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Microsoft Corporation

Introduction.

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Analysis of Historical Development and Current State of Microsoft Corporation

Firstly, the success of the company in many cases is dependent on its leader. Therefore, in order to realize why Microsoft Corporation occupies the leading position in the world, it is necessary to analyze the steps that the leader has taken in the course of historical development of the company. Talking about Microsoft Corporation, the company’s leader is Bill Gates who is the greatest entrepreneur of the 21st century. The first step he has taken is determination. In 1975, Bill left Harvard and together with his friend Paul Allen founded Microsoft. They were not afraid of future difficulties because their goal was clearly defined, namely to develop software for the newly emerged PC market (Clark & Salisbury, 2006, p. 920). The second step is the opportunity to catch the chance. With the introduction of the first PCs by IBM in 1980, Microsoft did everything possible to develop an operating system for them. The invention of DOS helped Microsoft not only to achieve this objective but also to become the most popular standard for PCs in the world (Riper, 2011, p. 308). The third stage is fighting with competitors. In 1983, to be in the same league with Apple Macintosh, which sported a graphical user interface, Microsoft created Internet Explorer and version 1.0 of Windows operating system. The last stage is constant improvement. To adjust to the changing needs of the society, Microsoft provided users with new updated versions of Windows operating system. For example, Windows 95, introduced in 1995, was a radical departure from the previous as its principal innovation was 32-bit memory addressing with protected memory and independence from MS-DOS (Ritchie, 2003, p. 279).

Nowadays the majority of people define Microsoft Corporation as the leading company in the field of software. Almost every person has in his or her PC such Microsoft applications as Internet Explorer, Media Player, and MS-Office Suite consisting of Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, and Access. Almost all Microsoft products are complementary to a member of the Windows family of operating systems for personal computers and servers (Economides, 2003, p. 3).

Secondly, one can reveal the present position of Microsoft Corporation on the worldwide market with the help of analyzing concrete case studies. The first case study shows that Microsoft helps business companies to be successful. According to it, Raritan Bay Federal Credit Union upgraded its Windows XP PCs to mobile PCs running the Windows 8 operating system so that it can offer modern financial services (Microsoft Case Studies, 2013). With the help of the use of Windows 8-based mobile computers, RBFCU can serve customers more promptly, calculate and post interest rates faster, and enables employees to work in different conditions (Microsoft Case Studies, 2013). The second case study proves that Microsoft is helpful for people with special needs. At the Abu Dhabi Center for Autism, Microsoft through its assistive technology device the DynaVox Maestro, built on the Windows 7, helps students to communicate, interact with teachers and school peers, develop language skills, and successfully function in the society (Microsoft Case Studies, 2011).

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Finally, it is difficult to imagine what Microsoft will prepare for its users in the nearest future. Nowadays people have the possibility to use Windows on their mobile phones. Thus, it is possible that in a few years, Microsoft managers will provide users with penetration of Microsoft in almost every sphere of their life. For example, cars will be equipped with special small computers, based on Windows, and toys for kids will be running with the help of Microsoft applications. Thus, one might formulate the motto of changes in such a way Microsoft is everywhere.

Microsoft Corporation is a leading software manufacturer in the modern world. One can analyze the history of its development from the point of view of steps that the company’s leader Bill Gates has taken on the way to its success. They are as follows: determination to open the new company, the opportunity to seize the chance proposed by IBM, fighting with competitors, and constant improvement. With the help of regarded case studies with Raritan Bay Federal Credit Union and the Abu Dhabi Center for Autism, one can indicate such benefits of Microsoft as strong leadership and a wide range of productions, adjusted to the changing needs of the modern world. However, the biggest disadvantage of Microsoft is illegal and unethical monopolization of power. It does not give the opportunity to reveal the potential of other smaller companies. It is difficult to predict the future of Microsoft Corporation. Nevertheless, it is feasible that Microsoft will penetrate into different spheres of life of its users from cars to toys in order to make the life of people easier and extend its influence.

• Bove, T. (2005). Just say no to Microsoft: How to ditch Microsoft and why it’s not as hard as you think. San Francisco, CA: No Starch Press.
• Chen, B. (2011). Always on: How the iPhone unlocked the anything – anytime – anywhere future and locked us in. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
• Clark, C. E., & Salisbury J. N. (2006). The enduring vision: A history of the American people. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
• Economides, N. (2003). The Microsoft antitrust case: A case study for MBA students. New York, NY: Stern School of Business.
• Microsoft Case Studies. (2011, April 11). Abu Dhabi center for autism. Retrieved from  click here
• Microsoft Case Studies. (2013, December 11). Raritan bay federal credit union.
• Riper, A. (2011). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists and Inventors in American Film and TV since 1930. New York, NY: Scarecrow Press.
• Ritchie, C. (2003). Operating systems incorporating UNIX and Windows. London, UK: Cengage Learning.

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Human Resource Management at Microsoft Essay

Introduction, microsoft company, human resource management at microsoft, reference list.

People who work in an organization or in a company make the human resource of that company. Thus, human resource management is concerned with how people are managed in an organization in order to increase their productivity and profitability (Smith, 2006). Different companies employ different employment strategies since the goods and services companies deal with are different thus calling for different approaches.

The other fact is that different people in an organization have different views, aspirations, and feelings towards different situations in an organization (Malhotra & Galleta, 2003). Human Resources Management has of late been used in referring to approaches which seek to manage the needs of the company as well as the needs of the people.

Human resource management entails analyzing the different views and aspirations people have within the organization and make them work towards the success of the company. In summary, how an organization connects to its employees is all what human resource is concerned with.

In trying to manage and solve the problem of Human Management Resources there have been various approaches initiated towards solving the problem and experts have come up with various theories and concepts that try to define human resource management.

The human resource management sector has been studied for a long period in motivation science of human behavioural science movement. The fact that people always work in order to satisfy certain needs as they climb up the ladder is a major study of concern to many experts.

During the same period, concepts of job design for example how satisfying a job is and the chances of promotion in certain jobs are also considered in the human resource management.

Evidence shows that people work harder if there is satisfaction in the organization and thus there is need for the management to design challenging and interesting jobs which are geared towards gaining the full attention and commitment of the worker. Theories explaining how human beings relate were introduced in the 1960s and others later in the 1970s.

Managers at that time were using Maslow and Herzberg‘s theories in their management strategies. When designing a new theory the applicability of the theory, the limitations and the benefits of using certain theory (and not the other) should be considered by any company that hopes to succeed.

