Inside Microsoft: The Untold Story of How the Internet Forced Bill Gates to Reverse Course

Case Study

Name

TM-583 - Strategic Management of Technology

Date : 29 March 2007 Inside Microsoft : The Untold Story of How the Internet Forced Bill Gates to Reverse Course

Introduction

The case deals with Microsoft 's ability to transform its core products and services in response to changing market dynamics and the formation of the Internet Industry with cut-throat competition amongst various players

It showcases how Microsoft was an Operating System (OS ) focused organizations . Other organizations such as General Motors Corporation and IBM leaders in their product categories failed

to read the fundamental change in their industries . But , Bill Gates and team were able to see the shift in customer preference and usage of Internet . The product development focus involving number of resources working on aligning Internet to product offerings , the budgetary allocation for such projects was absent in Microsoft 's strategy . However , within 6 months the organization was able to reinvent itself . What is of particular importance is the clarity of communication that Bill Gates and his core team sent to the employees and Wall Street analysts

Microsoft 's absence in the Internet product offering space helped traditional competitors exploit the vacuum . There was a boom in internet registered sites between the 1991 and 1994 . A lot of dotcom businesses were being formed all who needed technology to run it . America Online (AOL ) was starting to make its presence felt . The industry had already showed signs of moving on from television centered data usage to exploiting the benefits of internet . The internet was no longer viewed as a techie 's domain and the industry recognized the fact

Question : 1 . What is /are the fundamental thing (s ) this case is telling me

Answer : 1 . The case study dwells with the following

Leadership and its influence on the organization

The importance and difficulty of large corporations undergoing change

The case study differentiates between the leadership influence of Bill Gates and his ability to steer the organization to a radical business model . Whereas , other organizations such as General Motors and IBM failed to recognize customer preference change , Bill Gates reacted to such changes . He encouraged an open culture where he was open to feedback and criticism of his employees . He sensed opportunities and challenges and was not afraid to make a complete U-turn in decision making . He organized think tank meetings when he wanted his employees to discuss important issues with him . He bought about a structural thinking approach while evaluating options . He asked his employees to study the impact of Microsoft changing its core focus and the right amount of money the organization should invest

Even when change did happen at Microsoft , all employees were made to feel part of the change process . Communication in form of emails letters and video tapes were sent to all employees and the belief was ingrained in the employees that the leadership knows what the best business model is

Question : 2 . How does this case study relate to the Terminal Course Objectives (TCO 's

TCO .A . Given...