Microsoft as a Source of Inspiration

Microsoft works as a source of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs. The legacy it has created
over the last thirty eight years give the power and the inspiration to take the challenge existing in
the business world. Microsoft has built the legacy by providing consistent products and service
for their customers over the last years. It is such an organization which has the vision to create
technology which will meet the needs and everyone and at the same time accessible to everyone.
It has not stopped in stating its vision; it has kept the commitment by creating innovating
technology for the consumer. Whenever it is asked that which the most inspirational company in
the world is, it is found that to someone, it may be Apple. It is because it has earned the most
customer value and the adoration. The others people may choose Google as their inspirational
company, as it is faster than any other organization. But to me Microsoft is the most inspirational
company, it is because its track record over the last thirty years. It has maintained its superior
business in spite of challenge from the big players in the software industry. What factors work
behind the scene in favor of such a good track record for such a long time? It is that the decision
makers of this great company have never made any great mistake which could lead them on the
verge of fall down (Forbes, 2013). They might have made some twist but they were able to turn
back with efficiency. These characteristics of Microsoft has inspired and attracted me a lot.

Business, Market and Industry Analysis
At present world there is no industry without competition. As usual, Microsoft has been doing
business in a market which is highly competitive, changing frequently in technology and in
business model (Aaker, & McLoughlin, 2010). This frequent shift in business has provided
Microsoft to come up with a new product, technology, or new ideas which can further the
business of Microsoft. The companies in this industry are expanding their functionality to grasp
the opportunity arising out of the paradigm shift in the software industry. Microsoft is facing
these overwhelming challenges through undertaking a wide array of research and development
through which it is meeting the changing demand of the consumer, industry trend and completive
forces. For example to update itself with the change of time it has introduced windows 8 version
of operating system to retain the existing customer and to capture the trend of smartphone and
tablet PC. The market share of Microsoft after launching the windows 8 in the market is as
follow.

Source: ExtremeTech (2014)
The consumers now are flocking to work in cloud. The evolution of new devices and technology
made the job difficult. The traditional product like Desktop PC are getting out of the market, this
is going to be replace by the tablet pc and smartphone. This has forced Microsoft to work with
something which is adaptable to the changing situation (Buckley, 1988). The devices and the
choice factors which dictate the customer demand are changing rapidly. To cope with this
changing environment Microsoft has introduced windows ecosystem which has provided the
platform for becoming the more nimble, decisive, and collaborative and customer focused (Karl
& Meyer 2010). Microsoft is doing business catering a wide array of needs and demands of the
consumer with a number of products. Currently Microsoft has windows operating system, office
applications, Skype, Bing Search engine, Microsoft Outlook-email service, and Xbox- gaming
station etc. to be cost effective the major player in this industry are outsourcing some of their
function to a country with huge skilled labor in software. Country like India is getting the center
of attention in that case.

Competitors and the challenges for Microsoft
Microsoft has been doing business over the last years in a highly competitive and dynamic
market. It is facing challenge of high competition from different competitors in different product
segment. For its windows operating system, it is facing the challenge form Apple, Linux and the
recent threat is coming from the Googles Android operating system. As the consumer are
moving towards something mobile, smartphone and the tablet PCs are getting the momentum
day by day. In that particular segment Android has already captured a significant portion of the
market share. To meet and beat the competition, Microsoft has introduced the windows 8 version
of operating system. In case of PC operating system the major competitor is the American giant
Apple. Xbox is a core product of Microsoft. PlayStation of Sony is the big competitors for
Microsoft in the gaming software industry. The recent statistics reveals the following picture of
market share in the gaming console industry

Source: Fixya (2013)
The competitors are introducing the new device to support their core business of software
(Harmon, 1998). For example, Apple has Macbook to integrate with Mac operating system,
Google has partnered with different telecom company like Samsung, Motorola and some other
smartphone manufacturing company to use Android as their operating system. This has created
the competition fiercer. To face the challenges, Microsoft has purchase giant mobile company
Nokia.
Future of Business for Microsoft
Microsoft has evolved as a giant tech based company with the passage of time. Today the
business in the software industry has become huge competitive. As Microsoft has grown up and
diversified their business, it has had many challenges over the years (techpinions, 2014). The
computing has becoming mobile day by day. It has shrunk the market for the past cash cows of
Microsoft like windows operating system, Microsoft Office etc. To cope with this big shift in
this industry, Microsoft should restructure is style of business so that it can adopt the world of
computing which is different from that they are acquainted with over the last thirteen years. Over
the last two years, there is a decrease in the demand of the PCs. Though the next two years the
demand for PC will remain stable, it will start to decrease very soon. As the upcoming era will be
the era of mobile, Microsoft should give more focus on this segment of the market (Henschen,
2010). Apple and Google have already captured ninety five percent of the market shares. Google
is working with Android-the most popular mobile operating system and Apple is penetrating the
market with iOS. It has become difficult for Microsoft/Nokia to snatch market share from these
two big players. On the other hand, as the demand for PC is going down, windows 8 operating
system and Microsoft office probably cant generate enough profit to sustain in the market in the
long run (CH, 2011). But the matter of hope that, if it can come up with something unique and
Innovative, this can provide Microsoft a cutting edge to remain competitive (Rud, 2009).


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