Publications

01 Nov 2021
What Do You Think?

How Long Does It Take to Improve an Organization’s Culture?

any kind of change. "Are Nadella and Microsoft the exception to the rule?" Exhibit A is CEO Satya Nadella, who is credited with leading the reshaping of Microsoft’s culture. In 2014, he found an organization that, among other things, had... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

29 Nov 2022
Cold Call Podcast

How Will Gamers and Investors Respond to Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard?

Keywords: Re: Joseph Pacelli; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

27 Mar 2014
News

Microsoft's move to openness

April 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

AI Wars

By: Andy Wu, Matt Higgins, Miaomiao Zhang and Hang Jiang

In February 2024, the world was looking to Google to see what the search giant and long-time putative technical leader in artificial intelligence (AI) would do to compete in the massively hyped technology of generative AI. Over a year ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT, a... View Details

Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Technological Innovation

January 2009
Case

Microsoft's Search

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Eric J. Van den Steen

In 2008, executives at Microsoft must decide how to compete against Google in the market for Internet search and advertising. The case describes how Microsoft has responded to a set of competitive threats in the past, how Google has gained a dominant position in... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; United States

October 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Symbian: Setting the Mobility Standard

By: Fernando F. Suarez and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Symbian, a joint venture owned by companies who collectively sold a dominant share of the world's cell phones, faced competition from Microsoft in developing the operating system for "smartphones," which integrated mobile communications and computing functions. In... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Joint Ventures; Information Technology; Software; Wireless Technology; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

Find at Harvard

August 1999 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Double Dealmaking in the Browser Wars (A)

By: James K. Sebenius

Recounts two complex negotiations in which Netscape and Microsoft compete to win a browser contract with AOL--then later with KPMG. After reviewing the web and browser sectors, this case recounts AOL's dramatic negotiations with Netscape and with Microsoft over which... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Deal; Web; Web Services Industry

09 Oct 2013
News

Microsoft’s $7.2 Billion Nokia Bet Not Luring Apps

15 Apr 2018
News

When Mr. Gates Went to Washington

June 1998 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Browser Wars, 1994-1998, The

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak

Analyzes the competition between Netscape and Microsoft in the market for Web browsers and related products. Despite its first mover advantage, Netscape sees its market share fall once Microsoft becomes "hard-core" about the Internet. By the spring of 1998, the future... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Supply and Industry; Information Technology Industry

February 2009 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Windows Vista

By: Benjamin Edelman

Microsoft designs, modifies, publicizes, and distributes Windows Vista—against a backdrop of consumers already largely satisfied with their existing Windows XP systems. Microsoft must decide what features to include and what to drop, how to compete with its own... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Software; Computer Industry

July 1994
Case

Microsoft: Multimedia Publications (A)

By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein

Microsoft Corp. has built a highly successful business around computer software (both applications and system software) using a particular organizational structure. Now that the company has chosen to enter the consumer market with a CD-ROM product, how should Microsoft... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Design; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)