The Microsoft Company stands as one among the most successful and wealthiest companies in the United States of America and the world as a whole. For matters concerning human resource management, the company is an employee driven organization.

Technologically, Microsoft is way ahead of other companies and the company success has always been based on the employees’ efforts as we shall see in this study. The company has always placed its employees among the very important component for its success thus human resource management study of the company would be an interesting issue to study about.

Company Background

The company was co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Since then the company has never looked back as it has grown to become a multinational company dominating the American and the world market in the computing industry.

Among the products which gave the company a prominent name are the two operating systems; which are the MS- DOS system (Micro Soft Disc Operation System) which is no longer in use and the Windows operating system which has been undergoing modifications and improvements since its introduction in the year 1998 (Oak, n.d; Aruvian, 2009).

The Hiring Process: During its Beginning Period

Ever since it’s beginning Bill Gates has been the torch and the leader of Microsoft. On the issues of recruiting new employees he always believed at recruiting the brightest and the most smart students in the universities thereby preferring intelligence over what many companies look for, which is experience (Priyadarshini, 2010).

This history of hiring new fresh but bright graduates has been practiced ever since the company began in the year 1975 when the co-founder, Paul Allen, recruited and employed the smart guys they used to know and studied with in the university or the smartest guys they could find in the universities at that time.

From the beginning the company discovered and put it into their minds that the employees were the greatest assets thus managing them in a healthy and a comfortable manner was one of its core foundations. Ever since then, the company has employed recruitment strategies that align with their philosophy which always aims at seeking the smartest and the most driven people.

When recruiting, the company began with sourcing for bright people from the prestigious institutions such as the Harvard, Yale, and other colleges in the country then assessment followed there after.

Once selected the students underwent a very involving assessment process and the first stage began with an interview where one was to face an interviewing panel of about three to ten people from the company’s Human Resource department. The interviews were very involving and the fact they were looking for intelligence and not experience is confirmed by Silistre (2007) when he states that:

These interviews are designed not only to test knowledge, but also testing thought processes, problem-solving abilities, and work habits. Technical interviews are described as being focused mainly on problem-solving, with interviewers posing problem scenarios in which the recruits are supposed to find solutions.

To test the composure of the candidate and also their creative problem-solving skills, unexpected questions were also included (Par 3).

Soon after this, the potential candidates left and awaited feed back from the hiring team who either hired or did not hire according to what their interests were. The interviewing panel was also very considerate of those who did not succeed as it forwarded to them reports indicating where their weaknesses had been observed and sometimes what needed to be done.

The interviewing process was usually a hectic activity to the recruits as most of the time they were pushed to their limits. The assumption being that if they were pushed to the limits and succeeded during the interviews then that meant they could survive in the company working environment.

If most of the recruits passed through the interviews then the hiring department forwarded their names to the manager who was now served with the role of hiring or not hiring the recruits according to what his judgment would be. Interviewing was the final phase.

The person was meant to check that the individual the company intended to hire was fully qualified and that the due procedures had been followed during the hiring process. This reduced the chances of managers hiring the wrong and unqualified persons just because of the fact that they had vacant positions which needed filling.

The Hiring Process: As At the Present Time

The company has retained its basic hiring strategies but with the company expanding globally it has been hard for the company to source for recruits only from the universities rather there has been a need also to source employees from other places. Despite all these, the hiring process has remained active rather than passive with the company still aiming at recruiting the existing best in the field.

The firm has taken advantage of other rival firms which have been laying off their employees also by monitoring and recruiting them to their company. Through all these, the company has still been seeking for the best as this can be confirmed by Silistre (2007) as he indicates that;

Microsoft’s euphemism for the kind of highly talented and driven people they sought – the pursuit was relentless, if subtle. Regular telephone calls at discreet intervals, conversations at industry conventions, invitations to formal dinners – recruiting team members employed every means possible to keep the lines of communication open (par.12).

For example when AOL was down sizing, the company assembled a team to go identify the best talent and start communicating with them with the aim of hiring them in future. In every aspect of the company its mission and vision explains what the company hopes to attain or the position it hopes to be in future and that is mostly explained by the type of the employees a company hires.

As we can ascertain from the above, Microsoft still employs different practices than what most companies do. The recruitment method of the company is simply based on how the employee can fulfill the company needs by recruiting the very best people in the job market.

Their recruitment process is based on hiring the right type of a person; somebody with the capabilities of meeting the company demands rather than focusing on experience or skill levels what other many companies look for. Silistre (2007) explains that in human resources management “Experiential Approach human resources are described as an important source of competitive advantage.

Microsoft use human resources for competitive advantage, basing their success on having the very best people in the industry and inspiring them to be the best. It is this that leads to Microsoft’s unique recruitment practices.” (Par.10). their desire to have the best class of employees in the industry justifies why their recruitment process is among the less understood strategies of hiring employees in the world.

As long as the recruitment process main idea is fulfilling a human resource need in the company, then the company urge to look for the best will always continue. This can be shown as it happened some years back when the company needed a human resource manager, the company picked Brummel an executive in the company with no HR experience.

When the CEO was asked about it he simply said the company culture demanded it be done that way. Considering that Brummel had been with the company for a period of about 7 years it was explained that she knew many things about the company than a hired human resource expert could ever know, (Anonymous, 2007).

Their approach is mainly focused at meeting the company needs not just filling the position but fulfilling some company goals and this has led to the success of Microsoft and it has grown to become a major industry power both in the United States of America and the World at large.

The recruiting staff should is always a member of the section where the company needs to be filled so as to be well informed about the department needs and what qualities are being looked into at the same time ensuring that the candidates are not misinformed about the negative characteristics of the job they are looking forward to.

To ensure no negative characteristics of the job are given, most of the final interviews are conducted by the managers themselves. The interview moves a step further and rather than informing the recruit the negative aspects that he or she might face during the employment period, the process itself prepares the recruits on how they would react if they were faced by the certain negative aspects of the job.

Putting the recruits under the same situation they would be if exposed to the true job gives the company a chance of hiring only the best and the well adapted to pressures that may arise during the job. The assumption is that if the employee succeeds at the selection process then if faced by the same situation in the job he or she would still succeed.

Achieving Employees’ Loyalty and Satisfaction

As we have discussed above, the company values its employees very much and thus ever since it was founded it has always attempted to meet and satisfy the need of its workers. With the company employing mostly young graduate from the universities, the company has created a favorable environment for working creating an environment which suits the age of its employees.

