By Ronan CHARDONNEAU
« Select a company/ an industrial area and describe/ evaluate their international marketing context and concepts ».
vendredi 21 novembre 2008
jeudi 20 novembre 2008
Microsoft: Sources
VI - Sources
http://www.microsoft.com/france/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/windowsanytimeupgrade/overview.mspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista#Editions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Search#cite_note-0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/04/1827200
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/09/netbooks-opportunity-windows-and-threat-linux
http://laptop.org/en/index.shtml
http://www.microsoft.com/france/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/windowsanytimeupgrade/overview.mspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista#Editions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Search#cite_note-0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/04/1827200
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/09/netbooks-opportunity-windows-and-threat-linux
http://laptop.org/en/index.shtml
Microsoft: Glossary
V - Glossary
Operating System: An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer.
Microsoft Suite Office: Microsoft Office is a set of interrelated desktop applications, servers and services, collectively referred to as an office suite, for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. The most famous applications it contains are: Excel, Word, Access and PowerPoint.
Netbook: A netbook is a small to medium sized, light-weight, low-cost, energy-efficient laptop, generally optimized for internet based services such as web browsing and e-mailing.
Operating System: An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer.
Microsoft Suite Office: Microsoft Office is a set of interrelated desktop applications, servers and services, collectively referred to as an office suite, for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. The most famous applications it contains are: Excel, Word, Access and PowerPoint.
Netbook: A netbook is a small to medium sized, light-weight, low-cost, energy-efficient laptop, generally optimized for internet based services such as web browsing and e-mailing.
Microsoft: Conclusion: Suggestions for future developments
IV- Conclusion: Suggestions for future developments
Regarding Microsoft Windows:
It is hard to say something because Windows is the world leader regarding this product. They however made some mistakes regarding the launch of the netbooks. They taught that it was not a profitable market which actually is right but it should not be Microsoft priority. They should better think about their image and market shares rather than profits. Since some years Mac OS and Linux distributions are getting more and more market shares. Mac OS does not seem to jeopardize Windows because they do not play on the same market. However with the netbook market(low cost computers) gave a great opportunity for Linux to be known. I do not think that customers are ready to switch from Windows to Linux, on a short term period Linux has no chance, but the thing is if Linux came to be more and more known then people will be curious and then Microsoft could lost more market shares.
The recent example of the Eee PC.
Equipping Linux on a computer costs about $5, compared with $40 to $50 for XP and about $100 for Vista, according to estimates by Jenny Lai, a Taipei-based analyst at CLSA Ltd.'
according to http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/08/1842212
Regarding Live Search:
Here I find that the distribution channels are perfect, actually Microsoft has the reputation to be very good tactician. I however really think that it is time now for them to care about quality and image. They are for me by using their lock in strategy focusing too much more on dependence profiting of their monopolistic position and they have to be very careful about it. Because once a customer feels cheated if you let him one opportunity to escape he will took it.
And this reverse situation could happen far faster than we think because Google is coming on Microsoft market with a far more better image on customer's point of view.
In order to conclude I would like to use two sentences that one told me one day about Microsoft:
“Bill Gates was not the best computer programmer but a genius of marketing.”
“I do not think that a company such as Microsoft can think one day to close”
Those two sentences that I got from my elder brother and from an employee at my last internship company(both computer programmers) are the reflect of nowadays Microsoft's situation.
All here is about distribution channels. Microsoft is leader and will stay the leader during a long time because it has a monopole on this distribution and because it can afford ways that others cannot.
I however think that Microsoft should start to think about his image for a long term strategy.
Regarding Microsoft Windows:
It is hard to say something because Windows is the world leader regarding this product. They however made some mistakes regarding the launch of the netbooks. They taught that it was not a profitable market which actually is right but it should not be Microsoft priority. They should better think about their image and market shares rather than profits. Since some years Mac OS and Linux distributions are getting more and more market shares. Mac OS does not seem to jeopardize Windows because they do not play on the same market. However with the netbook market(low cost computers) gave a great opportunity for Linux to be known. I do not think that customers are ready to switch from Windows to Linux, on a short term period Linux has no chance, but the thing is if Linux came to be more and more known then people will be curious and then Microsoft could lost more market shares.
