and predicted moves



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Success Factors

Innovation is the key to success in the technology industry. Releasing new products to counter

the new one’s that enter the market everyday requires planned innovation and effort. Without

innovation, it is impossible to maintain brand loyalty. A perfect example would be the downfall

of Nokia and Alcatel due to their lack of innovation and insight in the smart phone industry.

However, innovation alone does not guarantee success. Distribution plays an equally important

role. New advertised products should be available easily to the customer. If marketing and

distribution is ill managed, customers may move on other products that are more easily available

and that meet their requirements.

Brand Attractiveness

The hip and happening nature of the technology industry is mainly due to its fast paced growth,

competition and market size. New products are welcome in this market and this makes

competition extremely intense and challenging. Just like every other industry, the technology

industry lots of issues and concerns. Prominent among these concerns is software piracy. Even

though piracy is illegal and punishable by law, preventing software piracy is no easy task (Riel

and Balmer, 1997). Software giants like Microsoft lose millions of dollars every year in software

piracy and have even introduced their own initiatives to prevent the same. Even though various

measures like use of code keys, hardware codes and anti-piracy software's have been introduced,

piracy still seems to be happening extensively. The technology industry is already massive but

there still seems to be room for growth as there is always a demand for better more innovative

products.

Brand Situational Analysis

Like every other company Microsoft too has a mission and vision and a way to achieve this.

Microsoft’s Mission Statement – “to develop and market software, services, hardware, and

solutions that we believe deliver new opportunities, greater convenience, and enhanced value to

people's lives”.



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Microsoft’s Vision – “to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full

potential”.

Objective – “Microsoft plans to make its vision come true by "creating technology that

transforms the way people work, play, and communicate”.

Evaluation of the Branding Strategy

The Microsoft Enterprise Strategy Program focuses on business impact and value addition to

customers by fostering innovation. The strategy aims at providing a well-defined approach that

not only maximizes of value of Microsoft products but also enables business transformation and

technology advances. It employs the use of methodologies and frameworks gained from

knowledge and experience of working with customers over a long period of time. The strategy

also involves working with highly experienced professionals who have the ability to provide real

world business experiences and product insights thereby helping in attaining long term business

incentives. The strategy also involves communication with subject matter experts with intensive

IT knowledge to address specific needs and to innovate in the right direction.

Qualitative Analysis

Microsoft has always allocated sufficient funds in the areas of research and development. R&D

fosters innovation which is extremely important to stay alive and competitive in the industry.

Microsoft has also invested significantly in order to purchase technologies, acquire companies

and invest in intellectual property rights. Although Microsoft is headquartered at Redmond,

Washington, the company has taken steps to improve innovation on a global scale by setting up

facilities all over the United States of America as well as other countries like China, Denmark,

India, Canada etc. and many others. This not only helps innovation but also helps Microsoft

employ the best talents from all over the world thereby remaining competitive in local and

international markets through innovation and better distribution.

Microsoft has employed a structured three-part process that provides context for defining

initiatives, plans for measuring change, and demonstrating business value. This methodology



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results in a prioritized portfolio of opportunities, a program for change and value prediction, and

also in value realization globally as well as locally (Riel and Balmer, 1997).

Microsoft has taken various steps and measures to increase customer satisfaction and to localize

products and services. Call centers have been set up all over the world so that a higher level of

support is provided to customers as the staff can relate to and better understand the local culture

and sentiments. Microsoft has also planned to become more aggressive by reducing the prices of

a lot of products from the ever famous Windows to their office products and Internet services.

Financial

ratios Net profit margin Debt to Equity Return on Asset Current Ratio

2009 24.93 percent 0.29 18.71 percent 1.82

2008 29.26 percent 0.18 24.29 percent 1.45

Table 2.0: Microsoft Corporation's financial analysis

The above table throws some light onto the financial reports of Microsoft. As it can be seen, the

profit margins remain high even though 2009 saw a massive economic recession. The debt is

minimal with respect to the returns and these shows why and how Microsoft continues to be the

stronghold of the technology industry.

Microsoft's Price and Cost Competitiveness

A company as massive and competitive as Microsoft has to place importance not only on

research and development but also on the various support activities involved in maintaining their

vast products and services. A significant fund is allocated to R&D. This ensures that Microsoft is

in the right path towards innovation which is a key success factor in the IT industry. Windows

and Office already have an unmatched value and brand image. However it is never enough.