This is confirmed by Silistre (2007) when quoting a former human resource manager asking that “how do you make young kids who had never been away from home – or only as far as college – comfortable? He explains that they wanted to keep the atmosphere at work one they were somewhat familiar with, and also make sure it gave them a sense of social belonging” (par 15).

The environment created includes giving every employee his or her own office to work in and allowing them to decorate them in which ever way they want.

To enhance loyalty further, the company also offers its employees food at subsidized prices and this works as a motivation to the employees. There have been horizontal transfers within the company whose main aims have been to develop a multifaceted worker who can work in any department and this improved the growth of the workers tremendously.

Observers have noted that very few employees leave the company through dismissal rather the majority leave on their own without any conflicting occasions experienced.

Only in the 1990s that the company was experiencing a high rate of its employees leaving the jobs and seeking alternatives in the rival firms and this led to the company doing a survey to find what the problems were and how the required changes could be implemented to ensure that everybody was comfortable. The company resolved that the top management was to train the junior employees as this would help in developing them.

This was very vital since it gave the employees an opportunity to develop further. The company was also focused on how to increase its employees’ satisfaction and commitment to Microsoft as a company while still maintaining the same goals that the company was founded on and since then the company has been a success.

Performance- Culture Model

Since its foundation, the co-owner, Bill Gates always believed that employee ownership was critical in improving motivation and also enabling the company retains its employees for a longer period. The company thus offered its employees high wages and options of owning equities by buying shares from the company based on the performance once it was listed on the stock exchange.

The aim of offering stocks based on the performance and reward was and still remains that the employees are motivated to perform better due to the increased bonuses awards and stock options.

The performance goals of the employees were measured against the company objectives which were shortened to the word “SMART, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results based and Time bound” (Silistre, 2007: Par 16) and the rewards could be based depending on how one had attained the above.

The review process included common assessments by the managers to ensure that there were no deviations to the required standards and also the system also has options for self assessment who then forwards the reports to the managers for them to do the evaluation.

Thereafter, the manager and the employees meet to discuss the assessment and what needs to be done. The stock options awards are usually given only to those customers who seem to be long term assets to the company and this works to the best of the company as it tries to retain its best and most efficient employees.

Motivation of the Employee in Microsoft Company

Silistre (2007) when quoting McNamara says that, “the key to supporting the motivation of your employees is through understanding what motivates each of them” (Par 22). The relationship between the employer and the employee to Microsoft is a very important issue.

The Microsoft Company has always ensured that the company goals are well understood through its strong culture that still goes on in the company. The employees are always aware from the first day they are employed in the company of what is required of them.

A common saying goes that you cannot take a donkey to the river and force it to drink water. The donkey has to be thirsty in order to drink the water. The thirsty feeling motivates the donkey to drink water. Without the thirst there would be no motivation or the donkey to drink the water.

For the case of Microsoft Company, motivation is providing a work environment in which everyone feels satisfied through on their own at the same time serving the organizational goals and objectives (Silistre, 2007). The same thing can be described of motivation. In his motivation theory, Fredrick Herzberg stated that motivation involves hygiene factors which include the work and organization environment.

The hygiene factors include the organization, policies and their administration, salary, status and job security among other factors. He explains that the factors may not lead to high levels of motivation though but when such qualities lack there is dissatisfaction among the employees.

He explains the second factor which promotes this motivation theory involves actually what goes on in the organization and what the employees do in order to develop an inbuilt motivation with the work force. Achievement and recognition are among other factors that make the work force be intrinsically motivated. These two concepts as explained by Herzeberg, yields more motivation.

Employees should be treated as best as possible with minimum or no dissatisfaction at all (Accel Team, 2010). Those who are recruited to the company and the systems where they work in provide the necessary motivation as required by the workers.

In his theory, the hierarchy of needs, Maslow (1943) explains that no matter how well individuals (in our case a company employees) are satisfied, they may still sometimes (if not a usual thing) develop some discontentment. That is unless the company ensures that the individual is doing what is best suited for him. He gives an example that people must be allowed to do what they are trained to do and doing it best.

For instance allowing a man to be what best he can be. This is what many call self actualization. The hierarchy of needs as explained by Maslow increases as the basic needs are fulfilled, new needs will emerge and these needs are not that crucial but psychologically they are.

The ever increasing needs is all what is meant. “This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency which dominates human beings and when these too are satisfied newer ones will emerge”, (Marslow, 1943: 375).

The Microsoft Company provides all these to its employees and the staff in general and the company lays its demands from the employees to be the very best they can ever be.

Silistre quotes one of the employees as saying the “only way to achieve here is to push the envelope of what you can do. Every day try to do better. Work harder. Innovate more. People are focused 100% on performing their job as successfully as possible” (Par 25). Self actualization in the company can also be seen with the type of the employees the company hires.

They are the brightest and the smartest among their peers thus for them to achieve self actualization there is a need for them to be pushed harder and be given the opportunity to achieve more than what ordinary employees can achieve.

Employee Loyalty and Satisfaction

The company has been implementing strategies aimed at empowering its’ employees. For any organization to empower its employees there is always a need for a developed culture which allows this to happen.

In the case of Microsoft, a change of culture as the survey indicated above was needed and it has brought about the success of the company in that every employee feels some ownership to the company as they are free to make innovative decisions and then forward to the management for approval if deemed successful or revisions are made if improvements are needed to make the idea work successfully.

In a SWOT analysis done by Hafner and Hilbert (2001) the two describe one of the company strengths being attributed to the flexible workforce the company employs and the loyal and devoted workforce who in addition to a good pay also have chances of doing well by buying the company stocks, this works as a motivation towards working even harder.

For the young employees to be at par with the older employees there has been continued activity of the older employees coaching the young employees and preparing them for what is needed of them. Satisfaction of doing any job in many companies Microsoft included depends on the complexity of the job, the value of doing the work and the physical effort that need to be invested in the job.

Microsoft Company ensures that the more complex the job is the higher are the returns associated with the activity. Bill Gates as the manager and the co-founder of the Microsoft Company has always placed his employees’ way above where most other companies place them.

The expectancy theory as indicated by Vroom state that the belief that one thing will lead to another is likely to bring motivation if there exists a relationship between the performance and the outcome. It is always seen as a way of satisfying a need. The expectancy theory also explains about the rewards which come together with effort (Armstrong, 2006).

This theory is being applied at Microsoft as the company reward system has shown. Issuing of equities to the most valued employees creates a form of partnership in that even when the employee is doing his work his productivity also improves his current status in the organization as his shares improves on value as the company continues to gain profits.

