History and Size of the Organization: Microsoft (Essay Sample)

Management Test Assignment
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History and Size of the organization
On April 4, 1975, Bill Gates and his buddy Paul Allen established Microsoft, which would permanently transform the way people used personal computers. It began as a modest operation run out of Gates' garage and supported with less than $1 million from his family. It was named the world's largest software producer in terms of sales in 2013, and it employs over 124,000 people in 116 countries across the world, with a global net value of slightly under $250 billion.
Microsoft is a multinational company that has branches in 139 countries worldwide, each division of the corporation offers more than one product ranging from search engines to computer programs. These various divisions have more than 20 businesses with 130 major products created for corporations around the world. There are seven different subdivisions of Microsoft, which include 2 law firms, more than 20 business units with over 130 significant products.
Organizational structure
PC), Commercial (makers of Office), Other Businesses (makers of Azure cloud computing platform), and OEM (collecting royalties from companies that use its intellectual property. The hierarchy Microsoft is one of the multinational technology company, working in the software industry. It was founded and headed by Bill Gates and Satya Nadella. Microsoft business model offers four different ways to make revenue: Devices and Consumer (makers of Windows structure for Microsoft starts with its Board level executives: President, Vice President Groups, Vice president, Senior Vice president Group Business/Marketing/Strategic planning, etc. All these executives report to CEO Microsoft Bill Gates & Senior VP Microsoft Satya Nadella.
Along with this hierarchy, the Microsoft Company is broken up into three essential parts, with each department having its head; An Executive Team which includes the CEO and is responsible for setting overall strategy for the company; - Operating System engineers who are in charge of designing and developing Microsoft’s Windows operating systems for computers, tablets, and mobile devices; - Applications developers who work on a variety of different software programs that have been developed by Microsoft beginning with MS-DOS to include Word Online. These developers design many applications such as Skype, Lync Online, and One Drive.
One of Microsoft's six key values is " empower people, " espoused by Bill Gates and Satya Nadela, is "empower people."1 The idea is that people should be empowered to make decisions and solve problems without going through a lengthy chain of command. This means that many independent business units report directly to the CEO; each group develops its own project goals with little input from other groups.
Microsoft also uses span-of-control hierarchies: in these structures, there are fewer levels in the hierarchy than employees at each level in the order. These structures flatten out reporting chains and allow one person to manage multiple projects or divisions at once.
Microsoft is organized into 11 sales divisions. These sales divisions are each managed by a vice president, who reports to Bill Gates, the company's chairman and chief software architect. On the research side, there are nine primary research labs run by lab directors reporting to Rick Rashid. Additionally, Microsoft has partnerships that contribute both software and hardware patents to their collection because of its global reach.
Microsoft also has four constituent groups that are formed up of smaller units for internal purposes only - strategy and research group, marketing systems group, international group, and Nokia integration group - which means they don't have any work orders outside the company sphere of influence yet internally these teams coordinate with groups 14 times more frequently than do people in traditionally structurally.
Ownership
Microsoft is subject to a different set of risk factors than other forms of business because it is a public company. Its shares are not tradable and can't be bought on a stock exchange unless offered to the employees by allocation upon hiring. There are also requirements for periodic, mandatory distributions from retained earnings from the corporation distributed in which shareholders get paid upfront. The next requirement is that there's annual reporting to shareholders and partners with protections against self-dealing by insiders who both own stock in Microsoft and have a position within the company. In other words, if I'm going to invest my money into Microsoft, then I want assurance that the people making decisions about what goes into this brand new product or how much we're going to charge for.
Pros- The way the shareholding is split, Microsoft is held by two shareholders named Class A and Class B stocks. Anything that can be categorized as working knowledge will fall to the company managers somewhat simultaneously. Any liquid asset or liquid capital, anything that requires liquid funding, will be handled largely by the "property committee," which disperses it evenly between Microsoft's shareholders.
Microsoft is a public company, which means they have a Board of Directors. It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to elect the CEO and other officers, approving corporate transactions beyond those overseen by management, determining executive compensation packages, establishing guidelines for hiring and firing senior executives, and also appointing members to certain outside bodies like the National Science Foundation grants committee or to serve on boards of directors at other companies. On top of that, the board decides our stock dividend policy as well as any major financing programs. There are also elected employee representatives who may sit on non-executive committees alongside representatives from business partners.
The business got a certificate of incorporation or traded certification because that type of premise registers their shares to all appropriate regulatory authorities such as the Illinois Secretary of State (or an equivalent regulator). A trading certificate facilitates the process through which shareholders can buy or sell stock in corporations like Microsoft by authorizing, among other things, transactions. The general category of finance that was used to set up the business is venture capital. The mission statement of Microsoft is "to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential."
SWOT and PEST Analysis
Microsoft is a company that stands for “An International Practice of An International Practice.” The purpose of SWOT and PEST, which together form the acronym SPICE, these analyses help an organization to see its position and identify both internal and external opportunities. SWOT focuses on what strengths Microsoft has; PEST focuses on the opportunities outside of Microsoft; and SPICE highlights weaknesses as well as competitors within the same competitive space. Microsoft's strengths include Mobile platforms like Windows Phone (recently acquired). They also offer Surface tablets running Windows RT or full desktop versions of Windows 8/8.1 on ultrabooks, laptops, hybrids, and desktops. As one of the major players in computing today, they're able to leverage.
Microsoft's strengths are in its long history of success, producing software that is profitable for enterprises, and a clear focus on gaming. Microsoft has had a strong history of success in the sphere of enterprise software, where it creates products that consumers don't buy - but businesses do. This business generates enough revenue to allow them to develop games like Forza Motorsport 6 ($100M). As PCs supersede consoles at work and home, Microsoft will be well-positioned to take advantage of