microsoft's search case study analysis

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Microsoft's Search

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Microsoft's search description.

In 2008, executives at Microsoft must decide how to compete against Google in the market for Internet search and advertising. The case describes how Microsoft has responded to a set of competitive threats in the past; how Google has gained a dominant position in Internet search and advertising; and what Microsoft has done so far in its as-yet-unsuccessful effort to catch up with Google. The case then challenges students to construct a strategy that will allow Microsoft to achieve its objectives in the evolving market for search and advertising.

Case Description Microsoft's Search

Strategic managment tools used in case study analysis of microsoft's search, step 1. problem identification in microsoft's search case study, step 2. external environment analysis - pestel / pest / step analysis of microsoft's search case study, step 3. industry specific / porter five forces analysis of microsoft's search case study, step 4. evaluating alternatives / swot analysis of microsoft's search case study, step 5. porter value chain analysis / vrio / vrin analysis microsoft's search case study, step 6. recommendations microsoft's search case study, step 7. basis of recommendations for microsoft's search case study, quality & on time delivery.

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Case Analysis of Microsoft's Search

Microsoft's Search is a Harvard Business (HBR) Case Study on Strategy & Execution , Texas Business School provides HBR case study assignment help for just $9. Texas Business School(TBS) case study solution is based on HBR Case Study Method framework, TBS expertise & global insights. Microsoft's Search is designed and drafted in a manner to allow the HBR case study reader to analyze a real-world problem by putting reader into the position of the decision maker. Microsoft's Search case study will help professionals, MBA, EMBA, and leaders to develop a broad and clear understanding of casecategory challenges. Microsoft's Search will also provide insight into areas such as – wordlist , strategy, leadership, sales and marketing, and negotiations.

Case Study Solutions Background Work

Microsoft's Search case study solution is focused on solving the strategic and operational challenges the protagonist of the case is facing. The challenges involve – evaluation of strategic options, key role of Strategy & Execution, leadership qualities of the protagonist, and dynamics of the external environment. The challenge in front of the protagonist, of Microsoft's Search, is to not only build a competitive position of the organization but also to sustain it over a period of time.

Strategic Management Tools Used in Case Study Solution

The Microsoft's Search case study solution requires the MBA, EMBA, executive, professional to have a deep understanding of various strategic management tools such as SWOT Analysis, PESTEL Analysis / PEST Analysis / STEP Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, Go To Market Strategy, BCG Matrix Analysis, Porter Value Chain Analysis, Ansoff Matrix Analysis, VRIO / VRIN and Marketing Mix Analysis.

Texas Business School Approach to Strategy & Execution Solutions

In the Texas Business School, Microsoft's Search case study solution – following strategic tools are used - SWOT Analysis, PESTEL Analysis / PEST Analysis / STEP Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, Go To Market Strategy, BCG Matrix Analysis, Porter Value Chain Analysis, Ansoff Matrix Analysis, VRIO / VRIN and Marketing Mix Analysis. We have additionally used the concept of supply chain management and leadership framework to build a comprehensive case study solution for the case – Microsoft's Search

Step 1 – Problem Identification of Microsoft's Search - Harvard Business School Case Study

The first step to solve HBR Microsoft's Search case study solution is to identify the problem present in the case. The problem statement of the case is provided in the beginning of the case where the protagonist is contemplating various options in the face of numerous challenges that Microsoft Search is facing right now. Even though the problem statement is essentially – “Strategy & Execution” challenge but it has impacted by others factors such as communication in the organization, uncertainty in the external environment, leadership in Microsoft Search, style of leadership and organization structure, marketing and sales, organizational behavior, strategy, internal politics, stakeholders priorities and more.

Step 2 – External Environment Analysis

Texas Business School approach of case study analysis – Conclusion, Reasons, Evidences - provides a framework to analyze every HBR case study. It requires conducting robust external environmental analysis to decipher evidences for the reasons presented in the Microsoft's Search. The external environment analysis of Microsoft's Search will ensure that we are keeping a tab on the macro-environment factors that are directly and indirectly impacting the business of the firm.

What is PESTEL Analysis? Briefly Explained

PESTEL stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors that impact the external environment of firm in Microsoft's Search case study. PESTEL analysis of " Microsoft's Search" can help us understand why the organization is performing badly, what are the factors in the external environment that are impacting the performance of the organization, and how the organization can either manage or mitigate the impact of these external factors.

How to do PESTEL / PEST / STEP Analysis? What are the components of PESTEL Analysis?

As mentioned above PESTEL Analysis has six elements – political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal. All the six elements are explained in context with Microsoft's Search macro-environment and how it impacts the businesses of the firm.

How to do PESTEL Analysis for Microsoft's Search

To do comprehensive PESTEL analysis of case study – Microsoft's Search , we have researched numerous components under the six factors of PESTEL analysis.

Political Factors that Impact Microsoft's Search

Political factors impact seven key decision making areas – economic environment, socio-cultural environment, rate of innovation & investment in research & development, environmental laws, legal requirements, and acceptance of new technologies.

Government policies have significant impact on the business environment of any country. The firm in “ Microsoft's Search ” needs to navigate these policy decisions to create either an edge for itself or reduce the negative impact of the policy as far as possible.

Data safety laws – The countries in which Microsoft Search is operating, firms are required to store customer data within the premises of the country. Microsoft Search needs to restructure its IT policies to accommodate these changes. In the EU countries, firms are required to make special provision for privacy issues and other laws.

Competition Regulations – Numerous countries have strong competition laws both regarding the monopoly conditions and day to day fair business practices. Microsoft's Search has numerous instances where the competition regulations aspects can be scrutinized.

Import restrictions on products – Before entering the new market, Microsoft Search in case study Microsoft's Search" should look into the import restrictions that may be present in the prospective market.

Export restrictions on products – Apart from direct product export restrictions in field of technology and agriculture, a number of countries also have capital controls. Microsoft Search in case study “ Microsoft's Search ” should look into these export restrictions policies.

Foreign Direct Investment Policies – Government policies favors local companies over international policies, Microsoft Search in case study “ Microsoft's Search ” should understand in minute details regarding the Foreign Direct Investment policies of the prospective market.

Corporate Taxes – The rate of taxes is often used by governments to lure foreign direct investments or increase domestic investment in a certain sector. Corporate taxation can be divided into two categories – taxes on profits and taxes on operations. Taxes on profits number is important for companies that already have a sustainable business model, while taxes on operations is far more significant for companies that are looking to set up new plants or operations.

Tariffs – Chekout how much tariffs the firm needs to pay in the “ Microsoft's Search ” case study. The level of tariffs will determine the viability of the business model that the firm is contemplating. If the tariffs are high then it will be extremely difficult to compete with the local competitors. But if the tariffs are between 5-10% then Microsoft Search can compete against other competitors.

Research and Development Subsidies and Policies – Governments often provide tax breaks and other incentives for companies to innovate in various sectors of priority. Managers at Microsoft's Search case study have to assess whether their business can benefit from such government assistance and subsidies.

Consumer protection – Different countries have different consumer protection laws. Managers need to clarify not only the consumer protection laws in advance but also legal implications if the firm fails to meet any of them.

Political System and Its Implications – Different political systems have different approach to free market and entrepreneurship. Managers need to assess these factors even before entering the market.

Freedom of Press is critical for fair trade and transparency. Countries where freedom of press is not prevalent there are high chances of both political and commercial corruption.

Corruption level – Microsoft Search needs to assess the level of corruptions both at the official level and at the market level, even before entering a new market. To tackle the menace of corruption – a firm should have a clear SOP that provides managers at each level what to do when they encounter instances of either systematic corruption or bureaucrats looking to take bribes from the firm.

Independence of judiciary – It is critical for fair business practices. If a country doesn’t have independent judiciary then there is no point entry into such a country for business.

Government attitude towards trade unions – Different political systems and government have different attitude towards trade unions and collective bargaining. The firm needs to assess – its comfort dealing with the unions and regulations regarding unions in a given market or industry. If both are on the same page then it makes sense to enter, otherwise it doesn’t.

Economic Factors that Impact Microsoft's Search

Social factors that impact microsoft's search, technological factors that impact microsoft's search, environmental factors that impact microsoft's search, legal factors that impact microsoft's search, step 3 – industry specific analysis, what is porter five forces analysis, step 4 – swot analysis / internal environment analysis, step 5 – porter value chain / vrio / vrin analysis, step 6 – evaluating alternatives & recommendations, step 7 – basis for recommendations, references :: microsoft's search case study solution.

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Microsoft’s Search – Case Solution

With the boom of Google, the management of Microsoft must come up with a decision on how to compete in the internet search and advertising industry. This case study looks into what Microsoft failed to do in order to capture the market share and what it can improve on to stay with the competition.

​Jan W. Rivkin and Eric Van Den Steen Harvard Business Review ( 709461-PDF-ENG ) January 15, 2009

Case questions answered:

Why did microsoft fail to capture market share beyond windows and software.

• What other alternatives will Microsoft have to look for to improve its position in the market for internet searches?
• Compare Microsoft’s strategy from 2000 to the current scenario (2000).

Not the questions you were looking for? Submit your own questions & get answers .

Microsoft's Search Case Answers

Microsoft’s core business was generating revenues by licensing operating systems (Windows) and software. Before the core business matured, MS couldn’t build capabilities to grow new businesses. Microsoft lagged behind Google’s search engine and advertisement business.

Additionally, Microsoft (MS) was myopic, more into short-term vision. MS was milking the maximum cash out of its operating system (OS) and software business. It was slow to go for offensive diversification like competitors.

Google had captured these capabilities by diversifying into businesses such as mail, YouTube, Chrome, and Andriod well before time (In the future, they’ll focus on ‘Other Bets’– Waymo, self-driving car, Healthcare, Verily, etc.). It just didn’t focus on its core – search business. It diversified into YouTube (made it a video search engine) and generated revenues using an advertisement platform.

Google gained market share by developing the Chrome browser to reduce its dependence on other web browsers (through Chrome, users could use Google’s search engine. This strategy was way ahead of its time since Microsoft had a major market share and Internet Explorer was the default browser. Google would have been replaced with Bing/Live on Internet Explorer).

When a business matures, the only way to extract profits is by reducing costs and investing in process improvement. Ultimately, the competition will force the company to push down the selling price.

Microsoft should have learned from this strategy of innovating or diversifying since it was in the technology sector. To be the market leader, MS had to disrupt itself before others could. That could have happened via acquisitions or investments in R&D.

Also, MS made a mistake in the initial stages by focusing on revenue maximization rather than user satisfaction. MSN lost out in this arena since it focused on displaying more advertisements to compensate for falling revenues by cluttering MSN with further advertisements.

Second, Microsoft lost out as the first movers’ advantage in many products and markets due to its myopic vision. The products included…

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Microsoft's Search

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen

In 2008, executives at Microsoft must decide how to compete against Google in the market for Internet search and advertising. The case describes how Microsoft has responded to a set of competitive…

• Length: 18 page(s)
• Publication Date: Jan 15, 2009
• Discipline: Strategy
• Product #: 709461-PDF-ENG

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In 2008, executives at Microsoft must decide how to compete against Google in the market for Internet search and advertising. The case describes how Microsoft has responded to a set of competitive threats in the past; how Google has gained a dominant position in Internet search and advertising; and what Microsoft has done so far in its as-yet-unsuccessful effort to catch up with Google. The case then challenges students to construct a strategy that will allow Microsoft to achieve its objectives in the evolving market for search and advertising.

Learning Objectives

Introduces students to the topic of competitive dynamics, with a special emphasis on competitive dynamics in markets with network effects. Allows discussion of direct and indirect network effects, responses to substitution and imitation threats, and the nature of winner-take-all markets. Examines how to attack a competitive position that is protected by network effects.

Jan 15, 2009

Discipline:

Geographies:

United States

Harvard Business School

709461-PDF-ENG

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Microsoft's search case study analysis & solution, harvard business case studies solutions - assignment help.

Microsoft's Search is a Harvard Business (HBR) Case Study on Strategy & Execution , Fern Fort University provides HBR case study assignment help for just $11. Our case solution is based on Case Study Method expertise & our global insights.

Strategy & Execution Case Study | Authors :: Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen

Case study description.

In 2008, executives at Microsoft must decide how to compete against Google in the market for Internet search and advertising. The case describes how Microsoft has responded to a set of competitive threats in the past; how Google has gained a dominant position in Internet search and advertising; and what Microsoft has done so far in its as-yet-unsuccessful effort to catch up with Google. The case then challenges students to construct a strategy that will allow Microsoft to achieve its objectives in the evolving market for search and advertising.

Competition, Competitive strategy, Economics, Internet, IT, Marketing

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[10 Steps] Case Study Analysis & Solution

Step 1 - reading up harvard business review fundamentals on the strategy & execution.

Even before you start reading a business case study just make sure that you have brushed up the Harvard Business Review (HBR) fundamentals on the Strategy & Execution. Brushing up HBR fundamentals will provide a strong base for investigative reading. Often readers scan through the business case study without having a clear map in mind. This leads to unstructured learning process resulting in missed details and at worse wrong conclusions. Reading up the HBR fundamentals helps in sketching out business case study analysis and solution roadmap even before you start reading the case study. It also provides starting ideas as fundamentals often provide insight into some of the aspects that may not be covered in the business case study itself.

