Team Project: Microsoft

This document provides an executive summary, current state, internal assessment, external assessment, and more about Microsoft.

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Team Project: Microsoft

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Executive Summary
Microsoft is a worldwide technology company with revenue of 168 billion USD
(Microsoft, 2021). being a technology company generates revenue by offering an array of cloud-
based services and other services to people and businesses; licensing and supporting software
produces, designing, manufacturing, and selling devices: as delivering relevant online
advertising to global audiences. Expenses are related to compensation to employees, designing,
manufacturing, marketing, and selling of products and services, datacenters costs that support the
cloud-based services and income taxes.

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Current State
History of Microsoft
Bill Gates and Paul G. Allen founded Microsoft in 1975 after converting a mainframe
programming language into a programming language that was suitable for use on a personal
computer (Zachary & Hall, 2020). Microsoft’s first important partnership was with International
Business Machines Corporation (IBM) for whom it created MS-DOS, the operating system that
ran every IBM computer (Zachary & Hall, 2020). Microsoft became a publicly owned
corporation in 1986, and by 1993 Microsoft was producing the software that ran 90% of the
world’s computers (Zachary & Hall, 2020). As of 2021, Microsoft continues to dominant the
market, with their software powering almost 80% of all computers worldwide (Liu, 2021).
Mission Statement
“Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve
more” (Microsoft, n.d., para. 1). Microsoft’s mission is anchored around the idea of making
everyone globally to “achieve more.” In a global and very connected economy, Microsoft
mission’s fills in a need, more of a must-have, for young and old alike, whether it is to be more
efficient in our personal lives or to simply do our jobs in our professional settings. Embedded in
the mission is how their products “empower” people and organizations, a powerful and brilliant
concept that resonates with all of us.
Vision Statement
“At Microsoft we are dedicated to advancing human and organizational achievement”
(Microsoft, n.d., para. 1). Microsoft pursues its vision by aligning it to its mission statement, as
well as adhering to its core values.

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Core Values
Microsoft has three corporate values which align to its mission and vision statements.
First, respect: “we recognize that the thoughts, feelings, and backgrounds of others are as
important as our own” (Microsoft, n.d., para. 2). Second, integrity: “we are honest, ethical and
trustworthy” Microsoft, n.d., para. 3). Third, accountability: “we accept full responsibility for our
decisions, actions, and results” (Microsoft, n.d., para. 4).
Internal Assessment
Finance and Accounting
Microsoft repurchased shares with the approval of the Board of Directors. In both 2016
and 2019 up to $40 billion in shares were repurchased and as of June of 2021 8.7 billion
remained of the $40 billion share repurchase program. The shares repurchased during the 2021
fiscal year and the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020 were under the share purchase program
approved in 2019.
Highlights from fiscal year 2021 compared with fiscal year 2020 included:
 Commercial cloud revenue increased 34% to $69.1 billion.
 Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 13% driven by Office 365
Commercial growth of 22%.
 Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 10% and Microsoft 365
Consumer subscribers increased to 51.9 million.
 LinkedIn revenue increased 27%.
 Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 25% driven by Dynamics 365 growth
of 43%.

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 Server products and cloud services revenue increased 27% driven by Azure growth of 50%.
 Windows original equipment manufacturer licensing (“Windows OEM”) revenue increased
slightly.
 Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 14%.
 Xbox content and services revenue increased 23%.
 Search advertising revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, increased 13%.
 Surface revenue increased 5%.
(Microsoft annual report 2021)
Management: Planning, organizing, motivating, staffing, and controlling
What is more impressive for those who are very aware of ethical behaviors and corporate
responsibilities, is how Microsoft behaves and “lives,” what could also be called the “How” they
do business. A big part of the company’s value is to treat customers and their own employees
with respect and create an enabling and supportive environment for their workers. Respect,
integrity, diversity, and accountability are a big part of the company’s aspiration. It does create a
powerful recruitment and retention tool so they can attract the best talents. Motivating employees
to keep innovating and having pride and ownership of the company’s products is core to
Microsoft’s strategy. Who would not want to be valued, know that they work in a place where his
and her ideas do matter? We spend at least 8 hours of our days dedicating to this organization.
Moreover, Microsoft employees are well compensated. According to Glassdoor, an
anonymous survey found that 91% of Microsoft employees said that they would recommend the
company to a friend, an impressive 98% of them approve of their current CEO job performance.

