Publications

August 2008
Supplement

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Madelene Bell

This short (B) case provides an update of how Microsoft organized its unlimited potential initiative. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

25 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

10 Reasons Customers Might Resist Windows 8

Software giant Microsoft is launching the Windows 8 version of its operating system this week, and suffice it to say that it's radically different from Windows 7. The familiar Start button and menu are gone, for example, replaced by a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Computer; Consumer Products

25 Apr 2014
Video

Ravi Venkatesan - Making A Difference

December 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Adobe Systems Incorporated

Examines Adobe's battle with Microsoft to establish de facto standards in the emerging eBook space. View Details

Keywords: Conflict and Resolution; Product Design; Technology; Information Technology Industry; United States

May 2013
Case

Yammer (A)

By: Mikolaj J. Piskorski, Kerry Herman and Aaron Smith

In Spring 2012, Yammer was on track to become a highly successful standalone company. Yammer was a leading Enterprise Social Network (ESN), providing companies a private social network in which employees could collaborate securely and efficiently. However, later that... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Opportunities; Applications and Software; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Integration; Decision Choices and Conditions; Social and Collaborative Networks; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry

28 Aug 2013
News

Microsoft: 11 Fix-It Strategies

10 Dec 2012
News

In Beyoncé Deal, Pepsi Focuses on Collaboration

May 1995 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Microsoft/Intuit

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Microsoft Corp. proposes to acquire Intuit Corp. Examines the strategic fit and the price proposed to complete the transaction. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Applications and Software; Acquisition; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United States

January 2014 (Revised June 2020)
Case

The Rise and Fall of Nokia

By: Juan Alcacer, Tarun Khanna and Christine Snively

In 2013, Nokia sold its Device and Services business to Microsoft for €5.4 billion. For decades Nokia had led the telecommunications (telecom) industry in handsets and networking. By the late 2000s, however, Nokia's position as market leader in mobile devices was... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Phones; Smartphone; Telecommunications; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Emerging Markets; Technological Innovation; Competitive Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Asia

February 2000 (Revised October 2000)
Case

CarPoint in 1999

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Gillian Morris

Updates events in Microsoft CarPoint through the end of 1999, focusing on CarPoint's strategic alliance with Ford and on competitive developments. View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Transportation Networks; Alliances; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Auto Industry

March 2005
Background Note

Home Video Games: Generation Seven

By: Elie Ofek

Discusses the issues facing firms in the seventh generation of home video game platforms. In particular, Sony and Microsoft plan to launch new game consoles in the 2005 to 2006 time frame. Each firm seems to be following a different strategy. Microsoft wants to launch... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry

03 Jul 2018
What Do You Think?

Should CEO Satya Nadella Cancel Microsoft’s Contract with ICE?

moral leadership, it needs to carefully examine and discuss issues that cross the line from legal to immoral. Microsoft needs to show its employees that it takes the issue of separation ( of families by ICE) seriously. How it does that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

10 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Lessons from the Browser Wars

In a famous example of how first movers can lose their advantage, second-mover Microsoft won the Web browser wars from Netscape and continues to dominate the market today. But that competition was the subject of another "war,"... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Computer; Consumer Products; Technology

25 Apr 2014
Video

Ravi Venkatesan - Making A Difference

February 2001
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc.: Solaris Strategy

In the late 1990s, Sun Microsystems' Solaris has emerged as the dominant UNIX-based alternative to Microsoft for server operating systems. At the same time, the open source operating system Linux has appeared unexpectedly, and it is generating significant excitement... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Open Source Distribution; Standards

Find at Harvard

July 1998
Case

Microsoft--1995 (Abridged)

By: Tarun Khanna and David B. Yoffie

Focuses on how Microsoft built one of the world's greatest franchises and poses questions about what, if anything, can stop the company. Teaching purpose: To teach building competitive advantage, the advantages of bundling, and the sustainability of competitive... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

March 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

In April 2007, Bill Gates announced Microsoft Unlimited Potential. Its mission was to enable social and economic opportunity for the next five billion people. To deliver against this mission, Microsoft sought to focus its citizenship efforts and its product development... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy

Find at Harvard

March 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc.: Web Services Strategy

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Fernando Suarez

Microsoft and IBM have excluded Sun Microsystems from the board of the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I), an industry consortium that will shape the evolution of Web services standards. Sun managers must decide whether to join WS-I as a contributing... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Standards; Corporate Governance; Power and Influence; Web Services Industry; Information Technology Industry

March 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Microsoft: Positioning the Tablet PC

By: Youngme E. Moon and Christina L. Darwall

Microsoft is preparing for the launch of the Tablet PC, which allows users to use a pen (stylus) to run Windows and Windows applications, annotate documents, and create handwritten documents for later reference or even conversion to text. Microsoft's original equipment... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Positioning; Market Entry and Exit; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Computer Industry