Step 2 - Reading the Microsoft's Search HBR Case Study

To write an emphatic case study analysis and provide pragmatic and actionable solutions, you must have a strong grasps of the facts and the central problem of the HBR case study. Begin slowly - underline the details and sketch out the business case study description map. In some cases you will able to find the central problem in the beginning itself while in others it may be in the end in form of questions. Business case study paragraph by paragraph mapping will help you in organizing the information correctly and provide a clear guide to go back to the case study if you need further information. My case study strategy involves -

• Marking out the protagonist and key players in the case study from the very start.
• Drawing a motivation chart of the key players and their priorities from the case study description.
• Refine the central problem the protagonist is facing in the case and how it relates to the HBR fundamentals on the topic.
• Evaluate each detail in the case study in light of the HBR case study analysis core ideas.

Step 3 - Microsoft's Search Case Study Analysis

Once you are comfortable with the details and objective of the business case study proceed forward to put some details into the analysis template. You can do business case study analysis by following Fern Fort University step by step instructions -

• Company history is provided in the first half of the case. You can use this history to draw a growth path and illustrate vision, mission and strategic objectives of the organization. Often history is provided in the case not only to provide a background to the problem but also provide the scope of the solution that you can write for the case study.
• HBR case studies provide anecdotal instances from managers and employees in the organization to give a feel of real situation on the ground. Use these instances and opinions to mark out the organization's culture, its people priorities & inhibitions.
• Make a time line of the events and issues in the case study. Time line can provide the clue for the next step in organization's journey. Time line also provides an insight into the progressive challenges the company is facing in the case study.

Step 4 - SWOT Analysis of Microsoft's Search

Once you finished the case analysis, time line of the events and other critical details. Focus on the following -

• Zero down on the central problem and two to five related problems in the case study.
• Do the SWOT analysis of the Microsoft's Search . SWOT analysis is a strategic tool to map out the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that a firm is facing.
• SWOT analysis and SWOT Matrix will help you to clearly mark out - Strengths Weakness Opportunities & Threats that the organization or manager is facing in the Microsoft's Search
• SWOT analysis will also provide a priority list of problem to be solved.
• You can also do a weighted SWOT analysis of Microsoft's Search HBR case study.

Step 5 - Porter 5 Forces / Strategic Analysis of Industry Analysis Microsoft's Search

In our live classes we often come across business managers who pinpoint one problem in the case and build a case study analysis and solution around that singular point. Business environments are often complex and require holistic solutions. You should try to understand not only the organization but also the industry which the business operates in. Porter Five Forces is a strategic analysis tool that will help you in understanding the relative powers of the key players in the business case study and what sort of pragmatic and actionable case study solution is viable in the light of given facts.

Step 6 - PESTEL, PEST / STEP Analysis of Microsoft's Search

Another way of understanding the external environment of the firm in Microsoft's Search is to do a PESTEL - Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental & Legal analysis of the environment the firm operates in. You should make a list of factors that have significant impact on the organization and factors that drive growth in the industry. You can even identify the source of firm's competitive advantage based on PESTEL analysis and Organization's Core Competencies.

Step 7 - Organizing & Prioritizing the Analysis into Microsoft's Search Case Study Solution

Once you have developed multipronged approach and work out various suggestions based on the strategic tools. The next step is organizing the solution based on the requirement of the case. You can use the following strategy to organize the findings and suggestions.

• Build a corporate level strategy - organizing your findings and recommendations in a way to answer the larger strategic objective of the firm. It include using the analysis to answer the company's vision, mission and key objectives , and how your suggestions will take the company to next level in achieving those goals.
• Business Unit Level Solution - The case study may put you in a position of a marketing manager of a small brand. So instead of providing recommendations for overall company you need to specify the marketing objectives of that particular brand. You have to recommend business unit level recommendations. The scope of the recommendations will be limited to the particular unit but you have to take care of the fact that your recommendations are don't directly contradict the company's overall strategy. For example you can recommend a low cost strategy but the company core competency is design differentiation.
• Case study solutions can also provide recommendation for the business manager or leader described in the business case study.

Step 8 -Implementation Framework

The goal of the business case study is not only to identify problems and recommend solutions but also to provide a framework to implement those case study solutions. Implementation framework differentiates good case study solutions from great case study solutions. If you able to provide a detailed implementation framework then you have successfully achieved the following objectives -

• Detailed understanding of the case,
• Clarity of HBR case study fundamentals,
• Analyzed case details based on those fundamentals and
• Developed an ability to prioritize recommendations based on probability of their successful implementation.

Implementation framework helps in weeding out non actionable recommendations, resulting in awesome Microsoft's Search case study solution.

Step 9 - Take a Break

Once you finished the case study implementation framework. Take a small break, grab a cup of coffee or whatever you like, go for a walk or just shoot some hoops.

Step 10 - Critically Examine Microsoft's Search case study solution

After refreshing your mind, read your case study solution critically. When we are writing case study solution we often have details on our screen as well as in our head. This leads to either missing details or poor sentence structures. Once refreshed go through the case solution again - improve sentence structures and grammar, double check the numbers provided in your analysis and question your recommendations. Be very slow with this process as rushing through it leads to missing key details. Once done it is time to hit the attach button.

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• Microsoft's Search
• Strategy & Execution / MBA Resources

Introduction to case study solution

EMBA Pro case study solution for Microsoft's Search case study

At EMBA PRO , we provide corporate level professional case study solution. Microsoft's Search case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen. The Microsoft's Search (referred as “Microsoft Search” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Strategy & Execution. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Competition, Competitive strategy, Economics, Internet, IT, Marketing. Our immersive learning methodology from – case study discussions to simulations tools help MBA and EMBA professionals to - gain new insight, deepen their knowledge of the Strategy & Execution field, and broaden their skill set.

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Case Description of Microsoft's Search Case Study

In 2008, executives at Microsoft must decide how to compete against Google in the market for Internet search and advertising. The case describes how Microsoft has responded to a set of competitive threats in the past; how Google has gained a dominant position in Internet search and advertising; and what Microsoft has done so far in its as-yet-unsuccessful effort to catch up with Google. The case then challenges students to construct a strategy that will allow Microsoft to achieve its objectives in the evolving market for search and advertising.

Case Authors : Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen

Topic : strategy & execution, related areas : competition, competitive strategy, economics, internet, it, marketing, what is the case study method how can you use it to write case solution for microsoft's search case study.

Almost all of the case studies contain well defined situations. MBA and EMBA professional can take advantage of these situations to - apply theoretical framework, recommend new processes, and use quantitative methods to suggest course of action. Awareness of the common situations can help MBA & EMBA professionals read the case study more efficiently, discuss it more effectively among the team members, narrow down the options, and write cogently.

Case Study Solution Approaches

Three Step Approach to Microsoft's Search Case Study Solution

The three step case study solution approach comprises – Conclusions – MBA & EMBA professionals should state their conclusions at the very start. It helps in communicating the points directly and the direction one took. Reasons – At the second stage provide the reasons for the conclusions. Why you choose one course of action over the other. For example why the change effort failed in the case and what can be done to rectify it. Or how the marketing budget can be better spent using social media rather than traditional media. Evidences – Finally you should provide evidences to support your reasons. It has to come from the data provided within the case study rather than data from outside world. Evidences should be both compelling and consistent. In case study method there is ‘no right’ answer, just how effectively you analyzed the situation based on incomplete information and multiple scenarios.

Case Study Solution of Microsoft's Search

We write Microsoft's Search case study solution using Harvard Business Review case writing framework & HBR Strategy & Execution learning notes. We try to cover all the bases in the field of Strategy & Execution, Competition, Competitive strategy, Economics, Internet, IT, Marketing and other related areas.

Objectives of using various frameworks in Microsoft's Search case study solution

By using the above frameworks for Microsoft's Search case study solutions, you can clearly draw conclusions on the following areas – What are the strength and weaknesses of Microsoft Search (SWOT Analysis) What are external factors that are impacting the business environment (PESTEL Analysis) Should Microsoft Search enter new market or launch new product (Opportunities & Threats from SWOT Analysis) What will be the expected profitability of the new products or services (Porter Five Forces Analysis) How it can improve the profitability in a given industry (Porter Value Chain Analysis) What are the resources needed to increase profitability (VRIO Analysis) Finally which business to continue, where to invest further and from which to get out (BCG Growth Share Analysis)

SWOT Analysis of Microsoft's Search

SWOT analysis stands for – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are result of Microsoft Search internal factors, while opportunities and threats arise from developments in external environment in which Microsoft Search operates. SWOT analysis will help us in not only getting a better insight into Microsoft Search present competitive advantage but also help us in how things have to evolve to maintain and consolidate the competitive advantage.

- Streamlined processes and efficient operation management – Microsoft Search is one of the most efficient firms in its segment. The credit for the performance goes to successful execution and efficient operations management.

- Strong Balance Sheet – The financial statement of Microsoft Search looks strong and will help the company going forward.

- Little experience of international market – Even though it is a major player in local market, Microsoft Search has little experience in international market. According to Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen , Microsoft Search needs international talent to penetrate into developing markets.

- Low profitability which can hamper new project investment – Even though Microsoft Search financial statement is stable, but going forward Microsoft Search 5-7% profitability can lead to shortage of funds to invest into new projects.

Opportunities

- Increase in Consumer Disposable Income – Microsoft Search can use the increasing disposable income to build a new business model where customers start paying progressively for using its products. According to Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen of Microsoft's Search case study, Microsoft Search can use this trend to expand in adjacent areas Competition, Competitive strategy, Economics, Internet, IT, Marketing.

- Developments in Artificial Intelligence – Microsoft Search can use developments in artificial intelligence to better predict consumer demand, cater to niche segments, and make better recommendation engines.

- Home market marketing technique won’t work in new markets such as India and China where scale is prized over profitability.

- Growing dominance of digital players such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft etc can reduce the manoeuvring space for Microsoft Search and put upward pressure on marketing budget.

Once all the factors mentioned in the Microsoft's Search case study are organized based on SWOT analysis, just remove the non essential factors. This will help you in building a weighted SWOT analysis which reflects the real importance of factors rather than just tabulation of all the factors mentioned in the case.

What is PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL /PEST / STEP Analysis of Microsoft's Search Case Study

PESTEL stands for – Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors that impact the macro environment in which Microsoft Search operates in. Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen provides extensive information about PESTEL factors in Microsoft's Search case study.

Political Factors

- Political and Legal Structure – The political system seems stable and there is consistency in both economic policies and foreign policies.

- Little dangers of armed conflict – Based on the research done by international foreign policy institutions, it is safe to conclude that there is very little probability of country entering into an armed conflict with another state.

Economic Factors

- Foreign Exchange movement is also an indicator of economic stability. Microsoft Search should closely consider the forex inflow and outflow. A number of Microsoft Search competitors have lost money in countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela due to volatile forex market.

- According to Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen . Microsoft Search should closely monitor consumer disposable income level, household debt level, and level of efficiency of local financial markets.

Social Factors

- Demographic shifts in the economy are also a good social indicator for Microsoft Search to predict not only overall trend in market but also demand for Microsoft Search product among its core customer segments.

- Consumer buying behavior and consumer buying process – Microsoft Search should closely follow the dynamics of why and how the consumers are buying the products both in existing categories and in segments that Microsoft Search wants to enter.

Technological Factors

- Proliferation of mobile phones has created a generation whose primary tool of entertainment and information consumption is mobile phone. Microsoft Search needs to adjust its marketing strategy accordingly.

- 5G has potential to transform the business environment especially in terms of marketing and promotion for Microsoft Search.

Environmental Factors

- Consumer activism is significantly impacting Microsoft Search branding, marketing and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

- Environmental regulations can impact the cost structure of Microsoft Search. It can further impact the cost of doing business in certain markets.

Legal Factors

- Health and safety norms in number of markets that Microsoft Search operates in are lax thus impact the competition playing field.

- Property rights are also an area of concern for Microsoft Search as it needs to make significant Competition, Competitive strategy, Economics, Internet, IT, Marketing infrastructure investment just to enter new market.

What are Porter Five Forces

Porter Five Forces Analysis of Microsoft's Search

Competition among existing players, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes.

What is VRIO Analysis

VRIO Analysis of Microsoft's Search

VRIO stands for – Value of the resource that Microsoft Search possess, Rareness of those resource, Imitation Risk that competitors pose, and Organizational Competence of Microsoft Search. VRIO and VRIN analysis can help the firm.

What is Porter Value Chain

Porter Value Chain Analysis of Microsoft's Search

As the name suggests Value Chain framework is developed by Michael Porter in 1980’s and it is primarily used for analyzing Microsoft Search relative cost and value structure. Managers can use Porter Value Chain framework to disaggregate various processes and their relative costs in the Microsoft Search. This will help in answering – the related costs and various sources of competitive advantages of Microsoft Search in the markets it operates in. The process can also be done to competitors to understand their competitive advantages and competitive strategies. According to Michael Porter – Competitive Advantage is a relative term and has to be understood in the context of rivalry within an industry. So Value Chain competitive benchmarking should be done based on industry structure and bottlenecks.