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Running a business with great products and staying true to its value is one thing, staying
competitive over time is more impressive. A company that continues to stay ahead of the game
over a period of several decades and shows no signs of slowing down shows a great deal of
strategic insights, sophisticated management, and bold leadership.
Continuing to innovate, adopt, adapt, and evolve is a necessary step to stay not only
competitive globally but to remain number one. It can also be exhausting for employees.
Exhausting because this will require internal adjustments, constant re-organization, and change,
forcing employees to adapt and adopt. Balancing these two key ingredients of external forces and
internal effects is one that Microsoft cannot afford to not get right.
R&D
Most of Microsoft products and services are internally developed which allows Microsoft
to maintain competitive advantages that come from product differentiation and closer technical
control. Microsoft’s main R&D facility is in Redmond, WA, however, has offices all over the
world. In the following engineering groups, Microsoft focuses its R&D efforts on Cloud and
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Experiences and Devices, AI and Research, LinkedIn, and Gaming.
These groups focus on hardware, software, cloud infrastructure, content, and services.
Microsoft’s R&D expenditure amounted to around 20.7 billion U.S. dollars in its 2021 fiscal
year, a record high for the company. Microsoft ranks second among software and computer
service companies worldwide in terms of R&D spend, behind only Google’s parent company
Alphabet. (Liu, 2021). Per Microsoft’s 2021 annual report, 60,000 employees are employed in
Microsoft’s R&D department. With billions invested into its R&D, Microsoft protects its
intellectual property in a variety of ways by working actively in the U.S and internationally to

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ensure the enforcement of copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other protections that apply to
software and hardware products, services, business plans, and branding.
Technology
Technology is rapidly increasing with the growth in technological advancements.
Microsoft, the most renowned technology company, was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul
Allen. The American multinational company offers software and hardware products, cloud
computing, operating systems, and apps and devices. With over 40 years of operation, Microsoft
has made a significant contribution to the technology industry. However, with the increase in
companies that offer technology solutions, competition arises, hence the need for the firm to
frequently conduct an internal analysis to help improve and implement effective strategies, help
them compete with their competitors, and achieve organizational goals (Chebolu & Nair 2021).
First, Microsoft has continually remained a giant multinational company and is the global market
leader in software technology. The firm is the largest developer of windows OS and cloud
players. Secondly, the firm has a dominant market share with a vast market reach. The company
is ranked second largest globally based on market value and is operational in over 190 countries
globally. Finally, the firm is a reputable brand with loyal customers who trust the brand, enabling
the firm to have consistent financial performance.
However, the firm has also had its fair share of challenges, such as cybercrime theft.
Microsoft products are vulnerable to cybercrime, especially their OS. As a result, organizations
and individuals become unattracted to their products. Secondly, they lag in innovation by largely
depending on software products rather than the hardware, weakening their business against their
competitors, hence facing strong competition from huge firms such as Google (Eitzman, 2019).
Finally, they have less penetration in the search engine segment. In summary, internal business

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analysis is an essential tool in strategic planning and is the first step to formulate strategies. Also,
the internal assessment helps businesses examine their internal environment as part of strategy
formulation, execution, and in identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
(SWOT). Therefore, for Microsoft to remain a giant multinational company in software
provision, the firm needs to upgrade its software, constantly update its browser, increase
partnerships, address cyber theft issues, enhance its brand reputation by using practical
marketing tools, and enhance growth through diversification.
External Assessment
Porter’s Five Forces: Rivalry Among Competing Firms
One of the hardest things that business leaders must do is to manage external factors with
a significant impact on their businesses by educating themselves and staying abreast of the fast-
evolving changes, taking calculated risks and reacting to all the outcomes. External factors are
larger than just a business even one industry, these are macro level issues such as political shifts,
economic booms & busts, natural disasters, innovations and technological advances, competition
at a global level and local, regional, and global policies and the legal mechanisms to enforce the
policies.
Microsoft is not immune to any of these external forces at home or abroad. For example,
political and government positions on businesses are one of the most important external forces
businesses must pay attention to. Systems and guidelines put in place by a government (s) are all
they have for business to guide decisions and develop and implement their strategic business
priorities. It is not like Microsoft can afford to not expand and compete at a global level.
Decisions on where to expand becomes a series of strategic exercise, are the policies business
friendly or not, how is the government regulating a particular industry, how are the tax policies,