The recent example of the Eee PC.
Equipping Linux on a computer costs about $5, compared with $40 to $50 for XP and about $100 for Vista, according to estimates by Jenny Lai, a Taipei-based analyst at CLSA Ltd.'
according to http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/08/1842212
Regarding Live Search:
Here I find that the distribution channels are perfect, actually Microsoft has the reputation to be very good tactician. I however really think that it is time now for them to care about quality and image. They are for me by using their lock in strategy focusing too much more on dependence profiting of their monopolistic position and they have to be very careful about it. Because once a customer feels cheated if you let him one opportunity to escape he will took it.
And this reverse situation could happen far faster than we think because Google is coming on Microsoft market with a far more better image on customer's point of view.
In order to conclude I would like to use two sentences that one told me one day about Microsoft:
“Bill Gates was not the best computer programmer but a genius of marketing.”
“I do not think that a company such as Microsoft can think one day to close”
Those two sentences that I got from my elder brother and from an employee at my last internship company(both computer programmers) are the reflect of nowadays Microsoft's situation.
All here is about distribution channels. Microsoft is leader and will stay the leader during a long time because it has a monopole on this distribution and because it can afford ways that others cannot.
I however think that Microsoft should start to think about his image for a long term strategy.
Microsoft: Weaknesses and Strengths of Live Search distribution
III – 1.2.1 Weaknesses and Strengths of Live Search distribution
Weaknesses:
Not giving the choice to people can increase their unsatisfaction. Let's imagine that they are forced to use Live Search and that they discover that the results coming from one of his competitor is better then they will really have the feeling that Microsoft is cheating them by not giving them the possibility to change. So Microsoft has to provide an equal or a better technology in order to handle this problem. It can jeopardize his image and moreover provide general unsatisfaction.
Strenghts:
Microsoft has a definitely strong advantage on some distribution channels: it can afford very large investments so strategical partnerships, it has a wide range of well known software and applications.
He can go above unavoidable barriers that its competitors cannot overcome such as nationalism like in Russia or China. Here it is his channel of his own products that it will use. You can avoid Google but you cannot avoid Microsoft.
Weaknesses:
Not giving the choice to people can increase their unsatisfaction. Let's imagine that they are forced to use Live Search and that they discover that the results coming from one of his competitor is better then they will really have the feeling that Microsoft is cheating them by not giving them the possibility to change. So Microsoft has to provide an equal or a better technology in order to handle this problem. It can jeopardize his image and moreover provide general unsatisfaction.
Strenghts:
Microsoft has a definitely strong advantage on some distribution channels: it can afford very large investments so strategical partnerships, it has a wide range of well known software and applications.
He can go above unavoidable barriers that its competitors cannot overcome such as nationalism like in Russia or China. Here it is his channel of his own products that it will use. You can avoid Google but you cannot avoid Microsoft.
Microsoft: Distribution channel for Live Search:
III – 1.2 Distribution channel for Live Search:
The distribution of a Web Search engine is for sure far different that the one of an Operating Systems. Firstly because this is a technology which is available to anyone who has an Internet access and because his use is totally free. His economical model is based on the advertisement it will provide to the company in exchange and the revenues which come from the ads which are posted in. What is very interesting to see with “Live Search” is that it has a technology which is far more recent that its three main competitors which concretely means that it has a technology which is below the others. Microsoft often played the follower position regarding R&D.
It however has 4th comfortable position whereas other competitors such as Lycos or Ask(two other small competitors) have better technologies, the reason is because Microsoft is not using the main distribution channel.
So the distribution channel examples I am going to give you are very interesting because they show how to distribute a bad product to the all world, how avoiding competitors and how to force people to use a product they do not want.
I until now counted 5 distribution channels for Live Search:
The first one which comes into my mind is Internet.
You can use it in an indirect way(you go to a website which have a link toward it: catalog, blog, websites) or you can directly type the Internet address.
The second one is through Web applications:
Last one in date is the partnership with Facebook the number one social web network application. Microsoft invested in 2007 240 millions of dollars in Facebook shares. It seems that this large investment contribute to the acceptation of this partnership. So now concretely when people are using the Facebook application on Internet they can look for information through the web without leaving the application.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_integrate_microsof_live_search.php
This partnership has been sat up in July 2008.