What is BCG Growth Share Matrix

BCG Growth Share Matrix of Microsoft's Search

BCG Growth Share Matrix is very valuable tool to analyze Microsoft Search strategic positioning in various sectors that it operates in and strategic options that are available to it. Product Market segmentation in BCG Growth Share matrix should be done with great care as there can be a scenario where Microsoft Search can be market leader in the industry without being a dominant player or segment leader in any of the segment. BCG analysis should comprise not only growth share of industry & Microsoft Search business unit but also Microsoft Search - overall profitability, level of debt, debt paying capacity, growth potential, expansion expertise, dividend requirements from shareholders, and overall competitive strength. Two key considerations while using BCG Growth Share Matrix for Microsoft's Search case study solution - How to calculate Weighted Average Market Share using BCG Growth Share Matrix Relative Weighted Average Market Share Vs Largest Competitor

5C Marketing Analysis of Microsoft's Search

4p marketing analysis of microsoft's search, porter five forces analysis and solution of microsoft's search, porter value chain analysis and solution of microsoft's search, case memo & recommendation memo of microsoft's search, blue ocean analysis and solution of microsoft's search, marketing strategy and analysis microsoft's search, vrio /vrin analysis & solution of microsoft's search, pestel / step / pest analysis of microsoft's search, swot analysis and solution of microsoft's search, references & further readings.

Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen (2018) , "Microsoft's Search Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.

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Microsofts Search

• Harvard Case Studies

Microsofts Search Case Study Solution & Analysis

In most courses studied at Harvard Business schools, students are provided with a case study. Major HBR cases concerns on a whole industry, a whole organization or some part of organization; profitable or non-profitable organizations. Student’s role is to analyze the case and diagnose the situation, identify the problem and then give appropriate recommendations and steps to be taken.

To make a detailed case analysis, student should follow these steps:

STEP 1: Reading Up Harvard Case Study Method Guide:

Case study method guide is provided to students which determine the aspects of problem needed to be considered while analyzing a case study. It is very important to have a thorough reading and understanding of guidelines provided. However, poor guide reading will lead to misunderstanding of case and failure of analyses. It is recommended to read guidelines before and after reading the case to understand what is asked and how the questions are to be answered. Therefore, in-depth understanding f case guidelines is very important.

Harvard Case Study Solutions

STEP 2: Reading The Microsofts Search Harvard Case Study:

To have a complete understanding of the case, one should focus on case reading. It is said that case should be read two times. Initially, fast reading without taking notes and underlines should be done. Initial reading is to get a rough idea of what information is provided for the analyses. Then, a very careful reading should be done at second time reading of the case. This time, highlighting the important point and mark the necessary information provided in the case. In addition, the quantitative data in case, and its relations with other quantitative or qualitative variables should be given more importance. Also, manipulating different data and combining with other information available will give a new insight. However, all of the information provided is not reliable and relevant.

When having a fast reading, following points should be noted:

• Nature of organization
• Nature if industry in which organization operates.
• External environment that is effecting organization
• Problems being faced by management
• Identification of communication strategies.
• Any relevant strategy that can be added.
• Control and out-of-control situations.

When reading the case for second time, following points should be considered:

• Decisions needed to be made and the responsible Person to make decision.
• Objectives of the organization and key players in this case.
• The compatibility of objectives. if not, their reconciliations and necessary redefinition.
• Sources and constraints of organization from meeting its objectives.

After reading the case and guidelines thoroughly, reader should go forward and start the analyses of the case.

STEP 3: Doing The Case Analysis Of Microsofts Search:

To make an appropriate case analyses, firstly, reader should mark the important problems that are happening in the organization. There may be multiple problems that can be faced by any organization. Secondly, after identifying problems in the company, identify the most concerned and important problem that needed to be focused.

Firstly, the introduction is written. After having a clear idea of what is defined in the case, we deliver it to the reader. It is better to start the introduction from any historical or social context. The challenging diagnosis for Microsofts Search and the management of information is needed to be provided. However, introduction should not be longer than 6-7 lines in a paragraph. As the most important objective is to convey the most important message for to the reader.

After introduction, problem statement is defined. In the problem statement, the company’s most important problem and constraints to solve these problems should be define clearly. However, the problem should be concisely define in no more than a paragraph. After defining the problems and constraints, analysis of the case study is begin.

STEP 4: SWOT Analysis of the Microsofts Search HBR Case Solution:

SWOT analysis helps the business to identify its strengths and weaknesses, as well as understanding of opportunity that can be availed and the threat that the company is facing. SWOT for Microsofts Search is a powerful tool of analysis as it provide a thought to uncover and exploit the opportunities that can be used to increase and enhance company’s operations. In addition, it also identifies the weaknesses of the organization that will help to be eliminated and manage the threats that would catch the attention of the management.

This strategy helps the company to make any strategy that would differentiate the company from competitors, so that the organization can compete successfully in the industry. The strengths and weaknesses are obtained from internal organization. Whereas, the opportunities and threats are generally related from external environment of organization. Moreover, it is also called Internal-External Analysis.

In the strengths, management should identify the following points exists in the organization:

• Advantages of the organization
• Activities of the company better than competitors.
• Unique resources and low cost resources company have.
• Activities and resources market sees as the company’s strength.
• Unique selling proposition of the company.

WEAKNESSES:

• Improvement that could be done.
• Activities that can be avoided for Microsofts Search.
• Activities that can be determined as your weakness in the market.
• Factors that can reduce the sales.
• Competitor’s activities that can be seen as your weakness.

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Good opportunities that can be spotted.
• Interesting trends of industry.
• Change in technology and market strategies
• Government policy changes that is related to the company’s field
• Changes in social patterns and lifestyles.
• Local events.

Following points can be identified as a threat to company:

• Company’s facing obstacles.
• Activities of competitors.
• Product and services quality standards
• Threat from changing technologies
• Financial/cash flow problems
• Weakness that threaten the business.

Following points should be considered when applying SWOT to the analysis:

• Precise and verifiable phrases should be sued.
• Prioritize the points under each head, so that management can identify which step has to be taken first.
• Apply the analyses at proposed level. Clear yourself first that on what basis you have to apply SWOT matrix.
• Make sure that points identified should carry itself with strategy formulation process.
• Use particular terms (like USP, Core Competencies Analyses etc.) to get a comprehensive picture of analyses.

STEP 5: PESTEL/ PEST Analysis of Microsofts Search Case Solution:

Pest analyses is a widely used tool to analyze the Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental and legal situations which can provide great and new opportunities to the company as well as these factors can also threat the company, to be dangerous in future.

Pest analysis is very important and informative.  It is used for the purpose of identifying business opportunities and advance threat warning. Moreover, it also helps to the extent to which change is useful for the company and also guide the direction for the change. In addition, it also helps to avoid activities and actions that will be harmful for the company in future, including projects and strategies.

To analyze the business objective and its opportunities and threats, following steps should be followed:

• Brainstorm and assumption the changes that should be made to organization. Answer the necessary questions that are related to specific needs of organization
• Analyze the opportunities that would be happen due to the change.
• Analyze the threats and issues that would be caused due to change.
• Perform cost benefit analyses and take the appropriate action.

Pest analysis

PEST FACTORS:

• Next political elections and changes that will happen in the country due to these elections
• Strong and powerful political person, his point of view on business policies and their effect on the organization.
• Strength of property rights and law rules. And its ratio with corruption and organized crimes. Changes in these situation and its effects.
• Change in Legislation and taxation effects on the company
• Trend of regulations and deregulations. Effects of change in business regulations
• Timescale of legislative change.
• Other political factors likely to change for Microsofts Search.

ECONOMICAL:

• Position and current economy trend i.e. growing, stagnant or declining.
• Exchange rates fluctuations and its relation with company.
• Change in Level of customer’s disposable income and its effect.
• Fluctuation in unemployment rate and its effect on hiring of skilled employees
• Access to credit and loans. And its effects on company
• Effect of globalization on economic environment
• Considerations on other economic factors

SOCIO-CULTURAL:

• Change in population growth rate and age factors, and its impacts on organization.
• Effect on organization due to Change in attitudes and generational shifts.
• Standards of health, education and social mobility levels. Its changes and effects on company.
• Employment patterns, job market trend and attitude towards work according to different age groups.

case study solutions

• Social attitudes and social trends, change in socio culture an dits effects.
• Religious believers and life styles and its effects on organization
• Other socio culture factors and its impacts.

TECHNOLOGICAL:

• Any new technology that company is using
• Any new technology in market that could affect the work, organization or industry
• Access of competitors to the new technologies and its impact on their product development/better services.
• Research areas of government and education institutes in which the company can make any efforts
• Changes in infra-structure and its effects on work flow
• Existing technology that can facilitate the company
• Other technological factors and their impacts on company and industry

These headings and analyses would help the company to consider these factors and make a “big picture” of company’s characteristics. This will help the manager to take the decision and drawing conclusion about the forces that would create a big impact on company and its resources.

STEP 6: Porter’s Five Forces/ Strategic Analysis Of The Microsofts Search Case Study:

To analyze the structure of a company and its corporate strategy, Porter’s five forces model is used. In this model, five forces have been identified which play an important part in shaping the market and industry. These forces are used to measure competition intensity and profitability of an industry and market.

porter’s five forces model

These forces refers to micro environment and the company ability to serve its customers and make a profit. These five forces includes three forces from horizontal competition and two forces from vertical competition. The five forces are discussed below:

• THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS:
• as the industry have high profits, many new entrants will try to enter into the market. However, the new entrants will eventually cause decrease in overall industry profits. Therefore, it is necessary to block the new entrants in the industry. following factors is describing the level of threat to new entrants:
• Barriers to entry that includes copy rights and patents.
• High capital requirement
• Government restricted policies
• Switching cost
• Access to suppliers and distributions
• Customer loyalty to established brands.
• THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES:
• this describes the threat to company. If the goods and services are not up to the standard, consumers can use substitutes and alternatives that do not need any extra effort and do not make a major difference. For example, using Aquafina in substitution of tap water, Pepsi in alternative of Coca Cola. The potential factors that made customer shift to substitutes are as follows:
• Price performance of substitute
• Switching costs of buyer
• Products substitute available in the market
• Reduction of quality
• Close substitution are available
• DEGREE OF INDUSTRY RIVALRY:
• the lesser money and resources are required to enter into any industry, the higher there will be new competitors and be an effective competitor. It will also weaken the company’s position. Following are the potential factors that will influence the company’s competition:
• Competitive advantage
• Continuous innovation
• Sustainable position in competitive advantage
• Level of advertising
• Competitive strategy
• BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS:
• it deals with the ability of customers to take down the prices. It mainly consists the importance of a customer and the level of cost if a customer will switch from one product to another. The buyer power is high if there are too many alternatives available. And the buyer power is low if there are lesser options of alternatives and switching. Following factors will influence the buying power of customers:
• Bargaining leverage
• Switching cost of a buyer
• Buyer price sensitivity
• Competitive advantage of company’s product
• BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS:
• this refers to the supplier’s ability of increasing and decreasing prices. If there are few alternatives o supplier available, this will threat the company and it would have to purchase its raw material in supplier’s terms. However, if there are many suppliers alternative, suppliers have low bargaining power and company do not have to face high switching cost. The potential factors that effects bargaining power of suppliers are the following:
• Input differentiation
• Impact of cost on differentiation
• Strength of distribution centers
• Input substitute’s availability.

STEP 7: VRIO Analysis of Microsofts Search:

Vrio analysis for Microsofts Search case study identified the four main attributes which helps the organization to gain a competitive advantages. The author of this theory suggests that firm must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and perfectly non sustainable. Therefore there must be some resources and capabilities in an organization that can facilitate the competitive advantage to company. The four components of VRIO analysis are described below: VALUABLE: the company must have some resources or strategies that can exploit opportunities and defend the company from major threats. If the company holds some value then answer is yes. Resources are also valuable if they provide customer satisfaction and increase customer value. This value may create by increasing differentiation in existing product or decrease its price. Is these conditions are not met, company may lead to competitive disadvantage. Therefore, it is necessary to continually review the Microsofts Search company’s activities and resources values. RARE: the resources of the Microsofts Search company that are not used by any other company are known as rare. Rare and valuable resources grant much competitive advantages to the firm. However, when more than one few companies uses the same resources and provide competitive parity are also known as rare resources. Even, the competitive parity is not desired position, but the company should not lose its valuable resources, even they are common. COSTLY TO IMITATE : the resources are costly to imitate, if other organizations cannot imitate it. However, imitation is done in two ways. One is duplicating that is direct imitation and the other one is substituting that is indirect imitation.  Any firm who has valuable and rare resources, and these resources are costly to imitate, have achieved their competitive advantage. However, resources should also be perfectly non sustainable. The reasons that resource imitation is costly are historical conditions, casual ambiguity and social complexity. ORGANIZED TO CAPTURE VALUE : resources, itself, cannot provide advantages to organization until it is organized and exploit to do so. A firm (like Microsofts Search)  must organize its management systems, processes, policies and strategies to fully utilize the resource’s potential to be valuable, rare and costly to imitate.

STEP 8: Generating Alternatives For Microsofts Search Case Solution:

After completing the analyses of the company, its opportunities and threats, it is important to generate a solution of the problem and the alternatives a company can apply in order to solve its problems. To generate the alternative of problem, following things must to be kept in mind:

• Realistic solution should be identified that can be operated in the company, with all its constraints and opportunities.
• as the problem and its solution cannot occur at the same time, it should be described as mutually exclusive
• it is not possible for a company to not to take any action, therefore, the alternative of doing nothing is not viable.
• Student should provide more than one decent solution. Providing two undesirable alternatives to make the other one attractive is not acceptable.

Once the alternatives have been generated, student should evaluate the options and select the appropriate and viable solution for the company.

