Category: Microsoft

Introduction

The rapidly growing world of industrialization and globalization has witnessed a sharp growth of industries, which are substantial in economic and social growth. Technological advancement is probably one of the major characteristics of the industrial revolution in the postmodern world with virtually every important aspect of a technical profession, largely relying on technological support to operate efficiently.

Notwithstanding their aptitude to integrate business ideas that support them through the rapid diffusion globalized economy, corporate organizations are facing unrelenting challenges in their operations. Since its advent into the corporate world, Microsoft Corporation has been arguably one of the prevalent corporate names in the technology industry, with its performance positioning it among the fortune 500 organizations.

Analogous to other organizations, Microsoft has also been facing challenges that have marred its corporate growth. Fundamental to this notion, the purpose of this study is to analyze problems that Microsoft faces and provide possible alternatives and recommendation.

Symptoms of the problems

Notwithstanding its long outstanding performance within the technological business paradigm with unbroken performance track record, Microsoft is experiencing something different in the contemporary days. Several critical symptoms to its downfall in the technological consumer market are becoming more eminent in the current days.

Dropping in Microsofts market value is one of the first symptoms that significantly demonstrate possible problems confronting Microsoft Corporation; hence, its fall in market prominence and dominance in the last two years before the advent of Apple, which has proved to be one of the worlds most honored technological companies.

Another significant symptom to the problems marring corporate growth is the gradual loss of human capital that has been forming potential strengths to the initial success of Microsoft Corporation.

As postulated from the case study, Microsoft is gradually losing a majority of its innovative human resources to the prevailing competition with many of its top executives withdrawing from the organization either through formal work retirement process or attracted by competitors.

Microsoft third most possible symptoms to its current problems is technological eschew or stagnancy with the case study report indicating that Microsoft is steadily losing value and lagging behind its competitors as the company has failed to continue producing modern technologies including gaming devices, tablets, mobile phones, and other media.

From its initial growth in productivity that made almost all its employees virtually millionaires, one of Microsofts significant symptoms of downfall is its low revenue generation as compared to its operating income. This performance trend started stagnating and fluctuating from the beginning of 2008 towards 2010.

From the case report, employee rapport with Microsoft Corporation started dwindling following the companys inability to handle integral employees concerns including low pays of wages and reduction of benefits despite the companys ability to record high profits. Indicative of these symptoms, Microsoft is now struggling to deal with numerous problems within its operations.

Problem statements

Microsoft Corporation is facing a continuum of challenges in the recent days. One of the major problems that form a great challenge in the progress of Microsoft within the technology realm is low productivity, underproduction, or simply poor organizational performance. Microsoft is gradually falling short of market performance, which is characterized by low performance as opposed to its initial phenomenal success.

Also, as a software giant, flagship products are becoming rare. From the case report produced by the Wall Street, Microsoft was lagging behind its competitors in almost all aspects of business including technological advancement, marketing techniques, and relatively low financial capacity following the invasion of other technical companies.

Management is one of the critical success factors that determine the initiation and resilience of the organizations in its operations. Organizational management is normally responsible for administering leadership techniques that determine organizational performance as it controls both human and financial capital.

According to the case, as provided by Wall Street, poor management is one of the potential problems affecting Microsoft in the contemporary days within evidence of bureaucratic management that has significantly affected creativity and stock performance.

The case study indicated that innovative workforce is withdrawing with members claiming that Microsoft was responding too slowly to technological changes and other employees cited that Microsoft failed to address their concerns.

Any modern company aims at organizational success that is currently achievable by addressing significant production factors including actively focusing on quality of products that meet customers demands and preference. Research on this case study unveiled that Microsoft is currently facing stiff market competition from potential competitors in the technology industry, including the rapidly growing Apple, Mac, and Linux.

With demand for advanced technologies cutting across different devices and services, Microsoft is facing technological competition from the PC market to its services, including the Windows division that provides computer-enabled operating systems. This competition is stiffening from software production to hardware systems, which were Microsofts main tools for competitive advantage.

Problem Analysis

Low and deprived productivity

Organizational productivity is determined by numerous factors that entail financial comportment and market performance. From the case study provided about Microsoft, market performance and financial status clearly indicate that Microsoft is currently surviving under deprived productivity.

Discussing on financial performance that signifies performance or productivity in organization, Exhibit 3 provided in the study can significantly demonstrate this concern. A closer analysis of annual financial statements of revenue and operating income of Microsoft from 2008-2010, the companys financial stability is dwindling.

The financial statement indicates that Microsoft has been recording profits, but in quite unstable performance characterized by hikes and drops between the years. In 2008, the company recorded $ 60, 420 million values of revenue and $22,217 operating income (loss).

In 2009, the company recorded annual revenues worth $58,437 and reported annual operating income worth $20, 363. This financial performance trend proves that the company is recording unsteady performances.

Management

Management forms an integral part in organizational performance as policies and objectives articulated by management and their competence normally influence organizational success. One of the useful indicators that point to management failure in Microsoft is the continued employee-management wrangles that have posed serious issues in the company.

As indicated by the report, despite its uninterrupted track record in attracting and retaining significant human capital, the company has in the recent past witnessed a substantial loss in its key creative human resource. Top executives attached to business long term endeavors have resigned and others sought employment from other potential employers.

The current management has failed considerably in handling essential employees concerns including complaints regarding wages and benefits reductions, characterized by a widening compensation gap between executives and employees.

The managements laxity in adopting new technologies that are integral for intensifying competition in the technology industry is keeping the company at stake, thus forcing it to struggle in the market performance.

Technological market competition

The response to the market demands and customers preference for certain products is currently one of the paramount business factors that entrepreneurs have recognized to have a potential impact on a firms stability. A key problem facing management in Microsoft is the constantly rising technological market competition that in most occasions has found the company unwary.

The fast pace at which other technologies are rising and their capability to respond to the rapid technological changes has created enormous problems to Microsoft. The company has lagged behind in realizing innovations involved in new technologies, including supporting the development of gaming services, tablets, mobile technologies, and other sources of media.

Microsoft has failed to recognize the rising demand for Smartphone technologies and continued to perform in dwarf of PCs. The company is performing dismally in server and tools and in providing online services while at the same time, the entertainment and devices section are dwindling in its performance in the technology market.

Alternatives for the problems and their Evaluation

Problems normally occur in businesses, but they only become detrimental when alternatives and approaches to handle them never emerge. The main problem in the case of Microsoft that has a significant influence in the existence and continuation of others is the issue of management itself. The management is arguably part of barrier to implementation of important strategies in Microsoft.

In a bid to reclaim its aptitude and performance in the rapidly changing technological industry, reshuffling and changing the management style is paramount for positive results in Microsoft Corp. Bureaucratic management stifles performance and each significant change will begin by streamlining the management.

As stated from the case, the current management is autocratic and tyrannical, with little expertise as top executives, including the current C.E.O Steve Ballmer have not received any credible welcome from directors and employees.

Attracting and retaining innovative workforce to help in innovating new technologies would help in reshaping Microsoft Corp. as talented human resource is imperative in analyzing problems, making critical decisions, and supporting management with progressive ideas.

One of the essential factors to consider in the technology industry is the trendiness in the products as integrating services and products with significantly advanced technologies would greatly aid in improving the market demand for its products.

After identifying innovative workforce that would produce competitive products and brands, it would be significant for Microsoft Corp. to consider expanding its market through strategic marketing techniques and enhancing the prevailing partner relationships. The restructured managed is capable of building more powerful partners.

Course of action (Recommendations)

Step 1: The entire action plan would require one year for effective implementation. Each step would require three months. The first would be a three-month strategic action plan development, which denotes the beginning of changes. The first step would involve revamping the management to allow integration of significant changes in Microsoft Corp. Designing implementation committee is integral in this phase.

Step 2: The second phase of change that would create significant change to Microsoft is attracting new and innovative workforce that would help in generating ideas on developing new technologies. The new management can practice this aspect throughout the companys operations, though for the start, three months are adequate to identify the desired workforce competent enough for improving Microsoft.

Step 3: In three months, the new talented workforce will work with the management team in critical decision making to improve the companys operations including changing and designing new and advanced products that follow the market trend. This move would help restore the companys reputation on the quality of products and subsequently improve its market rapport with clients.

Step 4: The last step that would significantly place Microsoft Corp. in the best market position would involve developing a global marketing team and designing strategic marketing plans that will aid in expanding the market share for products of Microsoft. For instance, a huge marketing team to market the new windows 7 and Windows 8 is paramount.

Introduction

People who work in an organization or in a company make the human resource of that company. Thus, human resource management is concerned with how people are managed in an organization in order to increase their productivity and profitability (Smith, 2006). Different companies employ different employment strategies since the goods and services companies deal with are different thus calling for different approaches.

The other fact is that different people in an organization have different views, aspirations, and feelings towards different situations in an organization (Malhotra & Galleta, 2003). Human Resources Management has of late been used in referring to approaches which seek to manage the needs of the company as well as the needs of the people.

