Globalization of the Microsoft Corporation - Essay Example

Globalization of the Microsoft Corporation: There’s a Story behind Every Invention BACKGROUND: Globalization in itself is a globalised term. Looking around us, there is hardly anything that people can associate to be only nationalized because in the changing business environment and the use of information technology, in order for a firm to sustain and maintain its operation, globalization plays an important role. Anywhere in the world, it’s difficult to find any firm which is not corresponding to the changing business needs and the reason is that the world is like a global village now, and with emergence of World Wide Web it’s not even possible to remain and work within a boundary. For this reason, the firms like Dell providing the customer centric model and Airlines like Ryan air and Easy jet with their low cost business; models are found to be posing threats to the major players in the market. Suárez-Orozco and Qin-Hilliard (2004: p. 25) labeled globalization as a “powerful vector of worldwide change”, which is all what we can see in front of us. Innovative environments along with the changes in the leading practices including supply chain, procurement process, human resource developments and the most important of all is the changing needs to customers, makes it important for the firms to look ahead into the future and instead of working on smaller grounds, plan for the future. This is where globalization is the key to success for all the existing businesses. The companies in order to become global are working way ahead and thinking to optimize and cash upon all the future opportunities cashing upon their strengths and competitive advantage. Globalization took a turn by pulling itself up on the track towards achieving goals related to business; this was done by increasing its pace. But to understand the above provided scenario and the facts and details which will be provided below we need to characterize the term in such a way that it can be easily elaborated and incorporated in future use and analysis. The term globalization can be verified as the process and state of such interaction of people when they cross their territorial boundaries and involve themselves in courses of development like investment through trade with reference to various businesses. This process is not necessarily between the people but also amongst various companies and organizations. Jaffe, Bacchus and Alon (2006) believe that anything that happens around the world is labeled as globalization. Hence, the fact that whether it is related to the business world or not, the term globalization is of an immense importance, but it is necessary for us to discuss further how or why this notion is raised an essential question. It has been elucidated that globalization is relevant to money making only, whereas, it has also been verified that not only money is exchanged through globalization but cultures, customs, traditions, values and beliefs are also a product of transference in the current era. In my perspective as the further study is related to an organization which is business related, hence, I shall support the former outlook. The reasoning behind the goodwill of the former topic lies in the explanation that customs, traditions, values, beliefs and cultures are transferred and exchanged through globalization. Hence, when people circulate through borders they tend to circulate money of that specified territory as well. Hence, when money is circulated from country to country and from region to region, this process causes the mingling of businesses. This is the reason why the notion of today’s globalization holds such an importance as the circulation of almost everything throughout the world that is related to it. Hence, the world is now called a global village. Brawley (2008: pp.198) correctly states that “One of the most important aspects of globalization is the integration of economies across great distances.” THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: We might have heard Bill Gates’ name somewhere. Gates; someone everyone is well aware of, he is referred to as the father of invention, also by others as the master of electronics and many just know him as a guy on stage talking about gadgets. Other than the head of the organization under study and examination here, Bill Gates is the chairman and former CEO of the Microsoft Corporation. He was born in Seattle, on October 28th, 1955. On April 4, 1975 this organization was officially launched with Paul Allen and Bill Gates working heads. When the headquarter of this organization was located in Albuquerque, it was known as ‘Micro-Soft’ The entire story behind this successful organization lies in the issue of the magazine ‘Popular Electronics’ in which the computer Altair 8800 was verified. Hence, Bill Gates worked hard and focused along with his employees on making their company a success and finally achieved or is in the process of achieving his goal. The latest developing input device ‘the mouse’ has put inventors in pondering upon what lies ahead. When these technologies were being invented and the process of globalization was taking place Gates got the advantage of gaining access to the right to “exclude others from making, selling, or even using the invention” specifies Sounderpandian and Sinha (2007: pp.54) When studying the Microsoft corporation, the fact how this organization globalized and through which processed it had to go through cannot be ignored. The company now has a well diversified portfolio of products. What other reason can be for Microsoft to go ahead with product diversification strategy other than Globalization. The product portfolio of Microsoft takes into account Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Software, Windows Smartphone’s, Xbox 360 and one can even find the business to be providing a number of solutions to cater to various market needs for entertainment and business functions like Skype and server solutions. Other than this it shall also be specified what problems this organization had to go through. When it comes to the tactics of the entire process of becoming a global agency we cannot forget that the Microsoft Corporation had to go through various tough challenges. But regardless of these challenged this organization proved it to be one of the most respected organization. One of the major problems it faced elucidates Dierks (2001) was the monopolistic charges pressed against it by the US