STEP 9: Selection Of Alternatives For Microsofts Search Case Solution:

It is very important to select the alternatives and then evaluate the best one as the company have limited choices and constraints. Therefore to select the best alternative, there are many factors that is needed to be kept in mind. The criteria’s on which business decisions are to be selected areas under:

• Improve profitability
• Increase sales, market shares, return on investments
• Customer satisfaction
• Brand image
• Corporate mission, vision and strategy
• Resources and capabilities

Alternatives should be measures that which alternative will perform better than other one and the valid reasons. In addition, alternatives should be related to the problem statements and issues described in the case study.

STEP 10: Evaluation Of Alternatives For Microsofts Search Case Solution:

If the selected alternative is fulfilling the above criteria, the decision should be taken straightforwardly. Best alternative should be selected must be the best when evaluating it on the decision criteria. Another method used to evaluate the alternatives are the list of pros and cons of each alternative and one who has more pros than cons and can be workable under organizational constraints.

STEP 11: Recommendations For Microsofts Search Case Study (Solution):

There should be only one recommendation to enhance the company’s operations and its growth or solving its problems. The decision that is being taken should be justified and viable for solving the problems.

Microsoft's Search Case Study Solution Analysis

by HBR Forty One

Microsoft's Search Case Study Solution Analysis. Get Microsoft's Search Case Study Analysis Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for Microsoft's Search Case Solution, Case Analysis, Case Study Solution. Jan... More

Microsoft's Search Case Study Solution Analysis. Get Microsoft's Search Case Study Analysis Solution. Contact us directly at buycasesolutions(at)gmail(dot)com if you want to order for Microsoft's Search Case Solution, Case Analysis, Case Study Solution. Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen Less

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Microsoft’s Search Case Study Solution Analysis Microsoft’s Search Case Study Solution Analysis. Our tutors are available 24/7 to assist in your academic stuff, Our Professional writers are ready to serve you in services you need. Every Case Study Solution & Analysis is prepared from scratch, top quality, plagiarism free. Authors: Jan W. Rivkin, Eric Van Den Steen Get Case Study Solution and Analysis of Microsoft’s Search in a FAIR PRICE!! Steps for Case Study Solution Analysis: 1. Introduction of Microsoft’s Search Case Solution The Microsoft’s Search case study is a Harvard Business Review case study, which presents a simulated practical experience to the reader allowing them to learn about real life problems in the business world. The Microsoft’s Search case consisted of a central issue to the organization, which had to be identified, analysed and creative solutions had to be drawn to tackle the issue. This paper presents the solved Microsoft’s Search case analysis and case solution. The method through which the analysis is done is mentioned, followed by the relevant tools used in finding the solution. The case solution first identifies the central issue to the Microsoft’s Search case study, and the relevant stakeholders affected by this issue. This is known as the problem identification stage. After this, the relevant tools and models are used, which help in the case study analysis and case study solution. The tools used in identifying the solution consist of the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis. The solution consists of recommended strategies to overcome this central issue. It is a good idea to also propose alternative case study solutions, because if the main solution is not found feasible, then the alternative solutions could be implemented. Lastly, a good case study solution also includes an implementation plan for the recommendation strategies. This shows how through a step-by-step procedure as to how the central issue can be resolved. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 2. Problem Identification of Microsoft’s Search Case Solution Harvard Business Review cases involve a central problem that is being faced by the organization and these problems affect a number of stakeholders. In the problem identification stage, the problem faced by Microsoft’s Search is identified through reading of the case. This could be mentioned at the start of the reading, the middle or the end. At times in a case analysis, the problem may be clearly evident in the reading of the HBR case. At other times, finding the issue is the job of the person analysing the case. It is also important to understand what stakeholders are affected by the problem and how. The goals of the stakeholders and are the organization are also identified to ensure that the case study analysis are consistent with these. 3. Analysis of the Microsoft’s Search HBR Case Study The objective of the case should be focused on. This is doing the Microsoft’s Search Case Solution. This analysis can be proceeded in a step-by-step procedure to ensure that effective solutions are found. In the first step, a growth path of the company can be formulated that lays down its vision, mission and strategic aims. These can usually be developed using the company history is provided in the case. Company history is helpful in a Business Case study as it helps one understand what the scope of the solutions will be for the case study. The next step is of understanding the company; its people, their priorities and the overall culture. This can be done by using company history. It can also be done by looking at anecdotal instances of managers or employees that are usually included in an HBR case study description to give the reader a real feel of the situation. Lastly, a timeline of the issues and events in the case needs to be made. Arranging events in a timeline allows one to predict the next few events that are likely to take place. It also helps one in developing the case study solutions. The timeline also helps in understanding the continuous challenges that are being faced by the organisation. 4. SWOT analysis of Microsoft’s Search An important tool that helps in addressing the central issue of the case and coming up with Microsoft’s Search HBR case solution is the SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis is a strategic management tool that lists down in the form of a matrix, an organisation's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. It helps in the strategic analysis of Microsoft’s Search Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Once this listing has been done, a clearer picture can be developed in regards to how strategies will be formed to address the main problem. For example, strengths will be used as an advantage in solving the issue. Therefore, the SWOT analysis is a helpful tool in coming up with the Microsoft’s Search Case Study answers. One does not need to remain restricted to using the traditional SWOT analysis, but the advanced TOWS matrix or weighted average SWOT analysis can also be used. 5. Porter Five Forces Analysis for Microsoft’s Search Another helpful tool in finding the case solutions is of Porter's Five Forces analysis. This is also a strategic tool that is used to analyse the competitive environment of the industry in which Microsoft’s Search operates in. Analysis of the industry is important as businesses do not work in isolation in real life, but are affected by the business environment of the industry that they operate in. Harvard Business case studies represent real-life situations, and therefore, an analysis of the industry's competitive environment needs to be carried out to come up with more holistic case study solutions. In Porter's Five Forces analysis, the industry is analysed along 5 dimensions. • These are the threats that the industry faces due to new entrants. • It includes the threat of substitute products. • It includes the bargaining power of buyers in the industry. • It includes the bargaining power of suppliers in an industry. • Lastly, the overall rivalry or competition within the industry is analysed This tool helps one understand the relative powers of the major players in the industry and its overall competitive dynamics. Actionable and practical solutions can then be developed by keeping these factors into perspective. 6. PESTEL Analysis of Microsoft’s Search Another helpful tool that should be used in finding the case study solutions is the PESTEL analysis. This also looks at the external business environment of the organisation helps in finding case study Analysis to real-life business issues as in HBR cases. • The PESTEL analysis particularly looks at the macro environmental factors that affect the industry. These are the political, environmental, social, technological, environmental and legal (regulatory) factors affecting the industry. • Factors within each of these 6 should be listed down, and analysis should be made as to how these affect the organisation under question. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 7. VRIO Analysis of Microsoft’s Search This is an analysis carried out to know about the internal strengths and capabilities of Microsoft’s Search . Under the VRIO analysis, the following steps are carried out: • The internal resources of Microsoft’s Search are listed down. • Each of these resources are assessed in terms of the value it brings to the organization. • Each resource is assessed in terms of how rare it is. A rare resource is one that is not commonly used by competitors. • Each resource is assessed whether it could be imitated by competition easily or not. • Lastly, each resource is assessed in terms of whether the organization can use it to an advantage or not. • The analysis done on the 4 dimensions; Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organization. If a resource is high on all of these 4, then it brings long-term competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value, Rareness, and Imitability, then it brings an unused competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value and Rareness, then it only brings temporary competitive advantage. If a resource is only valuable, then it’s a competitive parity. If it’s none, then it can be regarded as a competitive disadvantage. 8. Value Chain Analysis of Microsoft’s Search The Value chain analysis of Microsoft’s Search helps in identifying the activities of an organization, and how these add value in terms of cost reduction and differentiation. This tool is used in the case study analysis as follows: • The firm’s primary and support activities are listed down. • Identifying the importance of these activities in the cost of the product and the differentiation they produce. • Lastly, differentiation or cost reduction strategies are to be used for each of these activities to increase the overall value provided by these activities. Recognizing value creating activities and enhancing the value that they create allow Microsoft’s Search to increase its competitive advantage. 9. BCG Matrix of Microsoft’s Search The BCG Matrix is an important tool in deciding whether an organization should invest or divest in its strategic business units. The matrix involves placing the strategic business units of a business in one of four categories; question marks, stars, dogs and cash cows. The placement in these categories depends on the relative market share of the organization and the market growth of these strategic business units. The steps to be followed in this analysis is as follows: Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] • Identify the relative market share of each strategic business unit. • Identify the market growth of each strategic business unit. • Place these strategic business units in one of four categories. Question Marks are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Stars are those strategic business units with high market share and high market growth rate. Cash Cows are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Dogs are those strategic business units with low market share and low growth rate. • Relevant strategies should be implemented for each strategic business unit depending on its position in the matrix. The strategies identified from the Microsoft’s Search BCG matrix and included in the case pdf. These are either to further develop the product, penetrate the market, develop the market, diversification, investing or divesting. 10. Ansoff Matrix of Microsoft’s Search Ansoff Matrix is an important strategic tool to come up with future strategies for Microsoft’s Search in the case solution. It helps decide whether an organization should pursue future expansion in new markets and products or should it focus on existing markets and products. • The organization can penetrate into existing markets with its existing products. This is known as market penetration strategy. • The organization can develop new products for the existing market. This is known as product development strategy. • The organization can enter new markets with its existing products. This is known as market development strategy. • The organization can enter into new markets with new products. This is known as a diversification strategy. The choice of strategy depends on the analysis of the previous tools used and the level of risk the organization is willing to take. 11. Marketing Mix of Microsoft’s Search Microsoft’s Search needs to bring out certain responses from the market that it targets. To do so, it will need to use the marketing mix, which serves as a tool in helping bring out responses from the market. The 4 elements of the marketing mix are Product, Price, Place and Promotions. The following steps are required to carry out a marketing mix analysis and include this in the case study analysis. • Analyse the company’s products and devise strategies to improve the product offering of the company. • Analyse the company’s price points and devise strategies that could be based on competition, value or cost. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] • Analyse the company’s promotion mix. This includes the advertisement, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and direct marketing. Strategies will be devised which makes use of a few or all of these elements. • Analyse the company’s distribution and reach. Strategies can be devised to improve the availability of the company’s products. 12. Microsoft’s Search Strategy The strategies devised and included in the Microsoft’s Search case memo should have a strategy. A strategy is a strategy that involves firms seeking uncontested market spaces, which makes the competition of the company irrelevant. It involves coming up with new and unique products or ideas through innovation. This gives the organization a competitive advantage over other firms, unlike a red ocean strategy. 13. Competitors analysis of Microsoft’s Search The PESTEL analysis discussed previously looked at the macro environmental factors affecting business, but not the microenvironmental factors. One of the microenvironmental factors are competitors, which are addressed by a competitor analysis. The Competitors analysis of Microsoft’s Search looks at the direct and indirect competitors within the industry that it operates in. • This involves a detailed analysis of their actions and how these would affect the future strategies of Microsoft’s Search . • It involves looking at the current market share of the company and its competitors. • It should compare the marketing mix elements of competitors, their supply chain, human resources, financial strength etc. • It also should look at the potential opportunities and threats that these competitors pose on the company. 14. Organisation of the Analysis into Microsoft’s Search Case Study Solution Once various tools have been used to analyse the case, the findings of this analysis need to be incorporated into practical and actionable solutions. These solutions will also be the Microsoft’s Search case answers. These are usually in the form of strategies that the organisation can adopt. The following step-by-step procedure can be used to organise the Harvard Business case solution and recommendations: • The first step of the solution is to come up with a corporate level strategy for the organisation. This part consists of solutions that address issues faced by the organisation on a strategic level. This could include suggestions, changes Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] or recommendations to the company's vision, mission and its strategic objectives. It can include recommendations on how the organisation can work towards achieving these strategic objectives. Furthermore, it needs to be explained how the stated recommendations will help in solving the main issue mentioned in the case and where the company will stand in the future as a result of these. • The second step of the solution is to come up with a business level strategy. The HBR case studies may present issues faced by a part of the organisation. For example, the issues may be stated for marketing and the role of a marketing manager needs to be assumed. So, recommendations and suggestions need to address the strategy of the marketing department in this case. Therefore, the strategic objectives of this business unit (Marketing) will be laid down in the solutions and recommendations will be made as to how to achieve these objectives. Similar would be the case for any other business unit or department such as human resources, finance, IT etc. The important thing to note here is that the business level strategy needs to be aligned with the overall corporate strategy of the organisation. For example, if one suggests the organisation to focus on differentiation for competitive advantage as a corporate level strategy, then it can't be recommended for the Microsoft’s Search Case Study Solution that the business unit should focus on costs. • The third step is not compulsory but depends from case to case. In some HBR case studies, one may be required to analyse an issue at a department. This issue may be analysed for a manager or employee as well. In these cases, recommendations need to be made for these people. The solution may state that objectives that these people need to achieve and how these objectives would be achieved. The case study analysis and solution, and Microsoft’s Search case answers should be written down in the Microsoft’s Search case memo, clearly identifying which part shows what. The Microsoft’s Search case should be in a professional format, presenting points clearly that are well understood by the reader. 15. Alternate solution to the Microsoft’s Search HBR case study It is important to have more than one solution to the case study. This is the alternate solution that would be implemented if the original proposed solution is found infeasible or impossible due to a change in circumstances. The alternate solution for Microsoft’s Search is presented in the same way as the original solution, where it consists of a corporate level strategy, business level strategy and other recommendations. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] 16. Implementation of Microsoft’s Search Case Solution The case study does not end at just providing recommendations to the issues at hand. One is also required to provide how these recommendations would be implemented. This is shown through a proper implementation framework. A detailed implementation framework helps in distinguishing between an average and an above average case study answer. A good implementation framework shows the proposed plan and how the organisations' resources would be used to achieve the objectives. It also lays down the changes needed to be made as well as the assumptions in the process. • A proper implementation framework shows that one has clearly understood the case study and the main issue within it. • It shows that one has been clarified with the HBR fundamentals on the topic. • It shows that the details provided in the case have been properly analysed. • It shows that one has developed an ability to prioritise recommendations and how these could be successfully implemented. • The implementation framework also helps by removing out any recommendations that are not practical or actionable as these could not be implemented. Therefore, the implementation framework ensures that the solution to the Microsoft’s Search Harvard case is complete and properly answered. 17. Recommendations and Action Plan for Microsoft’s Search case analysis For Microsoft’s Search, based on the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis, the recommendations and action plan are as follows: • Microsoft’s Search should focus on making use of its strengths identified from the VRIO analysis to make the most of the opportunities identified from the PESTEL. • Microsoft’s Search should enhance the value creating activities within its value chain. • Microsoft’s Search should invest in its stars and cash cows, while getting rid of the dogs identified from the BCG Matrix analysis. • To achieve its overall corporate and business level objectives, it should make use of the marketing mix tools to obtain desired results from its target market. Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Email us for Any Case Solution at: [email protected] Note: This article is just a sample and not an actual case solution. If you want original case solution, please place your order on the Email. Please do check Junk/Spam folder of your E-mail for our reply, if not in Inbox.