Human resource management entails analyzing the different views and aspirations people have within the organization and make them work towards the success of the company. In summary, how an organization connects to its employees is all what human resource is concerned with.

In trying to manage and solve the problem of Human Management Resources there have been various approaches initiated towards solving the problem and experts have come up with various theories and concepts that try to define human resource management.

The human resource management sector has been studied for a long period in motivation science of human behavioural science movement. The fact that people always work in order to satisfy certain needs as they climb up the ladder is a major study of concern to many experts.

During the same period, concepts of job design for example how satisfying a job is and the chances of promotion in certain jobs are also considered in the human resource management.

Evidence shows that people work harder if there is satisfaction in the organization and thus there is need for the management to design challenging and interesting jobs which are geared towards gaining the full attention and commitment of the worker. Theories explaining how human beings relate were introduced in the 1960s and others later in the 1970s.

Managers at that time were using Maslow and Herzbergs theories in their management strategies. When designing a new theory the applicability of the theory, the limitations and the benefits of using certain theory (and not the other) should be considered by any company that hopes to succeed.

Microsoft Company

The Microsoft Company stands as one among the most successful and wealthiest companies in the United States of America and the world as a whole. For matters concerning human resource management, the company is an employee driven organization.

Technologically, Microsoft is way ahead of other companies and the company success has always been based on the employees efforts as we shall see in this study. The company has always placed its employees among the very important component for its success thus human resource management study of the company would be an interesting issue to study about.

Human Resource Management at Microsoft

Company Background

The company was co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Since then the company has never looked back as it has grown to become a multinational company dominating the American and the world market in the computing industry.

Among the products which gave the company a prominent name are the two operating systems; which are the MS- DOS system (Micro Soft Disc Operation System) which is no longer in use and the Windows operating system which has been undergoing modifications and improvements since its introduction in the year 1998 (Oak, n.d; Aruvian, 2009).

The Hiring Process: During its Beginning Period

Ever since its beginning Bill Gates has been the torch and the leader of Microsoft. On the issues of recruiting new employees he always believed at recruiting the brightest and the most smart students in the universities thereby preferring intelligence over what many companies look for, which is experience (Priyadarshini, 2010).

This history of hiring new fresh but bright graduates has been practiced ever since the company began in the year 1975 when the co-founder, Paul Allen, recruited and employed the smart guys they used to know and studied with in the university or the smartest guys they could find in the universities at that time.

From the beginning the company discovered and put it into their minds that the employees were the greatest assets thus managing them in a healthy and a comfortable manner was one of its core foundations. Ever since then, the company has employed recruitment strategies that align with their philosophy which always aims at seeking the smartest and the most driven people.

When recruiting, the company began with sourcing for bright people from the prestigious institutions such as the Harvard, Yale, and other colleges in the country then assessment followed there after.

Once selected the students underwent a very involving assessment process and the first stage began with an interview where one was to face an interviewing panel of about three to ten people from the companys Human Resource department. The interviews were very involving and the fact they were looking for intelligence and not experience is confirmed by Silistre (2007) when he states that:

These interviews are designed not only to test knowledge, but also testing thought processes, problem-solving abilities, and work habits. Technical interviews are described as being focused mainly on problem-solving, with interviewers posing problem scenarios in which the recruits are supposed to find solutions.

To test the composure of the candidate and also their creative problem-solving skills, unexpected questions were also included (Par 3).

Soon after this, the potential candidates left and awaited feed back from the hiring team who either hired or did not hire according to what their interests were. The interviewing panel was also very considerate of those who did not succeed as it forwarded to them reports indicating where their weaknesses had been observed and sometimes what needed to be done.

The interviewing process was usually a hectic activity to the recruits as most of the time they were pushed to their limits. The assumption being that if they were pushed to the limits and succeeded during the interviews then that meant they could survive in the company working environment.

If most of the recruits passed through the interviews then the hiring department forwarded their names to the manager who was now served with the role of hiring or not hiring the recruits according to what his judgment would be. Interviewing was the final phase.

The person was meant to check that the individual the company intended to hire was fully qualified and that the due procedures had been followed during the hiring process. This reduced the chances of managers hiring the wrong and unqualified persons just because of the fact that they had vacant positions which needed filling.

The Hiring Process: As At the Present Time

The company has retained its basic hiring strategies but with the company expanding globally it has been hard for the company to source for recruits only from the universities rather there has been a need also to source employees from other places. Despite all these, the hiring process has remained active rather than passive with the company still aiming at recruiting the existing best in the field.

The firm has taken advantage of other rival firms which have been laying off their employees also by monitoring and recruiting them to their company. Through all these, the company has still been seeking for the best as this can be confirmed by Silistre (2007) as he indicates that;

Microsofts euphemism for the kind of highly talented and driven people they sought  the pursuit was relentless, if subtle. Regular telephone calls at discreet intervals, conversations at industry conventions, invitations to formal dinners  recruiting team members employed every means possible to keep the lines of communication open (par.12).

For example when AOL was down sizing, the company assembled a team to go identify the best talent and start communicating with them with the aim of hiring them in future. In every aspect of the company its mission and vision explains what the company hopes to attain or the position it hopes to be in future and that is mostly explained by the type of the employees a company hires.

As we can ascertain from the above, Microsoft still employs different practices than what most companies do. The recruitment method of the company is simply based on how the employee can fulfill the company needs by recruiting the very best people in the job market.

Their recruitment process is based on hiring the right type of a person; somebody with the capabilities of meeting the company demands rather than focusing on experience or skill levels what other many companies look for. Silistre (2007) explains that in human resources management Experiential Approach human resources are described as an important source of competitive advantage.

Microsoft use human resources for competitive advantage, basing their success on having the very best people in the industry and inspiring them to be the best. It is this that leads to Microsofts unique recruitment practices. (Par.10). their desire to have the best class of employees in the industry justifies why their recruitment process is among the less understood strategies of hiring employees in the world.

As long as the recruitment process main idea is fulfilling a human resource need in the company, then the company urge to look for the best will always continue. This can be shown as it happened some years back when the company needed a human resource manager, the company picked Brummel an executive in the company with no HR experience.

When the CEO was asked about it he simply said the company culture demanded it be done that way. Considering that Brummel had been with the company for a period of about 7 years it was explained that she knew many things about the company than a hired human resource expert could ever know, (Anonymous, 2007).

Their approach is mainly focused at meeting the company needs not just filling the position but fulfilling some company goals and this has led to the success of Microsoft and it has grown to become a major industry power both in the United States of America and the World at large.

The recruiting staff should is always a member of the section where the company needs to be filled so as to be well informed about the department needs and what qualities are being looked into at the same time ensuring that the candidates are not misinformed about the negative characteristics of the job they are looking forward to.

To ensure no negative characteristics of the job are given, most of the final interviews are conducted by the managers themselves. The interview moves a step further and rather than informing the recruit the negative aspects that he or she might face during the employment period, the process itself prepares the recruits on how they would react if they were faced by the certain negative aspects of the job.

Putting the recruits under the same situation they would be if exposed to the true job gives the company a chance of hiring only the best and the well adapted to pressures that may arise during the job. The assumption is that if the employee succeeds at the selection process then if faced by the same situation in the job he or she would still succeed.

Achieving Employees Loyalty and Satisfaction

As we have discussed above, the company values its employees very much and thus ever since it was founded it has always attempted to meet and satisfy the need of its workers. With the company employing mostly young graduate from the universities, the company has created a favorable environment for working creating an environment which suits the age of its employees.

This is confirmed by Silistre (2007) when quoting a former human resource manager asking that how do you make young kids who had never been away from home  or only as far as college  comfortable? He explains that they wanted to keep the atmosphere at work one they were somewhat familiar with, and also make sure it gave them a sense of social belonging (par 15).

The environment created includes giving every employee his or her own office to work in and allowing them to decorate them in which ever way they want.

To enhance loyalty further, the company also offers its employees food at subsidized prices and this works as a motivation to the employees. There have been horizontal transfers within the company whose main aims have been to develop a multifaceted worker who can work in any department and this improved the growth of the workers tremendously.

Observers have noted that very few employees leave the company through dismissal rather the majority leave on their own without any conflicting occasions experienced.

Only in the 1990s that the company was experiencing a high rate of its employees leaving the jobs and seeking alternatives in the rival firms and this led to the company doing a survey to find what the problems were and how the required changes could be implemented to ensure that everybody was comfortable. The company resolved that the top management was to train the junior employees as this would help in developing them.

This was very vital since it gave the employees an opportunity to develop further. The company was also focused on how to increase its employees satisfaction and commitment to Microsoft as a company while still maintaining the same goals that the company was founded on and since then the company has been a success.

Performance- Culture Model

Since its foundation, the co-owner, Bill Gates always believed that employee ownership was critical in improving motivation and also enabling the company retains its employees for a longer period. The company thus offered its employees high wages and options of owning equities by buying shares from the company based on the performance once it was listed on the stock exchange.

The aim of offering stocks based on the performance and reward was and still remains that the employees are motivated to perform better due to the increased bonuses awards and stock options.

