Communication Methodology of Microsoft Corporation - Case Study Example

MICROSOFT CORPORATION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ABSTRACT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION THE FOUNDER PERSON William Bill Gates is the Founder and Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, who laid the foundation stone of Microsoft Company in 1975 along with his childhood friend Paul Allen. He is also the owner of many other enterprises, estates and business networks, as well as author of three books and many essays and lectures. By dint of his wisdom, foresight and gifted intelligence, he has brought revolutionary changes in the world of technology. Though I have no direct relationship with either the Microsoft Corporation or its Owner, nor I am the employee or distributor of its products, yet indirectly I maintain many relations with both of them, for I am continuous and regular consumer of many of the products of Microsoft, and utilize them for my domestic, personal and office use. I seek great inspirations by the charismatic personality and unbelievable accomplishments of Mr. Bill Gates, who earned incomparable respect, pelf, possession and fame. It is therefore, I have selected him as my favorite entrepreneur in this report and have described the company and discoveries it has made within short span that looks a dream rather than reality indeed. Furthermore, I have dropped few words in his business techniques, strategies, vision and future plans that make a remarkable winning combination in the contest of achievements and triumphs. THE COMPANY Microsoft Corporation is the leading entrepreneur of not only the USA, but also the world at large with nearly eighty thousand employees in more than one hundred countries. The company has been working as the pioneer of Microsoft engineering services and has become the need of every commercial, educational, domestic and ii personal learning, record keeping and business promotion activities. The wisdom, foresight and vision of the Founder Chairman, Bill Gates for personal computing, have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. (www.Microsoft.com). Bill Gates applied best of his capabilities and exercised all his energies to bring utmost improvements and advancements in this field. It seems there was a whole generation of us, all over the world, who dragged that favorite toy with us into adulthood. In doing so, we caused a kind of revolution. (Gates: 1995, p 3). Gates declares knowledge and information a reason, which distinguish an enterprise from others. The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitor, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or loose. (Gates, 1999 p 1). It is estimated that Microsoft Network maintains more than four-fifth of the whole computer industry. Not only this, but also it possesses many hundreds of the products relevant to computer technologies including CDs, MP3, latest internal and external modems, windows 98, 2000, XP and other versions, games and offices in word, excel and other formats, and much more. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………………..i Table of Contents……………………………………………………..iii Introduction……………………………………………………………5 Communication Methodology …………………………………….......5 Business Culture of Microsoft…………………………………………8 Reference List…………………………………………………………11 PART A INTRODUCTION The focus of the present study is to find out the communication methodology of world's great enterprise Microsoft Corporation with its customers and the users of its products in order to measure the quality of its services and manufacturing items. The concepts and ways of modern communicational activities with the help of latest technology have also been discussed in details with special reference to the Microsoft Corporation. The significance of regular and systematic contact with sales personnel and inclusion of sales force automation (SFA) has also been elaborated in Part A. Part B estimates signifies the importance of corporate culture and its support in improving the quality of a product. Unique features and characteristics of the culture of Microsoft Corporation and its strategy in respect of learning programs and motivational effects have also been thrashed out in the present report. In addition, business policies and advertising campaign strategy have also been the part of the current study. PART B COMMUNICATION METHODOLOGY Although communication phenomenon has always been important in the fields of sales and marketing, it has got imperative place in the life of the entrepreneurship and products for the last hundred years. All enterprises articulate methodology to communicate with their clients. A company has to communicate with its customers and act on what it learns in that communication. (Gates: 1999, p 24) Microsoft Corporation also communicates with its customers in order to estimate the quality of its product on the one hand, and the customer satisfaction on the other. The main objective behind communicating with customers is to estimate what they actually want. It has introduced synchronous and asynchronous communication systems in respect of communicating with the customers to get information how they view the quality and consumption of its products. For this, the Corporation launches comprehensive adverting campaign from all channels, which benefits in respect of introducing the product and extract results of its sales out of advertising. The Corporation