Strategic Management & Strategic Competitiveness:Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Corporation
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Microsoft is a multinational technological company that is listed as a publicly traded organization. Microsoft is the leading technological company producing a range of electronics, electronic components and software to be utilized the world over. Due to its status as a leading technological company the globally, several events have shaped how the company has transformed since its inception. Analysis of the company will enable one to put the company into perspective so as to find out how globalization and technology have impacted it. This paper, therefore, aims to analyze how the company has progressed since its inception to its current position as a global leader. The paper will also analyze the company according to the industrial model and the resource based model in order to find out how Microsoft could make even greater profits. It will additionally evaluate each category of shareholders within the company and what each class of shareholders portends to the company. As a final point, the paper will also explore how the vision and the mission of the company have contributed to the success of Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft corporation was founded by two individuals, Paul Allen and Bill Gates on the year 1975 (Microsoft Corporation, 2016). The company was originally developed as an entity to sell some of their original software. After this initial foray into the technological field, Microsoft transformed into a company that developed personal computer operating system starting out with the DOS operating system and gradually transforming into developing and selling its flagship Microsoft windows operating system (Microsoft Corporation, 2016). After this initial foray, and in recent times, the company has started producing and selling flagship tablet computers as well as acquiring several technological companies including Nokia and Skype technologies.
As a technological company, Microsoft has undergone several changes over time both in its local market in the United States and globally. These changes have impacted the way that Microsoft operates and has impacted on its subsequent profit margins (Grossman, 2015). With the advent of the internet, much of the globe has become connected and thus technology has achieved a wide reach with far reaching implications. Grossman explains that as a technology company, Microsoft has been at the forefront in enabling the access and ease of use of the emergent technologies. Microsoft was the pioneer in bringing personal computers to the market and provided an operating system that made the average person able to use computers.
This foray into the design of operating systems and computer hardware has made Microsoft a strong company with profit margins in the billions of dollars (Microsoft Corporation 2016). By the sheer fact that it made much of the global reach of computers possible, Microsoft is attributed for much of the globalization and spread of technology experienced today. The globalization has enabled Microsoft to develop new products and services that have not only helped it in attaining even greater profits but has also meant that it has changed a lot of lives (Grossman, 2015). The traditional business models of the company have enabled it to survive in an industry that is beleaguered with stiff competition and introduction of many varied products.
Recently, there has been a gradual introduction of portable computers as opposed to the traditional desktop and laptop varieties. These portable computers have different needs that necessitated the development of new operating systems. Microsoft has made an effort in trying to get for itself a piece of this emerging market by transforming their operating systems to cater to these touch only devices (Grossman, 2015). He argues that in order to maintain its dominance in the manufacture of computer hardware, the firm has been on an acquisition campaign of several technological companies, having bought the cellphone giant Nokia in 2012. Thus, the profit margins of Microsoft have not faltered and it continues to be a global leader in its market segment while constantly delivering new products and devices.
In the industrial organization model, the company or organization chooses a marketing strategy based upon external influences of the market (Feng et al, 2016). Using the industrial organization model, Microsoft can be able to stay ahead of the emerging competition not only in its software and operating system market but also in the hardware devices market. Due to the existing competition in companies making smartphones and tablets from China, Microsoft will have to use the industrial organization models in order to stay ahead of competition and even make more money than the average company in the industry. The strategy taken by Microsoft till recently on the sale and production of tablets and other devices has been the Stackelberg leader-follower model. Using this model, Microsoft being an old player in the c...