Description
The purpose of this paper is to explore current ethical and social responsibility issues in the workplace that are relevant to your organization or career. Your task is to describe an ethical issue that is relevant to your work situation (past or current). The paper should focus on individual issues that you may face as an employee or manager.
In addition to completing this paper, now is a great time to go back over anything you need to fix, adjust, or add to the previous assignments that will become your final SWOT analysis. Now is also a great time to “look ahead†a bit to what is coming and still needed for your final SWOT submission in Module 8.
Your task is to describe an ethical issue and how it is impacting the organization. In addition, your essay needs to provide details of the dilemma along with a detailed recommendation on how the organization should proceed.
The nature of ethical decision-making is recognition, analysis and resolution. Most of the time we don’t make a decision because it’s ethical, but rather based on business; ethical decisions happen “after the fact.†After completing this activity, you will be better prepared to make those tough ethical decisions at work.
Please refer to the APA Writing Guide provided in this week’s reading/viewing area for any questions you have on this paper. In addition to the APA Writing Guide, please structure your essay papers using the following format:
Section One- Thesis:
Your thesis, or topic sentence, tells the reader what your essay will discuss. In just one or two sentences, discuss what information your paper will cover; this will help you to narrow your focus and keep you from writing on too broad a topic.
Section Two:
Provide a detailed description of the issue, with an emphasis on explaining the ethical dilemmas and social responsibilities inherent in the situation. Remember this issue needs to come from the organization that you are performing the SWOT analysis on, and should include information about who is impacted by this issue and why.
Section Three:
Give a detailed analysis of the issue and provide YOUR recommendations on what course of action is needed and why. Given the current condition of your work environment, analyze the underlying causes of the issue and provide recommendations for both the employees dealing with the issue as well as what the organization or managers need to do in order to manage and resolve the issue.
Section Four:
Provide a conclusion that summarizes your essay and emphasizes your main ideas. In academic writing, a conclusion serves to remind the reader about what your paper is about and allows you to make a final and lasting point without introducing new information.
Please include a title page and reference page with your essay and list the four sections as shown.
This essay paper should be 5 to 7 pages long
; this
does not include
your title or reference pages. All citations should be in APA format and need to be included on your reference page.
Running head: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
SWOT Analysis – Microsoft Corporation
Chantell Macias
Excelsior College
BUS299: Business and Management Capstone
January 17, 2021
1
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
2
SWOT Analysis – Microsoft Corporation
Company History and Profile
Microsoft Corporation was established in 1975 as the world’s leader in software
development, services, and solutions to most businesses and customers. The company’s main
software applications that are being used globally include Microsoft Office and Windows
Operating system. Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft. The company’s primary
headquarter is located in Redmond, Washington. This is the core center of the company’s
operations, where design, production, and provision of support and licensing of most technological
products and services occur. The first computer languages that the company started with included
BASIC, MS-DOS, and several versions of Microsoft Windows Operating systems. Microsoft was
incorporated in 1981, and in 2001, it joined the computer gaming community by launching
Microsoft Xbox.
The company’s mission statement is “to empower every person and every organization on
the planet to achieve more” (Microsoft Corporation, 2021). The company’s mission statement
communicates to consumers globally that it is primarily focused on designing and creating unique
and suitable products ideal for daily global usage. The company’s developers are smart. They listen
and are willing to create a promising future for every person.
Current Status
Microsoft recorded an increase in total revenue of 143 billion dollars in 2020 from 125.84
billion dollars in 2019 (Yahoo Finance, 2021). Additionally, Microsoft Corporation is expected to
grow by 8.6 percent in the current quarter of 2021. Therefore, it is evident that Microsoft is growing
and expanding its operations globally. However, this growth has slowed down due to the Covid19 pandemic that has hit the world for over a year.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
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.
Revenue
Gross Profit
Net Income
2018
2019
2020
110,180,000,000 125,500,000,000 143,015,000,000
71,210,000,000 82,590,000,000 96,937,000,000
16,570,000,000 39,240,000,000 44,281,000,000
Stock Price
R&D Costs
Growth Rate
100.39
14,726,000,000
22.69%
158.96
16,876,000,000
14.03%
222.42
19,269,000,000
13.33%
Over the 2020 period, Microsoft was hit by several bad news relating to their preferred
Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge browser. Due to the dropping support of Windows 7 and
Microsoft Edge, the expected market share is not what the management expected. Consequently,
in terms of its stock, it’s currently selling at 216.34 US dollars as of the close of business on 13th
January 2021. This is relatively lower than what was being recorded in the previous month of
December 2020, which was slightly above 222.42 dollars. This implies that the company’s stock
is not good for buying. Therefore, most investors are adamant about investing in its shares due to
its outlook for the current year, not being what key investors had anticipated.