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how do they deal with corruption and is it a level playing field where policies encourage good
competition. These policies can make or break a business. The best tool that Microsoft has is to
be informed enough to predict outcomes and make decisions based on those predictors. This is
even more complicated when things change once Microsoft has established itself in a new
country, when government change a whole host of risk factors need to be interrogates, is the new
administration going to change policies and if so, will it be harder or easier to operate. It is not
like closing doors is an easy decision either.
Foreign presence is complicated but operating here in the US is not easy either. Let’s take
for example immigration policies. For Microsoft to stay competitive they must continuously
attract and retain the best talents in their industry from a global pool of qualified applicants.
When the US government immigration policies fluctuate between a friendly work visa for
professionals to no visa at all, businesses who rely on a diverse workforce like Microsoft
struggle. The reality is Microsoft needs to have a multi-pronged approach to stay ahead of the
game and remain competitive, hire as many top candidates as they can from the US while
bringing global talents to complement the local talents. That diverse employee pool brings in
insights of their local global communities for Microsoft to design products that cater to global
consumers.
That diversification strategy is not just applicable to hiring work force, it also is necessary
in expanding the global footprint. Microsoft cannot afford to rely solely on US policies because
their headquarters are in the US, they also must expand their business overseas. They do so once
again consider all the external factors overseas political stability, how well the infrastructure is,
how safe it is to operate, and of course what the foreign trade policies are. Then Microsoft need
to balance this with the cost of not doing businesses in growing economies like Brazil, China,

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and Africa. As China, Brazil. India and Africa expand their economies with increasingly of their
citizens moving to the middle class, it opens a huge market for Microsoft with consumers with
more disposable income to purchase computers, laptops, and gaming consoles and all the
software necessary to power the hardware.
A good leader will have a diverse portfolio of approaches in their strategic roadmap. One
of those important ingredients is community engagement. Businesses like Microsoft increasingly
are seeing adoption of good and ethical practices and advocating for worthy causes not just the
right to do but a smart thing to do for their businesses (Satya, 2020). Engaging communities by
joining them to support a cause that is good for everyone is an effective way to do the right thing
but also to garner support and nurture a friendly community with the hopes that these
communities will be helpful in the future by helping to elect business friendly law makers in the
future (Microsoft. n.d.). Analysis of external factors and forces therefore are important decision-
making tools for businesses like Microsoft.
Porter’s Five Forces: Potential Entry of New Competitors
Potential Entry of New Competitors in Microsoft’s business space is constant and it is
always growing – one ‘big’ idea can kick off any new competitor and take Microsoft’s market
share. Microsoft offers a various number of technological solutions, services and products. This
environment is built on innovation and bringing on new ways of doing things which puts
pressure on Microsoft through lower pricing strategies, reducing costs and providing new value
propositions to the customers. To stay competitive against potential entry of new competitors
Microsoft needs to build capacity and stay relevant with R&D. The current niche marketspace
new competitors are looking to breakthrough is with AI. Apple and Google are currently
Microsoft’s largest competitors. New Entrants are less likely to enter a dynamic market where

