STRATEGY TERM PROJECT -- RECOMMENDATIONS REPORT

Student name: Teisha Nelson

Cell phone #: 435-216-6498 E-mail address: teisha.nelson@dmail.dixie.edu

Term Project Company: Microsoft

Outline

1. Summary of Recommended Strategy

2. Brief Description of Key issues from 12 STP Modules
3. Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of each Key Issue
4. Synthesis of Key Issues, Generating Multiple Strategic Alternatives
5. Selected Best Strategic Alternative, and Justification of Recommendation

1. Summary of Recommended Strategy

Some things that Microsoft needs to do in order to stay ahead of their competition and
continue to progress along with stay in business is the following:

A. Microsoft needs to invest in innovation and modern technologies such as AI.

a. AI is becoming the new top thing and if Microsoft wants to continue to keep

up with the competition, then they need to start investing and opening

opportunities with AI.

B. Microsoft also needs to invest in the games industry.

a. The game industry is taking off and in order to compete and stay on top,

Microsoft needs to innovate in the game industry and achieve market

expansion and faster growth with this endeavor.

C. Microsoft needs to selectively and carefully acquire the right businesses in

order to help Microsoft grow faster in a fast changing business environment.

a. Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn proved to be good for them and these

kinds of endeavors are what they need to get more involved in.
D. Microsoft needs to come up with the next best products while staying true to

their technological innovation and marketing.

a. Microsoft needs to continue to invent and keep bettering products based off

where the market and trend is going along with staying true to their beliefs

and mission.

2. Key Issues

A. Microsoft has a lot of competition with Apple and Google leading the pack

in technology:

a. More and more people are getting away from PCs and going to Macs, which

is hurting Microsoft since they are a PC based software and only make PC

products (Module 3).

b. Microsoft needs to improve their online Microsoft Office 365 in order to

better compete with Google (Module 6).

B. Microsoft has to be prepared for the threat of new entrants:

a. New companies are constantly trying to compete in the technological world

and Microsoft has to prepare for them and stay ahead by continuing to

improve and build upon their products and software (Module 3).

b. Microsoft needs to improve their bargaining power or suppliers in order to

compete with other competition (Module 6).

C. Microsoft is slower in terms of innovation:

a. Compared to Apple and Google, Microsoft’s Bing search engine and

Internet Explorer browser are very far behind the search engines released
 by Google. Because of this, Microsoft has a much smaller market share in

the search engine industry (Module 4).

b. Microsoft needs to beef up its search engines in order to compete with

Google and Apple (Module 6).

c. Microsoft needs to continuously work to improve its cloud services

(Module 4).

D. Microsoft has a small advertising market share:

a. Compared to Google and Facebook, Microsoft’s advertising revenue is very

small (Module 4).

E. Microsoft’s operating system being installable on any PC or laptop has

caused Microsoft to lose out due to piracy with this initiative:

a. This has caused Microsoft to lose lots of money on customers not

purchasing their products (Module 6).

F. Microsoft is in hot water over their choice to offer their technology to

government entities in order to store classified information:

a. Their response to continue working with the military despite their

employees’ opposition to it is also another issue for them (Module 12).

b. Employees don’t feel comfortable with their reasoning for being involved in

government entities (Module 12).

G. Microsoft needs to further extend its market presence and grow its brand

by making its products and services more affordable:

a. Several of its products may yet by quite costly for a large audience around

the globe (Module 4).

 b. This is especially true about their larger software packages and these

products should be made more affordable in order for them to reach a

larger audience (Module 4).

H. Microsoft needs to stay clear of getting involved in any legal issues and

keep away from having a poor regulatory environment:

a. In the past, Microsoft has been fined severely by the EU (Module 4).

b. Microsoft has also began to see heavier pressure due to growing data

related regulations in the recent period that they need to be careful of

(Module 4).

I. Microsoft needs to move away from PCs and move to mobile software and

other popular areas where they can get the edge:

a. Microsoft for so long has been a PC only company and with times

changing and technology moving in new directions, they need to move

with the times (Module 4).

J. Microsoft needs to selectively and carefully acquire the right businesses in

order to help Microsoft grow faster in a fast changing business

environment:

a. Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia for $7.6 billion was a terrible idea and ended

up costing them greatly. Microsoft had to let employees go and Nokia was

unsuccessful (Module 11).

3. Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of each Key Issue

A. Microsoft has a lot of competition with Apple and Google leading the pack

in technology:

Qualitative Analysis: Apple and Google keep coming up with the next best things and

really know how to cater to consumers.

Quantitative Analysis: Apple and Google’s products are higher quality and less costly

which makes them more successful than Microsoft.

B. Microsoft has to be prepared for the threat of new entrants:

Qualitative Analysis: New entrants are always possible and Microsoft needs to

continue to keep up with the growing trends.

Quantitative Analysis: New entrants will be on the rise and will overtake Microsoft if

they don’t increase their product and software standards.

