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Microsoft Corporation
Strategic Analysis Report (2013-2014)
Chinmay Chauhan
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Microsoft
Mission Statement
"Our vision is to create innovative technology that is accessible to everyone and that adapts
to each person's needs. Accessible technology eliminates barriers for people with disabilities
and it enables individuals to take full advantage of their capabilities."
Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation
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Microsoft
Opportunities
Weaknesses
Threats
Intense competition
Changing consumer behavior
Open source projects
Potential lawsuits
Strengths
Brand loyalty & reputation. Over the years, Microsoft has been the leading OS and
software provider, which resulted in more than 90% market share for PC OS. Few other
brands are capable to compete with Microsoft for this reason. Even open source OS,
which are completely free and well suited to use for common user, find it hard to attract
users. Microsofts brand is the 5th most valuable brand in the world, valued at $ 57.8
billion. Brand reputation leads to higher sales and greater market share.
Tie ups with Hardware manufacturers. The company works with all the major computer
hardware producers like Dell and Samsung and major computer retailers to make sure
computers would be sold with already pre-installed Windows software. The company
also invested in Dell and Nokia to tighten its relationships with these companies.
Easy to use software. Microsoft products including its flagship Windows operating
system are popular among the masses because of great quality and many decades of
experience that Microsoft has put into its development.
Strong Financial surplus. Microsoft grew its revenues by 20% from 2008 to 2012 and
holds more than $63 billion of cash and cash equivalents that can be used for
acquisitions and substantial investments into R&D.
Acquisition of Skype. With nearly 300 million users, Skype is a significant boost to
Microsofts online presence and have a lot of potential in generating income from online
advertising.
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Microsoft
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Cloud based services. Microsoft could expand its range of cloud services and software as
the demand for cloud-based services is expanding.
Mobile advertising. Mobile advertising markets are expected to grow in double digits
over the next few years and Microsoft has a great opportunity to tap into these markets
with its mobile OS.
Mobile device industry. Smartphones and tablets markets will grow steadily over the
next few years and Microsoft could exploit this opportunity by introducing more of its
own tablets and a new company phone.
Growth through acquisitions. With a huge reserve of cash Microsoft could start
acquiring new startups that would bring new technology, skills and competences to the
business.
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Microsoft
Threats
Intense competition in software products. Microsoft is more than ever on the pressure
to introduce successful OS both in PC and mobile markets as such competitors like
Google and Apple have already established positions.
Changing consumer habits. Customers shift from buying laptops and standalone PCs to
buying smartphones and tablets, the markets, where Microsoft has only a modest
market share and may never establish itself.
Open source projects. Many new open source projects are coming to the market and
some of them became quite successful, such as new Linux OS and Open Source Office.
Open source projects are free and so they can become an alternative to expensive
Microsofts products.
Potential lawsuits. Microsoft has already been sued for many times and lost quite a few
large scale lawsuits. Lawsuits are expensive as they require time and money. And as
Microsoft continues to operate more or less the same way, there is high probability for
more expensive lawsuits to come.
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Microsoft
Bargaining Power
of Suppliers
Switching costs: Low
Industry Rivalry
Concentration of competitors: High
Diversity of competitors: High
Product/price differentiation: High
Bargaining power
of Buyers
Switching Costs: High
Buyer concentration: High
Microsoft
considerable product differentiation within the industry. Enterprise software applications
can be tied together in a myriad of ways and run of various platforms. The products are
differentiated by being focused on different size enterprises, levels of customizability, and
varying deployment and development times. Fourth, considerable variation in price exists
within the industry and there is a significant amount of price competition. The boundaries of
the industry are blurred and companies tend to vary their pricing schemes depending on the
total number of licenses purchased. Prices vary depending on the size of the client, the
clients systems, the types of software required, the amount of consulting required, the
amount of training required, and the amount of technical support required.
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Microsoft
The old way of maintaining and sharing company information was manual paper archival
systems or printed reports from separate databases. The modern way of connecting all of a
businesss information requires enterprise software. A business could continue with building
multiple disparate systems, however, they would never be able to achieve what an
enterprise software business solution could provide. Therefore, enterprise software is more
flexible, scalable, and less expensive than the older types of solutions. The near absence of
modern substitutes in the industry is a good sign for the companies within the industry.
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Microsoft
Tangible Resources
Cash Reserves: Microsoft has approximately $67 billion in cash reserves, giving them a
large amount of financial flexibility.
Operating Revenue: Microsoft reports revenue in FY 2013 as $86 billion. Microsoft ranks
#34 in the Fortune 500.