Additionally, Microsoft has felt some critics of its various products and business practices.
In the early 2000s, the company was faced with several malware incidences that primarily target
the Windows operating systems’ security. Besides, Microsoft has attracted various legal battles
and lawsuits from several government agencies and businesses over their unlawful monopolistic
business practices. In 2004, Microsoft Corporation incurred over 899 million euros as a fine after
the EU found it guilty for abusing its dominant market position against Sun Microsystems LTD
(Raju, 2014).
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
4
SWOT Analysis
Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Microsoft managed to beat the
odds with its unique business features to remain profitable are critical in the hardware and
applications market. The company’s strong reputation and solid partnerships with other
organizations are the primary contributors to Microsoft’s success in this industry (Microsoft
Corporation, 2021). Therefore, the company needs to increase its branding and continue increasing
such key successful alliances with other organizations globally in improving its positive
externalities in the market. The company’s weaknesses, as well as threats, are directed to the
strategic reforms for Microsoft. For instance, Microsoft needs to innovate its processes,
procedures, and products to beat the odds of doing business in these difficult moments. Besides,
the company should maximize on diversification of its business to enhance growth and more sales.
Strengths
•
•
•
•
Strongest brand image in the
Weaknesses
•
The vulnerability of cybercrimes
production of computer hardware
that are affecting the operationality
and software applications
of its operating systems.
Large market reach in over 190
•
The Imitability of some
countries
technological products is lowering
Extensive market capitalization
the perfect brand of Microsoft
with over 776B Market Cap.
Corporation.
Strong partnerships with other
•
Some critical unsuccessful
organizations due to its ability to
company acquisitions such as
influence the market
WebTV and Danger have proved
to be Microsoft’s weakness.
•
Lack of main PC hardware
products than the competition.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Opportunities
•
•
The potential growth of the
5
Threats
•
business cloud offers Microsoft an
industry with Apple, IBM, and HP
expansion opportunity.
amongst key rivals for computing
Innovation and the emergence of
devices.
AI is a massive opportunity for
•
Microsoft.
•
There is strong competition in this
The smartphone market is growing
Software piracy is a big concern
for the company.
•
Cybercriminal activities are
at an increasing rate, which
crippling Microsoft’s business
Microsoft can highly capitalize on
model and compromising its
customers.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
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References
Microsoft Corporation. (2021). About – Microsoft. Microsoft.com. Retrieved 14 January
2021, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about.
Raju, K. D. (2014). Interface between Competition law and Intellectual Property Rights:
A Comparative Study of the US, EU and India. Intellectual Property Rights:
Open Access.
Yahoo Finance. (2021). Yahoo is now a part of Verizon Media. Finance.yahoo.com.
Retrieved 14 January 2021, from
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSFT/analysis?p=MSFT.
Running head: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Microsoft Corporation
Chantell Macias
Excelsior College
January 21, 2021
1
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
2
Microsoft Corporation
SWOT Analysis
Various reports and economic surveys indicate that the novel coronavirus disease
(Covid 19) has posted adverse effects on local, regional and international corporations
(Nicola, 2020). However, Microsoft Corporation has managed to sail through the
predicament because of its unique business features and remained profitable within the very
competitive computer hardware and software market. In general, the successes can be
attributed to the corporation’s strong reputation, commitment, innovativeness, and solid
partnerships with similar-oriented firms that contribute to the industry’s mutual benefits and
overall success (Microsoft Corporation, 2021). However, there is a persisting need to increase
the firm’s branding and engage in more business alliances with other internationally
recognized organizations to improve its market share. While most organizations have found
themselves at the edge of completely closing down or minimizing operations, Microsoft
Corporation has maximized on the following strengths to remain top of the computing
products trading tables.
