Microsoft Case Study Essay - 2255 Words

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MICROSOFT: COMPETING ON TALENT CASE STUDY 5/09/07 Microsoft: Competing on Talent CASE STUDY OVERVIEW Microsoft has had a long standing practice of aggressively pursuing and hiring the brightest engineers in the software field. Yet by 1999 Microsoft had matured and many of its talent employees were leaving the company as documented in a Wall Street Journal article â€Å"As Microsoft Matures, Some Top Talent Chooses to Go Off Line†. The article reported that many employees were tired of grueling deadlines, frustrated by the bureaucracy, and lured away by high-tech start-ups. Newly appointed president and COO recognized that Microsoft had to change or adapt some of the human resource practices†¦show more content†¦BILL GATES PHILOSOPHY Bill Gates has long believed that it is important to hire extremely intelligent and driven personnel rather than experienced individuals. I do not agree with his belief that Microsofts ability to attract, motivate and retain superior people is its core source of competitive advantage. While I do believe these traits are important and a valuable asset, it is not the reason for his company’s competitive advantage. It is their marketing and positioning of their products that sets Microsoft apart. In the early 1980’s when his company was just starting up, they defeated a few less committed competitors to develop an operating system for IBM and their newly introduced personal computer. This operating system victory has been the core of Microsoft’s continual success as they correctly positioned their products to create a monopoly in the computing industry. And in 1999 a judge ruled just that, Microsoft was found guilty of restricting competition. There are many companies with exceptional minds, but if they don’t create a product that the public likes and has access to it will all be for not. This is why I feel that there are other factors to Microsoft’s success in addition to its intelligent workforce. Mr. Gates also believes in an â€Å"n minus one† philosophy, wher e they would actually staff projects with fewer employeesShow MoreRelatedCase Study of the Microsoft Monopoly599 Words   |  2 PagesCase Study of the Microsoft Monopoly Introduction Microsoft has a long history of engaging in monopolistic behavior, from the initial efforts to protect their operating system business to the forced bundling of key software components including Internet Explorer (Meese, 1999). 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A recent corporate restructuring saved the company massive resources, but its change management process remained questionableRead MoreMicrosoft Monopoly Case Study703 Words   |  3 PagesMicrosoft Monopoly Case Do old monopoly laws still pertain to life in a modern context? Recently, innovative companies have been hassled by the American government because of their potential for holding a monopoly over the ever-evolving computer systems and processing industries. Although Microsoft may have been in an unfair position, therefore negatively impacting the market as a whole, not all monopolies are bad, as examples of federal agencies clearly show. In 1998, Microsoft was hit with aRead MoreEssay about Microsoft Case Study1916 Words   |  8 Pagesplacing a â€Å"PC running Microsoft software on every desk and in every home† drove their overall strategy early on. 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What factors have contributed to Microsoft’s large cash hoard? 　 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | Cash and Marketable Securities | 18.9 | 102.7 | 132.5 | 183.2 | 300.8 | Stockholders Equity | 54.5 | 139.3 | 239.1 | 375.5 | 561.7 | Net Profit | 24.1 | 39.3 | 71.8 | 123.9 | 170.5 | ROE | 44.22% | 28.21% | 30.03% | 33.00% | 30.35% | New Cash and Marketable Securities | 2.8 | 4.1 | 9.3 | 18.6 | 25Read MoreCase Study - Playing Monopoly Microsoft1584 Words   |  7 PagesMicrosoft’s journey towards Monopoly Summary The case evolves around the unethical monopolistic actions taken by Microsoft to achieve monopoly. Some major facts in the case are given below – †¢ In 1980 IBM representative met bill gates for Operating System †¢ Bill Gates bought Operating System from a friend in $60,000 Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to IBM with condition that it could license it to others too †¢1981 IBM started mass production of and MS-DOS became standard Operating System for Personal