The performance goals of the employees were measured against the company objectives which were shortened to the word SMART, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results based and Time bound (Silistre, 2007: Par 16) and the rewards could be based depending on how one had attained the above.

The review process included common assessments by the managers to ensure that there were no deviations to the required standards and also the system also has options for self assessment who then forwards the reports to the managers for them to do the evaluation.

Thereafter, the manager and the employees meet to discuss the assessment and what needs to be done. The stock options awards are usually given only to those customers who seem to be long term assets to the company and this works to the best of the company as it tries to retain its best and most efficient employees.

Motivation of the Employee in Microsoft Company

Silistre (2007) when quoting McNamara says that, the key to supporting the motivation of your employees is through understanding what motivates each of them (Par 22). The relationship between the employer and the employee to Microsoft is a very important issue.

The Microsoft Company has always ensured that the company goals are well understood through its strong culture that still goes on in the company. The employees are always aware from the first day they are employed in the company of what is required of them.

A common saying goes that you cannot take a donkey to the river and force it to drink water. The donkey has to be thirsty in order to drink the water. The thirsty feeling motivates the donkey to drink water. Without the thirst there would be no motivation or the donkey to drink the water.

For the case of Microsoft Company, motivation is providing a work environment in which everyone feels satisfied through on their own at the same time serving the organizational goals and objectives (Silistre, 2007). The same thing can be described of motivation. In his motivation theory, Fredrick Herzberg stated that motivation involves hygiene factors which include the work and organization environment.

The hygiene factors include the organization, policies and their administration, salary, status and job security among other factors. He explains that the factors may not lead to high levels of motivation though but when such qualities lack there is dissatisfaction among the employees.

He explains the second factor which promotes this motivation theory involves actually what goes on in the organization and what the employees do in order to develop an inbuilt motivation with the work force. Achievement and recognition are among other factors that make the work force be intrinsically motivated. These two concepts as explained by Herzeberg, yields more motivation.

Employees should be treated as best as possible with minimum or no dissatisfaction at all (Accel Team, 2010). Those who are recruited to the company and the systems where they work in provide the necessary motivation as required by the workers.

In his theory, the hierarchy of needs, Maslow (1943) explains that no matter how well individuals (in our case a company employees) are satisfied, they may still sometimes (if not a usual thing) develop some discontentment. That is unless the company ensures that the individual is doing what is best suited for him. He gives an example that people must be allowed to do what they are trained to do and doing it best.

For instance allowing a man to be what best he can be. This is what many call self actualization. The hierarchy of needs as explained by Maslow increases as the basic needs are fulfilled, new needs will emerge and these needs are not that crucial but psychologically they are.

The ever increasing needs is all what is meant. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency which dominates human beings and when these too are satisfied newer ones will emerge, (Marslow, 1943: 375).

The Microsoft Company provides all these to its employees and the staff in general and the company lays its demands from the employees to be the very best they can ever be.

Silistre quotes one of the employees as saying the only way to achieve here is to push the envelope of what you can do. Every day try to do better. Work harder. Innovate more. People are focused 100% on performing their job as successfully as possible (Par 25). Self actualization in the company can also be seen with the type of the employees the company hires.

They are the brightest and the smartest among their peers thus for them to achieve self actualization there is a need for them to be pushed harder and be given the opportunity to achieve more than what ordinary employees can achieve.

Employee Loyalty and Satisfaction

The company has been implementing strategies aimed at empowering its employees. For any organization to empower its employees there is always a need for a developed culture which allows this to happen.

In the case of Microsoft, a change of culture as the survey indicated above was needed and it has brought about the success of the company in that every employee feels some ownership to the company as they are free to make innovative decisions and then forward to the management for approval if deemed successful or revisions are made if improvements are needed to make the idea work successfully.

In a SWOT analysis done by Hafner and Hilbert (2001) the two describe one of the company strengths being attributed to the flexible workforce the company employs and the loyal and devoted workforce who in addition to a good pay also have chances of doing well by buying the company stocks, this works as a motivation towards working even harder.

For the young employees to be at par with the older employees there has been continued activity of the older employees coaching the young employees and preparing them for what is needed of them. Satisfaction of doing any job in many companies Microsoft included depends on the complexity of the job, the value of doing the work and the physical effort that need to be invested in the job.

Microsoft Company ensures that the more complex the job is the higher are the returns associated with the activity. Bill Gates as the manager and the co-founder of the Microsoft Company has always placed his employees way above where most other companies place them.

The expectancy theory as indicated by Vroom state that the belief that one thing will lead to another is likely to bring motivation if there exists a relationship between the performance and the outcome. It is always seen as a way of satisfying a need. The expectancy theory also explains about the rewards which come together with effort (Armstrong, 2006).

This theory is being applied at Microsoft as the company reward system has shown. Issuing of equities to the most valued employees creates a form of partnership in that even when the employee is doing his work his productivity also improves his current status in the organization as his shares improves on value as the company continues to gain profits.

The company reward system is also based on two options: the technical path and the management path. This is a very good consideration due to the fact that as we move up the company ladder the management requires less technical skills compared to the management skills (Rosen, 2003; Strebel & Lu, 2008). The company values technical skills due to its products nature.

In most organizations, employees with conceptual skills would be rewarded by moving up the corporate ladder, while those with technical skills would not advance. Microsoft, however, offers two advancement paths, allowing those with technical skills to advance as technical experts, just as those with conceptual skills advance as managers (Silistre. 2010: par 30).

With the just ending economic crisis, the company was not spared either and it has been working on how to reduce the expenses and increase its profitability. The economic crisis effect has also driven the fact that the existing customers pool need to be reserved and this has resulted in cancelled conferences and business meetings as the top brass in the company visit their customers.

The company has also been urging its employees to put more effort in maintaining their customers by ensuring products are released on time and with the promised features (Bass, 2009).

The promise comes after the company still reeling from the economic crunch and its plan to retrench about 5000 jobs in the year 2010 and more in the following years until it can be in a position to recover fully. This shows that despite the company success some issues still need to be checked to ensure that the company remains a major profit earner as well as a major employer (Johnston, 2009).

Conclusion

Microsoft company success can be attributed to the effective human resource policies that the company applies. The way the company has modeled its HRM policies is an example that if businesses are run with both the vision of the employee and the employer being intertwined there is no doubt a company can succeed.

Reference List

Accel Team, 2010. Human Relation Contributors. Web.

Anonymous, 2007. Reshaping Microsofts HR Agenda. Web.

Armstrong, M. 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice: 10th Edition. London, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development

Aruvia, R. 2009. Analysis of Microsoft Corporation. Web.

Bass, D. 2009. Microsoft Prescribes Permanent Diet As Sales Slump (update 3). Web.

Hafner, A. W; Hibbert, E.L: 2001. SWOT Analysis: Microsoft Corporation. Web.

Johnston, S. 2009. Microsoft Misses Earnings, First Layoffs Ahead. Web.

Malhotra, Y.; Galleta, D. F. 2003. Role of commitment and motivation in knowledge management systems implementation: theory, conceptualization and measurement of antecedents of success. Proceedings of Hawaii International conference on system sciences. Web.

Maslow, A. H. 1943. A Theory of Human Motivation: Psychological Review. Web.

Oak, M. When Was Microsoft Founded and By Whom? Web.

Priyadarshini J. 2010. Microsofts HR Strategy  an Analysis. Web.

Silistre, H, 2007. Human Resource Management at Microsoft. Web.

Smith, A. 2006. Control or capability? Human resource practices for a changing environment. Web.

Strebel, P; Lu, Hongze. 2008. Perspective for Managers. Web.

Rosen, C. 2003. The Employee Ownership Update: Microsoft Replaces Options With Restricted Stock. Web.

Quality Management: An overview

There exist a number of methodologies that are used in quality management by business corporations today. Each of the methodologies depicts different success measures, and is motivated by different factors; as are applicable to either the broad or narrow units of business. Quality management is in itself a complicated process that entails the integration of multiple units of the larger business.

There is also the need for complex communication among all the stakeholders of the firms. Therefore, it is important for the all the stakeholders and/or participants in in the quality management process to have the required tools that are necessary for faceting Quality Management (Rose, 2005).

In organizations today, there is an increasing need of combining quality with management. This is thought to increase business performance as well as cutting down the losses because of wasteful activities that result from low cost operations. Therefore, total quality management has been applied in prominent corporations globally, for instance the Microsoft International Corporation.

Quality management is a set of managerial activities and functions which are involved in determining the quality policy, and the implementation of the policies via a number of channels which include quality planning and quality control and assurance. Total quality management is a set of management practices which help in the improvement of performance of firms processes (Daft, 2012).

Customer Groups of Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Corporation was founded in the year 1975. Its founders are Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The company is a software provider, and deals in the production of software that is used for personal computers. Some of its products are Microsoft Disc Operating System and the Windows Operating System that are used worldwide.

These products are utilized for personal computers, applications for server environments, applications related to business as well as consumer productivity, media programs of an interactive nature, and development of internet platforms and tools.