Firstly, Microsoft Corporation has a strong and compelling brand image in producing
both computer hardware and software applications. Reports on the company’s website
indicate that it has the strongest and most reliable brand within the computer hardware and
software market (Microsoft Corporation, 2021). In particular, this strength has contributed to
the organization’s ability to attract more customers and maintain its current ones, especially
those who consider brand strength as a reliability factor. Microsoft and its legendary founder,
Bill Gates, are common household names and are known worldwide, even to remotely people
acquitted with computers. To this juncture, this attribute has allowed the corporation an
opportunity to forge ahead of its most notable competitors. The ability to spread its products
to at least 190 countries globally is primarily driven by a good reputation and effective
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
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product and service branding (Microsoft Corporation, 2021). Substantial brand equity is a
leading source of an unmatched competitive advantage for the organization.
Secondly, Microsoft Corporation enjoys strong partnerships with other corporations,
drawn from its ability to influence the computer hardware and software market. This strength
has enabled the organization to benefit immensely from positive externalities with new and
existing computer industry products. In essence, as more third-party application developers
continue to create software for other computer operating systems’ compatibility, Microsoft’s
Windows Operating System also continues to gain popularity among computer users. The
ability to engage in alliances with emerging and renowned companies contributes to
Microsoft Corporation’s capacity to significantly influence the industry in its favor. For
example, the corporation can quickly initiate an alliance with a hardware designer or
manufacture to develop a hardware product that runs on a Windows Operating System.
Simply put, the ability to influence partnerships and business partnerships indicates that
Microsoft Corporation has reliable and effective foundations to compete against other large
companies in the international industry such as Apple, Google, Oracle, and Sony favorably.
Thirdly, Microsoft software is generally easy to use compared to other brands in the
same industry. For example, the Windows Operating System and Microsoft Office
application software products are familiar household brands. This is not because the
manufacturer has a great monopoly, effective distribution channels, and a good brand
reputation but also because its products and services are of high quality and easy to use. This
strength has also positively affected the element of brand loyalty among its users. Since its
inception in 1975, the organization has persistently led in the development of operating
systems and an application software provider, resulting in more than ninety percent market
share of personal computers operating systems (Microsoft Corporation, 2021). Very few
other brands can significantly compete against Microsoft products for this reason. Despite the
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
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emergence of various open-source application software and operating systems, most
computer users prefer using or are attracted to Microsoft’s commercial products.
Lastly, Microsoft Corporation has strong and effective distribution channels that reach
out to the organization’s international clientele. This is achieved by working with all other
leading computer hardware producers such as Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba, among
other computer manufacturers and retailers. The primary computer retailers manufacture and
sell computers with pre-installed Microsoft’s operating system and other application software
through such mechanisms. Additionally, the organization’s reports indicate that it recently
increased its investment with Nokia and Dell to strengthen its marketing relationships with
the two companies (Microsoft Corporation, 2021). These operational models have had a
positive influence on Microsoft’s overall financial performance in recent times. For example,
the organization managed to grow its revenues by up to twenty percent between 2010 and
2015 and currently holds more than seventy-five billion dollars of cash equivalents that can
be effective in acquisitions and associated investments and improve growth opportunities.
In conclusion, Microsoft Corporation has all it requires within its reach to remain one
of the world’s leading characters in the computer hardware and software industry. The
company’s brand image, strong partnerships and alliances, the usability of products, and
effective distribution channels are only among other significant contributors to its current
market position. However, the company must continue enhancing its brand image to sustain
the positive perception of its operations. It is also vital to increase alliances with more firms
to improve positive externalities since it is critical, particularly within the information and
communication technology industry.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
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References
Microsoft Corporation. (2021). About – Microsoft. Microsoft.com. Retrieved 14 January
2021, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about
Nicola, A. (2020). The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID19): A review. International Journal of Surgery (London, England), 78, 185–193.
Running Head: WEAKNESSES OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Weaknesses of Microsoft Corporation
Chantell Macias
Excelsior College
January 31, 2021
1
WEAKNESSES OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION
2
Weaknesses of Microsoft Corporation
Introduction
Microsoft Corporation has been at the forefront of technological innovation globally for
over 40 years. The company has been a market leader before competition came in, and other
companies were overtaking it. Despite the competition, the company has continued to command
a large market share. Such companies must evolve to continue enjoying the large market share
that they do in the present day continuously. This paper seeks to explore the weaknesses of
Microsoft corporation and the reasons why these weaknesses exist.