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Microsoft Analyzed Data on Its Newly Remote Workforce

• Natalie Singer-Velush,
• Kevin Sherman,
• Erik Anderson

Here’s what it found about meetings, culture, workdays, and engagement.

Teams that don’t communicate. Market disruption. Unidentified logjams. Employee burnout. Lost efficiency. As part of a group of data scientists, management consultants, and engineers at Microsoft, we help companies harness behavioral data to measure and solve these kinds of challenges — the kinds that firms feel but usually cannot see.

How to help yourself — and your employees — find time and space to be productive.

• NS Natalie Singer-Velush is a marketing communications manager and the editor of Microsoft Workplace Insights. She creates thought leadership about people analytics, behavioral science, the future of work, and the power of data to help organizations and people innovate, evolve, and succeed. As a former journalist and an MFA in a sea of MBAs, she thrives on bringing data to life through storytelling.
• KS Kevin Sherman is a director on the Workplace Analytics team at Microsoft. He leads a team of experts who apply storytelling, behavioral science, and corporate strategy to product strategy and customer delivery. He’s also been leading Microsoft’s own use of Workplace Analytics since its acquisition of VoloMetrix in 2015.
• EA Erik Anderson is a director on Microsoft’s workplace intelligence team. He has spent his career building teams and methods for data-driven problem solving and transformation, and currently leads a team that helps customers harness the power of their collaboration data.

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CASE STUDY: How Satya Nadella overhauled Microsoft's cutthroat culture and turned it into a trillion-dollar 'growth mindset' company

Lehtikuva, Markku Ulander/AP Photo; Yuri Gripas/Reuters; Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters; Ruobing Su/Business Insider

Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates are the former CEOs.

• Microsoft is a trillion-dollar company thanks largely to a culture shift led by Satya Nadella.
• Since Nadella became CEO in 2014, he's encouraged the entire company to adopt a growth mindset, or the belief that skills are developed through hard work and challenges are opportunities to learn.
• Before Nadella took over, Microsoft was characterized by competition between teams and between individual employees.
• Now, in keeping with a growth mindset, Microsoft evaluates employees' performance based partly on how much they helped their colleagues succeed. The company also looks to learn from its former rivals in the tech industry.
• Business Insider spoke with a range of company insiders and organizational researchers to get the inside story on how to change the culture of a 150,000+ employee software giant.
• Microsoft is a case study in how a growth-mindset culture can help companies succeed in the future economy.
• Click here for more BI Prime content.

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A cartoonist once drew an illustration depicting Microsoft's organizational chart as warring factions.

Take a look and you'll see three separate gangs: one blue, one green, one yellow. The gangs are assembled in pyramid-shaped hierarchies, with one leader at the top, two or three deputies at the next level, and so on.

A hand sticks out from each pyramid, pointing a gun directly at one of the others. It's clear. This is war.

And then Satya Nadella became CEO.

Nadella described the era of warring gangs in his 2017 memoir-manifesto, " Hit Refresh :" "Innovation was being replaced by bureaucracy. Teamwork was being replaced by internal politics. We were falling behind."

That particular cartoon - drawn in 2011 by a Google employee named Manu Cornet , no less - made changing Microsoft's culture Nadella's No. 1 goal as CEO.

"As a 24-year veteran of Microsoft, a consummate insider, the caricature really bothered me. But what upset me more was that our own people just accepted it," Nadella wrote. "When I was named Microsoft's third CEO in February 2014, I told employees that renewing our company's culture would be my highest priority."

Since becoming CEO, Nadella has been credited with a grand reinvention of Microsoft, exemplified by its market value exceeding $1 trillion, one of just a handful in history to hit that mark. When Nadella first took over, its market value was around $300 billion. The company has shifted from a has-been to a cloud powerhouse.

One of the keys to this transformation is a psychological concept that's become a mantra at Nadella's Microsoft: growth mindset .

Microsoft has traded a fixed mindset for a growth mindset

Growth mindset describes the belief that skills are developed through hard work and that challenges are opportunities to learn. Fixed mindset, on the other hand, refers to the belief that talent is innate and that struggling is a sign of failure. Research on the difference between growth and fixed mindset - and how they predict success - was pioneered by Stanford's Carol Dweck.

Early on in her career as a developmental psychologist, Dweck visited children at school and presented them with a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. Her goal was to better understand how people cope with failure. Some students, she found, weren't fazed by it.

In her 2006 book, " Mindset ," she recalls one 10-year-old boy who "pulled up his chair, rubbed his hands together, smacked his lips, and cried out, 'I love a challenge!'"

Dweck would spend the next five decades trying to figure out the difference between people who relish a good challenge and those who fear failure. Scores of studies published under her name suggest that people who see intelligence and abilities as learnable are more successful, personally and professionally, than people who think they're static.

Recently, Dweck coauthored a study that drew a link between growth mindset and organizational success . Employees who think their companies have a fixed mindset, the study found, interpret the company's culture as less collaborative, less ethical, and less willing to take risks than employees who think their companies have a growth mindset.

Given the rapid pace of technological change , these research findings are hyper-relevant. Across industries, adopting a growth mindset may be the only way to survive, and certainly the only way to thrive. When neither executives nor rank-and-file employees can predict what their jobs will look like next week, they need to embrace the resulting vulnerability, and get excited about learning.

Plenty of companies, in industries from telecommunications to early education, talk about cultivating a growth mindset , and about looking for job candidates who have it . But Microsoft is perhaps the most powerful example of an organization that has used growth mindset, and the psychology behind it, to rebuild its culture.

In many ways, fixed mindset and growth mindset can describe Microsoft before and after Nadella.

Nadella has encouraged Microsoft employees to be 'learn-it-alls' instead of 'know-it-alls'

Gates' successor, Steve Ballmer, also known for an explosive temper, later presided over the atmosphere depicted in that cartoon Nadella was determined to address. Ballmer was known for cultivating a culture in which Microsoft teams warred with each other, as previously reported by Business Insider .

Nadella, who joined Microsoft as an engineer in 1992, came up in this culture, before becoming CEO in early 2014.

By that point, the company's bid to compete in the smartphone market through the purchase of Nokia was proving to be a burden and would lead it to write off nearly the entire $7.6 billion acquisition price. The personal computer market was shrinking, leading to declines in Microsoft's flagship Windows operating system business, and the Xbox One console's poorly received launch made it a punchline.

Microsoft's history as a tech-industry pioneer wouldn't help the company compete, Nadella wrote in an email to employees on his first day as CEO. The company needed a change in mindset.

"Our industry does not respect tradition - it only respects innovation," Nadella wrote on Feb. 4, 2014, in a memo to employees days after taking on the CEO role. "Every one of us needs to do our best work, lead and help drive cultural change. We sometimes underestimate what we each can do to make things happen and overestimate what others need to do to move us forward. We must change this."

Nadella's leadership philosophy evolved into the adoption of a growth mindset. He asked employees to be "learn-it-alls," not "know-it-alls," and promoted collaboration inside and outside the organization. Employees are now evaluated partly on how much they've helped others on their team.

Microsoft introduced a new performance-management framework based on growth mindset

With any company culture shift, executives run the risk of promoting jargon more than action, and of HR representatives being the only ones who know there's a culture change underway.

Microsoft has tried to avoid that fate, not only by training its employees on the psychology of growth mindset, but also by embedding the concept into its daily work flow.

Prompts to adopt a growth mindset appear on posters throughout Microsoft's campuses ( something at which employees sometimes poke fun ). At the start of a meeting, a manager might remind colleagues to approach an issue with a growth mindset.

And in one of the most significant manifestations of growth mindset, Microsoft has eliminated stack ranking .

Stack ranking was famously used by Jack Welch when he was CEO of General Electric. Ballmer used the system at Microsoft to evaluate employees, although he did start phasing it out prior to his departure. Microsoft managers had to rank their employees from one to five in equal measure. Which meant that, no matter how good the employees were, some of them had to get the lowest ranking of a five.

Performance was defined in stack ranking as the quality of individual work, and that emphasis on individual performance was linked to fierce competition among Microsoft employees. It was also a barrier to Microsoft's innovation, since it facilitated a culture that rewarded a few standout team members and even gave employees incentive to hope their colleagues failed.

Microsoft leadership says its new system for evaluating employees instead rewards collaboration. Managers and employees meet often to discuss performance , in keeping with the general trend of companies nixing annual reviews and having managers regularly speak with employees about their work.

"What we really value is three dimensions," said Hogan , Microsoft's chief people officer. "One is your own individual impact, the second is how you contributed to others and others' success, and the third is how you leveraged the work of others."

To use Hogan's examples, maybe a more seasoned employee helped someone new to the team, or a software engineer built on another engineer's work instead of reinventing it.

Microsoft recently applied growth mindset to a new framework for managers : model, coach, care. That's a combination of setting a positive example for employees, helping the team adapt and learn, and investing in people's professional growth.

To measure the impact of these initiatives in real time, Microsoft emails employees with a different question every day asking how they're feeling about the company and its culture.

The shift from competition to collaboration might seem like it would be a breath of fresh air. And on the whole, it has been. But employees say it's presented its own challenges, too.

Nadella pushes Microsoft executives to take on stretch assignments

Adopting a growth mindset can be uncomfortable, he said.

"Growth mindset is a euphemism because it can feel pretty painful, like a jump into the abyss," he said. "You need to be able and willing to confront your own fixed mindset - the things that make you believe something can't work. It's painful to go through personally, but when you get past it, it's tremendously rewarding."

The transition has been edifying, both in terms of his personal growth - Lee was recently named to the National Academy of Medicine - and Microsoft's growth in the industry, as it establishes itself as a meaningful player in healthcare tech.

Microsoft now sees the business case for letting go of its rivalries with other tech giants

Under Ballmer, Microsoft was notorious for prioritizing its Windows operating system and Office productivity applications businesses over the rest of the company - at one point, it even canceled the Courier tablet, which would have been an early, future-looking competitor to Apple's iPad, because it may have undermined Windows.

Likewise, Microsoft once shunned Linux, a free open-source operating system once considered the biggest threat to Windows. Ballmer once called it a "cancer." But early on in Nadella's time as CEO, Microsoft changed tack and proclaimed, " Microsoft loves Linux ."

It wasn't just Microsoft being friendly. There was a strong business case for blurring boundaries. At the time, Microsoft said it realized its customers used both Windows and Linux, and saw providing support to both as a business opportunity on-premise and in the cloud. That would have been unthinkable in the Ballmer years, but it's proven to be a savvy business move: Microsoft recently hinted that Linux is more popular on its Azure cloud platform than Windows itself.

Microsoft's relationship with Salesforce has followed a similar trajectory. Whereas Ballmer had frequent and public bouts with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff , Microsoft under Nadella put aside its rivalry with Salesforce - which competes directly with Microsoft's customer-relationship-management Dynamics 365 product - in order to ink a big cloud deal that was good for the company overall.

Nadella even invites leaders from companies across industries to Microsoft's CEO Summit so the executives can learn from each other. Ballmer, meanwhile, famously snatched an employee's iPhone at a company meeting and pretended to stomp on it.

Which is not to say Microsoft always plays nice in the Nadella era. The company last summer changed licensing agreements to raise prices - often significantly - when customers choose to run certain Microsoft software on rival clouds including Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud. And it's been trading public barbs with AWS over the still contested $10 billion Pentagon cloud contract.

The Trump administration awarded the contract to Microsoft over AWS, but Amazon is challenging the decision in court, alleging political interference. In February, a judge ruled that Microsoft must stop working on the contract.

The culture shift at Microsoft is an ongoing process

The beginning of Microsoft's culture shift was rocky.

In "Hit Refresh," Nadella recalls a Microsoft manager who announced in the early days, "Hey, Satya, I know these five people who don't have a growth mindset." Nadella writes, "The guy was just using growth mindset to find a new way to complain about others. That is not what we had in mind."