The corporation also offers online services, selling of personal computer books and other input devices, and carries out research aimed at developing modern, advanced and more sophisticated software products (Geisst, 2006).

Basing on the range of products and services that the firm deals in, it can be deduced that the company deals with a big range of customers. With the advancement in information and communication technologies, the software technology is an essential tenet of information technology.

Thus, Microsoft Corporation has its customer and clientele system across a big range of companies and or organizations and institutions whether they are for profit or not for profit making. As more hardware technologies and products are developed and advanced, so is the same with software technologies to match and/or complement development of hardware.

The major customers of Microsoft are computer manufacturing and distributing corporations for which the company sells the Microsoft computer software. The other customers include other information and communication technology firms. The company also has a secondary market. This deals with selling companys software in stores.

There are thus two market groups for the firm which is the primary market where the company deals with other companies and corporations as customers and the secondary market where the company sells its software in stores (Geisst, 2006).

Customers always expect more from companies; more for such big and innovative companies like Microsoft. The expectations of the customers for this company are better quality of its products and services; for example invention of software that can perform more complex functions in a more quick and elaborate manner.

Cost of quality in Microsoft Corporation

The failure of a product in the market has negative implications on the overall company. For the Microsoft Corporation, the quality of its products in the market has been awesome. The company is leading in the market more so with its Products  Windows platform. The quality of these products has been better over time. Being a technological company however, defections and anomalies are inevitable.

The anomalies were seen in the Windows Vista software which had technical defects. This was one of the biggest failures of this corporation. The problem was compounded by the promise of the company that Windows Vista would be a high quality and standard product. The expectations of consumers were not made in the quality of the software.

However, Microsoft has a unique position concerning the quality of its products. The company relies on feedback from the consumers using these products. They use the feedback to assess and improve the quality of its products, and as a basis in the invention and development of new products.

Customer product quality issues come in because the customers of the company always have very high expectations of the products of the company.

They base on the god quality record that has been set by the company. Microsoft as a company also develops software that is used in testing the quality of their products. This software helps the firm in the detection of anomalies in its products before the products are released to the market (Geisst, 2006).

Microsoft Software Development and Total Quality Management

Each year, Microsoft Corporation deals in the designing of different consumer as well as enterprise software products. The development of a single and/or individual software product is separated and considered a project.

Therefore, the project has its own sets of inputs and outputs and also workflows. The process of design is distinct among the different product types which include the operation systems DTP applications, Web Services, Database applications among other project types.

Every project has several teams that comprise of 3-10 members. This is dependent on the size of the product that is being developed. The product is categorized as small, medium or large. Larger projects  those developing large products have bigger teams.

The teams could comprise of even up to hundreds of product specialists and engineers. To attain high quality products, skilled labor force is considered the main resource as for each of the project (Carrow, et al, 2010).

The design and development of software products by the Microsoft Corporation is a process that is further sub-divided into other four smaller processes  sub- processes. These are the definition of the scope, the development sub-process, the stabilization and the delivery process. The sub-processes take place in a linear manner and are based on sub-tasks.

The Microsoft Company has many methods of developing products; though the most prevalent and efficient is the Risk- Requirement method. In the process of designing and developing software products, at the juncture of designing the scope and requirement design, all the pertinent risks related to the project are singled out and associated to other requirements in the Risk-Required Matrix.

The matrix is used in the prioritization and testing of the requirements which pose highest risk; hence, mitigation of the risks. This method ensures the products that are developed are of quality and are produced at low effort and cost (Carrow, et al, 2010).

The firm focuses on three goals appertaining to quality in the software product development projects. The three goals are functionality, the performance of the product and delivery timelines. The main quality issues which the firm experiences include low reliability, high interoperation costs as well as low scalability.

These issues can be linked to the various constraints which arise from the interdependence of a number of its systems and modules. The company identifies Software Quality Gap which is the deviation that exists between the outcomes of quality that is delivered, and the combination of expectations of software developers and or producers and the customers.

The gaps are mitigated by using managed development methods for instance Joint Application Development (Carrow, et al, 2010).

In the initial development stage, the process of developing software is in the form of inputs that are coded in terms of the requirement of users. These are then transformed into software programs that can be used. The software development process has many partitions, thus numerous intermediate partitions are generated in the whole software development process.

In software development, project management is considered as one of the key aspects. Project managers more often than not utilize planning and quality tools for example the Microsoft Project Plan and the Quick Test Pro in tracking resource utilization, identification of bottlenecks and the generation of cost estimations and the track revenues (Carrow et al, 2010).

Microsoft Company uses a number of major ratios to track the efficiency of the development and quality assurance. The two ratios that are used by the company are the Defect Leakage Rate and the Defect Rejection Rate. Thus, early defect detection and resolution helps Microsoft in keeping the costs low (Carrow, et al, 2010).

Microsoft adopts the Lean Quality Control process in its project development cycle. This process commences by the allocation of severity and also priority to all the defects that are identified. Severity bases on the importance of the defects to the technical implementation. The defects priority signifies the importance as it is related to conformity to business requirement.

After the resolution of high severity as well as priority defects, the products are then released to the market. It is well known that Microsoft has been an elusive company in releasing products that have zero-defects. However, a number of inputs in the production process results in bugs which have the potential of leaking into the testing cycle thereby creeping into the products.

The defects are then detected by customers. The company has of recent times been focusing on reducing its defect Leakage Rate. The effort has given birth to impressive results. The Vista Operating System had the highest Defect Leakage Rate of up to 10%. The company improved in the production of its most recent operating system, that is, the Windows 7 which was introduced in the market in the year 2010.

The new operating system has enjoyed a reduced Defect Leakage rate to 1% while the process quality has been raised to 6 due to the improvement in the control system of the firm. The adoption of best quality assurance has been behind the reduction of both the development and the maintenance costs and the lowering of the dissatisfaction levels of customers. This has in turn raised the sales of the company (Carrow et al, 2010).

The quality of employees is crucial in determination of the quality that will be put into the input process, and the outcome of process. Microsoft has for a long time ensured that it recruits highly skilled persons in the organization. Furthermore, the employees are thoroughly trained and highly motivated to ensure that they put maximum efforts in the production process.

Moreover, the organization embraces group development: employees work as teams when developing products. The quality of employees determines the quality of input and the quality of the output.

The Microsoft Corporation has a good system of management which ensures that they get and or develop quality employees and therefore this stands to help the organization achieve quality output as in the quality of its products (Carrow et al, 2010).

The Chart below shows how quality assurance is attained in Microsoft Company.

Fig 1.0 Quality Assurance Control in Microsoft Corporation

Source: Author

Application Xeroxs Leadership Survey on the Microsoft Corporation

This survey focuses on three tools in the assessment of the impact of employee communication in organizations. The three tools used are the survey of the motivation and satisfaction of the employees of the company, a leadership survey of the company and an analysis of the communication needs of the organization (Spechler, 1993).

The Microsoft Corporation is an employee centered organization, as observed from the human resource perspective. The company success bases on the efficiency and effectiveness of its workers. This is contrary to other firms which base their performance achievement and or success on the betterment of their technologies.

The company values their staff having realized the importance of their staff in the productivity process of the company (Spechler, 1993).

The company recruits employee based on the level intelligence rather that basing on experience. The company believes in the hiring of the right employees. The company fully caters for the needs of its employees having realized that its employees are the most important assets that the company has. The company employs persons whom they are sure that they will be motivated, that is, the environment that is in the company.

The company gives its employees an environment in which they can develop. The firm has a good system of rewarding its employees. Rewards are not only based on current achievements made, but also on the stocks as these are viewed as future assets to the company. Generally, the company has good leadership which gives room to employees to grow and therefore improving their productivity.

Conclusion

Quality Management is an essential tool of success for any organization. It helps organizations in knowing the quality of its products. Being a technological company that produces technological products, the company does take a lot of caution in the production process of its products.

Quality management has aided in raising the revenues of the revenues in Microsoft. It has also been at the center of building and maintaining customer confidence in the company and in its products.

Reference List

Carrow, A, et al (2010). Software Development and Quality Management at Microsoft. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/KundanBhaduri/software-development-and-quality-management-at-microsoft

Daft, R. L. (2012). Management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Geisst, C. R. (2006). Encyclopedia of American business history: 2. New York, NY: Facts on File.

Rose, K. (2005). Project quality management: Why, what and how. Boca Raton, Fla: J. Ross Pub.

Spechler, J. W. (1993). Managing quality in Americas most admired companies. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

The Microsoft Corporation purchased the Nokia phone business in 2014 for approximately $7.2 billion. Although Nokia could be labeled as a profitable business during that time, it was a downstream customer for Microsoft. Thus, it was unclear whether the deal was beneficial for Microsoft since Nokia was not even a leader in the mobile phone industry.

The issue that Microsoft had to resolve was the negotiation process between the companies as the negotiators were from different cultural origins: Microsoft is an American company, while Nokia is a European (Finnish) one. What is more, the strategies and aims of both companies were different: while Microsoft was trying to become present in the mobile phone market, Nokia wanted to be provided with a serious capital that could help it deal with expensive operations and productions. However, it should be noted that negotiations between the two companies took place before Microsoft acquired Nokia: in 2011, the Windows 7 Platform was presented on Nokia phones. At first, the companies only cooperated to develop new devices and products. Only three years after the first cooperation Nokia was purchased by Microsoft. This decision implies that this type of partnership was profitable for both companies at first.