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Microsoft continues to define the new standard of technology. This reduces high profit margins
for new firms in return discouraging new entrants to the industry.
Porter’s Five Forces: Potential Development of Substitute Products
The potential development of substitute products exerts a weak force on Microsoft. The
primary reason for this is the lack of availability of substitutes (Ferguson, 2017). The lack of
availability of substitutes has several layers. First, Microsoft is so entrenched in the market that
as of 2021 they control an estimated 87.65% of market share and their next largest competitor,
macOS controls only 9.54% a staggering gap between first and second place (Clayton, 2021).
Also, macOS was developed as a proprietary software designed only to power in-house created
Apple products, meaning it is simply not applicable to the clientele currently served by Microsoft
(Clayton, 2021). Therefore, the striking lack of current competition for a substitute product is a
reason for the force being weak. Another and related reason, is that Microsoft has been on the
cutting edge of technology in the development of their products and their research and
development team is so far advanced in computing technology that the cost to entry in order to
compete at all is not only high, but continues to increase by the day as Microsoft continues to
refine their product and thereby shaping the direction of personal computer development
(Ferguson, 2017). Therefore, the force is weak because of a lack of availability of substitutes,
both in fact as can be seen by market share; and in theory, as the course of computer
technological development has been key to the continued success of Microsoft as they advance
technology before any potential rivals even appear.
Porter’s Five Forces: Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Employees are considered the most significant suppliers in numerous industries when it
comes to supplier power because they have the most knowledge of physical devices as well as

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technical knowledge (Lai et al., 2018). Great suppliers are also known for their versatility. High
turnover in an industry or company reflects poorly on the firm since it demonstrates that the
company's most valuable assets cannot stay, making it difficult for customers or purchasers to
remain loyal. Microsoft puts a lot of money into its employees so that customers can have
trouble-free software services, and the Developer Training and Certification Initiative helps to
achieve this. Industrial suppliers are thought to have a lot of influence on operations.
Porter’s Five Forces: Bargaining Power of Consumers
Consumers quite often demand a lot. They want the best offers available, quality products
at a low cost. This puts pressure on Microsoft's profit overall. The smaller and more powerful the
customer base for the company the higher bargaining power the consumer has which gives them
the ability to seek increasing discounts and offers. Microsoft can tackle this by building a larger
base of customers. By having a larger customer base Microsoft will be able to reduce the
bargaining power of the consumer and provide an opportunity to streamline the sales and
production process. Microsoft is innovative and creates many new products. Being that
customers are constantly looking for discounts on established products, Microsoft creating new
products limits the bargaining power of the buyer. New products also reduce the rate of
“defection” of existing customers to competing companies and/or products.
PESTLE Analysis: Economic Forces
Economic factors have a direct impact on businesses. Since the global recession, the
world economy has been growing at a fast rate. Contractor et al. (2020) state that the economic
environment of a country determines the profitability of the business that operates in that
country. Examples of economic factors that affect Microsoft Corporation include the foreign
exchange rate, inflation rate, interest rates, gross domestic product (GDP), and the current

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commercial stage of the host country. The status of the financial situation of the state determines
the potential for making a profit or a loss. The rate of gross domestic product growth of a country
will determine the speed at which Microsoft Corporation will grow in the near future. If the GDP
has a high growth rate, the implication is that the country will grow at a higher price. Akan &
Tevfik (2020) explain that the interest rate determines the number of money people or businesses
are willing to borrow and invest from a lending institution like banks. When there are higher
interest rates, there will be more significant investments, which will mean more growth for
Microsoft Corporation. The exchange rate of the country in which Microsoft is operating will
impact profitability since Microsoft engages in international business. Currency stability in the
host country also has an impact on global companies. When a country has an unstable currency,
foreign investors are discouraged. Microsoft should also analyze the level of unemployment
because when there is a high level of unemployment, it means there is an excellent supply of
workers. Therefore, Microsoft is likely to get employees at a lower wage, maximizing profits.
PESTLE Analysis: Social, Cultural, Demographic, and Natural Environment Forces
Social, cultural, demographic, and natural environment forces of Microsoft show the type
of social situations that affect Microsoft’s remote and/or macro-environment, mainly when
considering customer’s behaviors and expectations. The following sociocultural external factors
influence Microsoft when it comes to computer technology: stable attitudes about leisure
(opportunity), increase in cultural diversity (opportunity and threat) and a stable demand for high
quality customer service (opportunity). The attitudes about leisure offer opportunities for
Microsoft to develop products that are satisfying to customers. Microsoft can increase the
amount of money they invest in innovative computer game products. Increasing cultural
diversity can be a potential threat for Microsoft when it comes to product-customer mismatch in