The company reward system is also based on two options: the technical path and the management path. This is a very good consideration due to the fact that as we move up the company ladder the management requires less technical skills compared to the management skills (Rosen, 2003; Strebel & Lu, 2008). The company values technical skills due to its products nature.

“In most organizations, employees with conceptual skills would be rewarded by moving up the corporate ladder, while those with technical skills would not advance. Microsoft, however, offers two advancement paths, allowing those with technical skills to advance as technical experts, just as those with conceptual skills advance as managers” (Silistre. 2010: par 30).

With the just ending economic crisis, the company was not spared either and it has been working on how to reduce the expenses and increase its profitability. The economic crisis effect has also driven the fact that the existing customers pool need to be reserved and this has resulted in cancelled conferences and business meetings as the top brass in the company visit their customers.

The company has also been urging its’ employees to put more effort in maintaining their customers by ensuring products are released on time and with the promised features (Bass, 2009).

The promise comes after the company still reeling from the economic crunch and its’ plan to retrench about 5000 jobs in the year 2010 and more in the following years until it can be in a position to recover fully. This shows that despite the company success some issues still need to be checked to ensure that the company remains a major profit earner as well as a major employer (Johnston, 2009).

Microsoft company success can be attributed to the effective human resource policies that the company applies. The way the company has modeled its HRM policies is an example that if businesses are run with both the vision of the employee and the employer being intertwined there is no doubt a company can succeed.

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Microsoft’s Market Success Strategy: A Case Study

• 26 Comments
• Published on Sep 12 2023

Table of Contents

From garage to global giant: microsoft's incredible journey, decoding microsoft’s marketing secret: 4p marketing mix, microsoft’s marketing strategies for global tech supremacy.

Every tech giant has its modest starts, and Microsoft is no exception. Today, Microsoft is a name synonymous with advanced software innovation, global tech control, and a universal presence on countless computers worldwide. But how did it all begin? Just like every other successful venture, it began with a dream and a well-thought-out Microsoft advertising strategy.

A Dorm Room Dream: The Birth of Microsoft

In the mid-1970s in the town of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bill Gates and Paul Allen Dared to Dream , huddling in a small dorm room at Harvard University shared a vision. This vision changed the world of computing forever, an uncertain goal to put a computer on every desk in every home.

Microsoft's first big break came when they signed a contract with MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), a microcomputer company, to provide a BASIC interpreter for their Altair 8800. This crucial moment led the success of their BASIC interpreter, allowing Microsoft to expand its horizons. Gates and Allen developed a BASIC interpreter, fittingly named Altair BASIC , for the MITS Altair 8800.

This BASIC interpreter was revolutionary because it allowed users to program the Altair using a high-level language, making it accessible to a wider audience. It became a hit among early computer enthusiasts, and this achievement laid the foundation for Microsoft's future.

Windows: The Operating System Breakthrough

The turning point to their success was the licensing deal with IBM in 1980. IBM was working on a top-secret project: the IBM PC. To meet IBM's request, Microsoft purchased an operating system known as 86-DOS. With a few modifications and updates, it was then named MS-DOS.

This deal with IBM helped Microsoft introduce to the mainstream and making MS-DOS the operating system for the IBM PC. Fast forward to 1985, Microsoft introduced the new Windows 1.0, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for MS-DOS. Windows was a game-changing operating system with the best known user-friendly experience. Further innovations like Windows 3.0, Windows 95, and Windows XP took Microsoft to the top in the software industry.

Not just Microsoft, about every tech giant with global recognition, including Microsoft marketing mix, owes a significant part of its success to its specifically crafted marketing mix, often referred to as the 4Ps. These Microsoft 4ps, the four pillars, serve as the cornerstone of Microsoft's marketing strategy, encapsulating their approach to reaching millions of customers worldwide. The Microsoft marketing strategy effectively utilizes these principles to connect with a vast and diverse global audience.

Microsoft’s Product Marketing Strategy:

Innovative Software Solutions: Microsoft's product portfolio is a testament to innovation. From the iconic Windows operating system to the versatile Microsoft Office suite and cutting-edge cloud solutions like Azure, their products cater to a vast spectrum of individual and business needs.

Hardware Excellence: Beyond software, Microsoft has ventured into hardware, producing devices like the Surface lineup, exemplifying their dedication to quality and innovation in hardware development. This commitment extends to their Xbox marketing strategy, where they strategically position their gaming consoles in the ever-evolving tech landscape, fostering both innovation and gaming experiences.

Constant Evolution: Microsoft's commitment to product development and improvement is unwavering. Regular updates, patches, and new features keep their software and services relevant and secure.

Microsoft’s Price Strategy:

Diverse Pricing Models: Microsoft adopts a flexible pricing strategy, offering a variety of pricing models, from one-time purchases to subscription-based services. This approach accommodates both individual users and enterprises, allowing them to choose what best suits their budget and needs.

Value for Money: Microsoft ensures that its products and services deliver tangible value. Whether it's the productivity boost from Office 365 or the scalability of Azure, customers often find that Microsoft's offerings justify their cost.

Microsoft’s Place Strategy:

Global Accessibility: Microsoft's products and services are accessible worldwide. Whether you're in a bustling metropolis or a remote village, Microsoft's reach ensures that you can access their solutions.

Partner Network: Microsoft's extensive network of partners and distributors facilitates the availability of their products in physical and digital marketplaces. This network ensures that Microsoft's solutions are never out of reach.

Microsoft’s Promotion Strategy:

Strategic Partnerships: Microsoft has a knack for forming strategic partnerships with other industry leaders. Collaborations with companies like Adobe, SAP, and LinkedIn enhance the appeal of Microsoft's offerings and expand their customer base.

Educational Initiatives: Microsoft invests heavily in educational programs and resources, making their products accessible to students and educators. This not only fosters brand loyalty but also ensures that future professionals are well-versed in Microsoft tools.

Digital Marketing: Microsoft employs a robust digital marketing strategy, utilizing social media, content marketing, and online advertising to reach and engage with their audience effectively. Their presence in the digital landscape is pervasive.

The 4P marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion, is the core framework for shaping Microsoft's marketing strategy. This strategic approach, known as the Microsoft marketing mix, plays a pivotal role in guiding the company's marketing efforts.

However, they may also incorporate additional strategies, such as people and processes (part of the 6P), to enhance their marketing efforts. Nonetheless, the Microsoft 4ps, including Microsoft marketing strategy , are the fundamental components of their marketing strategy.

