Environmental Changes
Microsoft is one of the companies that change strategies over time due to changes in technology, competition, and consumer preferences (Marcus, 2010). This company understands that its future depends on the moves it makes while responding to the shifts of the aforementioned changes. The company employs relevant strategies in order to achieve the long term or a competitive edge in the industry.
Technology changes
Despite its dominance in operating systems, Microsoft makes changes that enable it to keep up with the technological pace (Marcus, 2010). These moves come as the outdated traditional computers take the back seat, allowing new devices to take over. The company employs strategies to keep up with the changes in technology. This move helps it to help increase the transparency of its products and services. It also benefits by driving greater interoperability, opportunity, and choice for competitors, partners, and customers, among others. The company continues to pursue office suite software, employs strategies to meet the challenges posed to it by the internet through the browser, and pursues the server business (Marcus, 2010).
Competition
Microsoft faces stiff competition from other giant companies in the industry, such as Apple, Lotus, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard, among others (Marcus, 2010). The company takes the aforementioned moves in order to gain a competitive advantage over these competitors. Each of these competitors poses a new challenge to Microsoft Company. IBM, Lotus, and Novell challenge Microsoft in office suites; Netscape poses a challenge in browsers, and IBM, Sun, and Hewlett-Packard challenge it in servers. Microsoft has developed a programming language, which has improved communication of different websites and computer programs. It has attempted to push its operating systems into non-PC environments such as TV set-top boxes, handheld computers, and cellular phones, among others. All these efforts, despite being outside its core businesses in operating systems, internet browsers, and software-suites, aim at improving the company’s competitive edge (Marcus, 2010).
Customer preferences
A change in customer preferences is another challenge that has led Microsoft to change its strategies to ensure customer satisfaction (Marcus, 2010). As consumers migrate to tablets and smartphones, there is a need to keep up with these changes. The company employs its dynamic Customer Relationship Management (CRM). In the sports or gaming industry, particularly in the changing world of casino gaming and hospitality, Microsoft employs the CRM system that helps it in marketing its products and services. The CRM systems help the company to understand the changing preferences of customers and hence formulate strategies that help it to provide relevant information to customers. This ensures customer satisfaction because it drives a memorable customer experience in the process of buying.
Vision and Mission
The company’s vision and mission statement are “global diversity and inclusion are integral to the vision, strategy, business success and an inherent part of our culture” (Page, Johnston & Rollison, 2009, p. 141).
The company ensures that it puts its focus on the vision and mission statement. These vision and mission statements demonstrate that the company values the collaboration of different ideas, cultures, and perspectives because they are instrumental to its greater creativity. The management shares the statement with the employees and the public to make them aware of the moves it makes towards reaching its long-term goals. Through the help of its employees, Microsoft has always been balancing what it has proved to be suitable in the past and things that it will like to be good at in the future. With the support of its employees and the public, the company develops new options, which it uses to gain a competitive edge.
The vision and mission statement plays a significant role in driving the activities of Microsoft. They ensure that the activities focus on meeting the specifications of the vision and mission statement. The statement provides a direction for the organization’s activities. The vision empowers the employees and the public and helps them to focus on activities that will make the company achieve long term goals.
References
Marcus, A. A. (2010). Management strategy: Achieving sustained competitive advantage. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Page, A., Johnston, K., & Rollison, B. (2009). How We Test Software at Microsoft®. New York: O’Reilly Media, Inc.