Even today, Microsoft leaders acknowledge that the culture change isn't over . Things have improved under Nadella, but the company culture is still far from perfect.

Diversity is an opportunity for improvement at Microsoft. Much like the larger technology industry , Microsoft still employs relatively few women and people of color in leadership and technical roles.

One of Nadella's biggest gaffes as CEO happened early on in his tenure, when he suggested women should not ask for raises, but rely on "faith" and "karma." After these comments, Nadella sent out an internal memo admitting to his mistake, explaining how he planned to learn from it, and stating his belief in "equal pay for equal work."

Nadella writes in "Hit Refresh" that in some ways he's glad to have belly-flopped in public. "It helped me confront an unconscious bias I didn't know I had," Nadella writes, "and it helped me find a new sense of empathy for the great women in my life and at my company."

Kevin Oakes, who runs a human-resources research company that helped Microsoft with its shift toward growth mindset, sees Nadella as an exemplar of a leader during a transition. That's largely because Nadella practices the growth mindset he preaches. In a presentation at Talent Connect, an annual conference organized by LinkedIn (which is owned by Microsoft), Oakes said Nadella has been Microsoft's "culture champion." Nadella understands that organizational culture is critical to the company's performance, Oakes said.

But today's Microsoft is still far from perfect. The positive contributions of growth mindset have not yet matched up with diversity and equity for Microsoft's workforce, according to some employees. Microsoft is the subject of a gender discrimination lawsuit still pending , which was denied class-action status by a federal judge. Employees have also openly alleged sexual harassment and discrimination.

The company released its first diversity and inclusion report in 2019 to track its progress in hiring - and retaining - a more diverse workforce. Results from that report showed that minorities in Microsoft's US offices earned $1.006 for every $1 white employees earned. A closer look reveals that white men still held more high-paying leadership positions than women or underrepresented minorities.

Meanwhile, Microsoft leadership still has some philosophical differences with employees as it relates to employee activism. Employee groups have protested Microsoft and Microsoft-owned GitHub's relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and more recently, some employees have said Microsoft's relationship with oil and gas companies is at odds with the company's goal to become "carbon negative" by 2030.

Microsoft has been equally vocal about diversity and inclusion within its customer base, building products that are accessible to as many users as possible. Ben Tamblyn, a 15-year company veteran and Microsoft's director of inclusive design, mentioned Xbox as a prime example. In 2018, Tamblyn helped oversee the release of the Xbox Adaptive Controller , which makes it easier for gamers who have limited mobility or physical impairments to play. (Interviews with Neal and Tamblyn were arranged by Microsoft's public-relations firm.)

Microsoft is a case study in growth mindset

Microsoft's culture shift, and its accompanying business turnaround, is already a case study in business schools and in reports from management consultancies and research centers . That makes sense to Mary Murphy, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University and Dweck's co-author on the paper about growth mindsets within organizations.

Growth mindset is essential for innovation in the technology industry, Murphy said, where change rarely happens incrementally. Instead, there are big inflection points from which there's no return. Microsoft, Murphy added, needs to be on the "cutting edge" of growth mindset in order to stay relevant.

Nadella, for his part, has modeled a growth mindset from the top of the organization, not least in his response to his tone-deaf comments about gender and compensation. "I learned, and we will together use this learning to galvanize the company for positive change," Nadella wrote in the memo he sent apologizing for the comments. "We will make Microsoft an even better place to work and do great things."

Got a tip? Contact reporters Shana Lebowitz via email at [email protected] and Ashley Stewart via email at [email protected] , message her on Twitter @ashannstew, or send her a secure message through Signal at 425-344-8242 .

NOW WATCH: How networks treat the Democratic debates like reality TV

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Societal Resilience

Building a more resilient society through mission-driven research and applied technology

Case study: Mapping Organizational Resilience

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“When I think about digital transformation now, I break it into two things. I think about resilience and what Microsoft can do to help any business be more resilient” — Satya Nadella (opens in new tab) , Microsoft Q4 2020 Earnings Call

The concept of organizational resilience can be used to explain why some organizations succeed while others fail in times of change. Every organization has limits beyond which it ceases to operate effectively.  When emerging crises push organizations beyond these limits, there is immense pressure to adapt to the new environment – and quickly. Organizations that fail to adapt may no longer be able to achieve their purpose, return a profit, or justify their continued existence.

Business closures at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic are a stark illustration of how many organizations operate at the limits of their capacity, even in normal times. Under sustained pressure, even the best organizations may be pushed to their limits. How can we help organizations to understand their capacity for resilience before it is needed, and how can we help them to increase that capacity before it is too late?

One important step is digital transformation. All the forces driving this cross-industry process have been multiplied by the pandemic, and Microsoft has published a playbook (opens in new tab) for accelerating the kind of digital transformation that facilitates business resilience (opens in new tab) . But what does a “digitally transformed” organization look like, how does it operate over time, and how can we identify behaviors that represent both resilience and rigidity in the face of threats?

Organizational network analysis

For several years, we have been working with the Microsoft Workplace Analytics (WPA) team to explore how advances in graph statistics could be applied to Organizational Network Analysis (ONA), as well as how such network analysis could reveal insights about how work actually gets done in practice. This can be quite different to how work is organized “in theory” as represented by formal org charts, and the degree of alignment can vary dramatically both across different parts of the organization and over time.

Our initial explorations focused on the use of network visualization to map out the structure of organizations based on pairwise collaboration between individuals, inferred from shared activity across Outlook and Teams (e.g., email or message exchange; shared meetings or channels). We were interested in the identification of workgroups that reveal the organic, emergent, and informal organization of work. Using network community detection algorithms to infer the hierarchical structure of these collaboration networks, we were able to provide a contrasting model of organization to the hierarchical reporting structures of org charts.

These workgroup maps gave us something tangible to share with company executives as offering new perspectives on their own organizations. They allowed vague concepts like “siloed” and “stretched” to become self-evident in the visual structure of workgroups, but also raised several important questions: How well do workgroups align with reporting hierarchies? How much do workgroups vary their patterns of collaboration over time? And how can we measure and visualize these qualities as a way to understand the culture of collaboration across an organization?

Workgroup mapping

Our workgroup mapping (opens in new tab) paper describes how we answered these questions using two new metrics, representing (1) the “freedom” of workgroups to collaborate across organizational boundaries, and (2) the “fluidity” of workgroup relationships over time. To date, we have used these metrics (and accompanying presentation generating pipeline) to share collaboration insights with the leaders of hundreds of major companies who have provided their tenant data for this purpose.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, we turned our attention to how such collaboration metrics might be used as a barometer of organizational health over time – revealing how organizations responded to the unprecedented shock and its enduring consequences for the practice of work. For those organizations who were able to transition to home working, the signals from communication and collaboration software would, for the first time, capture all interactions in their new, virtual, and “digitally transformed” workplaces. What could this tell us about the response of our own organization, our customer organizations, and the industries that we serve? And what do different levels of collaboration metrics across workgroups tell us about the resilience of the broader organization?

Organizational resilience

Our toward resilience (opens in new tab) and uncovering resilience (opens in new tab) articles describe our process of deriving new collaboration metrics that would allow us to understand the impact of the pandemic on our own organization, Microsoft. For example, we define “churn” as the proportion of collaborative relationships from one period that are lost in the following period. If we align these periods either side of a disruptive event (such as a pandemic passing its tipping point), we might expect to more resilient organizations experience less churn. Indeed, this is what we observed in general for Microsoft – but that’s not the whole story.

Most employees retained their existing collaborations and even expanded their networks beyond their customary workgroups. For the strategic and operational “control center” of the organization, however, the degree of churn was dramatic. This makes sense – the charter of such groups is to absorb external shocks and chart a course towards recovery while allowing the core engines of productivity to proceed uninterrupted. Such focused churn is a sign of dedicated crisis response, and when combined with the net growth of individual networks, is a clear marker of organizational resilience. In contrast, a “panic response” would manifest as large-scale churn across the organization as connections and work are dropped, while “threat rigidity” would show as individual networks growing smaller and more stable as people double down on what and who they already know.

Building on this single-company view, we expanded our analysis to examine the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic across organizations and industries. The latest Microsoft Work Trends Index (opens in new tab) describes how one such analysis incorporated 122 billion email interactions and 2.3 meeting interactions across industries and countries, showing an overall increase in the “siloed” nature of workgroups with strong internal relationships and clear group boundaries (the “modularity” metric). In this preprint (opens in new tab) describing a related collaboration with the University of Washington and Johns Hopkins University, we present the analysis of 360 billion email interactions across more than 4000 organizations. The main finding here is that the workgroup silos emerging in response to the pandemic have a different membership structure to pre-pandemic times – and that this new structure has persisted over time.

In other words, we have observed the mass adaptation in the organization of work towards smaller, more defined, and fundamentally different workgroups than existed before the pandemic. While such adaptation suggests resilient response, whether the resulting structures helps to drive resilient recovery is an open and active research question.

Resilience principles in action

• The pandemic-induced shift to remote working has created an always-on culture that puts the health of both employees and businesses at risk, since people and organizations operating closest to their limits are the least resilient to future shocks. Workgroup maps provides a unified and unit-level view of how the structure and demands of work activities are evolving over time.
• Within Microsoft, we are developing our organizational resilience capabilities in collaboration with Workplace Analytics, Office, and others. Externally, we are collaborating with Johns Hopkins University on “Organizational Dynamics to Enable Post-Pandemic Return to Work” through a funded study on pandemic preparedness (opens in new tab) and the University of Washington Foster School of Business on the implications of such organizational dynamics for business management.
• We have released the graph statistics and visualization capabilities behind our workgroup maps via the open-source Graspologic (opens in new tab) library. This library is the result a merging our previous topologic package with the GraSPy package developed by our collaborators at JHU, creating a unified source of advanced graph algorithms for the Python community.
• This work focuses on capturing and modelling the people networks implicit in organizational collaboration logs. How these networks partition into communities – and how these communities can be characterized by various graph statistics and network metrics – yields high-level insights into the practice of work that can be compared against known work outcomes and other covariates.
• Our workgroup mapping pipeline automates collaboration log analysis and presentation-building workflows in ways that democratize expert workflows from two distinct areas of expertise. The resulting presentation artefacts, together with the outputs of our large-scale analyses, represent new sources of real-world evidence that can be used to inform and evaluate organizational policy.
• Any use of organizational network analysis must respect the privacy of individual employees represented in unit-level visualizations such as network layouts (where each node is one member of the organization). Our approach is to select metrics that are neither inherently good or bad, but which represent desirable variation in practice, and calculate and communicate these at a level that aggregates the contributions of many individuals (e.g., the sub-organization or workgroup level).
• Organizations are a key entity at the mesoscale of society. Revealing the structure and dynamics of organizational activities in a way that helps shape positive organizational policies is an efficient way of reaching and benefiting many individuals. Even within organizations, we focus on the mesoscale of communities or workgroups as the implicit and underrecognized units of organization against which policy interventions should be planned, implemented, evaluated, and revised.
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Microsoft Interview Case Studies Analysis: Ace Your Prep

• Post author: Alex
• Post last modified: February 1, 2024
• Post category: Companies / Microsoft

You’ve scored the interview with Microsoft—congrats! But now comes the real challenge: case studies that probe your analytical chops and business acumen. The mere thought might throw butterflies in your stomach into a frenzy. But hold on, take a breath. This post is your trusty sidekick to decode the language of Microsoft interview case studies.

By the end of this read, you’ll have actionable strategies and insights that will help turn those case study jitters into confidence. No mysterious jargon, just clear, practical advice that could make all the difference.

Quick Takeaways:

• Dive deep into Microsoft’s products and strategies to tailor your case study answers with a thorough understanding of the company’s ecosystem.
• Practice structuring your analysis with business frameworks and clearly communicate your thought process during the case study.
• Be adaptable and incorporate Microsoft’s focus on innovation, quality, and security into your solutions while handling curveballs calmly.

What Are Microsoft Interview Case Studies?

When you walk into a Microsoft interview , be ready to showcase your skills through real-life scenarios in the form of case studies. Microsoft’s interview case studies are designed to simulate business challenges and problems that the company could face. These exercises typically address issues related to product development, market strategy, or operational efficiency.

Expect to be thrown a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions where your critical thinking will be put to the test. Don’t be surprised if you’re presented with a new product idea and asked to evaluate its market viability, or if you’re given data and are tasked with finding meaningful insights to inform business decisions. What’s crucial here is that Microsoft wants to see how you think on your feet and apply your knowledge in practical situations.

How Should You Prepare for the Case Study Round?

Gearing up for the case study round requires a twofold approach: understanding the Microsoft ecosystem and honing your problem-solving toolkit. Start with a deep dive into the Microsoft universe; familiarize yourself with their product suite, recent market ventures, and strategic goals. Trust me, a firm grasp of what makes Microsoft tick can be a game-changer.

Now, let’s polish that problem-solving prowess. Break out those case study workbooks and run through scenarios that test your analytical chops. Get cozy with frameworks like SWOT or Porter’s Five Forces to structure your approach systematically. When digging into data analysis, tools like Excel and Power BI can be your best pals, so get to know them well.

Here’s the kicker: Practice articulating your thought process. It’s one thing to have a brilliant solution, but it’s an entirely different ball game to walk someone through your reasoning in a clear, confident manner. Pair up with a peer and run practice sessions — it’ll sharpen your communication skills and help you get comfortable thinking aloud.

What Does Microsoft Look For in Your Answers?