Microsoft's journey to tech supremacy has been marked by astute marketing strategies, including a nuanced focus on the Microsoft marketing strategy , which has set industry standards. These strategies encompass a range of approaches, each contributing to their global dominance.

1. Microsoft's Precision with STP Marketing

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP) have been pivotal in Microsoft's success story. Microsoft meticulously segments its vast and diverse customer base, allowing for tailored marketing efforts. By identifying the unique needs of various segments, such as through particular Microsoft market segmentation, they create targeted campaigns and solutions, ensuring that their products resonate with the right audience. Microsoft's positioning strategy, emphasizing innovation, reliability, and user-centricity, solidifies their place in customers' minds as a tech leader.

2. CRM Strategy for Building Customer Bonds

Building lasting customer relationships is a cornerstone of Microsoft's marketing strategy. They utilize Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to collect valuable data and insights. This data-driven approach enables Microsoft to anticipate customer needs, personalize experiences, and provide exceptional support. By nurturing these relationships, Microsoft fosters brand loyalty and advocates among its customer base.

3. Events and Sponsorship

Microsoft's presence at major industry events and strategic sponsorships, such as those aligned with their robust Microsoft marketing strategy , is a testament to their commitment to global tech supremacy. They leverage these platforms not only to showcase their latest innovations but also to engage with customers, partners, and developers. These events serve as hubs for networking, knowledge sharing, and building a vibrant tech ecosystem.

4. The MVP Initiative for Community Building

Microsoft's MVP (Most Valuable Professional) initiative is a testament to their commitment to community building. This program recognizes and empowers exceptional individuals within the tech community who advocate for Microsoft technologies. By nurturing this community, Microsoft fosters a sense of belonging, collaboration, and innovation. MVPs become brand ambassadors, driving product adoption and advocacy globally.

1. How does Microsoft's focus on customer-centricity benefit its marketing strategy?

Microsoft's unwavering focus on customer-centricity ensures that their marketing efforts align with customer needs. By segmenting their diverse customer base and offering personalized solutions, Microsoft not only retains its existing customer base but also attracts new ones. This approach strengthens brand loyalty and solidifies their position as a trusted tech leader.

2. What is Microsoft's STP marketing strategy? Mention its impact on their global success.

Microsoft's STP marketing strategy, often referred to as the "Microsoft marketing strategy"—Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning—are integral to their global success. It allows them to identify distinct customer segments, tailor products and marketing campaigns to suit each group, and position themselves as innovators and problem solvers. This precision ensures that their products resonate with the right audience, driving global adoption.

3. Why are events and sponsorships essential components of Microsoft's marketing strategy?

Events and sponsorships are pivotal components of Microsoft's overarching marketing strategy , serving as critical touch points for the company to engage with customers, partners, and developers on a global scale. These platforms consistently offer opportunities to showcase innovations, foster networking, and strengthen the tech ecosystem. Microsoft's active and strategic presence at such events effectively reinforces its position as a global tech leader in the field of Microsoft marketing strategy .

Whether you're launching a new product or building a brand, a good strategy is the key to success. Having a smart marketing plan, like Microsoft's marketing strategy, is super important. Microsoft's marketing methods are a great example of how to make a successful plan.

Understanding your customers is the first step in crafting a successful Microsoft advertising strategy. Knowing what they like and need helps you create a marketing plan that works. To build a winning marketing strategy , you need to listen to your team and your customers. It makes it much easier to come up with a plan to sell your product. In today's competitive market, having a solid grasp of your target audience's preferences and requirements is crucial for developing an effective advertising strategy.

Microsoft's company marketing strategy, known for its customer-centric approach, offers valuable insights to businesses. By thoroughly comprehending customer preferences, Microsoft equips enterprises to not only survive but also thrive in the ever-evolving tech landscape. This customer-focused strategy stands as a blueprint for success in today's competitive market.

Building a Brand Marketing Strategy, Creating a Social Media Marketing Strategy, all of these are the key aspects that shape your product’s success. To make your way to the top in this digital world, you must understand how to use digital marketing correctly and implement.

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Microsoft Change Management Case Study

Microsoft is one of the most successful and influential technology companies in the world, having transformed the way people live, work and communicate with its innovative products and services. 

But behind this success story lies a series of significant transformations and changes, which have enabled the company to stay relevant and competitive in a rapidly evolving market. 

In this blog post, we will examine the change management strategies and techniques that Microsoft has employed over the years, and how these have helped the company to successfully navigate through various transformations and emerge as a global leader in the tech industry. 

We will also look at some key lessons that other organizations can learn from Microsoft’s approach to change management, and how they can apply these to their own transformation efforts.

Overview of transformations and changes implemented by Microsoft 

Microsoft has undergone numerous transformations and changes since its establishment in 1975. Here are five significant transformations or changes that have occurred:

• Transition to software development: Initially, Microsoft focused on hardware development and created BASIC language software for Altair 8800, a popular computer in the 1970s. However, after Bill Gates realized the potential of software development, the company shifted its focus to software, which led to the creation of MS-DOS, Windows operating system, and other popular software products.
• Move to the internet: With the emergence of the internet in the 1990s, Microsoft recognized the potential of this new technology and invested heavily in it. This led to the development of Internet Explorer, MSN (Microsoft Network), and various web-based applications.
• Diversification: Microsoft was initially known for its operating system and software products. However, in recent years, the company has diversified its offerings to include hardware such as Xbox gaming consoles, Surface tablets, and other products.
• Cloud computing: In the early 2000s, Microsoft recognized the potential of cloud computing and began investing in this area. The company launched its Azure cloud platform in 2010, which has become one of the leading cloud platforms in the world.
• Open source: In the past, Microsoft was known for its proprietary software and closed ecosystem. However, in recent years, the company has embraced open source technology and has made significant contributions to the open-source community. For example, Microsoft has made its .NET framework open source, and it has released various tools and platforms for open-source developers.

What are those factors that drove changes at Microsoft?