Another problem of these negotiations is the fact that companies often do not see their counterparts as individuals; thus, one of the companies (Nokia) had to abandon its identity to receive benefits from the synergetic deal. However, as it can be seen from the case study, Windows phones were not as popular as it was expected and did not bring Microsoft visible presence and recognition in the mobile phone market, where Apple and Android were the main leaders.

While the deal might appear as unprofitable at first, it may present some benefits in the long run. Nevertheless, Microsoft is not the first company that chose to purchase a downstream customer in order to target a new market where the corporation was not present. Acquiring a company that is not a leader anymore can be a risky decision, and, in Microsofts case, it led to a reduction in the value of the company. Moreover, it also brought little benefit to Nokia, although the Finnish company had expected other outcomes. While Microsoft tried to resurrect the former leader in the mobile phone market, Nokia experienced losses and thousands of job cuts due to Microsofts workforce management policy in 2014. Thus, the deal was not as profitable as both companies had expected.

One question remains to be answered: why did Microsoft decide to involve in this deal if it was clear that the deal was not profitable? On the one hand, this deal was unlikely to harm Microsofts core business. On the other hand, the corporation tried to present a new product (Windows Phone) by purchasing a (once stable) company in decline  not an entirely new approach. It can work if the odds are in your favor. However, as it can be seen, Windows Phone cannot compete with iPhones and Android devices, and Microsofts presence in the smartphone market is still relatively small. Android is capable of expanding because this operating system can be installed on multiple devices from various manufacturers (Samsung, LG, Lenovo, Huawei, etc.). Windows 7 and 8 for mobile phones are mostly used on Nokia smartphones that cannot compete with Samsung, not to mention other companies. Thus, Microsofts acquisition of Nokia was unprofitable. It is possible to assume that this deal will bring more additional losses in the future.

This paper will show that Microsoft Corporation breached the terms of ethical business practice. It did this through unfair and brutal competitive practices that forced its competition to be unfairly beaten. By using the monopoly power it yielded, the company exploited its position and used this advantage illegally. The paper will show you how this happened and discuss why the practices shown are unethical. Additionally, it will show the effects of the unethical practices on the general economy.

Microsoft is undoubtedly the worlds biggest software company. Its size makes it a formidable force for any competitor who dares venture into its business territory. A firm of such status, and any other firm for that matter, would strive to keep this dominance in place. However, the nature of its industry requires it to constantly innovate and invest in new products and technologies (Purkayastha, 1999, 946). The companys financial strength allows it to put a lot in innovation and research in order to stay ahead of the competition. However, its true power lay not in its finances, but its platform monopoly (Spinello, 2005, 343). The platform here would refer to its operating system. Since it has a monopoly in controlling the system, it can lock out competition by manipulating this unique advantage. This is where antitrust law steps in.

Antitrust laws are laws that are aimed at keeping the markets competitive and not dominated by monopolistic forces (Allbusiness.com, 1999). They are not meant to destroy competition, but keep competition alive by making sure that forces that would destroy it are controlled (Gillmor, 2002, 58). According to Hemphill (2004), this allows the economy to have sustainable and desirable activities (p. 128). So how did Microsoft breach ethics?

The first accusation leveled is that Microsoft instituted a barrier to entry, especially about the browser market (Spinello, 2005, 347). This is because the company refused to divulge its source code. This ensured that software companies that offered software products that would run on the Windows platform would be unsure of its compatibility and quality. Netscapes Navigator was a casualty of this tactic. They were unable to ensure that the product run seamlessly with Windows while Microsoft optimized Internet Explorer (IE), its own web browser, for Windows (George, 2003, 183). Additionally, Microsoft turned into a bully, using its size to force computer manufacturers into exclusionary deals (Purkayastha, 199, 946). The manufacturers were forced to license a copy of Windows with every computer they produced, but the IE icon on the desktop and were expressly forbidden from putting competitors software icons on the desktop (Spinello, 2005, 348; Purkayastha, 199, 947 ). This promotional greatly hindered the competition.

They also obtained exclusionary deals with Internet Access Providers to use IE as their default browser in exchange for the position of home page (Spinello, 2005, 348). In addition, they practiced bundling Windows with IE (George, 2003, 183; Purkayastha, 1999, 947). This practice resulted in the reduction of choice for consumers.

However, in my opinion, it is the Java war that really brought out the ugliness of Microsofts tactics. Sun Microsystems developed a cross-platform programming language called Java. Its function was to provide a standard programming language across multiple platforms (Spinello, 2005, 346). Microsoft saw this as a threat to its platform dominance and sought to end it brutally. It created its own version of Java while simultaneously making Suns Java incompatible with Windows (Spinello, 2005, 347). Additionally, it entered agreements with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to provide them with technical information in exchange for exclusive use and promotion of Microsofts Java.

These competitive tactics applied by Microsoft were not only illegal, but were also grossly unethical. Unethical behavior here is determined with respect to the consumer and the economy as a whole.

In examining how this affects the consumer, we must look at the effects in long-term. Microsoft sought to retain its leading position by making the cost of their browser zero. By bundling the product with Windows, it allowed the consumer to obtain this software at no extra cost (Purkayastha, 199, 947). This is only beneficial to the consumer in the short run. In the long run, with competition dead, the company would so easily be able to increase its price since competition no longer exists.

However, apart from price, the major consumer concern is quality. It is common knowledge that competition breeds quality. This is why the antitrust laws exist in the first place, to preserve competition; so as to preserve quality by extension. In the market segment such as IT, quality would encompass the traditional meaning of quality and innovation (Hemphill, 2004, 133). Microsofts unfair business techniques mean that the competition is stifled and therefore innovation is slowed. If companies such as Sun Microsystems cannot create a financially viable product such as Java, then the creativity is stalled. The immorality of stifling creativity is that the customer in the end loses out.

What is needed is there to be a leveling out of the playing field. A level playing field means that one does not take unfair advantage of ones position in order to defeat competition (Hemphill, 2004, 130). The firm is judged on the basis of the quality and innovativeness of its products, not the strength it can muster to stave the competition.

In summary, in the end, the customer loses out in terms of price, quality and innovation. The unethical practice Microsoft undertook was to use illegal and unfair practices to kill off competition to maintain its dominant position (Purkayastha, 199, 947). By instituting checks and balances to maintain positive competition, we benefit the market. Therefore, competitive ethics are not observed to the advantage of the firm, but rather to the advantage of the consumer and the whole market in total.

References

Antitrust Law. (1999). Allbusiness.com. Web.

De George, R. (2003). The Ethics of Information Technology and Business (Illustrated., pp. 181-184). Wiley-Blackwell.

Gillmor, S. (2002). Law and Order: Marrying the spirit to the letter of the law produces a victory for Microsoft customers, if not for competitors. InfoWorld, 24(45), 58.

Hemphill, T. (2004). Antitrust, Dynamic Competition and Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 50(2), 127-135.

Purkayastha, P. (1999). Bill Gates in the Dock: Anti-Trust Case against Microsoft. Economics and Political Weekly, 34(16/17), 946-947.

Spinnello, R. A. (2005). Competing Fairly in the New Economy: Lessons from the Browser Wars. Journal of Business Ethics, 57(4), 343-364.

Annotated Bibliography

Antitrust Law. (1999). Allbusiness.com. Web.

The article gives a brief introduction and definition to the concept of antitrust laws. It gives a general introduction to the concept, showing the law it comes from and how it is legally defined. This allows the reader who has no previous knowledge of this concept to gain a working understanding of the same. In short, the function of this article is to introduce. However, the page it is found on has a follow-up article on the Microsoft antitrust case. This gives the reader a real-life application of this law.

De George, R. (2003). The Ethics of Information Technology and Business (Illustrated., pp. 181-184). Wiley-Blackwell.

As the title suggests, this book offers a wide-ranged discussion on ethics and the business world involved in IT. The issues presented in this book cover a wide array of ethical subjects. Issues discussed range from privacy, intellectual property, censorship and numerous business issues in the IT world. This overview is good for individuals interested in general ethical issues in IT. The book is highly informative and allows one to create a relationship between ethics and IT. The author is a Professor of Philosophy and Business administration. He has published widely and is an acclaimed academic in the field of ethics. His academic standing makes his work authoritative and therefore credible.

Gillmor, S. (2002). Law and Order: Marrying the spirit to the letter of the law produces a victory for Microsoft customers, if not for competitors. InfoWorld, 24(45), 58.

This article gives a more legal edge to the case. It provides a summary of the legal judgment while giving the various winners and losers of the case. It essentially breaks the case into three parts, based on the judgment. Additionally, it provides insights and comments from various stakeholders involved in the case. This article is very useful for providing a quick and summarized view of the case. The writer of the article holds the position of director in the InfoWorld Test Center. His authority and reputation, derived from the title he holds, assures us of the credibility of the article.