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remote or macro-environments. Customer satisfaction may decrease as the products give
satisfaction to the masses or larger cultural groups. Microsoft does, however, have an opportunity
to increase its goods and services and improve satisfaction in the macro-environments. The
demand for high quality customer service gives the company opportunities to improve customer
support activities.
PESTLE Analysis: Political, Governmental, and Legal Forces
Microsoft dominates the market for operating systems for personal computers. Not only
is Microsoft a household name, they continue to be the go-to software for any new PC, with
around 80% of the world’s computers currently run on a Microsoft system (Liu, 2021). It is due
to this sustained dominance that Microsoft has encountered political and legal difficulties. In
1999, Microsoft was found to be in violation of the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act, and at the
conclusion of the legal case, was mandated to break up the corporation (Zachary & Hall, 2020).
Ultimately, owing to the political savvy of the corporation through lobbying alongside continued
court appeals, Microsoft was able to overturn the ruling, never actually breaking up the company
(Zachary & Hall, 2020). Despite their political and legal success in American courts, Microsoft
has continued to be found in violation of various anti-monopoly laws worldwide. Of historic
importance was the 2004 European Union fine against Microsoft for monopolistic behavior, the
largest corporate fine ever issued by the European Union. This historic fine was only overtaken
in 2008 when the European Union again found Microsoft in continued violation of the anti-
monopoly laws and issued them an even larger fine of 900 million Euros (Arthur, 2012).
Ultimately, Microsoft has learned the political and legal intricacies of the European Union and
not only negotiated their fine down to 860 million Euros, they have also not had any more fines
of this magnitude lobbied against them (Arthur, 2012).

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PESTLE Analysis: Technological Forces
Microsoft is a technological company in a dynamic ever-changing market. As fast
disrupting technology is, there are many factors that impact Microsoft; innovation is product
offerings, supply chain disruptions, access to data, and rate of technology driven change.
Microsoft must continue to invest in research and development from both a macro and micro
level to stay innovative. The technology industry also creates issues for licensing products
through various governments which can impact and limit Microsoft’s solutions and response to
the need of technological advancements. Due to high cash reserves, Microsoft has opportunity to
invest heavily in R&D. This has given capabilities in the artificial intelligence market to drive
growing along with cloud computing and their already mature Window’s line of personal and
business services.
PESTLE Analysis: Competitive Forces
Goals and SMART Analysis
Goals
1. To revamp productivity as well as reinvent business processes.
2. To build a more solid artificial intelligence (AI) driven cloud platform.
Objectives
1. To augment the organization's overall productivity by ensuring that all workers attain at least
85% of the 800 set out Microsoft productivity score. Notably, there is a need to deliver a new
customer experience (CX) by providing the necessary tools and support, such as employee
training, which will aid in how they interact within the entity and engage the customers in

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various online platforms. Focusing on providing a new customer experience will translate to
satisfactory services leading to high productivity and returns.
2. To attain a well-differentiated competitive edge, Microsoft will ensure that it releases the next
version of Microsoft Office by 1st December 2022, an invention that will transform the nature of
work in all organizations globally. In the modern business world, organizations are focusing on
getting work done appropriately, an objective that will be made possible by releasing the new
model on time. It is also prudent that Microsoft maintains its lead in providing more advanced
software to attain a competitive edge. In this regard, the company can achieve this objective by
reinventing its business processes.
3. To automate all Microsoft functions and fully adopt Azure Machine Learning by the end of
August 2022 to build a more solid AI-driven cloud platform. The cloud-based service approach
will help Microsoft integrate data analytics solutions with AI capabilities in all its operations.
This model will enable the corporation to build its software efficiently and faster, increasing the
overall throughput. This will augment its performance by creating a more efficient cloud
platform that minimizes costs, offers a more robust security system of its critical data, and
provides a mechanism of disaster recovery.
SWOT Analysis
Microsoft is a giant & industry leader. For the last 40 years, Microsoft has built a
recognized brand associated with innovation and innovative services and products such as
computers, software and cloud computing. In 2021, Microsoft ranks #3 as the World Most
Admired Companies, #15 of the Fortune 500 companies and #16 as a global business
superpower. It employs more than 150,000 employees worldwide, is well respected at home and
abroad and consistently rated as the best employer by those who work and have worked there in