Financial Leverage: Microsoft is currently not highly leveraged with a leverage ratio of
0.79 in 2014. Therefore they have the option of pursuing further debt financing in order
to finance growth, if necessary in the future.
Property and Equipment: Of Microsofts net physical assets, almost half, is related to
computer equipment and software. Additional holdings include land and buildings,
totalling $9.9 billion before depreciation expenses.
Distribution Channels and Customers: Microsoft has established distribution channels
for its products, including online vendors and retailers. Microsoft also has an established
customer base.
All of these tangible resources indicate that Microsoft has significant borrowing capacity,
resilience, investment capacity and reserves
Intangible Resources
Intangible resources include technology, reputation and corporate culture. Microsofts
technological resources include its research capacity and intellectual property portfolio.
Research and Development: Microsoft employs almost 1100 people purely dedicated to
long-term future focused research in lab facilities throughout the world, and spent more
than $9 billion in FY14 for these activities.
Intellectual Property: Microsoft maintains a large patent portfolio. Microsoft has 40,000
patents and many other forms of intellectual property
In addition to technological resources, Microsofts primary intangible resources lie in its
reputation and brand. The Financial Times ranks Microsoft just after Apple, as the number
two most valuable brand name in the world Additionally, Microsofts reputation is another
of its strongest resources.
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Microsoft
Human Resources
A companys human resources can be measured in terms of its employees qualifications,
commitment. Microsoft is able to attract and retain the best talent in the information
technology business. Their employees are educated, dedicated and committed to their
company, and this loyal and intelligent employee base is a very strong resource for
Microsoft.
Capabilities
Beyond identifying resources, a firm should leverage those resources into capabilities, in
order to determine competitive advantage. Microsoft has many capabilities that enable
them to use their resources effectively by being embedded in company routines, including:
Financial control
Capacity for decision making
Continuous improvements
Brand management
Ability to identify and respond to market trends and adapt
Engineering and technical know-how
Research capability
Microsofts core capabilities allow the company to dominate the market and to shape the
direction of the technological future.
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Microsoft
Microsoft
Strategic Partnerships
Strategic alliances are unique organizational structures that enable cooperation between
companies. They help to spread risk, mitigate costs, and shape future opportunities.
Microsoft maintains many partnerships and alliances to help further its goals.
Enterprise Software Alliances
In the enterprise software arena, Microsoft maintains significant alliances with Dell, HP and
IBM. Each provides co-specialization benefits for both Microsoft and the partner.
HP: The HP and Microsoft global strategic alliance is one of the longest standing alliances
of its kind in the industry, with more than 25 years of combined marketplace leadership
focused on helping customers and channel partners around the world improve
productivity through the use of innovative technologies. HP and Microsoft are working
together and combining their respective strengths to deliver innovative technologies to
help advance businesses. Together they take familiar platforms from mobile devices and
desktops to data centre and cloud - and build integrated solutions; Microsoft won
PartnerOne Alliance Partner of the Year Americas from HP in FY 2013
IBM: The alliance with IBM allows Microsoft enterprise applications to run on IBM
servers. For customers, the benefit of the alliance is that all parts of your solution
hardware, software, and middleware will install quickly, start up easily, and run reliably.
Dell: Additionally, Microsoft maintains an alliance with Dell which is designed to help
business reduce the complexity and cost of deploying a server based environment and
to create a comprehensive and integrated set of distributed computing services using
both Dell and Microsoft technologies.
Facebook: Under the strategic alliance, Microsoft is the exclusive third-party advertising
platform partner for Facebook, and sells advertising for Facebook internationally in
addition to the United States.
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Microsoft
Microsoft has been a market leader in the Enterprise software industry. However, the PC
market revenues are declining because of market saturation. Microsofts late entry into the
mobile market might is already haunting the company executives.
One Microsoft, One Strategy Alignment Strategy
Microsoft previously operated its business under five segments: the Windows Division,
Server and Tools Division, Online Services Division, Microsoft Business Division, and
Entertainment and Devices Division. In July 2013, management announced a change in
organizational structure as part of its transformation to a devices and services company
under the one strategy, one Microsoft banner.
The realignment aims at improving revenues due to declining PC sales and reducing the
duplication of efforts across various divisions. Although Microsoft revenues increased for
the year ending June 2013, a fall in PC sales continued to impact earnings. For fiscal year
2013, the companys revenue grew 6%, to $77.85 billion. Microsoft said 2013 revenue
increased, primarily due to higher revenue from Server and Tools as well as revenue from
new products and services, including Windows 8, Surface, and the new Office. These gains
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Microsoft
were offset in part by the impact on revenue of a decline in the x86 PC market. It seems that
Microsoft is trying to end its dependence on the saturated and now declining PC market by
shifting to new markets such as mobile, cloud services, gaming, search, and tablets.