Hemphill, T. (2004). Antitrust, Dynamic Competition and Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 50(2), 127-135.

The article provides a theoretical background to anti-trust in general. It assumes one to already be generally familiarized with anti-trust. It delves into several perspectives of the same: its economics, legality and ethic. The advantage of this article is that it looks at this issue from several industries perspectives, giving plenty of examples of how antitrust is applied. The bringing together of ethical, economical and legal perspectives gives a wholesome picture, allowing us to trace the inter-relation between these fields as far as antitrust is concerned. The content is well-cited, making liberal use of scholarly material. Additionally, the article is in a peer-reviewed journal, making the content credible.

Purkayastha, P. (1999). Bill Gates in the Dock: Anti-Trust Case against Microsoft. Economics and Political Weekly, 34(16/17), 946-947.

This short publication cites gives a concise outline of the anti-trust case background. The article is writer is Indian and therefore writes from an international perspective. It starts off by citing the importance of the case before delving into a timeline structure of the facts of the case. This allows one to see short, accurate yet somewhat detailed report of the main facts of the case. The source of the article is a peer-reviewed journal, allowing us to rest assured that the content is genuine and academically sound.

Spinnello, R. A. (2005). Competing Fairly in the New Economy: Lessons from the Browser Wars. Journal of Business Ethics, 57(4), 343-364.

Spinello provides a multi-dimensional perspective of several ethical issues raised during the browser wars. It is arranged in an incident-based format. In this format, the various incidents are listed and the moral issues and obligations arising are argued in the segment. The main aim of the article is to provide an argument; however, it still gives a concise chronology of events that raised the moral obligations. The article includes charts and graphs, providing information in a clearer format. The use of credible academic citing and the fact that it is in a peer-reviewed journal allows us to judge the content as credible and authoritative.

In July 2006, Microsoft announced its plan to purchase (or buy back) $40 billion worth of its stock. Two years later, in September 2008, Microsoft Corp. yet again announced another buyback program to repurchase their stock amounting to another $40 billion. (Suder, 2009) However, before we delve into Microsoft Corp.s stock repurchasing strategies let us first understand what buyback or stock repurchasing means.

Buyback simply means the action of repurchasing something that one sold previously. In this context, something refers to stock, i.e., repurchasing the stock by the corporate enterprise that once issued it. During a share repurchase transaction, the corporate house distributes cash to the shareholders in exchange for a fraction of the outstanding shares. These shares may be kept for reissue by the company. (Stern & Chew, 2003) These stocks are known as treasury shares (or stocks), which are governed limited rights, i.e.

• They do not pay dividends.
• They do not have any pre-emptive voting rights that a shareholder has.
• The majority proportion of the total capitalization cannot be exceeded by the total treasury stock. (Berk, 2007)

A corporate buyback can be considered as a measure to buy out its outstanding shares and in turn, increase the stocks value in the market. Thus, a buyback is a strategy, where the corporate house can exercise control over the stocks, reduce the outstanding stocks and increase the stocks worth to remaining stockholders. This can be illustrated with an example. Let us assume, in an efficient market, if a companys shares are priced at $50/share, and the company decides to buy back 100 shares for $5000, then the company has $5000 less cash but there are 100 outstanding shares. In such a scenario, earnings per share are improved as the number of outstanding shares is reduced. (Nottage, 2009)

Companies generating profits have two major implementations of the profits. One is to pay some part of the profits to the shareholders in the form of dividends and secondly, the remaining profit is retained for further use in the future of the company for reinvestment. The stock repurchase is done with some part of the retained portion of the profits. Thus, when the shares of the company are undervalued, the stock repurchases can increase their value and hence, add to the profits.

Share buybacks are also a strategy undertaken to prevent a takeover. Excessive cash generation and limited needs accumulate on the companys balance sheet, making it vulnerable to take over as the attractive balance sheet could be utilized to pay off the debts. However, by the share buyback mechanism, the cash flow is kept lean and the high share prices make the takeover expensive. Hence, share repurchase is a part of the anti-takeover policy. (Vishwanath, 2007) There are certain companies in which the Executive Compensations are met with executive buybacks. The share buybacks are undertaken by the executives to meet the earnings per share target. (Asaf, 2004)

Share buybacks also allow the corporate house to distribute their profits to the shareholders without extra taxation. That is, if the company was to pay a 10c dividend per share to its shareholders, the taxes would be implied to the investors resulting in the investors receiving 8.5c per share. An investor with 10 shares will receive 85 c. However, during the buyback mechanism, the outstanding shares are bought up by the company and hence, there is a rise in the cost of the shares.

The dividend received by the shareholders will then be the net capital without its taxation and hence, the share repurchasing mechanism is instrumental in incurring the taxation and making sure that there is no change in the investors wealth. The buyback mechanism also minimizes the transaction costs. (Asaf, 2004)

Now coming back to Microsoft, in 2006, the companys business saw lots of ups and downs. It faced legal charges that saw its earnings reduce by 3 cents per share. It also saw Microsoft Corp. lose out its profits spent in setting up new business. Its employee staff was also increased to boost the development of Windows and its online service MSN and Windows Live. Almost $197 million was spent on research and development for the Live service. Microsofts workforce increased 13 percent in the development. (Grosse, 2008)

On the other hand, Microsoft also had releases of Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Vista lined up for release each with its own set of execution risks. The development of both these products cost the company almost $10.9 billion. Both the launch and marketing of this product cost was estimated to be around $450 million. Another $450 million was estimated for the growth of the sales force and marketing, and $1 billion for developments of newer products and services. Microsofts costs for AdCenter ad servicing tool, its search engine, Office Live and Live.com was another $500 million. (MacCormack, 2009)

With such huge expected expenditures, Microsoft strategizes the share buyback plans to bail out its outstanding stocks and increase the shares prices. According to Chris Liddell, the chief financial officer of Microsoft, the stock buyback programs were undertaken to share its confidence with its shareholders by returning capital to them. (Asaf, 2004) For its buyback programs, Microsoft used the modified Dutch auction, by which the shareholders can sell how many ever shares they want to sell at their own prices between the prices of $22.50 and $24.75 per share. (Klein, 2009) This buyback plan saw Microsoft collecting almost 8.1 percent off all the outstanding shares.

Again in the month of September 2008, it was declared that the software company had plans to repurchase their shares. Microsoft had paid over $115 billion to its stakeholders in the past five years through share repurchases and dividends. (Suder, 2008) And its further share repurchase plan was to promote the optimism and commitment it shares with its shareholders by returning capital to them. Microsoft corp. in the last fiscal year had accumulated debt financing of $6 billion with a $2 billion commercial paper program. (Klein, 2009) Microsoft intended to use the debt financing for the stock repurchase program to increase the prices of the outstanding shares and also pay off its shareholders well.

Thus, Microsoft Corp. can be said to regularly implement the buyback mechanism to regulate its stock prices and balance out its equation with its shareholders, and also supplement its plans for future investments. The buyback mechanism is being successfully implemented to stabilize the relationship between the shareholders and the corporate house of Microsoft to a great extent.

References

Asaf, S. (2004). Executive corporate finance: the business of enhancing shareholder value. London: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.

Berk, B. J. (2007). Corporate finance. London: Pearson Addison Wesley.

Grosse, D. (2008). Microsoft implements readiness as a strategic force. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 27(5), 41-48.

Klein, D. (2009). Emerging technologies and corporate culture at Microsoft: a methodological note. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 23(1), 65-96.

MacCormack, A. (2009). Management of Technological Transitions: Evidence from Microsoft Corporation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, (26)3, 248-263.

Nottage, L. (2009). Corporate Governance in the 21st Century: Japan.s Gradual Transformation. New York: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Stern, J. M., & Chew, D. (2003). The Revolution in Corporate Finance. New York: Blackwell.

Suder, G.S. (2008). Interview with Jean-Philippe Courtois, CEO, Microsoft EMEA. Thunderbird International Business Review, 47(2), 153-161.

Suder, G. (2009). Microsoft: A case in cross-company transformation. Thunderbird International Business Review, 48(4), 555-596.

Vishwanath, S. (2007). Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Response Books.

Abstract

This paper is an exploration of the internet and published article sources that give a glimpse of Microsoft Kinect and its utility in the consumer market. It shows the interaction of the human/virtual environment without necessarily using the actual controllers or buttons but by using natural speech or gestures. The paper will also scrutinize the fields advancement, since Kinect was released finding its application in diverse fields having in mind that it was anticipated to be used in games. Following the introduction of Kinect, the prospects of Natural User Interface (NUI) appear to be extended. It has permitted an almost prompt human-machine communication.

Introduction: Microsoft Kinect Application

Intuitively, technology should understand us and work for us but not the other way round. Kinect for windows has helped change the way how people and computer relate by providing developers and businesses with the necessary tools to produce new solutions (Borenstein, 2012). This has enabled people to communicate naturally through speaking or gesturing. Companies worldwide are using Kinect sensor and the Software Development Kit (SDK) to improve and set up pioneering solutions for healthcare, education and retail markets.