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the past. This SWOT analysis is an exercise to better understand Microsoft standing today and
how they would fare in the future.
Strength
 Its office products like Outlook and Teams are used in professional and personal settings
across the globe.
 Through acquisitions of innovative new companies, Microsoft continues to evolve and
strengthen their global dominance in the industry
 As personal computers and the use of smart phones increases, so did Microsoft’s
products, Bing and Edge for instance making it easier for consumers to find the information they
need at their fingertips
 More and more Microsoft physical stores are in major metropolitan cities lined up next to
luxury and everyday products in Malls across the world
 Microsoft attracts the best of the best global talent making it one of the most diverse
employers with more than 150,000 employees
 Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates have dedicated the majority
of their wealth to do good through their charitable philanthropy The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, donating an average of 5 billion dollars a year
Weakness
 Microsoft is very vulnerable to imitations making it confusing for consumers and hurting
Microsoft brand

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 Global expansion is very good for business but also very hard for Microsoft to stay on top
of all challenges at a global scale
 Some of Microsoft practices are questioned by local and global authorities including
through an Anti-Trust Lawsuit. 30 years ago, the United States government sued Microsoft for
monopolizing personal computer. As a software company Microsoft is in the business of selling
Microsoft application, what the government challenged however was how Microsoft was making
its Windows operating system as a prerequisite for buying and accessing Microsoft application.
Opportunities
 Continue to push the boundaries and innovate to find newer products that will make
consumers more productive and effective
 As globalization continues, Microsoft is best positioned to take full advantage of the
billions of people who are entering the middle class and have disposable income. Market
penetration, especially in emerging economies and markets, is a huge opportunity for
Microsoft.
 Microsoft is innovative and attractive for global tech talents to design new products
permitting Microsoft to stay ahead of ever-growing hacker’s threat.
Threats
 Given the online nature of their business Microsoft will continue to be vulnerable to
hacking. Cyber Security therefore is a big threat
 Emerging countries like China will be investing increasingly in supporting local
companies who will one day be competitors to China

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Microsoft’s Alternative Strategies
SO Strategies
 Partner with select tech universities around the globe to hire top students; can offer to pay for
education for employment contract. (S5, O3)
 Work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to donate tech that can support developing
countries and support Microsoft’s globalization and inspire new talent. (S6, O2, 03)
WO Strategies
 Open brick and mortar stores in growing middle class markets (W2, O2)
 Work with computer, tablet, and phone manufactures to pre-load Microsoft software on a trial
bases (W3, O2)
ST Strategies
 Acquire a subject matter expert (SME) company related to cyber security (S2, T1)
 Invest heavily in R&D and improving everyday productivity products making it difficult for new
entrants to compete (S1, S3, T2)
WT Strategies
 Work with global governments to expand product line within other countries and attract new
talent (W2, W3, T2)
 Set up bug awards to award hackers for finding issues in software (W1, T1)
SPACE Matrix

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Ethical Considerations
1. Revamping productivity as well as reinventing business processes.
2. Build a more solid artificial intelligence (AI) driven cloud platform
The ethical dilemma of having an increased presence of an AI and automate all Microsoft
functions is that this may lessen jobs in the technology field. Also, current staff may feel as
though their jobs are no longer important to the company or unnecessary. While having Artificial
Intelligence completing daily mundane tasks is a benefit for Microsoft it may be problematic due
to staff not feeling as though they are needed within their field. While AI’s can help with small
tasks such as answering customer complaints to a certain extent it may be argued that a computer
cannot empathize with human customers and may lessen a customer's experience. Many people
prefer to interact with a living person and not a computer. Though the Ai may respond in a
similar fashion to their human counterpart with proper programming in some instances the AI