government. Since, its creation the people working as leaders and employees in the company have been focusing not only on changing ad improving their products but also the approach and styles of the representation of social responsibility. Other than this the Microsoft Corporation is also working on improving edification, erudition and employment training, as it aims as working as a complete institution that affects the society on all levels. Hence, discussed below is a brief analysis of the development and globalization of this organization and how it evolved over the past few years. As the Bureau of Indian Affairs aims at improving the schools in India, Albright, Clinton and the President's Interagency Council on Women (2000: pp.301) verify that this organization helps by “supplying computer equipment, and software” to them. ANALYSIS - APPLICATION OF THEORY TO EVIDENCE: It is necessary to specify the importance of globalization with reference to the emergence of this organization on a whole. But when an organization has to internationalize or globalize it has to keep in mind the various steps and characteristics of this process. This can only be done through proper strategic planning and arrangements. The various characteristics of this process of going global have shall be discussed below with reference to this corporation. These characteristics include technological improvements along with transport and telecom development, awareness amongst the people of the capital, spreading of knowledge, role of other multinational and nongovernmental organizations. These characteristics in Mothe’s (1996) perspective are the affecters of factors like trade and investment. Thus, when an organization makes sure that the above mentioned characteristics are kept in view while developing and establishing strategies for globalization the chances that it will easily start of towards the destination. But it shall not be forgotten that wherever there is a path of success there remain some hurdles as well. Just like a speed breaker reduces the sped of a car similarly the rate of progress of organizations is affected by these issues or hurdles. Hence, if an organization does not remain careful in locating these hurdles before they get too near it might break down like the engine of a car. These issues in the process of globalization might be related to trade, environment, media, development, investment, culture, IMF and the World Bank, energy, education, health and the international law. These above mentioned issued if not all; can prove as a danger to the growth of any organization if taken to the dark side as Westerfield and Abbink (2004) have explicated that globalization is driven by these important issues. In order to study the Microsoft Corporation it is necessary to apply this theory for the evidence of its globalization and understanding of how this organization emerged as a global corporation. As mentioned above the Microsoft Corporation had to keep in mind the characteristics of globalization in mind while making its strategies to be worked up on. As mentioned above the first and the foremost characteristic that this organization had to keep in mind while going global was whether proper transport, communication and technological facilities were present or not. This was due to the fact that if the facility of transport above all was not available then the products of this organization might not have been imported or exported. Other than this if technological developments weren’t there than proper communication with the branches of this organization around the world would not have been possible. As Leinbach and Capineri (2007: pp.XII) have verified that these factors facilitate “freight services, manufacturing processes and logistical solutions to shipping goods.” consequently, their importance could be understood well. Other than these characteristics, it was important to keep in mind that during the process of globalization which areas had larger and which areas had less rate of awareness and to work on those areas for globalization in which non-governmental organizations were already playing a role to spread knowledge and to let people know what changes needed to be brought in the business world. After the above mentioned characteristics were kept in mind it was time that the Microsoft Corporation had started growing on the path of successful globalization. But as soon as this organization started its journey many problems were put forth it and many hurdles needed to be passed. Microsoft Corporation is famous for developing, licensing, and supporting a range of software products and services for a number of computing devices present worldwide. The very fact the company has an employee base of 90,000 people is in itself a task Microsoft is dealing with and working along the task force effectively taking into account the diverse nature of jobs and providing equal opportunity employment makes the firm a truly globalized one . Chia and Sng (2009: p. 213) have specified that the business of the Microsoft Corporation is “finance by Singapore. But the business of managing Microsoft Corporation is undertaken by non- Singaporeans.” During, the globalization of the Microsoft Corporation, cultural conflict problems raised due to the fact that countries in spite of having signed trade agreements refused to establish the branches of this organization in their region. Rodrigues (2009) believed that at this point the balance between regionalism and globalization completely banished. Still, a large number of problems were left behind and needed to be sorted out. Many other multinational organizations came into being and were proven successful and competent. But as we all are aware that one bad fish ruins the entire sea, hence there were some organizations which falsely accused the Microsoft Organization of monopolistic market and antitrust policies, however Vaidya (2006) stated that this company (IBM) itself was proven guilty of both the charges, hence this problem was in a way over. This was the time when various pacts and concurrences were signed by the IMF and regulations were being formulated by the World Bank. One of the major problems that also came forth during the process of globalization of this organization was the biasness of the media. Looking at the financial performance of Microsoft over the last 6 years according to the annual report 2011, the following figure, the organization as able to introduce new product and the performance they were able to maintain