Facebook is only one example among others. This is a channel which is very fashionable for example you can see on the portal of the university of Kassel that it is Google search engine which is included. The Kassel university website is then a distributor of Google.
Through his own products and services:
Here is a very interesting channel because it is not that used by its competitors. The reason is that you need for this to have a wide range of products and services and that they produce a dependence on you. For example Hotmail(Free Microsoft Webmail services) which has more than 260 millions users includes Live Search. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotmail#cite_note-users-2
Same thing if you launch some research from Microsoft Office.
We can imagine the impact of such a channel when you have as Microsoft a huge number of users of his products and services which of course do not end here because Microsoft provide a very wide range of other software and services such as blog(space.live), instant mail exchanges(MSN).
So even if you are not providing the best service you can get an important audience.“No matter what are the characteristics of the product it is before all a question of how you can show you off.”
The fourth Channel is the one of software. The last example in date is the one of the Java software("Java is installed on 800 millions of computers in the world, then 91% of the computers which have an Internet connection"), November the 10th 2008. Which one download users will have the possibility to download what we call the Microsoft research bar http://benefice-net.branchez-vous.com/actubn/2008/11/le_moteur_de_recherche_de_micr.html
The last one is the hardware distribution. This is as well a very important distribution channel which is moreover very dynamic with the rising up of the mobile technology. Two years ago Live Search made a partnership with Nokia the cell phone maker in order to include his technology as default search engine:
http://www.numerique.ca/production-site-internet/actualite-160-live-search-sur-les-telephones-nokia.cfm
Of course such partnerships have already been developed with computers, for example recently Microsoft did a partnership with Hewlett Packard to set up their search engine by default on the computers they sold in the USA and in Canada: http://benefice-net.branchez-vous.com/actubn/2008/06/lengin_de_recherche_de_microso.html
"According to a Microsoft analyst, 40% of Internet users use the search engine installed by default on their computer” even if by reputation Microsoft statements have for reputation to not be that accurate it is for sure a distribution channel that we cannot deny is strongly efficient.
What is very important to highlight is that the four last distribution channels are imposed whereas for the first one you are free to choose it or not.
The distribution of a Web Search engine is for sure far different that the one of an Operating Systems. Firstly because this is a technology which is available to anyone who has an Internet access and because his use is totally free. His economical model is based on the advertisement it will provide to the company in exchange and the revenues which come from the ads which are posted in. What is very interesting to see with “Live Search” is that it has a technology which is far more recent that its three main competitors which concretely means that it has a technology which is below the others. Microsoft often played the follower position regarding R&D.
It however has 4th comfortable position whereas other competitors such as Lycos or Ask(two other small competitors) have better technologies, the reason is because Microsoft is not using the main distribution channel.
So the distribution channel examples I am going to give you are very interesting because they show how to distribute a bad product to the all world, how avoiding competitors and how to force people to use a product they do not want.
I until now counted 5 distribution channels for Live Search:
The first one which comes into my mind is Internet.
You can use it in an indirect way(you go to a website which have a link toward it: catalog, blog, websites) or you can directly type the Internet address.
The second one is through Web applications:
Last one in date is the partnership with Facebook the number one social web network application. Microsoft invested in 2007 240 millions of dollars in Facebook shares. It seems that this large investment contribute to the acceptation of this partnership. So now concretely when people are using the Facebook application on Internet they can look for information through the web without leaving the application.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_integrate_microsof_live_search.php
This partnership has been sat up in July 2008.
Facebook is only one example among others. This is a channel which is very fashionable for example you can see on the portal of the university of Kassel that it is Google search engine which is included. The Kassel university website is then a distributor of Google.
Through his own products and services:
Here is a very interesting channel because it is not that used by its competitors. The reason is that you need for this to have a wide range of products and services and that they produce a dependence on you. For example Hotmail(Free Microsoft Webmail services) which has more than 260 millions users includes Live Search. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotmail#cite_note-users-2
Same thing if you launch some research from Microsoft Office.