Here are some factors that led to the transformations in Microsoft:

• Market changes and competition: As the market for computer technology evolved, Microsoft needed to adapt to changing customer needs and preferences. In addition, competition from other technology companies also pushed Microsoft to make changes to stay relevant and competitive.
• Technological advancements: The emergence of new technologies such as the internet, cloud computing, and mobile devices created new opportunities for Microsoft to expand its offerings and reach new markets.
• Leadership changes: Over the years, Microsoft has had different leaders at the helm, and each leader brought their own vision and priorities for the company. For example, when Satya Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, he emphasized the importance of cloud computing and digital transformation, which led to significant changes in the company’s focus.
• Customer feedback : Microsoft has always had a strong focus on customer feedback, which has played a significant role in shaping the company’s products and services. Customer feedback can also drive innovation and change in the company’s offerings.
• Cultural changes: Microsoft has undergone cultural changes over the years, such as the adoption of open-source technology and a more collaborative and inclusive work environment. These cultural changes can help drive innovation and lead to new ideas and products.

How strong leadership caused transformation in Microsoft ?

Strong leadership has played a critical role in all of the transformations made by Microsoft over the years. Here are some ways in which strong leadership has contributed to these transformations:

• Clear vision and direction: Strong leaders at Microsoft have always had a clear vision and direction for the company, which has helped to guide its transformation efforts. For example, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer led the company through its early years, and their vision of putting a computer on every desk and in every home helped to drive the company’s success in the 1980s and 1990s. Similarly, Satya Nadella’s vision of empowering people and organizations to achieve more has driven the company’s recent focus on cloud computing and digital transformation.
• Strategic decision-making: Strong leaders at Microsoft have made strategic decisions that have helped to position the company for success in a rapidly evolving market. For example, the decision to shift the company’s focus from hardware to software development in the 1980s was a strategic decision that helped to pave the way for the company’s success in the following decades.
• Agile approach: Strong leaders at Microsoft have embraced an agile approach to change management, which has enabled the company to quickly respond to changes in customer needs and market trends. For example, under Satya Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft has shifted its focus to cloud computing and digital transformation, which has helped the company to remain relevant and competitive in a rapidly evolving market.
• Employee engagement and empowerment: Strong leaders at Microsoft have recognized the importance of employee engagement and empowerment in driving change management. For example, under Satya Nadella’s leadership, the company has created a culture of innovation and collaboration, and has encouraged its employees to take risks and experiment with new ideas.

The biggest outcome of the successful changes at Microsoft 

The biggest outcome of the successful changes at Microsoft is the company’s continued growth and success in a rapidly evolving market. By successfully navigating through various transformations, such as the shift from hardware to software development, the move to cloud computing, and the focus on digital transformation, Microsoft has been able to remain relevant and competitive in the tech industry.

The company’s continued success has been reflected in its financial performance, with Microsoft consistently posting strong earnings and revenue growth in recent years. In addition, the company’s products and services, such as Windows, Office, and Azure, are widely used and trusted by customers around the world. Overall, the biggest outcome of the successful changes at Microsoft has been the company’s ability to stay ahead of the curve and remain a leader in the tech industry.

Final Words 

Microsoft’s successful implementation of changes provides valuable lessons for organizations looking to navigate through periods of transformation and change. By adopting a customer-focused approach, embracing an agile methodology, empowering employees, and having strong leadership with a clear vision and purpose, Microsoft has been able to successfully navigate through various transformations and remain a leader in the tech industry.

Additionally, the company’s willingness to experiment with new ideas and take risks has enabled it to stay ahead of the curve and remain relevant to its customers. As a result, Microsoft’s continued growth and success serve as a testament to the importance of effective change management in driving organizational success. Overall, Microsoft’s successful implementation of changes provides a valuable case study for other organizations to learn from and apply to their own transformation efforts.

About The Author

Tahir Abbas

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Microsoft’s Culture & Cultural Traits (An Analysis)

Microsoft Corporation’s work culture (organizational culture) ensures workforce resilience and capability to address business needs in the dynamic market for information technology and online services. The IT company culture (corporate culture) refers to the core values, traditions, and behavioral expectations among employees. Microsoft uses its organizational culture to facilitate innovation and customer satisfaction. As one of the leading firms in the IBM PC-compatible operating system market, the company must maintain cultural traits that suitably promote innovation and high-quality output. Microsoft’s long-term success partly depends on its organizational culture and the corresponding competence of the company’s human resources.

Microsoft Corporation benefits from its company culture, which facilitates human resource competence. This organizational culture is essential to optimizing the competitive advantages noted in the SWOT analysis of Microsoft for business success in the market for computer hardware and software, consumer electronics, and online services. The market involves innovative competitors, like Apple , Google (Alphabet) , Amazon , Facebook (Meta) , Samsung , Sony , Intel , and IBM . These competitors use their work culture to enhance the performance of their workers and their information technology, consumer electronics, and online service businesses. Considering the tough competition environment described in the Five Forces analysis of Microsoft , the company’s work culture motivates employees to contribute to innovation to limit the adverse impact of competitive pressure in the industry.

Traits of Microsoft’s Culture

Companies have distinct work cultures and cultural characteristics based on the nature of their businesses, industry situation, labor market conditions, and internal business processes. Microsoft’s organizational culture has the following main characteristics:

• Accountability
• Quality and Innovation
• Responsiveness to Customers
• Growth Mindset
• Diversity and Inclusion

Accountability . Microsoft describes its corporate culture as a culture of accountability. This cultural trait ensures that every employee understands that actions have consequences in the company’s social and business contexts. To ensure accountability, this characteristic of Microsoft’s organizational culture is applied in the form of all-employee surveys and reward and recognition programs. For example, an employee is evaluated for accountability based on Customer Partner Experience (CPE) criteria and related feedback. Feedback and surveys for this purpose and the accountability aspect of the work culture are facilitated through the groups, teams, and departments in Microsoft’s organizational structure (company structure) . Such institutionalized accountability contributes to the ability of the organizational culture to motivate workers to adhere to Microsoft’s rules and objectives for its computer hardware and software business.

Quality and Innovation . As a technology business, Microsoft needs to innovate to maintain its competitiveness against other computer hardware and software firms. Innovation and quality are features integrated into the company’s organizational culture and business processes. For example, Microsoft heavily invests in research and development efforts for product improvement and new product development. Such efforts are linked to the company’s organizational culture through emphasis on quality standards and innovativeness among employees. In addition, Microsoft rewards workers for their innovative contributions, based on feedback from customers and business partners. This characteristic of the corporate culture supports the company’s needs for innovation-based competitive advantages. This cultural trait facilitates Microsoft’s generic strategy for competitive advantage and intensive strategies for growth . For instance, support from the business culture for product quality and innovation makes the company’s consumer electronics more competitive, and innovation improves business processes to support organizational growth.