Weaknesses and Why They Are Present
One of the significant weaknesses facing Microsoft Corporation is cybercrime theft,
which has left the company with many security flaws. This is a weakness because most clients
do not want to purchase or even use software to put their information at risk. When the clientele
finds other companies that are offering the same services but have better security measures, they
will shift towards the same, presenting this as a weakness in Microsoft corporation. The
weakness is present due to various factors. Technology has become an in-thing around the globe.
As there is an increase in the demand for technology, there is an increase in the number of male
practitioners who want to access data or harm the client’s information, leading to an increased
level of cybercrimes (Abbas, 2020).
These hackers are constantly looking for loopholes that they can use to attack the
Windows operating system, especially since there have been several vulnerabilities in the past.
These cybercrimes have then left Microsoft in a vulnerable state after various attacks on the
Windows operating systems. The company has also ignored cybersecurity problems for quite a
long time prompting users to look for alternative operating systems that are not Microsoft
WEAKNESSES OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION
3
Corporation’s product. The other reason that has led to this problem persisting in Microsoft is
that malicious hackers see it as a dominant company that has done a lot to keep the other
software companies down (Midhunchakkaravarthy & Ganapathi, 2013). However, this is a
competitive industry, and therefore the truthfulness of this matter is not reliable. Microsoft has
managed to reach its levels through great innovations and hard work, although that does not
mean that the malicious hackers will stop targeting the company.
The other weakness lies in the lack of main PC hardware products than their competition.
There is no doubt that Microsoft has managed to build a name in the software world and has
become a household name globally. However, the company does not produce its hardware. It
depends on computer hardware manufacturers to develop products that can run Windows
Operating Systems. The reliance on other stakeholders of the supply chain provides a challenge
as there are fluctuating prices of the hardware components, which the company does not control.
The other reason why this presents as a weakness for the company is that its competitors have
their hardware products. As such, consumers may find it easier and better to purchase from a
company that has its hardware and operating system rather than Microsoft, which depends on
suppliers for their hardware. This then reduces the competitive advantage of the company
bringing in the weakness.
Management Theory to Improve the Weaknesses
The management theory that would help in improving the weaknesses mentioned above
is the transformational leadership theory. It is also referred to as relationship theory and
primarily focuses on the relationship between the leaders and the followers. The leaders
influence the followers towards adopting positive behaviors and transformation so that they are
better at a particular task. The transformational leader shows the team members the significance
WEAKNESSES OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION
4
of a particular task (Korejan & Shahbazi, 2016). This would apply to Microsoft’s problems by
having the leaders inspire the employees to better perform, identifying problems or
vulnerabilities in the operating system. The employees should understand why they need to gain
a competitive advantage and the benefits it could have for them at the individual and
organizational levels. In terms of hardware components, the leader, through this theory, can have
an open-door policy to give space for innovators who can come up with hardware components.
This would foster a vertical integration strategy where the organization makes its hardware
products and incorporates its software services. It is crucial to recognize that this would require
great motivation from staff members, which transformational leaders can achieve.
Comparing the Cost of Purchase and Leasing
Microsoft Corporation uses various equipment. For this assignment, the equipment
chosen is a personal computer, which is quite the company’s common equipment. The cost of
purchasing a personal computer for a basic model in the company is about $400. This is for the
price of purchasing one, although Microsoft would purchase them in bulk. The cost of leasing a
PC is approximately 20 dollars per month (Pratt, 2017). If the PC costs 20 dollars every month, it
would cost the company 480 dollars for two years. However, if the company decided to pay the
whole amount upfront, i.e., the sales price, they would pay only $400 for the PC. The buy option
would be cheaper in the long run. It is also important to consider the non-financial aspects before
making the buying or leasing decision. When buying the equipment, the company will call the
shots in matters of specifications and maintenance, whereas, in leasing, this will not be the case
as the decisions will depend on the leasing company. As such, the recommendation would be for
Microsoft Corporation to buy the equipment.
WEAKNESSES OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION
References
Abbas, Z. (2020). Competitive Analysis of Microsoft in Market Settings. Research Gate
Korejan, M., & Shahbazi, H. (2016). An analysis of the transformational leadership theory.
Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences. 8. 452
Midhunchakkaravarthy, D., & Ganapathi, P. (2013). A Survey on Various Security Threats and
Classification of Malware Attacks, Vulnerabilities, and Detection Techniques.
International Journal of Computer Science and Applications. 3. 66-72
Pratt, M. (2017). How Much Should a Business Computer Cost? Retrieved from
https://www.business.org/finance/cost-management/much-computer-cost/
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