prefers internet services for launching and advertising every new product, because computer users are definite clients of the company. Top management of the Corporation devises a comprehensive market plan before introducing the product in the market. It conducts marketing research under the supervision of expertise and on the basis of information gathered by the research team, the company makes alterations in design, packaging and characteristics of the product if necessary. By this, not only it is able to get acquaintance with the needs of consumers, but also it gets an opportunity to tackle with the growing consumers’ requirements. Quality assurance department of the company performs a comparative product analysis by conducting interviews with the end consumers, stakeholders and dealers in order to judge the popularity as well as quality of their manufactures. In addition, the Corporation publishes a monthly magazine under the title MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) for communicating with the target customers and describing the latest developments regarding new inventions and product creation. Microsoft Corporation has introduced sales force automation system (SFA System) in its sales department, where an automatic system of collecting the data related to customers and consumers is assessed, analyzed and monitored. With the help of SFA, the company estimates which product is giving high percentage of sales and thus outline of the quality of product appears before the management. On the basis of volume of sales within specific time, the sales management approximates where the product contains flaws and how to improve these drawbacks in order to present before the costumers in a more refined way. Business offices, companies, hotel rooms, airports, homes, educational institutions and markets are stated as laboratories by the Microsoft Corporation, because all these places are the platforms from where the consumers’ views can be gathered and examined regarding the quality and utility of specific merchandise. As marketing strategy is the most required aspect of marketing plan for the sales of products; it is therefore companies spend huge amount of money in advertising and marketing, which serve as significant methods of communicating with the consumers of manufacturing items. A key to successful projects in effective communication i.e. sharing the right messages with the right people in a timely manner. (Portny: 2001, p 229) The Microsoft Corporation has introduced a quick system in order to remain in close contact with its clients and customers for the projection and promotion of the products of the company. Flow of information must be speedy, comprehensive and based on correct knowledge. Whenever a new product is launched by the Microsoft Corporation, it is applied at all its offices and the employees discuss it with the individuals outside the company. They declare it eating their own dog food policy. Hence, the staff members and employees are the very first consumers of the product of the company, which help the management to explore the qualities of manufacture. Furthermore, the Microsoft Corporation allocates huge amount of money in its marketing operation through print and electronic media. The use and application of new device not only brings novelty within the organizational set up, but also its efficiency also gets an overwhelming increase. The firms, companies, students and public seem to be eager to learn all about the new product to get maximum benefit out of it. The most formidable channel of communication is media--both print and electronic. The users of Microsoft products have exceeded up to 90 million enjoying its services in various countries at every part of the Earth. Cable network and internet services have made communication system far easy and quick. Fulfilling the demands of the customers steers the ship of an enterprise to safe waters. The customers are demanding every moment and seek novelty in the product. In software customers always want more. If you improve software reliability, customers say great, but what about scalability? If you improve scalability, they want more integration. (Gates: 1999, pp 185-6). Customers are the net asset of an industry, on which it focuses its concentration. The client satisfaction is the key that takes the companies higher and higher unlocking new dimensions of accomplishment for them. A successful enterprise gives utmost concern in knowing who are its target customers, and then make plans on the basis of these customers. The range of customers can be large or small, but there must never be any compromise on quality of the product. Small business companies have to target only single market with limited range of customers, while multinational companies have to work hard to articulate strategies according to the geography, culture, socioeconomic situation and political scenario of different countries. The company should know how much it costs to serve each type of customer and the amount the customer must buy if its business is to yield a profit to the company. (Newman & Logan 1973:98). Moreover, Microsoft Corporation applies added strategy, where the extra qualities of their products are highlighted to make a difference with the competitors. Here once again, the Microsoft Corporation is not dependent of such campaigns. PART C Organizational Culture and Its Influence on Quality Service Corporate firms maintain some specific