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brief history of microsoft corporation
microsoft corp breif history
microsoft corp breif history
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Microsoft, a company founded by Bill Gates has, in the last couple of years seen a number of changes in its mode of operation. Traditionally Microsoft has been in the business of producing computer-based products exclusively (Byrnes, 2010). In the light of changing technology, globalisation and changing consumer tastes and preferences change has become in the tech-giant company. In the fast-paced world of technology, consumers are actively switching to the new touchscreen laptops and tablets, which are the replacement to conventional computers. These contemporary computers require operating systems and software that are entirely different from what was in use formerly. As means of keeping up this trend, and in order to address these new customer preferences, Microsoft has embarked on developing mobile based applications, which is a change from the traditional focus on personal computers. Just as the case is with other organisational changes, the change at Microsoft has had profound effects on the organisational management, employees, and customers. This paper focuses on assessing the impact of this change at Microsoft, and gives an analysis of how the change could have been handled more effectively and efficiently.
Defining Microsoft’s change, is the release of the first windows for mobile; windows 8 in 2012. Following this release was the windows 8 mobile, which was to be used with the new operating system for mobile phones (History, 2013). The success of windows 8 lies on its Tile designed screen, which makes it suitable for smartphone and tablet PC users. The success of this change leaves a great tale behind.
Impacts of the change
1. To management
First, the change took place in complete secrecy, taking both PC and mobile users...
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...n addition, communicating the change before implementing it provides room for brainstorming with the various stakeholders in order to find the best ways to implement the change. To the employees, prior knowledge of the change would keep them prepared about the eminent restructuring, which would make the change transitioning process take lesser time. Furthermore, being aware of the change would make employees learn and acquire the needed new skills earlier, which would possibly help them develop better apps for the company. To the customers, informed change would help [them make early decisions for embracing the new technology. In doing so, the speed taken in adapting to the change would take relatively lesser time. Arguably, if Microsoft’s management had embraced this strategy, they would develop a mobile operating system that would compete favourably in the market.
The “bring your own device” style is having many effects on enterprise operations. From enhancing employee productivity to reducing IT cost, once a business adopts a BYOD solution, it can find its operations completely transformed. Sheila Johnson said “Were seeing a change in the make up of PCs versus Macs that are not employee owned, but company owned. We are seeing a shift toward Macs. Sheila Johnson mentioned that some 40% of their employees, including a large portion of their contractors who work there at the headquarters are on Macs, and they’ve seen 11% quarter over the growth of that platform. She also stated how business needs to be ready to adopt whatever devices employees want to use, from IPhone to Chrome books. Second, the choice of device needs to be compatible with whatever the business is using as its desktop computer. By investing in remote access and HTML client solutions, businesses can avoid compatibility issues altogether and focus on providing employees with the rich mobile
Quick Ratio – Constant grow for the last three years. From 3.56 in 2001 to 3.76 in 2002 to 4.17 in 2003. The reason of grow is constant increase in Current Assets.
In this paper, team B will discuss the internal and external factors of the Microsoft Corporation. We will explain how these factors affect the four functions of management, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Also, we will explain how globalization, technology, innovation, diversity and ethics will be delegated to manage the different factors. Microsoft Corporation was established in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico producing software for developing, manufacturing, licensing, and support for range of software products and service for different type of computing devices. Microsoft grew from six employees to the largest personal computer software company in the world. By 1978, Microsoft earned $500,000 in the first quarter, and by the end of the year they earned revenue of $1,000,000. In the early 1980s Microsoft, in collaboration with IBM they released MS-DOS as their first 16-bit operating system. However after the late 1980s, Microsoft started to build its reputation by creating the Microsoft windows operating system and Microsoft office product, which includes internet explorer, excel, PowerPoint, and word programs. Then in the late 1990s, Microsoft teamed with Sega to incorporated their windows software package into the game developer’s Dreamcast hardware. Also they developed their own gaming system called the Xbox and that eventually was replaced by the xbox360. Microsoft has come a long way and is no longer just a worldwide leader in computer programming but also a major part of the technology world. Microsoft windows have been the flagship and accounts for most of its revenue for Microsoft: but the company has also branched ...