Method: Microsoft Kinect Hardware

Depth sensing cameras have for a long time been used in research owing to the high costs associated with such specialized gadgets. Following the introduction of the Kinect, imaging real time depth has been made possible for the everyday developer at reduced rates. Formally referred to as Project Natal, Kinect is a gadget that was intended for the Xbox 360 video games to control the video game without using a controller. It has four vital components namely a transmitter, an accelerometer, a specialized chip and an infrared camera that collectively analyzes received information. The depth sensor is what makes all the difference by detecting the precise players position in a room. This has been made latent, since the reflected rays gathered from the sensor are converted into data that defines the distance between the device and the object.

The obtained infrared image is then meshed with an RGB image, and it is processed in real time. The software in this case determines the various joint positions of the player and then pinpoints their position constructing the skeleton outline. This analysis software also determines the systems latency, and if it processes too slowly, the image reproduction on the screen is delayed (Zhang, 2012). To provide voice recognition capabilities and to improve the player position detection, Kinect uses multi array microphones to detect sound. The microphones are capable of capturing sound from a particular way identifying its source and the audio wave course. A 2G range configured accelerometer is also mounted on the Kinect, which helps determine the current sensor position allowing it to measure the object as close as 40 cm with precision and accuracy. This enhances a smoothing degradation of up to 3 m (Seguin & Buisson, n.d).

The Kinect SDK can be utilized on a computer that has a maximum of four sensors and on different virtual machines supporting Windows. This kind of flexibility enables developers and businesses to implement what is right with regard to their requirements at their own discretion. SDK newest version includes a sensor, which connects to the web browsers, that has been possible through HTML samples. The developers have the capacity to use such programs as OpenCV to create cutting-edge Kinect applications utilizing available developers typical libraries.

Results

Human Health and Kinect

Kinect for Windows has expanded awareness of the human features. This includes face tracking and body movemennt, and acknowledgement of human body actions. Another add-on is voice recognition that enhances the comprehension of human. Together with Kinect fusion they help capture the scenes depth and color that help in reconstruction of a three-dimensional model that is printable.

Healthcare providers have been fast in recognizing Kinects cost effectiveness in improving care for patients at the same time enhancing smooth clinical workflow (Cook, Couch, Couch, Kim, and Boonn, 2013). A practical application of the technology is in Reflexion Rehabilitation Measurement Tool (RMT) developed by San Diegos Naval Medical Center. This physical therapy gadget allows doctors to modify patients schedules and to remotely observe patients. The program uses a personal computer operating Windows 7 and Microsoft Kinect motion camera. Such capabilities of the gadget have helped the physical therapist improve patients adherence to any given prescription. RMT is sold with installed educational directions from a specific therapist. The on-screen guide or avatar directs them on how to conduct the exercises correcting them when they do something wrong. The patients therapist has the capacity to review the sessions records before the patient visits them hence assessing their compliance.

With the ability to track three-dimensional motion, the Kinect serves as a vital analysis tool for numerous medical conditions. The patients experiences, on the other hand, are immersed in the virtual healthcare that is convenient and simplified (Borenstein, 2012). Patients can now attend any clinic and be connected instantly with a doctor from any part of the globe (Boulos, Blanchard, Walker, Montero, Tripathy, and Gutierrez-Osuna, 2011). The doctors have simultaneously experienced new precision and productivity levels allowing them to meet with more patients every day with specialists attending to specific patients despite the distances. Therefore, doctors can use Microsoft Kinect to operate varying equipment remotely that aids in running analysis, collecting data and relaying instructions (Boulos et al., 2011).

Kinect and the Gaming World

With Kinect sensor for gaming hitting sales of 10 million units in 2011, Microsoft earned a Guinness World Record Award for this peripheral. The device became the best-selling electronic device for the consumer shifting 133 333 units every day since its launch (4^th November 2010 and 3^rd January 2013). This figure outstripped that of the Nintendo Wii that took two years to hit such a sale. Microsoft Kinect has changed the way people play games and watch movies. With Kinect, remotes and controllers have become a thing of the past. The experience has allowed complete body gaming responding to how one moves (Ungerleider, 2013). Once a person waves a hand, the sensor is activated hence recognizing a persons image allowing their avatar to be opened. Kinect also has an advanced voice recognition technology that responds to peoples voices that helps them in revealing preloaded voice commands (Benedetti, 2010). Peoples voices can be used to control movies with no remote required. The technology has been versatile with fun and secure involvements, since it has installed parental control parameters for decent family movies.

Microsoft Kinect and the Future

Numerous technologies have emerged following Kinect launch where a prototype called Holodesk, which uses Kinect camera technology, has been coined. This innovation, once it has been tested, will offer a possibility to manipulate three-dimensional objects after projecting them from the device by mirrors with semi-reflective surfaces. To track and pinpointing the locations of the hands, the device will work in collaboration with a Kineck camera.

Other applications could utilize Kinectss ability to respond to human gestures and mapping objects in three-dimensional that can be incorporated with existing gadgets such as aerial drones in responding to disasters such as the KinectBot.

To remain at the top of the gaming world, Microsoft has to incorporate and improve its existing gaming consoles so that they can have a competitive edge. For example, there are possibilities of Microsoft Kinect 2.0 being released soon that will have the capabilities of tracking game players with an average height of one meter. The device might also have a feature that will enable players to play while standing or sitting detecting their hands status. The device will also detect rotated or extra joints enabling more than six people to play at the same time. Furthermore, to enhace continuous communication, this device will have improved displays requiring larger playing spaces. Its RGB streams will have enhanced resolution and quality with the depth stream being able to detect and resolve tiny objects in the game. An active infrared camera will come handy in permiting independent procesings of the lighting and recognition of human features. The device is expected to have a 33 ms latency improvement making the device a must-have in the entertainment field. The most outstanding component will be the 3.0 USB cable that will enhace faster transmission of data.

Conclusion

Kinect has opened many augmented and virtual doors to everyone, but this does not make it a perfect device. It still needs better sensors, microphones and cameras and associated components such as robotics and screens to improve the Kinects capacity. Through its SDK, the Kinect has enabled lone developers to produce numerous functions for this application (Seguin& Buisson, n.d). Eventually, this has opened the virtual reality doors that had been reserved for research and big companies. The interactive and instinctive communication that human would want can only be achieved through use of Kinect.

References

Benedetti, W. (2010). After passing on Kinect, Sony makes a move on hardcore gamers. Web.

Borenstein, G. ( 2012). Making things see: 3D vision with Kinect, Processing, Arduino, and MakerBot. Sebastopol, CA.: OReilly Media, Inc.

Boulos, M. N., Blanchard, B. J., Walker, C., Montero, J., Tripathy, A., and Gutierrez-Osuna, R. (2011). Web GIS in practice X: A Microsoft Kinect natural user interface for Google Earth Navigation. International Journal of Health Geographics, 10 (1).

Cook, T. S., Couch, G., Couch, T. J., Kim, W., and Boonn, W. W. (2013). Using the Microsoft Kinect for patient size estimation and radiation dose normalization: Proof of concept and initial validation. Journal of Digital Imaging, 26(4), 657-662.

Seguin, C., & Buisson, S. (n.d). After Kinect. Web.

Ungerleider, N. (2013). Microsofts Kinect is now a sign language translator. Web.

Zhang, Z. (2012). Microsoft Kinect sensor and its effect. IEEE MultiMedia, 19 (2), 4-10.

The selected career field is real estate appraisal: this segment is in demand nationwide, and related companies employees use diverse technological software to maintain work productivity. The most popular applications are the Microsoft Office Suite because of the well-built ecosystem and the functionality services such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The selected company is KLW Appraisal Group, located in Buffalo and involved in New York state commercial, residential, and municipal real estate trading. The person who gave an interview about using Microsoft Office Suite is Emily A. Wilhelm, KLW Appraisal Groups general real estate appraisal. The initial contact was via LinkedIn, yet then moved to the email conversation.

Microsoft Office Suite is widely used among KLW Appraisal Groups clients; thus, business communication, documentation, contracts, and presentation development are performed in this software. Ms. Wilhelm mentioned that the applications such as Outlook and Excel are the most convenient for supporting the customer base and handling conversations properly. Indeed, she continuously expands her contact list, and extracting the data from the inbox to the related Excel base allows her to make important notes, sort the leads, and build email-based selling campaigns. Microsoft Word was the most frequently used service because all paperwork (contracts, listings, appraisal rates) is handled there. The application benefits productivity because of the broad range of shortcuts and convenient company settings. For instance, each document must have a predefined branding on all official documents. Words features allow the users not to waste time pasting logos and formatting headers and footers.

Ms. Wilhelm also frequently uses PowerPoint because of the broad range of real estate she appraises: developing a presentation about the rates and ways to optimize a price is a part of her job. The specialist claimed that the template option saves her time because most works have the same structure and formation. With PowerPoint, Ms. Wilhelm simply updates the content of her template and converts a presentation to a.pdf format if necessary for sending to clients. The cloud-sharing technology is the essential benefit of using Microsoft Office Suite in the KLW Appraisal Group. Ms. Wilhelm mentioned that all appraisal specialists in the company have access to a database where they can quickly search and exchange files  an essential option for effective teamwork and productivity.

