Question

Case Synopsis: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Looks to Future Beyond Windows

Microsoft had come to be perceived as an out-of-touch behemoth that relied too much on its Windows operating system and failed to move into new markets, like mobile. The company’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, has aggressively looked outside of Windows to develop new business models. Since December, Microsoft has bought two small companies that focus on mobile productivity apps. In Nadella’s first year, Microsoft stock rose 14 percent, and sales increased 12 percent. Also, the new CEO, unlike his predecessor Steve Ballmer, is popular with investors, venture capitalists, and startups.

The big issue Nadella faces is how to generate more revenue with new software and features, such as cloud subscriptions and free apps that replace pricey Windows and Office licenses. Windows, which once dominated computing and ran on more than 90 percent of computing devices, now runs on 11 percent of computers and gadgets.

Nadella uses the Power BI dashboard to track and compile huge amounts of information on product usage and financial performance to see what works and what doesn’t. Nadella also measures and coordinates executive performance with metrics from the dashboard. Nadella has also changed the way engineering teams are structured, eliminating testers to speed up software releases and adding data scientists and designers to the teams.

Questions

1. What kind of planning missteps helped cause Microsoft’s decline over the past few years?

2. How is Nadella trying to eliminate some of the bureaucracy that has hurt the company’s ability to innovate?

3. What business strategies has Nadella implemented that will help revitalize the technology giant?

  

3 sentens is good for each Question

Answer 1

1) The planing missteps that caused the ultimate decline of Microsoft in past few years were its inability to not able to explore different business models other than its traditional windows operating system market. For example, inability of the company to compete with google on android and mobile phone market. The complete reliance of Microsoft on its traditional operating system market has led to decline of the company over years.

2) Nadella is trying to eliminate the bureaucracy which has ultimately hurt the company and restricted it to innovate and ventures into new markets. Nadella is aggressively moving into new markets and business opportunities, despite opposition from traditional bureaucrats within the company. He is trying to take decisions on his own and this has made him popular among investors, VC's and startup's in an effective way.

3) The strategy adopted by Nadella is market development, under which he is aggressively venturing into new market with new products of the company. The aim is to make Microsoft more that a traditional operating system company to a diversified company engaged in different computer and mobile markets in an effective way. He has adopted aggressive strategy for making Microsoft's mobile software business to grow and provide features like cloud subscription, free apps etc.Nadella has realized that the only way to grow Microsoft is to make it think out of the box and push hard for new markets and products in an efficient way.