C. Microsoft is slower in terms of innovation:

Qualitative Analysis: Other companies are constantly changing the world and

inventing the next best thing.

Quantitative Analysis: Other companies are increasing the trends and causing

increases in products and services that Microsoft struggles to keep up with.

D. Microsoft has a small advertising market share:

Qualitative Analysis: Other companies are going big with marketing and advertising

and are overtaking Microsoft in this realm.

Quantitative Analysis: Other companies are increasing their advertising and spending

more and more on their advertising outreach. Microsoft needs to increase theirs in

order to keep up.

E. Microsoft’s operating system being installable on any PC or laptop has

caused Microsoft to lose out due to piracy with this initiative:

Qualitative Analysis: While other companies are setting up security and non-piracy

based ways to sell their products, Microsoft is struggling to keep up.

Quantitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to increase their anti-piracy terms and make

their products much harder to install without a proper purchase of the software.

F. Microsoft is in hot water over their choice to offer their technology to

government entities in order to store classified information:

Qualitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to be careful with who they decide to do

business with, as it can really affect the view of their company.

Quantitative Analysis: More and more people will be weary of purchasing products

from Microsoft if they continue to do business with controversial entities.

G. Microsoft needs to further extend its market presence and grow its brand

by making its products and services more affordable.

Qualitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to think more and more about its consumers and

look at price margins and take the economy into account.

Quantitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to cater their prices to more of a variety of

people and offer their products and services at a less-costly price in order to bring

more customers in.

H. Microsoft needs to stay clear of getting involved in any legal issues and

keep away from having a poor regulatory environment:

Qualitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to make sure to follow the changing laws and

not make unethical decision that could cost them money and ruin their reputation.

Quantitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to increase their loyalty to laws and ethics and

be more ethically strong when it comes to working around the world.

I. Microsoft needs to move away from PCs and move to mobile software and

other popular areas where they can edge out the competition:

Qualitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to keep up with what consumers are looking for

and become more diversified by moving away from PCs and entering the world of

mobile devices.

Quantitative Analysis: More and more people are going mobile and Microsoft needs to

increase its attention to becoming more mobile friendly.

 J. Microsoft needs to selectively and carefully acquire the right businesses in

order to help Microsoft grow faster in a fast changing business

environment:

Qualitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to be careful by what businesses it acquires and

be more conscientious of where they spend their money.

Quantitative Analysis: Microsoft needs to acquire companies that will increase their

realm instead of hurting their business. They need to go after successful companies

and not failing companies.

4. Synthesis of Key Issues, generating multiple strategic alternatives

Microsoft needs to keep up with Apple and Google. They are leading in technology and

software. Microsoft needs to improve their software. For starters, Microsoft Office 365 is a

long way from being comparable to Google Slides. They need to work on making

Microsoft Office 365 more user-friendly and easier to share and collaborate with others. It

is not sleek and easy to use like Google Slides is, and this is one reason why it is not as

popular as Google Slides (Key Issues A&C).

Microsoft needs to offer their products at a less-costly price. Microsoft Office Products are

expensive. In order to reach a larger variety of people and users, Microsoft needs to lower

the price of some of their products and make it easier to purchase. Many people are not

purchasing the products and are instead pirating their software. This hurts Microsoft and

makes things even more complicated for them. By offering their products and upgrades at

a cheaper price, they would be able to avoid the pirating problem and in the long run make

more sales (Key Issue A&E&G).

Microsoft needs to make their products and software more user friendly and easier to use.

They tend to overcomplicate their products and that is pushing consumers to choose

Google and Apple over them (Key Issue A&B&C).

Microsoft needs to move away from PCs and instead move into mobile software and other

popular technologies. People are on the go nowadays and want to not be attached to a

computer. They want to have technology in the palm of their hand. Apple and Google have

made their products so portable and Microsoft needs to do the same, by focusing on

making Microsoft Office Products accessible on the mobile phone and other mobile

devices (Key Issues I).

5. Select the best strategic alternative, and justify your recommendation

A. Microsoft has a lot of competition with Apple and Google leading the pack

in technology:

The recommended strategy going forward is for Microsoft to look at offering their

technology and software at a less costly price in order to reach a broader spectrum of

people. They need to start by lowering the price of their Microsoft Office Suites especially

when it comes to upgrading the products. The upgrades are as expensive as the initial

product. This pushes consumers to search out other alternatives. Microsoft needs to make

their Microsoft Office 365 more user friendly by making it easier to share and collaborate

with others. They need to improve their products by simplifying them and also offer them

at a lower cost. With this change, Microsoft could have the capability of improving their

profits in the long run, and be more competitive with Google and Apple. With some of

these changes, Microsoft would be able to increase their customer base, impress their

shareholders and give more people the opportunity to experience Microsoft Office

Products. This would give them an edge over Google and Apple and also in the

technology market.