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cannot put the necessary feeling into an interaction with dealing with the person on the other side
of the computer or phone.
In short, having a system that is mainly run by an AI can pose an issue due to staff not
feeling needed, customers not wanting to deal with a computer and preferring to deal with a
human and the errors that come with that form of interaction.
Microsoft’s Strategic Plan Implementation
Strategy 1: Partner with select tech universities around the globe to hire top students; can offer
to pay for education for employment contract.
Table 1
Schedule Overview: Major Milestones
Milestone (Estimated Start Date: 7/1/2022) Estimated Completion Date/Estimated
Duration
Define roles and responsibilities for team
members to strategically plan university
selection and partnership process
9/1/2022 (~2 months)
Boost morale and workplace culture by
celebrating project milestone successes with
internal teams
8/1/2022 (~1 month)
Hire top students from partnered tech
universities with the offer of ongoing learning
and promotion opportunities
9/1/2022 & 9/1/2023 (~2 months and annual
evaluation)
Continue coaching on career development
through ongoing mentoring skills
8/1/2022 & 12/1/2022 (~1 month and
quarterly reviews)
Email students for hiring campaigns with a
goal of 90% attendance
10/1/2022 & 10/1/2023 (~3 months and
annually)
Continue social media posts with the goal of
increasing reach by 1k followers a month and
attaining 4M followers on Instagram
9/1/2022 & 10/1/2022 (~2 months and
monthly)
Our implementation plan for Strategy 1 is illustrated by Table 1. This table provides not
only concrete action steps, but also and estimated start date, as well as projected end date and
estimated duration. The action steps incorporate maneuvers to be taken by Management, Human

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Resources, and Marketing. What follows is a detailed breakdown of how Management, Human
Resources, and Marketing will be utilized in the implementation of Strategy 1.
Management
To successfully build relationships with select tech universities around the globe to help
aid in recruiting top talent requires a focused strategy team with clearly defined roles and
responsibilities. Microsoft management team will utilize a RACI chart (Responsible,
Accountable, Consulted, and Informed). It is recommended that management implements the
following actions (Martins, 2021):
1. Responsible. This person is directly in charge of the work. There should only ever be
one Responsible role per task, so you know who to go to with questions or updates. If
a task has more than one Responsible person, you can lose clarity and cause
confusion. Instead, aim to add additional collaborators as some of the other RACI
roles, which can have more than one person.
2. Accountable. The Accountable person is responsible for overseeing overall task
completion, though they may not be the person actually doing the work. There are
two ways to assign an Accountable role. Sometimes, the Accountable is the project
manager (or even the Responsible, though in that case the person is taking on two
different roles during the task workflow). In these cases, the Accountable is
responsible for making sure all of the work gets done. In other cases, the Accountable
is a senior leader or executive who is responsible for approving the work before it’s
considered complete. Like the Responsible role, there should only ever be one
Accountable.

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3. Consulted. This will be the person or people who should review and sign off on the
work before it’s delivered. There may be multiple Consulted roles for each
task, project milestone, or deliverable.
4. Informed. This is the person or group of people who are informed about the progress
and completion of work. They probably are not involved in any other aspect of the
deliverable.
In efforts to promote healthy and inspiring workplace culture, management will celebrate
successful project completions for tasks and milestones. Some of these celebrations may include
team lunch, gifts and prizes, and paid time off. The overall goal for management is to recognize
the hard work because “celebration breeds more success and adds to the satisfaction you
experience when you take note of your accomplishments in the workplace” (Lucas, 2019).
Human Resources
Partnering with select tech universities around the globe to hire top students and offering
to pay for education for employment contracts is consistent with the current policy that Microsoft
already has. With the company having a growth culture they value learning over knowing—
seeking out new ideas, embracing challenges, learning from failure, and improving over time
(Empowering our employees: Microsoft CSR 2022). Microsoft offers a range of learning and
development opportunities and believes that training can be more than just formal instruction.
Opportunities include:
 Personalized, integrated, and relevant views of all learning opportunities on Microsoft
Learning and LinkedIn Learning.
 In-the-classroom learning and sharing with learner boards.