Responsiveness to Customers . To ensure customer satisfaction, Microsoft Corporation includes responsiveness as a quality of its organizational culture. The strategies and tactics used in Microsoft’s marketing mix (4P) are developed and applied with support from this trait of the work culture and how it relates to customer preferences and expectations. Responsiveness is achieved through training, so that employees effectively consider feedback from customers and partners. For example, to strengthen this trait of the company culture, Microsoft maintains feedback systems to allow employees to know what customers think and experience in using the firm’s computer hardware and software products. In addition, the company trains employees to listen to such feedback, instead of just reading or delegating them. To ensure that this cultural trait is integrated into its human resources, Microsoft uses a variety of tools, such as product support services, social media, and internal communication tools. The resulting information derived through these tools is applied in innovating products, such as the Windows operating system and Bing. This trait connects the organizational culture to Microsoft’s mission statement and vision statement , which focus on goals for empowering customers and business partners through technological products.

Growth Mindset . Growth is a necessary part of every business. Microsoft uses its corporate culture to grow its information technology business. For example, the company trains employees to identify potential avenues for new business growth, such as new ideas and solutions. To develop and strengthen its business culture, the company rewards workers based on their contributions in this regard. This characteristic of its organizational culture affects Microsoft in terms of continued growth and resilience despite competitive rivalry in the global market.

Diversity and Inclusion . Diversity and inclusion are essential factors in business development. Microsoft applies these factors in its organizational culture through training programs. Also, the company’s human resource policies for recruitment and hiring ensure a high level of diversity and inclusion in the organization. This work culture characteristic provides a means for Microsoft to maximize human resource competence based on diverse ideas and unity among employees.

Microsoft’s Culture – Implications, Advantages & Disadvantages

Microsoft’s organizational culture supports business goals for continuing global success. Such success is based on innovation and responsiveness to customers’ concerns. The business culture promotes employee behaviors that enable competitive product innovation. Also, market trends, such as the ones defined in the PESTEL/PESTLE analysis of Microsoft , are addressed through responsiveness to customers, which is a trait of this company culture. Moreover, growth and development of the IT and digital services business are enhanced through the growth mindset emphasized in this work culture. These advantages of the company culture show that Microsoft has what it takes to maintain its market position, based on satisfying needs in the computer hardware and software market.

A disadvantage of Microsoft’s company culture is the lack of institutionalized support for adequate autonomy. Autonomy in the work culture can encourage employees to contribute new and innovative ideas. Nonetheless, the quality of responsiveness to customers makes Microsoft’s business culture appropriate to motivating workers to be flexible enough to address trends in the IT industry and market. Based on such a disadvantage, a recommendation is for the IT company to integrate considerable autonomy as an aspect of its organizational culture. Autonomy can be applied in limited areas, aspects, or activities in the business organization, to ensure that the work culture contributes to organizational flexibility without compromising the other core values or cultural traits of Microsoft. Addressing this factor in the work culture can help enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of the innovation approaches used in Microsoft’s operations management .

• Global Diversity and Inclusion at Microsoft .
• Herget, J. (2023). Challenges to Corporate Culture: Today and Tomorrow. In Shaping Corporate Culture: For Sustainable Business Success (pp. 149-157). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
• Microsoft Corporation – Empowering Our Employees .
• Microsoft Corporation – Form 10-K .
• U.S. Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration – Software and Information Technology Industry .
• Zhang, W., Zeng, X., Liang, H., Xue, Y., & Cao, X. (2023). Understanding how organizational culture affects innovation performance: A management context perspective. Sustainability, 15 (8), 6644.
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How Microsoft built a new mobility model for cross-border talent

Professionals from EY and Microsoft challenged old assumptions about workforce mobility, creating a forward-thinking and data-rich platform.

• 1. The better the question
• 2. The better the answer
• 3. The better the working world

The better the question

How do you make “work anywhere” work everywhere?

Microsoft’s workforce mobility function evolves to face new challenges and opportunities.

A s ways of working have settled into a “ next normal ”,  organizations have had to proactively refine how and where they work across jurisdictions, while fostering an exceptional employee experience. For Microsoft, workforce mobility is about more than solving the logistical challenges of moving highly skilled employees around the world. Instead, after years of health, economic and geopolitical challenges, their mobility function has transitioned to a place of strategic opportunity, requiring rapid adaptation and innovation.

“Employees are no longer seen as mere resources to be moved around, but as individuals with unique needs and aspirations,” says Juan Carlos González, Senior Director for Global Mobility at Microsoft. “Our mobility program is not just about moving people from point A to point B. It's about creating meaningful experiences, placing people at the center, fostering diversity and inclusion, and ultimately, driving business success.”

Microsoft’s strategic perspective challenges old assumptions and traditional designs of workforce mobility solutions. In the past, the Mobility function faced relatively low-volume scenarios: expatriate assignments and company-supported moves or travel. Now, mobility programs provide guidance and insights for employee-driven scenarios including personal relocations, commuting, and a mix of personal and professional business travel. This shift in focus is influenced by the expanded use of generative AI (GenAI), providing new tools and visibility into employee data, mobility processes, and automation.

To evolve the Mobility function, González and his team embarked on a journey to drive value to the business and better align with the organization’s overall goals. An important part of this journey would be working to meet the needs of employees, the needs of their mobility professionals, and looking at leading market trends in workforce mobility.

Microsoft eventually arrived at three focus areas that would contribute to a more effective and strategically-aligned mobility program:

• Reduce the number of vendors and systems.
• Help drive automation and efficiencies across their mobility function.
• Improve the employee experience.

To begin realizing this vision EY professionals worked with Microsoft to create new and improved mobility processes. The initial focus area was the launch of Microsoft’s US state-to-state business traveler program which required the ability to integrate with their human resources information (HRIS), travel, payroll and equity systems; provide a leading-class traveler experience; and automate all downstream processes.

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After the business traveler program was up and running, the teams then set out to reduce the number of immigration providers supporting Microsoft. At that time, Microsoft had 19 global immigration providers, with the goal of getting down to one global provider outside of the US to increase efficiency and effectiveness, and add value for employees and the organization.

“Microsoft realized that they could further evolve their global immigration program and improve on the sometimes-disjointed employee experience and process,” says George Reis, EY Americas Immigration Leader. “Instead of disparate providers, they wanted a more centralized strategic program, integrated with their mobility and global workforce strategy, informed by a common case management system, and supported in execution by their HR Services organization.”  

Reis adds that this undertaking would then create space to apply a strategic lens to immigration which was employee-focused, would support business goals, reduce risk, and understand government relations.  

