Microsoft Corporation

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Microsoft Corporation
Company History
Microsoft Corporation was established in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen with the mission of putting a personal computer on all desktops. Currently, the company is leading on the planet and dominating in several fields. It is one of the Fortune 100 companies and has an impressive collection of assets, partnerships, worldwide operations, clients and competitors. The corporation is responsible for the manufacture, authorization and maintenance of software used in computing products and gaming solutions. The products response for the generation of the most income is Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft has become one of the most lucrative information technology corporations in the world beginning the 1990s (Shelly, Gary and Misty, 145).
Its labour force is made of 93,000 people. With the support of the alliance with IBM, the corporation’s domination of the market for home computing operating system has grown progressively, beginning with MS-DOS and then Windows. It also has a share in the media with the operation of MSNBC cable television in addition to marketing computer hardware.
Mission
The mission statement of Microsoft Corporation is to lead the creation of innovative technology that can be accessed by all persons and meet the unique requirements of the consumers. The corporation recognizes that accessible technology eradicates the obstacles such as those experienced by the individuals with disabilities and ensure that people can fully exploit their abilities.

To fulfil the mission statement, the organization is endeavouring the lead the creation of technology is also safer and user-friendly.
Products and Services
Microsoft as a standing out corporation has an extensive product line that makes a billion dollars and more in income. While not all the products are breaking even, considering its significant share in the hardware industry, the ones that do can generate adequate revenue to support the organization. One of the most profitable products from Microsoft is the Windows operating system that even though has been predicted to be on a steady decline, continues to generate revenue. The last version, Windows 7, according to Microsoft, has seen the sale of more than 400 million copies. On the other end, the corporation has experienced challenges such as the slowing down in the growth of PC and with the most radical renovation of the operating system scheduled for Windows 8, it is yet to be seen the response of the market to the user interface of the new product (Mankiw and Mark, 89).
The second most profitable product from Microsoft is the Office, whose importance to the corporation is well recognized by all industry players. More than 100 million copies of the Office 2010 has been shipped around the world following its release in 2010. In spite of a long history of astronomical growth, demand for the product among consumers declined by 8 percent in the previous year though with the assistance of enterprises the revenues generated by the product increased by 27 percent in 2011. The other important product from Microsoft is the Visual Studio, the latest version of which was released in 2010. With the assistance of the product, numerous developers have been able to target the most recent software from Microsoft, such as Windows 7, Windows Azure, and the latest version of Windows OS, Windows 8. Another important product from the company is the Xbox. According to the most recent available data, the corporation had attracted 35 million customers to its Xbox Live community. More than 13.8 million consoles of Xbox were sold in the financial year 2011 alone, an improvement from the 10.3 million sold the previous year. Revenues generated by the entertainment division reached $2.7 billion, which represents a 48% year-over-year growth (Robertson, Susan, Karen and Antoni, 39).
Bing is yet another service provided by the company even it will take several years before it can threaten the dominant position of Google as the most preferred search engine. However, as a result of the partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo!, Bing has managed to control a 14% share of the search market, representing an increase of 31 percent from the previous financial year. However, Bing and the remainder of the company’s promotion and online venture are still losing money in the equivalent of $2.5 billion, by revenues of similar amounts (Krishnan, 167). The latest addition to the Microsoft collection is Skype, which earned $860 million in 2010, according to information released by IPO. The company is intending to increase the accessibility of immediate voice and video communication to customers and institutions. Other products and services are Dynamics, System Centre, Windows Azure, Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Windows Server (Hildebrand, 144).
Competitors
The main competitors Microsoft Corporation is faced with are some of the leading organizations in the industry of technology. The list is made up of recognized organizations such as Apple, Google, SAP, IBM, as well as Oracle, to mention a few. Owing to the diversification of Microsoft allowing for the provision of several types of products and services, the corporation is faced with cut-throat competition in a variety of important fields of the technology industry. The company started out by concentrating on software, and while it has been able to branch out into diversified fields, it remains to be strongly focused on the sector. Microsoft faces direct competition for the profitable business services market against such companies as Oracle and SAP from Germany (Evans, 77).
Potential company strategies
Even though a majority of the corporation’s variety of products and services have the possible to lead to growth, there are some fields that are promising to be more profitable. While some of the devices have recorded success while others have not, they can lead to additional growth, however, it has considerable strength in the software field and that should be the source of growth. The organization is making an attempt to increase its level of competition in the tablet industry with the declaration to provide Windows without charge to OEMs manufacturing mobile products that have a screen size of nine inches or smaller. The declaration could be aimed at gaining a considerable share of the mobile market thereby saving it from the gradual pace of growth in PC in the coming years. Another potential strategy would be to increase its concentration in the sector of mobile devices by reducing their prices so as to be in stiff competition with rivals such as Apple and Google devices. The determination to compete on price is likely to be a wise one even though it is likely to be to the disadvantage of margin pressure. Still, there is substantial potential for growth from a marginal share of the market.