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 On-the-job “stretch” opportunities for advancement.
 Frequent promotion opportunities.
 Coaching on career development through ongoing manager connections.
 Customized manager training to enhance coaching and mentoring skills. (Empowering
Our Employees: Microsoft CSR 2022)
Marketing
Microsoft has a dynamic marketing plan to target top talent from universities around the
globe. As an annual strategy to start to engage final year students in tech universities, Microsoft’s
hiring team will engage the marketing team with the number of new hires needed for the year in
various skill codes. The Marketing team’s milestone will be to release email marketing material
to engage students to attend hiring campaigns for Microsoft. The Marketing team’s goal will be
to have 90% of the students engaged to attend the hiring campaigns conducted by Microsoft’s
hiring team. This is to hire top talent before a competitor can engage the new graduates. The
second milestone of the marketing team is to create an online social media presence and work on
its positioning. Positioning is a process where a company tries to establish a good image of itself
in the mind of the targeted audience selected while targeting the stage (Shastri, 2021) in this case
will tech graduates. Microsoft currently as 3.6M followers on Instagram and continues to engage
in marketing material for the public to grow brand interest and inspire future employees.
Strategy 2: Invest heavily in R&D and improving everyday productivity products making it
difficult for new entrants to compete.
Table 2
Schedule Overview: Major Milestones

25
Milestone (Estimated Start Date: 7/1/2022) Estimated Completion Date/Estimated
Duration
Develop teams for new product development 9/1/2022 (~2 months)
Increase budget allowance for R&D for
calendar year 2022 9/15/2022 (~1.5 months)
Assess R&D policies to ensure they remain
ethical
9/1/2022 & 9/1/2024 (~2 months with
biannual review)
Release hiring information on social media
targeted to attract HR talent 8/1/2022 (~1 month and as hires are needed)
Post two R&D teasers on social media 9/1/2022 & 11/1/2022 (~2 months and every
2 months)
Release hiring information on social media
targeted to attract R&D talent 9/1/2022 (~2 months and as hires are needed)
Our implementation plan for Strategy 2 is illustrated by Table 2. Strategy 2 is the perfect
complement to strategy one as it capitalizes on the educational resources of our team. This table
provides not only concrete action steps, but also and estimated start date, as well as projected end
date and estimated duration. The action steps incorporate maneuvers to be taken by Management,
Human Resources, and Marketing. What follows is a detailed breakdown of how Management,
Human Resources, and Marketing will be utilized in the implementation of Strategy 2.
Management
Through R&D, management and leadership teams will prioritize selected internal teams
and budget allocation-based calendar year 2022 focus on real world change. This strategy is
crucial for the success for R&D because according to Microsoft Research (2021), “fundamental
advancements in science and technology have a crucial role to play in addressing ongoing
societal challenges such as climate change, healthcare equity and access, supply chain logistics,
sustainability, security and privacy, and the digital divide. Microsoft Research is increasing focus
on these areas and others to help accelerate transformational change and build trust in technology
as it evolves” (Microsoft Research, 2021).
Human Resources

26
The human resources component of Strategy 2 is incredibly straight forward. First, there
needs to be an evaluation to ensure that R&D policies remain ethical. Once this is complete,
there needs to be a review biannually to ensure continued compliance. Also, hiring information
should be distributed to social media in order to recruit both R&D as well as HR talent. This
should be completed, with information released one month from implementation launched, and
this process should be ongoing in accordance with staffing needs.
Marketing
To support’s Microsoft R&D investments the marketing team will create teasers of new
products for the consumers. The mission statement for this project will focus on creating ‘hype’
for future products and keeping the R&D team engaged through the marketing team. This will be
an ongoing milestone activity to keep the R&D team along with the consumers engaged with this
single strategy. The marketing team will also support the R&D by posting social media clips of
skills required to be a part of the team to engage future talent.

27
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