As a company, our innovative approach forces us to adapt ourselves to changes without allowing them to affect the ongoing projects’ objectives in terms their budgets, schedule and scopes. We believe that the change brings opportunities for innovation as long as we are able to engage with and enact the change. The three phases laid out in figure of the Organizational Change Management Life Cycle help us to ensure that our employees at all levels are in a better position to embrace the proposed changes. Apple’s effective change management, ultimately, brings greater ownership of the change when our employees’ insights, ideas and actions are used in building the response action to the
The standardized quality of MS Windows98 has really made the PC market as a whole take a rocket boost from the past. Most people who oppose this stance would say that standardizing a product wouldn’t cause anything but a monopoly. This is fiction because people choose products that are simply reliable and of good quality. The success of Microsoft’s operating system hasn’t been used to cause a monopoly in the browser marker, but to increase the quality of their software. A statement from Bill Gates on the 7th of December stating “ I am proud of the work our people have done to bring the benefits of the Internet to consumers, and I am confident that the courts ultimately will uphold the importance of the freedom to innovate.” The intensity of the Internet lies in it openness, freedom and incredible reach. It is physically impossible for any individual or company to be its controlling switch, as the number of Internet users continue to grow by easy access due to Internet technologies being added to quality operating systems such as Windows. Internet user will constantly demand high quality and maximum choice, and will travel to wherever they receive the best value for the money and time. As consumer interest in the Internet continues to grow, Microsoft’s role will be what it always has been. Aimed to provide the software building blocks for a rich computing experience and to build into that software all of the open Internet standards, protocols and platforms services which enable developers to write great applications. Even though Microsoft has included Internet capabilities in its Windows operating system since the launch of Windows 95, the Windows platform also provides excellent support for other leading browsers besides Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer.
In business, when we approach change, whether it is about cost reduction, merger or supporting a new technology we need to treat it as a seriously disruptive and stressful activity for all involved especially those leading the change.
Microsoft has always been known as a software company, and not well known for its hardware. In fact, the only hardware that Microsoft sells to the retail market is branded peripherals. In its heyday, Microsoft was a market leader, bring an operating system to the masses, and leading in internet search. In recent years, however, most of the moves that Microsoft has made have not been in a market leader position, but have been in response to competitors threatening Microsoft’s positions.
Hayes (2014), encourages change managers to keep an open line of communication with employees. Although these ones may not agree or support the upcoming change, they value the information being given to them at the onset and may eventually tolerate or accept the change. Therefore, it is important for change managers to not only communicate with employees, but provide relevant information, as the quality of the communication is of the utmost importance.
There are several mobile operating systems like: ios, android, blackberry, symbian os, bada os, windows os, etc...In this audit we are presenting windows operating system and android operating system in brief. Features and applications of these phones have been looked closely in the audit.
This essay plans to focus on the corporate strategy of Microsoft, and show how Microsoft has used diversification successfully within their corporate strategy to gain a competitive advantage.
In any organizations management would have to contend with any unavoidable changes that might take place. New machines, equipment, unstable business environment etc. can bring these changes. Successful implementation of the product therefore depends on the ability of the management to deal with the changes and resolve any emerging conflicts there from.
In December of 2008 Microsoft decided to kill off Windows Mobile because it couldn’t compete with the iPhone and Android. They decided instead to develop Windows Phone a completely new mobile operating system. In October of 2010 Microsoft's first phones running Windows Phone was established, but the sales were low. The company was not coming up with a firm product to successfully sell to the consumer because it was not meeting the wants and need of them as well. Microsoft had to find a way to boost sales. Microsoft later decides to buy Nokia cell phone business for 5.4 billion euros or $7.2 billion. The two companies have had a development agreement since 2011. The combination of the two companies would help increase their sales on the Window Phones. Microsoft CEO said, “Clearly, greater success with phones will strengthen the overall opportunity for us and our partners to deliver on our strategy to create a family of devices and services for individuals and business.” (Zeman) Microsoft was determined to increase its strengths ...
Kukreja, A. (n.d.). Mobile Application Trends and the Impact on Mobile Platforms. Retrieved February 25, 2014, from http://www.eeherald.com/section/design-guide/mobile_platform_trends.html
Keeping up with technology is difficult, tiresome, and firms find it very costly to keep at pace with it. Technology rapidly and constantly keeps on changing. Being at par technologically requires extensive research and strategic analysis of acquiring new innovation. Enforcing new technology requires staff retraining and in some cases making employees redundant.
The integration of a variety of information systems into business operations is necessary for growth in the dynamic business environment. These information systems can be minimized and fixed into mobile devices such as smartphones. The use of smartphones can play an important role in supporting business processes and operations, developing strategies for competitive advantage and decision making. These smartphones allow employees to be linked to the office, its data and resources, without being in the office. The use of smartphones for business processes can make the business more efficient and effective. They make it easier for co-workers to communicate among themselves and facilitates better communication between the business and its employees, customers, suppliers and even other businesses, and makes it possible in real-time. For CPS Energy and Lloyd’s Construction, although they were doing well, they realised that they could do much better. They needed to find new ways to further cut costs and maximize profitability. They both decided that the best way to do that was through the introduction of smartphones in their business operation.