Introduction

There was a new mass hacker attack, the features and scale of which may indicate the onset of a new era in the field of cyber security. The victims were mainly small and medium-sized businesses, as well as local governments using the popular business email software from Microsoft Corp. Even though the attack, as well as the weaknesses of the system that the hacker hit, were identified, some obstacles make it challenging to implement counter-measures.

The number of victims is large even within each of the affected companies. For example, one firm that wished to remain anonymous dealt with fifty attacked users, and the total number of victims reached 60,000 (Hackers Reach Thousands, 2021). In particular, among the identified victims are banks, nursing homes, companies that provide electricity, and even an ice cream producer. Companies with vulnerable software and connected to the Internet directly are most at risk  large companies usually avoid such unsafe actions. This scale indicates the automation of the process in its last stages. Microsoft, as well as Huntress, a security firm, consider guilty the Hafnium hacker group, supported by the Chinese government.

Although Microsoft was able to find weaknesses that cheaters used and create updates to fix them, it may not remove intruders  this effort requires additional checks and actions. The attack on email services occurred just a few months after another significant hack from Russian hackers through the forgery of SolarWinds LLC programs (Hackers Reach Thousands, 2021). These crimes demonstrate the weakness of modern defense systems and the power of hacker groups. Events seriously concern software manufacturers, cyber security companies, and the government  they are all tired of fighting such sophisticated attacks.

So What?

The most serious problem that this incident and the attack SolarWinds are evidence that hackers are now able to automate processes. This feature increases the scale of damage thousands of times and endangers all business representatives and even the government. In addition to business, such a problem threatens national security, which brings confrontations between states to a new level. Companies and agencies engaged in protection from hacker cannot yet resist such strong attacks, leading to a global cyber security crisis.

Who Cares?

• Business users of the software: hackers can steal crucial company data. Several reasons put small and medium-sized businesses in a special risk group. Both conventional and malicious software is developing fast, competing with each other. Large companies prefer to use their own servers, while smaller ones take little action to protect their data. Moreover, small businesses can open the way to significant thefts from large business companies  for example, stealing data from providers of certain services. The consequences of attacks and hacks are usually expensive for companies  in addition to losing reputation, systems that have been used need to be restored. The business plan also suffers, unique ideas can be stolen, and all these factors lead to severe financial losses.
• Microsoft Corp.  for a company, such an attack is a blow to reputation  an event can reduce the appeal of their services and force users to look for alternatives. On the one hand, this security threat also challenges developers, stimulating to improve performance, but on the other hand, it can result in financial losses. Such a race with hackers, and the cyber security crisis, can also drain the companys resources and de-motivate employees.
• Cybersecurity agencies are getting a new challenge for their work. In this case, Microsoft used Volexity help to find vulnerabilities. Representatives of FireEye Inc., Milton Security Group Inc., and other experts also expressed their opinion on the issue in the article (Hackers Reach Thousands, 2021). All of them agree that this is a new scale of cyber threat. Perhaps for them, this event is the start of new developments and greater demand for their security services from users and companies.
• Government  other governments support for hacker groups means a willingness to use such means to spy and steal classified information or employees files. Obtaining such data may be necessary to gain an advantage  in peacetime, it is likely not military but economic. The danger is that the attacks roots are difficult to find, it is challenging to track which data were stolen, and the states involved will necessarily deny participation.

What Can Be Done?

Cyber attacks indicate weaknesses in software, require reaction measures to strengthen protection and develop new programs. As noted, the recent large-scale attack affects many parties, particularly business companies, developers, security companies, and the government. The latter stakeholder develops its own agencies to protect against cybercrime and uses cyber security companies services. This paper further focuses on the business structures and actions they need to take.

Small and medium-sized businesses are usually effortless targets for hackers. Modern trends require their presence on the Internet in order to be in demand among consumers. Owners of such enterprises pay little attention to cybersecurity, as they believe that their activities are of little interest to fraud. Moreover, in small enterprises, a stricter budget allocation and services to improve cyber protection can be expensive for them. Schuler (2020) highlights several other reasons for the vulnerability of small businesses. The list includes the difficulties of switching to new technologies, constant updating, lack of financial resources, and the most crucial  staff negligence. Such neglect jeopardizes the safety of companies and their economic well-being.

The vulnerabilitys leading causes point to areas that need to be improved to provide safety. Staff training to be attentive and distinguish fraud attempts is the cornerstone of small businesses security (Schuler, 2020). Miller (2020) also adds to possible security measures creating a system security plan, software updates, secure passwords, and the use of security agency services. Cyber threats should not be underestimated even by small and medium-sized businesses, since in some cases, hackers can even destroy them. Microsoft Corp. and cyber security companies, in turn, should focus on cleaning after damage. The update they have provided is undoubtedly essential and should therefore be shared with vulnerable software users. Then they need to focus on taking measures to counter automated processes that hackers use. Such a crisis requires serious work from the companies and their help to users.

Conclusion

A mass attack on thousands of Microsoft Exchange Server users is an example of a new hacker attack type. A large number of victims in a short period indicates the use of automated processes. Such a feature means a new era for cyber security, which affects all parties  business users, providers, cyber security agencies, and even the government. Such attacks have severe consequences for victims  small and medium-sized businesses  theft of information affects all activities and incurs financial losses. To protect enterprises, it is necessary not to neglect precautions, train personnel, use proven software, update it, and, if necessary, seek its improvement from particular companies.

References

Hackers breach thousands of Microsoft customers around the world. (2021). Mint.

Miller, L. (2020). 5 ways to protect your company from cybercrime. Entrepreneur.

Schuler, Z. (2020). How small businesses can protect themselves from cyberattacks. Cisomag. Web.

Dear US and EU Competition authority,

Am writing to you with regards to the many attempts made by Microsoft Corporation to reduce our monopoly power which is totally against public interests. Microsoft Corporation is a public multinational corporation that specializes in developing, manufacturing, licensing, and at the same time, supporting a wide range of products and services in the computer sector. For a long time now, Microsoft corporation critics have been on our back contending the company for dominating the market and offering anti-competitive strategies to its competitors.

Any attempt to reduce Microsoft corporation monopoly will only lead to further war with the public. The company has undergone many lawsuits filed by the government, together with other competing companies, all with the same purpose; to see Microsofts monopolistic market power checked and as a result, reduced.

Microsoft Corporation serves the interest of the public as the companys product and services attract many people, which is a result of our companys innovation and high creativity. I believe Microsoft Corporation is where it is all because of the companys efforts and dedicated members of staff and thus deserves respect for the same. Throughout America and all over the world, Microsoft Corporation has instituted a lot of projects, which the society has been able to benefit from. Microsoft Corporation, since its inception, has been able to change and shape the internet as society knows it today.

Microsoft has simply changed the way we live: easy and faster access to the internet and many ways of interaction over the internet. It is in my belief that a company such as Microsoft Corporation with 90% of the market cannot be all bad; there is simply a lot of good associated with it and society has already seen it. Most of the lawsuits filed by our competitors are unfair and in my view are a result of a lack of owns innovation and creativity that motivates their jealousy of us, thus their only way to counter Microsoft Corporation is to check Microsofts monopolistic power that they enjoy. This is unfair to the society at large who has no problem with the monopolistic arrangement of Microsoft, in fact, for all we know, we as a company have provided them with a lot of advantage over any of our competitors.

Microsoft Corporation also has never been on record being on a lawsuit filed by an individual or society at large. The competition authorities also have never charged us based on monopolistic power that we enjoy; we are on record as only being fine when we abuse our monopolistic power (Newman 5). Thus as far as society is concerned, it is not the monopoly market structure that matters but the behavior of a company that has monopoly power.

Microsoft Company dedicates its efforts to the betterment of society and dedicates most of its profit to develop new products and at the same time offering some innovative solutions to individuals and businesses worldwide. Evidence of this is the companys unlimited versions of windows and free updates that society has enjoyed for over 30 years (Newman 5).

Microsoft Corporation is with no doubt operating in the public interest and the number of lawsuits filed against the company is unjust and unfair. In the present world today where technology is changing every other day, Microsoft gives society and individuals a measure of stability, as the individuals are comfortable knowing that all new products will be compatible with the one they have. Microsoft is very right to protect their software and codes from their competitors and as a result, receive a fair price for it since anything else will lead to their exit in the market.

Thus, I am sure you will agree with me that Microsoft serves only but for the good of society, and any effort to reduce the monopoly power that we now enjoy will only serve to the disadvantage of the society. It is in my opinion that any further attempt to reduce Microsofts monopoly power is to be stopped and societys opinion be respected.

Yours sincerely,

Chief Executive officer

Microsoft Corporation.

Works cited

Nathan, Newman, From MS Word to MS World: How Microsoft is Building a Global Monopoly. (1997): 1-5. Print.