cultural traits which distinguishes them from other organizations and corporations. Organizational culture is the central part of a company’s organizational behavior which determines the dimension and performance of the company and quality of its products. Goetsch & Davis (2005) have identified quality management practices as the essential source to achieve peak performance and making continuous improvements of the products it offers to the consumers. The corporate culture of multinational companies and organizations rests on the foundation of internal and external factors. Microsoft Corporation has introduced dichotomous strategy by applying collective and group work rather than individual efforts especially in its business culture, which is highly beneficial for the improvement of the quality of its manufacturing goods and services. The directors and managers have their sitting arrangements with the other employees, which not only provides the staff with motivational effects, but also their sense of ego witnesses a remarkable boost with the concept that they are working with the management under the same environment and atmosphere. Secondly, their work efficiency also improves by finding the management always busy at work before their eyes. Employees’ satisfaction enhanced work hours and their interest in different tasks, which is extremely supportive for the organization improving the quality of products. Moreover, Microsoft has introduced formal and informal learning programs for the staff that accelerate their organizational behavior leading towards working with unabated devotion and dedication for the organization. The implication of different views and suggestions of various brains give birth to new ideas and help in improving the old ones. It is therefore, the Corporation is recognized and celebrated for its developer-centric culture. The Corporation invests a huge amount of money specific in the budget to hire the services of the fresh Microsoft university graduates and appoint them against various posts. It not only provides the company with fresh talent and energetic environment, but also the company extracts innovative ideas and support in introducing something new and novel. In addition, it is also helpful for Microsoft Corporation to prevaricate the budding genius join rival organizations and companies. It is therefore the Corporation faces no rival of such a great level who can manage to challenge the Corporation for the future years to come. In addition, it is also in the corporate culture of the Corporation that the talented personnel from the local population be hired for the overseas offices and administrative structure of the Corporation. Moreover, the company always lays stress on the use of their own products at offices and administrative structures and they avoid the products of the competitors. The same strategy has been devised by the Coca Cola Beverage Industry and Honda Automobile Industry. Consuming the company’s own products exploits sense of accomplishment and achievement in the staff members and they feel pride while using their own products and their morale observes a significant boost. CONCLUSION To conclude, it is crystal clear that an organization's communication methodology and corporate culture is imperative for determining the quality of its products and increasing its sales volume. The same is the case with Microsoft Corporation. By dint of its unique strategy of communicating with the consumers before and after the launching of the products and remaining in-touch with the market persons to calculate the pros and cons of manufactured item serves as the regulatory force for the corporation. With the help of latest information, continuous use of latest technology and methodological working like human nervous system as well as at the speed of thought successfully regulate the quality of product and communication system with the customers. Application of sales force automation (SFA) and advertising campaign through all the available channels distinguishes the Microsoft Corporation from rivals and competitors. The highly committed team and the right person at the right place policy make the unique corporate culture of Microsoft Corporation. REFERENCE LIST Gates, Bill. 1995. The Road Ahead. Quebecor Printing/Fairfield Inc. New York Gates, Bill.1999. Business @ The Speed of Thought. Using a Digital Nervous System. Warner Books, USA. Gates, Bill. 1993. Interview with David Allison. Bellevue, WA. Goetsch, David L & Davis, Stanley B. (2005) Quality Management - Introduction to Total Quality Management For Production, Processing And Services. Fifth Edition - Pearson Education International - Prentice Hall. Johnson, Gerry & Scholes, Kevan. 1993. Exploring Corporate Strategy. Text and Cases. Third Edition. Prentice Hall New York. Knoster, T. Villa, R. & Thousand, J. (2000) A Framework for Thinking about Systems Change. In R. Villa & J. Thousand (Editions), Restructuring for Caring and Effective Education: Piecing the Puzzle Together. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company. Pp 93-128 Newman, William H and Logan, James P. 1976. Strategy, Policy, and Central Management Seventh Edition, South-Western Publishing Company, West Chicago. Portny, Stanley E. 2001 Project Management for Dummies. Wiley Publishing Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 Microsoft Corporation http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/bio.mspx Read More