was phenomenal. The stock performance of Microsoft reflects that organization is truly global in nature. Chakravartty and Sarikakis (2006) had the view that for the construction acknowledged societies telecommunication, equipments and softwares were the three pillars. that It is believed that both positive as well has negative roles of the Microsoft Corporations were presented by the media at the time of its globalization but the factor which instead of proving as a problem proved a plus point to settle down the entire media frenzy. This plus point was the environment which could have been negatively affected the globalization of the Microsoft Corporation but it didn’t. Instead more and more trade policies and concurrences were signed during that time and this organization got a change to expand its working. Kerr and Gaisford (2007: pp.75) verified that these proved as a “structure that more closely mirrored the realities of globalization.” These problems despite being voraciously devastating could have been caused a negative impact on the over al progress of the Microsoft Corporation. But this assumption was proven wrong and the point of affirmations made included the success of this organization in overcoming these problems. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS: The major question that is to be analyzed is that how shall an organization like Microsoft should develop a strategy in order to achieve what they are working upon and what the market and customer requirements reveal. This notion can be spurred by the answer of Davenport, Leibold and Voelpel (2006: pp.182) that “Strategy generally requires careful, analytical calculation and choice, which assumes that there is a great deal of reliable information available.” As this organization climbs up the mountain of success it shall keep the future conflicts and divergences in mind. In Sääksvuori and Immonen’s (2002) perspective business strategies affects the product strategies, which could work the other way as well. Looking at the diverse product nature if the products offering by Microsoft and the way the products are designed to cater the customer all around the world like providing language options in its products by using National Language Support (NLS). The codes written for the products at Microsoft required the developers to understand the concepts of globalization and localization s can be seen in the following figure, which makes the organization truly global. Changes in the business management strategy are not provided due to any sorts of conflicts in the previous ones, rather it is believed that the changes in such strategies over the period of time can help create better atmosphere i.e. motivational and refreshing in nature both for the employer and the employee. It shall make sure that the accusations which were imposed on this organization in the past shall be eliminated from root, if imposed again, for example the accusation of monopolistic marketing shall be eliminated even though it might not be there but the Microsoft corporation shall work deeply on it product creation and copying. When the runners of this organization will look upon it as their personal asset, they will understand the complete methodology of a transparent system. This can be done when they think less about their profit and more about the success of the entire organization as an institution of a society. How this organization can help in the improvement of various aspects which not only include economy but also other factors. This has been seen becoming true as Bennett (2010) formulates that the secret of Gate’s success is sharing. Thus it can be concluded that on a whole the Microsoft Corporation proved itself as an organization which successfully globalized and is now serving not only the people of its region but also the populace around the world. Everyone is using emails, applications, softwares and hardware which have been invented by Microsoft Corporation, which states how this organization has played its role in bringing an enormous change in this wide world. REFERENCES: Albright, M.K, Clinton, H.R. and President's Interagency Council on Women. America's Commitment: Women 2000. Darby: Diane. Bennett, B.S., 2010. Year to Success. Sudbury: Archieboy Holdings, LLC. Brawley, M.R., 2008. The Politics of Globalization: Gaining Perspective, Assessing Consequences. Ontario: University of Toronto Press. Chakravartty, P. and Sarikakis, K., 2006. Media Policy and Globalization. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chia, W.M. and Sng, H.Y., 2009. Singapore and Asia in a Globalized World: Contemporary Economic Issues and Policies. London: World Scientific. Davenport, T.H., Leibold, M. and Voelpel, S.C., 2006. Strategic Management in the Innovation Economy: Strategic Approaches and Tools for Dynamic Innovation Capabilities. Erlangen: Wiley-VCH Verlag. Dierks, R.G., 2001. Introduction to Globalization, Political and Economic Perspectives for the New Century. Chicago: Burnham. Go Global Developer Center. 2011. Understanding Internationalization. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 12 November 2011]. Jaffe, E.D., Bacchus, J. and Alon, I., 2006. Globalization and Development. New York: Chelsea House Publishers Kerr, W.A. and Gaisford, J.D., 2007. Handbook on International Trade Policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Leinbach, T.R and Capineri, C., 2007. Globalized Freight Transport: Intermodality, E-commerce, Logistics, And Sustainability (Transport Economics, Management, and Policy). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Microsoft Corporation. 2011. 2011 Annual Report. [Online] Redmond: Microsoft Corporation. Available at: [Accessed 12 November 2011]. Mothe, J.D., 1996. Evolutionary Economics and the New International Political Economy. London: Routledge. Rodrigues, M.J., 2009. Europe, globalization and the Lisbon Agenda. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Sääksvuori, A. and Immonen, A., 2002. Product Lifecycle Management. 3rd ed. Germany: Springer. Sounderpandian, J. and Sinha, T., E-Business Process Management: Technologies and Solutions. London: Idea Group. Suárez-Orozco, M.M. and Qin-Hilliard, D., 2004. Globalization: Culture and Education in the New Millennium. California: University of California Press. Vaidya, A.K., 2006. Globalization: Encyclopedia of Trade, Labor, And Politic. California: ABC-CLIO Westerfield, R.E. and Abbink, J., 2004. Current Issues in Globalization. New York: Nova Science Read More