Cracking the code of what Microsoft seeks in your responses is less about the ‘right’ answer and more about how you arrive there. They’re on the lookout for razor-sharp analytical thinking and problem-solving skills, yes, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. They value your ability to make data-driven decisions, show business acumen, and remain innovative amid constraints.

Flex your analytical muscles by showcasing step-by-step how you dissect a problem. Align your thought process with Microsoft’s own logical and user-focused approach to gain a nod of approval. In the thick of your explanation, remember to weave in the potential for scalability and integration with existing Microsoft services or products — that’s your secret sauce for demonstrating strategic thinking.

And let’s not forget about your soft skills. A collaborative attitude, confident communication, and the ability to remain poised under pressure are the cherries on top. Utilize storytelling techniques to make your solution memorable and impactful, and back it up with a dash of enthusiasm for the tech world — trust me, it’s infectious, and interviewers love that.

Now, go forth and conquer those Microsoft interview case studies with this insider know-how. And remember, this is just the beginning; there’s more to unpack and master, so stay tuned for further insights and tips. Keep your eye on the prize and your mind sharp — your interview success story is just around the corner.

Can You Walk Me Through a Sample Case Study?

Imagine you’re given this scenario: Microsoft is considering launching a new cloud service aimed at small businesses. How would you evaluate this business opportunity?

First things first, understand the problem . What’s Microsoft’s goal? Are they looking to increase market share, penetrate a new segment, or diversify offerings? Clarify objectives before diving in.

Next, you’ve got to structure the analysis . Consider the market size for small businesses needing cloud services. Assess competitors, potential customers, and price sensitivity. Also, look into Microsoft’s capabilities to meet this demand.

Here’s a step-by-step approach:

Define the Target Market : Who are these small businesses? What do they need from a cloud service?

Market Analysis : Look at the size and growth of the cloud services market for small businesses.

Competitive Landscape : Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing players in the market.

Internal Capabilities : Does Microsoft have the tech and resources to roll out this service effectively?

Financials : Run the numbers. Forecast potential revenues, costs, and the break-even point.

Now, onto the solution phase . Based on the analysis, generate strategic options. Maybe it’s a niche product designed for small businesses with a specific need, or perhaps an all-in-one solution with competitive pricing.

Lastly, wrap it up with concluding thoughts . Present your recommendation with confidence, backed up by the data and analysis you’ve conducted, weighing the pros and cons.

How Do You Handle Curveballs in Case Studies?

It’s all about staying on your toes. When a curveball question is thrown your way, take a breath and treat it like a puzzle. It’s an opportunity to showcase your problem-solving chops.

• Stay Calm : Keep cool, and approach the issue methodically.
• Clarify : Sometimes, asking for more information can lead to a eureka moment.
• Think Aloud : Narrate your thought process. It may lead to a solution and shows your analytical style.
• Adapt : Use new info to tweak your framework or analysis.

Let’s say mid-presentation, the interviewer asks how a sudden shift in regulatory policies could affect the go-to-market strategy. Don’t panic. Discuss how the regulations can impact operations, compliance costs, and the potential need to pivot. Flexibility is key.

What are Some Common Mistakes to Avoid?

Many fall into traps during case studies. Here’s how to sidestep them:

• Not Clarifying : Mistaking assumptions for facts can derail you. Always confirm your understanding of the problem.
• Data Without Insight : Crunching numbers? Great. But data points need to tell a story and lead to strategic recommendations.
• Ignoring the Big Picture : Solutions should always consider the broader business context.

Here’s a rare nugget: Reflect on the Brand . Remember, every recommendation should be consistent with Microsoft’s brand and vision. Not everyone considers this point, but it can set you apart.

To illustrate, if you propose a low-cost cloud solution for small businesses, ensure it aligns with Microsoft’s reputation for quality and security. This consistency builds integrity around the analysis and can be a subtle yet effective differentiation in your case approach.

There you have it—a concise, thoughtful strategy to smash that Microsoft case study out of the park. Keep these tips in the back of your mind and charge ahead with confidence. Good luck!

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Microsoft Case Study

How has Microsoft responded to competitive threats and opportunities in the past? What patterns do you see? Microsoft typically entered markets when it realized potential of dominance. The second time IBM asked Gates to build them an SO, Gates saw potential, believing that the SO would become a standard that other manufacturers could use as well.

Microsoft bought DOS from another software vendor, modified it and licensed it to MOM. Gates held onto the copyright, and as he predicted he was able to sell MS-DOS to all the other vendors and become the dominant SO developer In the PC market.

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When Excel and Word failed to compete In the PC market with Lotus and Workforce, Microsoft turned Its attention to the Apple market where there were fewer competitors. Apple had smaller share In the SO market, so few companies were building software for the Macs.

Microsoft could take Its time learning how to create a better product. Eventually, Microsoft returned to take on Lotus and Workforce, this time in much better shape. They were also able to use their size by under-cutting competitors’ prices, offering customers “competitive upgrades,” making the Microsoft option more cost effective to buyers.

Five years later, in 1995, Microsoft had become the dominant player in word processing, spreadsheets and presentations with MS Office. The Internet browser war is another good example of how Microsoft was late to the game, but was able to learn from the competition and leverage its weight later on in the battle. In 1993 and 1994, the Mosaic web browser was gaining great momentum.

Marc Andresen, taking a page from Gates, knew winning in market share meant winning it all.

Andresen had the foresight to see the importance of the web browser and had Netscape licensing Mosaic. By mid-1995, Netscape had the lion’s share of the browser market. At this point, Microsoft woke up and Gates made a big push to create a browser. Roughly a year and a half later, Microsoft had pushed its third version of Internet Explorer out which finally started matching Netscape quality.

Microsoft turned up the heat on Netscape by throwing money at Internet Service Providers (e. G. AOL) to bundle Internet Explorer with their software.

Internet Explorer also was integrated into the Windows operating system, making it the De facto default browser of most PC’s. Eventually, Navigator could not keep up with Microsoft.

Microsoft’s response to the threat of Java pushed ethical boundaries. At first they licensed Java, as it seemed to be an Important plugging for the web. Then they created a “polluted” version of Java that only ran on Windows. Furthermore, when Windows XP was released, Java was not allowed to run on It. This did not bode well for Microsoft, losing a huge lawsuit to Sun Microsystems the creators of Java.

Similar tactics of less-than-fair practices were taken with the threat of Linux, Linux emerged as a huge threat to the likes of Sun and Microsoft, because it was for the most part free, while Sun and Microsoft were selling server operating systems for hundreds and thousands of dollars. Microsoft went back to its copy-cat tactics and starting making some of it source code visible, as was typical of Linen’s open-source steward. I en, Maladroit tree ten 010 track AT selling strapped clown versions Tort cheaper.

When all this failed, Microsoft finally stooped to legal tactics, licensing Novel’s Linux software and threatening to sue anyone who copied their code. This seemed to have some effect on the Linux community, as market share for servers dropped.

The major theme I noticed was to copy the competition until their product is adequate. Then they try to thwart their competition by flooding the market with rower-priced products of similar quality. In the past, they seem to have done a good job of also tying strategies to their dominance in other markets.

Using their Windows platform, they bundled their browser to gain a competitive advantage over Netscape, this did not work at first, because their browser was sub-par, but as it got better, Netscape could not keep up, especially as they gave their product away for free (it came pre-loaded with the SO). With the Java they tried using their dominance again, but as I mentioned earlier it clearly failed. Luckily, Java’s importance in the industry declined as the Internet evolved.

In the case of search engine competition, they tried using their Windows platform to their advantage, but this ultimately failed.

Google ‘s product was far superior, and it remains free for users. When Microsoft’s one-two punch fails, (1) copying and mimicking the competition to eventually offer a cheaper product of equal value and then (2) using their SO or browser platform market share to further fend off attacks, Microsoft seems to resort to some legal/intellectual property tactics, whereby they scare competition with potential lawsuits, as in the case with Linux and later mobile phone makers. 2.

How large is Microsoft’s competitive disadvantage in Internet search and search related advertising in 2008?

If the industry remains on its current trajectory, how will Microsoft’s disadvantage evolve over time? Microsoft’s competitive disadvantage in the Internet search market circa 2008 was huge. According to Exhibit 3, from the Microsoft’s Search case study, from July 2007 to November 2008, MS/Lives market share is gradually declining, while Google gradually heads towards the winner-takes-all scenario. In the figures, even Yahoo and “Other” search engine market shares were on the decline as well, where Microsoft was doing only marginally better than “Other. To make the problem even worse, Exhibit 5, shows how Microsoft’s quality of “search” was getting better. In 2005, it might have seemed like there was hope for Microsoft to catch up, as their search “relevance” was by far inferior to Google.

However by 2007, Yahoo and Microsoft, according to Figure 5, were almost neck-and-neck with Google as far as quality, while Yahoo and Microsoft were still clearly on the decline in market share. It appears that Microsoft’s smug attitude of ignoring technology trends is putting them behind the Eight Ball yet again.

This time however, using previous tactics as discussed in the first question will not work. There are no “prices” to undercut, Google is free to its users. Google invented most of the best search algorithms, so there is little room for Microsoft to sue them or use legal tactics. And tying their search engine to their Windows or Internet Explorer platform is not really feasible either – people can always change their homepage from MS to Google.

Unlike, Netscape, Google’s value was enormous, making them no easy opponent for Microsoft to Just puss around. Google was Tally Leverages as a competitor.

In ten search advertising realm, clearly value is tied to the general “search” market share. Since fewer visitors were using Man’s search, and more people were increasingly using Google, ad-based revenue for Microsoft was on the decline as well. Exhibit 6, confirms this assertion, showing that Google was actually getting more money per click and furthermore was taking 66. 2% of the ad-based revenue compared to Man’s paltry 7.

0%. Another dynamic that is lightly touched upon in the case study is that it was hard for the search engines to differentiate themselves.

Corrective typing features that issues what the user “really’ meant to type is an example of a beneficial feature that adds value to a browser. However, within weeks, the other competitors also have such new features to match their competition. Interestingly enough, I think the search engine competition bares a certain resemblance to the Coke and Pepsi “Cola Wars.

” The big problem for Microsoft in the land of Search seems to be brand recognition. Google had a good product, and it was first to market, much like Coca- Cola did.

Without the ability to clearly differentiate itself in Search, Microsoft really has no hope of catching up to Google. To begin with, Google has the advantage as being perceived as the best. They are the leading brand.

Why should people change their habits? Even as MS/Live improved upon its technology, there was no reason for users to switch to Microsoft, even if it is Just as good. “I’m already comfortable using Google, why do I want to try a new browser where there is no familiarity. ” I think this credits the concept of “customer switching costs,” as discussed in Understanding Industry Structure (by Porter).

Monetarily, there are no real costs to switching to MS, but I think the fact that there are costs at all for users to leave Google makes Microsoft’s battle that much harder. If Microsoft’s search trajectory continues along the same path, I believe it will essentially become irrelevant.

If it continues to decline below it 8. 3% market share from November 2008 while Google climbs towards 70%, MS/Live essentially becomes an irrelevant player in the market, much like Apple did in the asses as MS- DOS and Windows came to dominate the operating system market.

Furthermore, looking at the Interbrain rankings from 2008 of the world’s Top 100 Brands, Google is clearly on the rise, Jumping from 20th place in 2007 to 10th place in 2008. Microsoft, consequently dropped from 2nd place to 3rd place. I think the brand recognition of Google if looked within the Search industry alone would show that Microsoft is a distant 3rd behind Google and Yahoo. When people think of “search,” they think of Google.

It has been used by people as a verb that is synonymous with internet search. Merriam-Webster and Oxford even added it to their dictionaries in 2006 as a transitive verb. Http://news. Cent. Com/2100-1025_3-6091289.

HTML) How does one compete with that? 3. Why is Microsoft pursuing the market for search and search-related advertising? Microsoft’s original search capabilities were introduced on their MS website. MS was a competitor to other online portals, like Excite, AOL and Yahoo. These sites hosted news, search functionality and other content. The general approach of these wheedles was to act as a catch-all Internet sloes Walt various types AT services Ana data.

MS, like AOL had initially been exclusive to members-only.

As the competition started creating similar sites for the general public, MS re-launched in 1997-1998 to become open for all. Initially, MS outsourced its search functionality to Into, while Overture handled its online ad-space. Search was a bit of an after- thought as opposed too realized potential for revenues. In the early browser days, most websites were Just trying to keep people on their websites. Search was seen as having little revenue potential.

Google, a year later, learned from Overture’s Bill Gross about cost-per-click which defied the standard cost-per-impression model which wasn’t necessarily optimal for advertisers.

Google further enhanced their search by qualifying the search results with a combination of relevance and popularity. It also enhanced it ads, by applying a rule of relevance again. People using their site would see ads that they were more likely to actually care about, versus ads that were Just imposed on them regardless of their interests. These technologies and concepts made the Internet more organized, and useful to people.

And clearly, from Exhibit 2, we can see Google’s model was growing quickly, from $MOM to $1. 58 in ad and search revenues from 2002 to 2003.

By 2003, Microsoft was suddenly realizing the importance of search and the potential for ad-based revenue because of Google’s massive success. Microsoft realized it needed to get in the game and get it right. Payne and Moss, from the MS am, considered acquiring Into, but it seems they realized Google was way ahead of their partner in the race for search supremacy. They decided they needed something new, built from scratch.

At the same time, Microsoft realized Overture was not doing getting good enough results in the search-based ad-space, so Microsoft also decided to tackle a homegrown project to develop its own advertising system.