We can imagine the impact of such a channel when you have as Microsoft a huge number of users of his products and services which of course do not end here because Microsoft provide a very wide range of other software and services such as blog(space.live), instant mail exchanges(MSN).
So even if you are not providing the best service you can get an important audience.“No matter what are the characteristics of the product it is before all a question of how you can show you off.”
The fourth Channel is the one of software. The last example in date is the one of the Java software("Java is installed on 800 millions of computers in the world, then 91% of the computers which have an Internet connection"), November the 10th 2008. Which one download users will have the possibility to download what we call the Microsoft research bar http://benefice-net.branchez-vous.com/actubn/2008/11/le_moteur_de_recherche_de_micr.html
The last one is the hardware distribution. This is as well a very important distribution channel which is moreover very dynamic with the rising up of the mobile technology. Two years ago Live Search made a partnership with Nokia the cell phone maker in order to include his technology as default search engine:
http://www.numerique.ca/production-site-internet/actualite-160-live-search-sur-les-telephones-nokia.cfm
Of course such partnerships have already been developed with computers, for example recently Microsoft did a partnership with Hewlett Packard to set up their search engine by default on the computers they sold in the USA and in Canada: http://benefice-net.branchez-vous.com/actubn/2008/06/lengin_de_recherche_de_microso.html
"According to a Microsoft analyst, 40% of Internet users use the search engine installed by default on their computer” even if by reputation Microsoft statements have for reputation to not be that accurate it is for sure a distribution channel that we cannot deny is strongly efficient.
What is very important to highlight is that the four last distribution channels are imposed whereas for the first one you are free to choose it or not.
Microsoft: Strengths and weaknesses of grouped distribution
III – 1.1.2.1 Strengths and weaknesses of grouped distribution
Weaknesses:
This distribution channel burst for Microsoft last year because of the introduction of low cost new products such as netbooks and mobile devices(such as some cell phones which require an OS in order to work) which brought new competitors. The problem of these new products for Microsoft is that it makes cross the telecommunication software providers with the software computer providers. The most recent serious competitor Microsoft has to face with on the mobile market is Google which comes into the market with his Operating System called Android. Google speaks about getting a market share of 4% on cell phones with this technology in the US market before the end of year 2008.http://www.cellular-news.com/story/33726.php.
Another weakness for Microsoft is the introduction of these low cost products(netbooks) which based their marketing policy on low cost(less than 300€). If Microsoft wants to enter in this market it has to cut his price of Operating System if not the price of the netbook comes to be the same as the first prices laptop.
Microsoft is looking too much about profit. Recently it lost a very huge market share in Africa regarding the one laptop per child project which consists in selling computers to African children at the cost of 100$. Microsoft did not see the interest to go for this market so his competitor Linux took it. So sometimes you have to go for market shares rather than profit.
The major weakness of Microsoft Windows is that the way it is distributing himself is totally illegal. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vente_li%C3%A9e#Fabricants_d.27ordinateurs_pratiquant_la_vente_li.C3.A9e In English it is called “Bundled Sale” and consist in selling in an all pack including only one price, several products without giving the possibility to sell them separately. The legislation forbid the “bundled sale” is most of the countries with however some different interpretations of the word product and a laxity regarding the application of the law. In France several consumers went to court in order to complain and won the process. http://www.aful.org/communiques/court-paris-ufc-darty Each computer or laptop sold in the world with Microsoft windows includes in fact two products. The normal price of any laptop in the market is in fact from 150€ to 210€ below. So Microsoft is then theoretically under the risk of an incredible process for illegal distributions and partnerships.
Strengths:
Microsoft is currently almost unmovable regarding the distribution of his operating system through computers.
The last example in mind is the market of netbooks.
Those computers came out in 2007 and was a total new market based on low cost. Microsoft thought that this market was not profitable and did not get into it and let his main competitor Linux entered in the market.
However it seems that people were sending back most of the netbook after seeing that Linux did not fit with their requirements http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/09/netbooks-opportunity-windows-and-threat-linux
finally Windows is taking back more and more the market shares that it was losing at the beginning on this market.