HR policies
Over the course of the remarkable twenty years of progression that made it the most valuable organization on the planet, the managers at Microsoft credited its astounding performance to one essential competence: it is the constant capability to employ, cultivate, inspire, and retain outstandingly accomplished persons (Elleithy, 187). And even though the strategies and traditions that the corporation had established for the period of its brief existence were frequently quite diverse from usual human resource methodologies, inside the corporation they were an extension of the firmly rooted management ideology. Employing the most competent and skilled from the early days, the founders acknowledged that accomplishment rested on employing extraordinary individuals. The founders recognized the fact that Microsoft was in the intellectual property industry.
Business Environment Effect on Microsoft
The current business setting requires the sharing of information, technological advancements and immediate communication. Microsoft can offer the tools necessary for institutions to be efficient and ensure effective communication irrespective of location. Outlook acts as the gateway for electronic communication, events, calendar and contacts. Microsoft Office Live Workspace, with the functionality for online storage, gives users the ability to store, access and send documents to all parts of the world. Mobile technology, such as smartphones that has advanced computing alternatives allows connection between the users and their businesses (Durham, 201).
Competition
The corporation lost its position as the prominent global software establishment in 2010. Apple, having been on the edge of extermination, concentrated on advanced, new consumer software and services to produce development; a widespread line of hand-held products were responsible for the firm’s increase in productivity. In comparison, Microsoft, in spite of infrequent new system announcements, mainly depends on protecting the current corporate. Even though Microsoft is still a vital player in the industry, it remains to face aggressive rivalry.
Financial Results and Stock Performance
Fiscal examination of a business similar to Microsoft implicates inspecting three financial statements of the corporation keenly, one of which is the balance sheet. The manner of increase or decrease in the cash on hand can be applied as a reasonable measure in the course of conducting Microsoft stock examination, and offers understandings of an organisation’s financial position. Quarterly outcomes are characteristically complemented with the firm publishing financial information. The organization’s balance sheet as at the conclusion of 2015 designates an asset turnover proportion of 0.47M and debt to equity ratio of 0.5M, while, the revenue of the firm was 93.58B and its dynamic cash flow was 29.08B over a similar period (Corporation, 89).
Employment and Investment
Microsoft is applying two methods of training for its workforces. The first one is on-the-Job preparation in which new personnel study from more qualified colleagues. This category of development is founded majorly on training at the place of work. The second method of training is off-the-Job teaching in which workers recharge their understanding and get to know something deeply so as to keep their productivity in better quality (Barker, 198). Typically this kind of teaching is accomplished in lecture halls, and it is made of more theory than training. The initial technique is more identical to Microsoft, despite the fact the corporation necessitates that all personnel must take refreshment lessons. Response from preparation is very imperative for the performance of the business. After training the company concentrates on advancing people. Advancing workers with previously known capabilities helps in meeting the corporation’s continuing requirements, for example, developing concepts, promoting to a better station so as to progress job performance and surge income.
Works Cited:
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Barker, Rob. 6 Microsoft Office Business Applications for Office Sharepoint Server 2007. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2008. Internet resource.
Corporation, Microsoft. Microsoft® Visual Basic® .net Language Reference. Sebastopol: Microsoft Press, 2010. Print.
Durham, Jeff. Mcse Designing Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Security: Readiness Review, Exam 70-220. Redmond, Wash: Microsoft Press, 2001. Print.
Elleithy, Khaled. Innovations and Advanced Techniques in Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering: [includes Volume 2 of the Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering (scss) ; Part of the International Joint Conferences on Computer, Information, and Systems Sciences, and Engineering (cisse 07)]. Dordrecht [u.a.: Springer, 2008. Print.
Evans, David S. Microsoft, Antitrust and the New Economy: Selected Essays. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2002. Internet resource.
Hildebrand, Claudius B. Windowsmedia – the Role of Microsoft Corporation in the Current Multimedia Industry. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2007. Internet resource.
Krishnan, Krish. Data Warehousing in the Age of Big Data. , 2013. Internet resource.
Mankiw, N G, and Mark P. Taylor. Economics. London: Thomson, 2006. Print.
Robertson, Susan, Karen Mundy, and Antoni Verger. Public Private Partnerships in Education: New Actors and Modes of Governance in a Globalizing World. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012. Internet resource.
Shelly, Gary B, and Misty Vermaat. Discovering Computers & Microsoft Office 2010: A Fundamental Combined Approach. Boston, MA: Course Technology/Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.Bottom of FormBottom of Form