It was clear to Microsoft that Google had become a big threat. And as Roam from Microsoft’s search development acknowledged, Man’s search “emphasis was on pursuing revenue, not satisfying users. This led to a vicious cycle. This is exactly what Microsoft realized that Google was not doing, it was aimed at making its users happy, giving them relevant ads, as opposed to throwing more ads at them and driving the customers away.

There is further evidence to suggest that the Internet was supplanting the importance of the PC. Cloud computing was seen by many outsiders as where the future was heading.

As mentioned in the case, Sun’s motto was “The network is the computer. ” This seems like it would have been the major impetus for Microsoft to get into the search market more seriously, as its bread and butter was creating software lilt for the PC. Although, as noted in the case, Senior UP at Microsoft, Hussy Mimed had downplayed search as being “still in its early days,” indicating that it would eventually get a lot better. But search did not seem to register on Microsoft’s radar until Google was running away with the market in 2003.

What strategic options should Microsoft executives pursue? The Microsoft Search case tells an interesting story about a tech company, its approach to products and markets, and how it has evolved over the years. I think some of its strengths from the past have become its weaknesses. As of 2008, it was still operating using the same methods it had used for the last 25 years or so. Google took the search industry and used disruptive Innovation to Decode ten market leader In search Ana search-oases ads. Maladroit tried to play catch up, as it always had.

But in this day and age, that is not good enough in the Internet business. You really have to differentiate yourself, and if you can’t do that, you won’t get customers. One of the main things Microsoft must focus on is innovation. I think some of Gates’ instincts still stand to be solid advice for Microsoft. Choosing a good market space, for example, is still relevant to Microsoft. I also think utilizing their legacy products to leverage new products is a valid strategy.

Even Apple, the current leader in technology, has used this strategy to diversify its products.

Apple has used its tunes platform to launch various products such as pods, phones, Apple TV’s and so on. Likewise, I think there is still opportunity for Microsoft to leverage its Windows platform to do the same thing – grow into other markets. They need to become more of an ambidextrous organization, utilizing Windows and Internet Explorer’s dominance to bring forth new products. The second major strategic approach Microsoft must take is to rebind itself.

It is starting to be seen as this technology that “gets the Job done. No one gets excited about Microsoft’s new releases. The thing that Apple has really done better that Microsoft is in the branding. Apple has done a great Job of personalizing its products. Jobs always focused on the customer as the primary concern.

I believe Microsoft could do a better Job at focusing on the end-user as opposed to focusing on the market share alone. Apple’s products have become known as the products that customers want to use. When this is combined with their linkages to other products, it becomes a nearly unbeatable force.

Microsoft has done little lately on either of those fronts. I think as the convergence of technology increases interoperability and brand become much more important.

Microsoft’s brand is more built on its dominance that is has maintained across many industries, but it is starting to lose ground to companies that focus more on the user. To some extent, I’d say that Microsoft is fairly diversified, as Google is with all of its products, but both companies lack coherence compared to an Apple which has figured out how to sew it al together.

As was mentioned earlier, there is a trend that everything is moving towards the cloud. I think there is an opportunity for Microsoft to leverage its server technology and its Windows familiarity to really create products that bridge certain gaps in peoples’ lives – cloud frameworks and products that make the user’s life easier and more organized. Unlike Apple, there software development has often been on business applications. I think this is a good starting place for new innovation.

Instead of taking Apple head on, they might have better success if they work from that angle.

Related posts:

• Porter’s Five Forces Analysis for Microsoft
• De Facto Standards in the eBook Space: Adobe or Microsoft?
• Case Study Microsoft Ethics
• Case Study on Microsoft Corporation
• Microsoft case
• Microsoft Company

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Home / Case Studies / Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer streamlines companywide communication with Microsoft PowerApps and SharePoint lists

Published on May 13, 2019

Marks and Spencer

Global retail giant, Marks & Spencer (M&S)  needed a modern application that would allow employees to stay engaged with customers and stay connected and informed about upcoming sales activities.

Using SharePoint lists, Microsoft Flow and PowerApps, the organization created an application that enables teams to track and distribute sales promotions and activities to store managers across their varying locations around the world.

Today, more than 800 store managers can open the application from Microsoft Teams, mobile devices or desktops to view all in-store activity within the year from anywhere.

Headquartered in the UK, Marks & Spencer is a unique retailer with more than 1,400 stores in 57 countries, serving 32 million customers in stores and online.

The competitive retail landscape and evolving shopping behaviors of customers means it is essential for M&S to have access to the most efficient and effective technology throughout its operations in order to offer customers the best experience.

From home goods to grocery items, M&S stores carry a broad array of products, spanning numerous departments, and requiring thoughtful, connected leadership from dozens of in-store managers. To ensure store-wide awareness, store managers relied on word-of-mouth and printed hand-outs to inform their employees about upcoming activities. Relying on these traditional means of communication often required managers to expend excessive time tied to their desktop or sifting through papers.

Knowing that their process was antiquated and a barrier to productive store management, Duane Bergh, the Product Owner for Workplace Productivity, began investigating other options that could streamline communication of store activity. “We needed a process where store managers could have a simpler process of what activity is going on in the store.”

Since M&S was already an Office 365 customer, Duane and his team initially created a SharePoint hosted application, driven from a SharePoint list, that would allow managers to view in-store activity all in one place. While beautiful in appearance, the application took a significant amount of time to build and included numerous complexities.

Soon after launch, Duane and his team became curious about another product in the Office suite – Microsoft PowerApps. Feeling hopeful, the team began building a replica of their SharePoint-based “Activity App” with PowerApps. With only two developers and a week’s time of dedication, the team found success. “Building a solution in PowerApps was probably a fifth of the time that it took to build a custom dev solution.”

Using SharePoint lists and PowerApps, M&S now had a new application to track and distribute activity to store managers across their varying locations around the world. And even better – it could be accessed and run on mobile devices, enabling managers to read and share information about upcoming deals regardless of where they stood in their store. With functions such as a filter to look for specific activities and announcements across product lines, it didn’t take long for the M&S business team to see the value in the new Activity Tracker and launch it across the company.

Building a solution in PowerApps was probably a fifth of the time that it took to build a custom dev solution.

Today, with the new activity planner application, more than 800 store managers can open the application from their mobile device or desktop and view all in-store activity within the year. They can communicate more easily with various departments and employees, as well as customers, about upcoming activity and campaigns. The Activity Tracker also serves as a valuable tool in comparing sales numbers from one week, month, or year to the next. As a company focused on providing excellent customer experiences, M&S is giving its managers the ability to more easily focus their efforts on the customers in front of them. As Retail Business Development Manager Scott Townend says, having the Activity Tracker means “the time spent trying to get on a workstation is being reduced, and, therefore, they’re freeing up time to be facing our customers more on the shop floor, and, therefore, adding much more value to their roles.”

Giving managers access to in-store activity is just the start to a bright future in company collaboration at M&S. Hoping to integrate with other internal processes, the team looks forward to adding new functions, including the following:

• Microsoft Teams integration : M&S currently relies on Microsoft Teams for internal communication – whether that’s across managers or within specific stores. Being able to collaborate in real time, through file share, video conferencing, and chatting is important to the business. In the near future, the M&S team hopes to integrate Teams and their Activity Tracker so groups can reap the benefits of both, all from a single interface.
• Digital marketing: To allow sharing of store updates and photos of events, campaigns, and department set-ups, the team is working on an additional application that enables store managers to collaborate more deeply. They’re hoping to add functionality that would kick off targeted emails to customers about campaigns or events based on their interests.

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Microsoft, Google post double-digit profit rises, boosting case for AI

Tech giants’ shares surge after stronger-than-expected earnings.

Google and Microsoft have reported double-digit profit increases, buttressing the case for the tech giants’ heavy investment in artificial intelligence (AI).

The quarterly results announced on Thursday by Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft came in ahead of expectations, sending their shares 11 percent and 4 percent higher, respectively, in after-market trades.

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Alphabet reported a profit of $23.7bn in the first three months of the year, a rise of 57 percent.

The Silicon Valley giant also announced its first-ever dividend, at $0.20 per share.

Google chief Sundar Pichai said AI text-to-image model Gemini had helped drive the company’s solid earnings.

“Our leadership in AI research and infrastructure, and our global product footprint, position us well for the next wave of AI innovation,” Pichai said.

Microsoft reported a quarterly profit of $21.93bn, up 20 percent.

The strong showing comes after rival Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, lost $200bn of its market value on Wednesday after CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned of higher expenses due to investment in AI.

The earnings come as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other major players in AI are being scrutinised by regulators in the United States and Europe.

In January, the US Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into whether multibillion-dollar partnerships between Microsoft, Amazon and Google and the start-ups OpenAI and Anthropic harmed competition.

The European Commission in March opened a probe into tech giants’ management of the risks associated with AI, including computer-generated deepfakes.

Microsoft Cloud strength fuels third quarter results

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REDMOND, Wash. — April 25, 2024 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

• Revenue was $61.9 billion and increased 17%
• Operating income was $27.6 billion and increased 23%
• Net income was $21.9 billion and increased 20%
• Diluted earnings per share was $2.94 and increased 20%

“Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft.

“This quarter Microsoft Cloud revenue was $35.1 billion, up 23% year-over-year, driven by strong execution by our sales teams and partners,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

Business Highlights

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $19.6 billion and increased 12% (up 11% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 12% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 15%
• Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 4% and Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers grew to 80.8 million
• LinkedIn revenue increased 10% (up 9% in constant currency)
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 19% (up 17% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 23% (up 22% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $26.7 billion and increased 21%, with the following business highlights:

• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 24% driven by Azure and other cloud services revenue growth of 31%

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $15.6 billion and increased 17%, with the following business highlights:

• Windows revenue increased 11% with Windows OEM revenue growth of 11% and Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue growth of 13% (up 12% in constant currency)
• Devices revenue decreased 17% (down 16% in constant currency)
• Xbox content and services revenue increased 62% (up 61% in constant currency) driven by 61 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition
• Search and news advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 12%

Microsoft returned $8.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.

Business Outlook

Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

Quarterly Highlights, Product Releases, and Enhancements 

Every quarter Microsoft delivers hundreds of products, either as new releases, services, or enhancements to current products and services. These releases are a result of significant research and development investments, made over multiple years, designed to help customers be more productive and secure and to deliver differentiated value across the cloud and the edge.

Here are the major product releases and other highlights for the quarter, organized by product categories, to help illustrate how we are accelerating innovation across our businesses while expanding our market opportunities.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

To better execute on Microsoft’s mission, we focus our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts where we can have the most positive impact. To learn more about our latest initiatives and priorities, please visit our investor relations ESG website .

Webcast Details

Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer, Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Alice Jolla, chief accounting officer, Keith Dolliver, corporate secretary and deputy general counsel, and Brett Iversen, vice president of investor relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time (5:30 p.m. Eastern time) today to discuss details of the company’s performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor . The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on April 25, 2025.

Constant Currency

Microsoft presents constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars using the average exchange rates from the comparative period rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year. Microsoft has provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding our performance. The non-GAAP financial measures presented in this release should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Financial Performance Constant Currency Reconciliation

  Segment Revenue Constant Currency Reconciliation

  Selected Product and Service Revenue Constant Currency Reconciliation           

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as:

• intense competition in all of our markets that may lead to lower revenue or operating margins;
• focus on cloud-based services presenting execution and competitive risks;
• significant investments in products and services that may not achieve expected returns;
• acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances that may have an adverse effect on our business;
• impairment of goodwill or amortizable intangible assets causing a significant charge to earnings;
• cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities that could lead to reduced revenue, increased costs, liability claims, or harm to our reputation or competitive position;
• disclosure and misuse of personal data that could cause liability and harm to our reputation;
• the possibility that we may not be able to protect information stored in our products and services from use by others;
• abuse of our advertising, professional, marketplace, or gaming platforms that may harm our reputation or user engagement;
• the development of the internet of things presenting security, privacy, and execution risks;
• issues about the use of artificial intelligence in our offerings that may result in reputational or competitive harm, or legal liability;
• excessive outages, data losses, and disruptions of our online services if we fail to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure;
• quality or supply problems;
• government enforcement under competition laws and new market regulation may limit how we design and market our products;
• potential consequences of trade and anti-corruption laws;
• potential consequences of existing and increasing legal and regulatory requirements;
• laws and regulations relating to the handling of personal data that may impede the adoption of our services or result in increased costs, legal claims, fines, or reputational damage;
• claims against us that may result in adverse outcomes in legal disputes;
• uncertainties relating to our business with government customers;
• additional tax liabilities;
• an inability to protect and utilize our intellectual property may harm our business and operating results;
• claims that Microsoft has infringed the intellectual property rights of others;
• damage to our reputation or our brands that may harm our business and operating results;
• adverse economic or market conditions that may harm our business;
• catastrophic events or geo-political conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that may disrupt our business;
• exposure to increased economic and operational uncertainties from operating a global business, including the effects of foreign currency exchange and
• the dependence of our business on our ability to attract and retain talented employees.

For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor .

All information in this release is as of March 31, 2024. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

For more information, press only:

Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777, [email protected]

For more information, financial analysts and investors only:

Brett Iversen, Vice President, Investor Relations, (425) 706-4400

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news . Web links, telephone numbers, and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. Shareholder and financial information, as well as today’s 2:30 p.m. Pacific time conference call with investors and analysts, is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor .

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