So I would say that one of their main strength is that they are almost unmovable because people are so dependent some customers even do not know that a computer cannot be sold without Windows.
A computer is very often sold with Microsoft Windows even in countries such as China. As an example you can give a check at Fujitsu website in China, even if everything is written in Chinese the name of Windows Vista appear in the characteristics of the computer. This information has been confirmed by local Chinese people that I know who told me that they never saw a computer sold without an Operating System. They even thought that it was a gift...and actually they are not the only ones. So Microsoft is losing profit regarding the individual pieces of Windows sold in China but actually has “real market shares” because on his main distribution channel everyone is buying it at the price fixed by Microsoft.
http://www.fujitsu.com/cn/services/hardware/pc/lifebook/s/
Even if a hypothetical trial can make Microsoft goes bankruptcy can we imagine the consequences that it will have on all Microsoft users(90% of the world computers and all companies are based on computers data process), a such scenario is economically unthinkable.
Weaknesses:
This distribution channel burst for Microsoft last year because of the introduction of low cost new products such as netbooks and mobile devices(such as some cell phones which require an OS in order to work) which brought new competitors. The problem of these new products for Microsoft is that it makes cross the telecommunication software providers with the software computer providers. The most recent serious competitor Microsoft has to face with on the mobile market is Google which comes into the market with his Operating System called Android. Google speaks about getting a market share of 4% on cell phones with this technology in the US market before the end of year 2008.http://www.cellular-news.com/story/33726.php.
Another weakness for Microsoft is the introduction of these low cost products(netbooks) which based their marketing policy on low cost(less than 300€). If Microsoft wants to enter in this market it has to cut his price of Operating System if not the price of the netbook comes to be the same as the first prices laptop.
Microsoft is looking too much about profit. Recently it lost a very huge market share in Africa regarding the one laptop per child project which consists in selling computers to African children at the cost of 100$. Microsoft did not see the interest to go for this market so his competitor Linux took it. So sometimes you have to go for market shares rather than profit.
The major weakness of Microsoft Windows is that the way it is distributing himself is totally illegal. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vente_li%C3%A9e#Fabricants_d.27ordinateurs_pratiquant_la_vente_li.C3.A9e In English it is called “Bundled Sale” and consist in selling in an all pack including only one price, several products without giving the possibility to sell them separately. The legislation forbid the “bundled sale” is most of the countries with however some different interpretations of the word product and a laxity regarding the application of the law. In France several consumers went to court in order to complain and won the process. http://www.aful.org/communiques/court-paris-ufc-darty Each computer or laptop sold in the world with Microsoft windows includes in fact two products. The normal price of any laptop in the market is in fact from 150€ to 210€ below. So Microsoft is then theoretically under the risk of an incredible process for illegal distributions and partnerships.
Strengths:
Microsoft is currently almost unmovable regarding the distribution of his operating system through computers.
The last example in mind is the market of netbooks.
Those computers came out in 2007 and was a total new market based on low cost. Microsoft thought that this market was not profitable and did not get into it and let his main competitor Linux entered in the market.
However it seems that people were sending back most of the netbook after seeing that Linux did not fit with their requirements http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/09/netbooks-opportunity-windows-and-threat-linux
finally Windows is taking back more and more the market shares that it was losing at the beginning on this market.
So I would say that one of their main strength is that they are almost unmovable because people are so dependent some customers even do not know that a computer cannot be sold without Windows.
A computer is very often sold with Microsoft Windows even in countries such as China. As an example you can give a check at Fujitsu website in China, even if everything is written in Chinese the name of Windows Vista appear in the characteristics of the computer. This information has been confirmed by local Chinese people that I know who told me that they never saw a computer sold without an Operating System. They even thought that it was a gift...and actually they are not the only ones. So Microsoft is losing profit regarding the individual pieces of Windows sold in China but actually has “real market shares” because on his main distribution channel everyone is buying it at the price fixed by Microsoft.
http://www.fujitsu.com/cn/services/hardware/pc/lifebook/s/
Even if a hypothetical trial can make Microsoft goes bankruptcy can we imagine the consequences that it will have on all Microsoft users(90% of the world computers and all companies are based on computers data process), a such scenario is economically unthinkable.
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