The History, Development and Growth of Bill Gates - Case Study Example

Entrepreneurship: Bill Gates Student’s Name: Code + Course name Professor’s name University City, State Date Introduction Entrepreneurship in the technological field has greatly advanced over the years. Technological innovations such as computers and the internet have resulted to the emergence of successful entrepreneurs across the globe. It can be stated that the technological field has actually produced the world’s most innovative and richest entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates. This paper seeks to examine various entrepreneurial attributes of Bill Gates and the key aspects that are related to his ventures. The history, Development and growth of Bill Gates that influenced his success Bill Gates was born in Washington Seattle in 1955 October 28th. He started showing interest in computers essentially computer programing by the age of 13. His interest in computer programmes continued to expand during his school years at the Lakeside school where he came up with captivating innovations even at a young age. A case in point is when he was in his eighth grade, the Lakeside school mothers club purchased computer time on General Electricity (GE) and the Teletype Model 33 for the schoolchildren. Gates had so much interest in developing the GE system in order to come up with a BASIC model. As a result, he was exempted from the mathematics class in order to pursue his interest (Bio, 2016). Such innovation opportunities greatly promoted his interests in the field and further advanced his experience. Bill Gates had a desire to acquire more knowledge about his area of interest. This factor also influenced his success. He attended the Computer Centre Corporation (CCC) where he learnt about how to come up with source Codes for a variety of programs such as machine language, Lips and Fortran that aid the running of a system. Additionally, during his college years, Gates had no specific time schedule of study but rather he spent most of his time around computers (Bio, 2016). This enabled him to gain more knowledge on his venture. Gates also developed partnership with individuals that had similar interest as his. He partnered with his friend Paul Allen and developed a new company known as Traf-O-Data that was able to estimate traffic flow. The initiative earned the two entrepreneurs $20,000. Later the two come up with the Microsoft venture which influenced Gates to take the aggressive move of dropping out of Harvard and making his venture a success (Bio, 2016). The Role of Family and Social Cultural Background in the development of Bill Gates Entrepreneurial success Bill Gates’ family played a critical role in influencing his entrepreneurial success. His mother Mary Maxwell encouraged his son to pursue his interests. Gates had a close relationship with his mother and therefore her advice greatly mattered. Mary was however against Gates not attending college, nevertheless, she later accepted and let her son follow his dreams (Bio, 2016). The support from the mother and also the father greatly influenced Gates to continue to pursue his dreams. Additionally, it can be stated that Gates was born from a family that has entrepreneurial success and interest which further motivated him. Although his father was a lawyers, his grandfather was inclined to the business world as the president of national banks (Bio, 2016). Bill Gates grew up in a social- cultural environment where opportunities existed and people were given a chance to follow to follow their dreams. For instance; even at an early age, Gates is exempted from the mathematics class in order to give him time to come up with a computer programs. Additionally, even at a young age Gates is provided with a job which greatly advances his experience in the field and further leading him to establish his own venture (Bio, 2016). The type of businesses Bill Gates developed and the competitive advantage of the business compared to other entrepreneurs When Bill Gates established Microsoft after dropping out of Harvard University, the entrepreneur partnered with Paul Allen to develop a version of the BASIC programming language that marked the advent of the Microsoft Corporation. Later on in 1979, Gates transferred to Seattle and began developing compilers thereby forming the basis of the development of the first personal computer in 1980. IBM hired Microsoft to develop the operating system that would run on its machines. In 1986, the company went public followed by increasing revenue generated by the company that saw Gates become the first billionaire in the industry. Since then, the company has increased its portfolio of competencies that has enabled it develop Windows, business solutions, servers, Games and Xbox Game Console, Windows Mobile, Developer Tools, MSN among others (Microsoft Corporation 2011). Various companies use Microsoft industry dynamics to map their operations and services into appropriate applications that suit their business goals. On its website, Microsoft encourages customers to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM so as to attain business insights and outstanding value (Hutson 2010). Companies prefer Microsoft CRM products to other products as a result of their ability to track sales opportunity thereby enhancing sales productivity. This in turn enhances customer satisfaction thereby encouraging customers to prefer Microsoft’s products to the other competing products. The firm’s CRM business management software also has a native client outlook that permits users to access the features of the Microsoft’s dynamics CRM while still within the interface of Microsoft Outlook. The fact that such an application is effective in handling customer service, sales and marketing, the application enhances the productivity and functionality of any expert team working on a project towards achieving its projects. The competitive advantage that Microsoft enjoys emanates from its competitive strategies. Other competitors have found it difficult to imitate the company’s core competencies due to the perceived benefits that customers realize from the competencies. For instance, in order to showcase its core competencies, Microsoft uses a partner network. The two types of the competencies are gold and silver (Perry & White 2012). Both types of competencies place the Microsoft at a competitive