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Public awareness and building of company image through advertising, sales and marketing is

mandatory and Microsoft has allocated funds to ensure this as well. Microsoft Windows is the

desired OS used by most multinational organizations because the support services provided and

its compatibility with other software’s make the product worth it (Haig, 2011).

Owning a product such as Windows requires great distribution capabilities. Microsoft maintains

a good rapport with its suppliers and distributors and uses SAP Supplier relation Management

and Customer relationship management to ensure that the products are always visible and are

never lagging in the competitive market. Multiple programs have also been introduced to reduce

the operational expenses incurred during production thereby allowing the product to be sold at a

lower rate. One such program is the Resource Management program. This helps tackle the issue

of easily available open source applications in the marketplace. The support activities help

maintain customer satisfaction and increase customer loyalty and are currently in place all over

the globe thereby increasing performance of the entire chain (Haig, 2011).

Weighted Brand Strength Assessment

Even though Microsoft is currently the market leader in the industry, it faces stiff competition

from Google, Linux and lots of other organizations. The Apple iOS is a major competitor with

Windows and Apple is on its path towards becoming the first trillion dollar company with the

support of its customer base and loyalty. Linux has a low percent of the market share, but since it

is open source, momentum is with Linux. Internet Explorer is facing stiff competition from

Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. This war between the browsers has been going on with

Internet Explorer losing at the moment. Mozilla is the leading browser currently and is open

source. A few more open source software’s in other areas could see Linux grabbing a huge

chunk of the market share (Haig, 2011).



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Table 3.0: Weighted assessments of Microsoft competitors

Google is the company to watch out for with its exponential growth when compared to the other

organizations. Focused on web development, applications, smart phones and cloud computing,

Google seems to have it all figured out towards becoming the industry leader over the next few

years. Google products are easily available to any customer with access to Internet. This

eliminates the need to even have a separate budget for marketing. In the tech industry, customers

can choose from a variety of products. It is important that these products are distributed and

available easily. The marketing budget of Microsoft ensures easy availability of the product and

hence the market share of Microsoft is extremely high. Microsoft is not the only company with

significant investments in distribution. Apple has also joined the league by making its products

available online and in major stores/malls all over the world. Linux is a little low on the

distribution front and needs to improve in this area in order to gain market share.

Weight Microsoft Score Google Score Apple Score Linux Score

Market

share 0.4 8 3.2 6 2.4 4 1.6 2 0.8

Innovation 0.3 7 2.1 8.5 2.55 9 2.7 8 2.4

Distribution 0.2 9.5 1.9 8 1.6 6 1.2 3 0.6

Marketing 0.1 7 0.7 2 0.2 9 0.9 1 0.1

Total

31.5 7.9 24.5 6.75 28 6,4 14 3,9



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Implementation Recommendations

In order to facilitate continuous growth Microsoft needs to invest in R&D, innovation, retaining

of top talent and recruitment of new talent to come up with new fresh innovative ideas.

Recruiting should be done in a cost effective manner. Supplier Relationship Management should

also be given utmost importance and a good rapport needs to be maintained with the distributors

of products and services as they are one of the most important success factors in the industry.

Budgets

Research and innovation is a key to the success of an organization in the technology industry.

Sufficient budgets should be allocated in the research and development labs of the organization

in order to promote innovation. Along with retaining top talent, recruiting new skilled talent also

helps in the growth of the organization. This can be achieved by providing sufficient budget to

ensure this to the HR team. Microsoft Bing has entered the market but has not yet generated the

buzz for people to move from Google to Bing. Improved marketing strategies have to be defined

in order to increase the use of Bing and to prepare for the launch of Azure (Wheeler, 2003).

Continued Policies and Programs

Providing software solutions and products alone is never sufficient. Microsoft should ensure that

they are aware of what the customers feel about their products though continuous feedback

programs and polling. Forums such as MSDN which provide assistance to customers facing

technical difficulties should be updated regularly with the necessary documentation, bug fixes

and service upgrades etc. In order to maintain efficient distribution of products, supplier

relationship management should be given utmost importance. New ideas from customers and

employees should be brainstormed, considered and implemented in order to increase efficiency.