The industry is moving from PCs to Mobile / Tablets / Other devices, from Licensing to
Licensing & Subscription, from On-premise software to Cloud computing. Microsoft is
currently in the process of transforming itself from a software player to a devices and
services company in an organizational overhaul aimed at improving sales and MSFTs
competitive position. Microsofts $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokias devices and services
business last year is in line with this transformational move.
By transforming into a devices and services company, Microsoft aims to primarily monetize
high-value activities by leading with devices and enterprise services. The consumer x86 PC
market is declining, as users have continued to prioritize devices with touch and mobility. At
the same time, Microsofts enterprise products and cloud solutions are seeing continued
strength, and adoption of Microsofts consumer services has increased. After missing
revenue expectations in four out of the five previous quarters, Microsoft beat analyst
expectations in 1Q 2014 earnings on the back of strong growth in the companys enterprise
and consumer segments.
Microsofts consumer services, such as Bing and Skype, will differentiate Microsofts devices
and serve as an on-ramp to its enterprise services while generating some revenue from
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Microsoft
subscriptions and advertising. Enterprise services will remain an area of growth and
opportunity as businesses of all sizes look to move to a cloud, manage a growing number of
devices and tap into big data.
Microsofts current CEO Satya Nadella announced that it would be making Windows free for
phones and tablets (< 9 screens). Free Windows licenses factor into Nadella's plan to make
Windows ubiquitous. This is consistent with the fact that Windows Phone OS growth hasnt
been gaining momentum among the phones and tablets market.
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Microsoft
Future Recommendations
Microsoft has been a technology industry leader and has strong capabilities and resources
to make anything possible. We recommend it to make improvements in the following areas:
Mobile First, Cloud First strategy
Microsoft has been lagging behind in the mobile markets (vis--vis smartphones, tablets,
etc.). Its Windows Phones which come with a Windows Phone OS constitute only 3.6% of
the entire market. It has acquired Nokia in hope of improving its market share and making a
turnaround. We recommend it to invest and innovate more in the mobile market segment
purely because of the growth potential this segment has and also since it seems to be the
future of personal computing.
Product Innovation and Invention
Microsoft has been the industry leader because of the constant research and innovation and
the wide range of products and services it provides. Trend suggests that in house developed
products have been Microsofts strength: Windows OS, Office Suite, Windows Server, etc.
Instead of focusing on acquiring new companies it should invest more internally to come up
with new products.
Reduce Poor Investments
Microsoft has been making too many blunders while acquiring new companies. It should
improve its investment research and try to cut down on the rate of poor acquisitions. More
often than not, Microsoft has been bad at making the acquired companies profitable. It
should be more investigative before acquiring any company in the future.
Strengthen Strategic alliances
One of the few ways to sustain the market dominance and leadership is to make many
strategic business alliances in the industry. This has been Microsofts strength since its
existence and it should try to keep the existing partners while trying to find new partners for
competing in the industry.
Cut down unprofitable Products
For example Bing search engine. Despite having 18.1% of market share, it has been a
bleeding investment for Microsoft for many years. It should decide the strategy for such
products, and possibly cut down on loss generating services.
Microsoft Research Division
Microsoft has been spending huge amounts of money on general computer science
research, which might be good for the future but doesnt lead to any significant returns in
the short term. Its necessary to be more efficient while investing in research like its
competitors such as Google and Apple.
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Microsoft
References
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-15-biggest-acquisitions-and-whathappened-to-them-2011-3?IR=T&op=1
http://bgr.com/2013/09/09/microsoft-business-strategy-analysis/
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2013/09/investors-see-nokiaacquisition-as-a.html?page=all
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businesslatestnews/10760392/Apple-andMicrosoft-have-bigger-cash-holdings-than-UK.html
http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Financials?s=MSFT:NSQ
http://fortune.com/fortune500/wal-mart-stores-inc-1/
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/microsofts-patent-tracker-push-transparency/
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/11/01/microsofts-rd-edge-it-outspent-apple-281-last-year-a-6-4-billion-difference/
http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahcohen/2014/07/25/microsofts-strategy-for-nokiabecomesclearer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%
3A+forbes%2FwcdN+(Forbes.com%3A+Business+News)
http://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2014/05/140529.jsp
http://h22168.www2.hp.com/sg/en/partners/microsoft/
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/secure/2013-12-12-dell-cloud-microsoftpartnership-windows-azure
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2010/HPMSFTAlliance/HPandMicros
oftGlobal-Rainbow.pdf
http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar13/financial-review/discussionanalysis/index.html
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