position since they demonstrate the skills and expertise of the firm. Microsoft has also been able to align itself to how customers make purchases of a company’s product. With the state of the art technological innovation, Microsoft is able to offer competitive advantage using its ability to deliver the right services at the right time. Moreover, competitive advantage also emanates from the strengthened IT sector that enables it to focus and align itself with its corporate strategies. Microsoft also enjoys its power as the global developer and supplier of Windows Operating Systems for personal computers. The power emanates from the fact that Windows suffices to be the industry’s de facto standard. The fair product prices and its unique differentiation imply high switching costs to customers that intend to install other operating systems. It is also proper to observe that Microsoft’s competitive position stems from the fact that there exist few threats from substitute products in the market. As a matter of fact, the existing viable substitutes for Windows Operating System are Linux and iOS. The preferred performance of the Windows OS in comparison to Linux or the relatively expensive Apple iOS implies that most of the personal computers in the world still use the Windows OS. The decision of the firm to use the HTML 5 platform in Windows 8, 8.1 Internet Explorer has also enhanced the compatibility of the platform to other applications (Computer Hardware 2011). Future suggestions for the entrepreneur and the different types of businesses or avenues Through the utility of the online application of Microsoft dynamics CRM, firms are capable of sourcing effective methods of sustainable production. The setting up of teams and territories that optimize the functional efficiency of the organization improves sales management and planning. The CRM application also enables firms to develop and monitor its offers for pricing strategies by positioning themselves strategically against the existing market competition using the competitor tracking tool integrated in Microsoft’s CRM software. The embedded capabilities for document management and predefined workflows also enable the firm to streamline its proposal creation and sales promotion activities. The product development strategy of the firm has also enabled it to develop products based on customer preferences and feedback regarding the previous product (Cusumano & Selby 1997). The complimentary relationship that exists between Microsoft Corporation and Intel with regard to Microsoft’s utility of Intel’s microprocessors has also played a pivotal role towards expanding business avenues for Bill Gates (Casadesus-Masanell & Yoffie 2007). The relationship between Windows and Intel’s microprocessors chipset architecture has resulted in the creation of the Wintel standard used in personal computers presently. Most importantly, it is apparent that effective strategizing has been of key influence to Microsoft’s success in the software industry. For instance, the firm has employed a formalized strategic approach towards software development. The decentralization and flexibility of the strategy turns out to be the strategy’s milestones that are responsible for the firm’s success (Hill & Jones 2007). The formalized strategy utilizes standard financial information in the proper allocation of resources that the firm requires to finance the budget of its subsequent year. According to the strategy, the managers account for the actual performance of the company in the event that it deviates from the intended performance. The participation of the middle-level managers in the development of some of the company’s strategic initiatives such as Windows Explorer and Xbox implies that all the individuals in the company regard its success as a personal initiative rather than the sole responsibility of Bill Gates. However, prior to implementing the strategy, top management executives have to scrutinize the strategy to determine its effectiveness and relevance to the corporation. The company also understands that there exist unforeseen future circumstances that may render some of the existing strategies ineffective. As a result, it ensures that its strategic plan is flexible enough to accommodate future changes. Having such a flexible strategy in mind, the firm is able to adjust to change as and when it occurs so as to meet customer needs (Rothaermel 2008). The guaranteed future existence and performance of company depends on Bill Gates ability to create patents and protect its innovations (Hall 2010). Even though Apple lagged behind Microsoft regarding the number of existing patents, it is evident that Apple has recorded a rapid increase in the number of its patents over the recent years. Apparently, the increase in the number of patents implies that the existing CEO is focusing on the development of new innovative products. In contrary to Apple Inc. that releases new products, Microsoft has portrayed reluctance in the development of new products. Therefore, it is necessary for the top management of the company comprising of the company’s CEO and Bill Gates to conduct intensive research and development to develop innovative products that meet customer needs. Reference List Bio, 2016, Bill Gates Biography, Retrieved From Casadesus-Masanell, R. and Yoffie, D.B., 2007. Wintel: Cooperation and conflict. Management Science, 53(4), pp.584-598. Computer Hardware., 2011. Microsoft Previews 'Windows 8'. Computers, Networks & Communications, pp. 49. Cusumano, M.A. and Selby, R.W., 1997. How Microsoft builds software. Communications of the ACM, 40(6), pp.53-61. Hall, B.H., 2010. 5 Open Innovation & Intellectual Property Rights: The Two-edged Sword. Economy, Culture and History Japan Spotlight Bimonthly, 29(1), p.18. Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R., 2007. Strategic management theory. An integrated approach. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Hutson, S., 2010. Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a Solution Development Framework. Architecture Whitepaper. Microsoft Corporation., 2011. Hoover's Company Records. Perry, M., & White, S., 2012. The Business Value of the Microsoft Partner Network Core Benefits. IDC White Paper. Rothaermel, F.T., 2008. Competitive advantage in technology intensive industries. Adv Study Entrepreneurship Innovation Econ Growth, 18, pp.201-225. Read More