New policies and programs should be put into place to develop the already amazing work culture

thereby strengthening the workforce and their commitment which directly results in the growth

of the organization (Haig, 2011).



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Microsoft has placed its hands on almost all sectors in the technology industry and has not failed

in any of its activities. Be it innovation or marketing and sales strategies, Microsoft has excelled

in all of them and has provided quality services and products thereby generating a massive

customer base. Microsoft continues to be a market leader and a great source of investment for

shareholders as there are no signs of the company wearing down. There are only prospects of

growth and prosperity for the years to come.

Brand Strength

Brand strength can be defined as the strength of the consumer demand for a brand, relative to the

competitor. A unique brand personality and a unique brand identity are the key requirement

mandate to building brand strength. Brand identity is however always mixed and confused with

brand image. The table below shows the difference between brand image and brand identity

(Aaker, 2004).

Brand identity is a more complex, richer and more significant concept to consider when creating

a brand. A brand is not all about appearance and brand strength emphasizes on this (Aaker,

2004).

Brand Image Brand Identity

Appearance Substance

More on the receivers side More on the senders side

Passive Active

Reflects superficial qualities Reflects enduring qualities

Backward looking Forward looking

Tactical Strategic

Associations already there Associations aspired to

Table 4.0: Brand image vs. Brand identity



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Based on the above table, brand image can be defined as the value that customers have in their

mind for the brand and brand identity is what the product really is. Rather than have a strategy to

build a brand image, companies should focus on strategies that build brand identity. In order to

ensure brand image and identity are aligned, specific strategies are needed to be rolled out and

sincere management efforts have to be put into place. In order to fix the brand, a complete study

has to be done to understand where the product stands in the market at present and how its image

can be aligned with its identity (Aaker, 2004).

Developing Brand Personality

Brand personality can be described simply as the way a brand speaks and behaves. Each brand is

associated with certain human traits and personalities in order to achieve differentiation. These

traits can be anything from trustworthy, energetic, assertive, unpretentious, arrogant, friendly,

and helpful and so on. When brand image or brand identity is explained in terms of human traits,

it is called brand personality. Brand personality is often under estimated by marketing teams as it

is intangible and does not really exist. This however is a major concern and marketing teams

should be educated on the undesirable consequences of the same. While brand image denotes the

tangible attributes of a brand, brand personality denotes the emotional associations of the brand.

The success of a brand and its appeal to the customer base depends significantly on the brand

personality (Riel and Balmer, 1997).

Brands begin to develop personalities with time. This need not always is for the good. Hence, a

well-planned brand personality description should be made an important part of the brand

development strategy. Advertising alone does not define a brand’s personality. Brand personality

is affected in many ways ranging from packaging to customer support and service. If the quality

of packaging is bad, it gives the wrong idea about the character of the brand. A ramped up and

knowledgeable customer service also helps increase brand personality by a great amount.

Interactions with the customer have a major impact on the brand personality. This makes

customer service and supports a very important deciding factor in branding (Riel and Balmer,

1997).



21

In the corporate world, procurement of products is greatly influenced by brand personality.

Research has shown that computer buyers rate hardware and software companies based on

various dimensions of brand personality.

Conclusion

To summarize, branding strategies play an extremely important and significant role in achieving

product success, customer loyalty and in keeping the product alive in the intensely competing

market. Based on these findings, it is our sincere request to anyone interested in the selling of

products in the technology industry to plan and define a brand identity and strategy about what

the product is what it plans to be and how it can be differentiated from those available in the

market.

Don’t underestimate the importance of a likable personality: Likability is a key factor to bridge

the gap between the customer and the brand. It is one of the most underrated parts of the

technology process.

Don't underrate brand personality: It is near impossible to create a brand that appeals to

everybody. Such an attempt should be avoided. Brand personalities are bound to attract a certain

group of people. A successful brand personality is one that does not try to cater to everyone but

to specific group.

Don’t be misled by research that appears to diminish the role of personality: Based on results

from quantitative research, it is clear that functional attributes are responsible for product

consideration and procurement. However quantitative research alone does not cover all

scenarios. A qualitative research is required as well. This will help pin point and better

understand brands and their personalities and how they help in the overall branding of the

organization.



22

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