With a more comprehensive, strategic approach to global immigration and US state-to-state business travel compliance, Microsoft sought a solution that would further transform the Mobility function and enhance employee experience. To experience cross-border work, even for a short-time, can be a life-changing experience, but without strategic coordination, it can create a strain on process and stress on employees. It’s an undertaking requiring streamlined process, adaptable technology, and a people-first mindset to realize the full potential of global teams and talents.

This mutual learning has helped both teams to develop a robust suite of technologies that can effectively address the challenges faced by Mobility functions.

Juan Carlos González

Senior Director for Global Mobility, Microsoft

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Microsoft worked with EY teams from across the globe to define the right approach for the digital transformation of its business travel and global immigration programs. The strategy would champion exceptional user experience (UX) and employee experience (EX), driven by leading-class technology.

Between data management, business travel, immigration, legal and tax requirements, such a comprehensive mobility solution would be stress-tested at every turn.  

“For EY mobility professionals, we have long worked toward a vision of combining leading technology with talented EY professionals to create a truly integrated mobility experience,” says Leslie Fiorentino, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP (United States).  

The right technology: EY Mobility Pathway

Achieving the kind of integrated mobility experience Microsoft wanted required a platform suited to digital ecosystem connectivity; a way to combine many data streams into a streamlined user experience. EY teams had a solution:  EY Mobility Pathway  is a scalable platform that integrates mobility lifecycle activity and services on a single, comprehensive platform.  

Built on Microsoft Azure, EY Mobility Pathway’s intuitive interface intelligently manages data from multiple sources to reduce time spent on administrative tasks. By building collaboration between Microsoft, external mobility providers, employees, and corporate users, the mobile talent lifecycle can also become more transparent and drive efficiency.

“An employee often, even working with one vendor, needs to go to multiple places, separate portals, and the data doesn’t mix — it’s not often a good user experience,” says Kushan Shah, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP (United States). “We have one product that integrates, in one place, multiple personas: corporate users, employees, and the entire Global EY network, too. There’s no smoke and mirrors, here, it’s one product serving all stakeholders.”

Having Microsoft as both client and project collaborator created an opportunity to iterate the technology in real-time, given its Microsoft Azure provenance: teams were able to create client-specific workflows with Azure Logic Apps; Azure Cosmos DB helped with questionnaire management; Microsoft Power BI enabled creation of relevant dashboards for clients, while keeping data models in check for scale.

“The collaboration between our two companies has been incredibly positive, fostering a rich cycle of mutual learning,” González says. “As a complex organization, we strive to scrutinize every process through a multidisciplinary lens. Implementing any change requires time and resilience, but it ensures that our initiatives are well-conceived and, most importantly, compliant.”

By building agility into the development process, Microsoft professionals could make recommendations on a technology solution, with the power of developer capabilities reaching the hands of EY service professionals, helping to discover and refine the experience to be provided to users.

“My team has had the opportunity to learn from a multidisciplinary group of EY experts who are leaders in their respective fields, bringing valuable market insights,” González adds. “This mutual learning has helped both teams to develop a robust suite of technologies that can effectively address the challenges faced by Mobility functions, particularly those arising from the limitations of major HR or Payroll systems.”

“This is a new model for doing this,” Shah says. “And it’s the right model.”

The right people experience

Technology is an important piece to solving a digital transformation puzzle, but solutions need to be attentive to how and why people are using them. Many employees go through cross-border experiences infrequently, giving greater weight to their first impressions of mobility and immigration processes, and workforce mobility more generally. While some repetitive tasks can be automated, and advances in GenAI can expand certain system capabilities, the best way to keep sight of the human experience of workforce mobility is with teams of responsive and empathetic professionals.

EY provided the strongest network of professionals — human beings — to drive people-centered thinking around workforce mobility.

George Reis

EY Americas Immigration Leader

“Mobility programs are being designed not just to facilitate relocation, but also to support the personal and professional growth of employees, enhance their well-being, and ensure their successful integration into the new environment,” González says. “This people-centered approach to global mobility is helping organizations attract and retain talent, foster a globally-minded workforce, and ultimately, drive business success. It's no longer solely about Mobility defining the experience in isolation, but rather about fully integrating it with the 'Hire to Retire' vision of our leadership team.”

The depth and breadth of experience of EY professionals, with a global capability at the scale needed to serve Microsoft, created the right people-focused service model to pair with the technology.

“EY provided the strongest network of professionals — human beings — to drive people-centered thinking around workforce mobility,” Reis says. “EY teams are able to connect dots between immigration law, geopolitics, the race for talent, and do so with empathy. To do this at a global scale is challenging, but EY teams are up to the task.”

The better the world works

Evolving for enhanced employee experience and efficiency

Collaboration between teams from EY and Microsoft creates a glimpse into workforce mobility’s future.

With implementation now complete, González says Microsoft has seen progress in key areas:

• Efficiency: EY Mobility Pathway has streamlined processes, reducing the time and resources required for mobility tasks. This has allowed teams to focus more on strategic initiatives.
• Collaboration: The close working relationship between Microsoft and EY teams has fostered a culture of collaboration, leading to more innovative solutions and better problem-solving.
• Compliance: With EY Mobility Pathway, Microsoft has been able to better manage and track compliance issues, reducing risks and adhering to regulations.
• Employee experience: The new approach has improved the experience for mobile employees, making it easier for them to navigate the complexities of mobility.
• Data-driven decisions: The use of EY Mobility Pathway has provided Microsoft with valuable data and insights, helping enable more informed decision-making around mobility.

“These improvements are testament to the benefits of adopting an agile, collaborative approach to global mobility,” González says. “It's a great example of how digital transformation can drive operational efficiency and enhance employee experience based on the hard work and high level of expertise of my team to properly open the path of success for EY and ultimately the partnership at the center of the power of the possible.”

The experience of Microsoft and EY teams building a new mobility model by pairing advanced technology and services gives a glimpse into the future of capability-based innovation on a global scale. For complex processes like those related to global immigration and workforce mobility, a technology solution alone cannot be all things to all organizations. The mobility function needs to evolve itself to serve new purposes. By remaining flexible, and fitting the needs of individual users and the professionals serving them, teams from EY and Microsoft collaborated on a technology and service model that can shift mindsets beyond traditional thinking, while keeping people at the center.  

EY 2024 Mobility Reimagined Survey

Learn how Mobility functions can evolve and thrive with a workforce in flux.

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Include and exclude app assignments in Microsoft Intune

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In Intune, you can determine who has access to an app by assigning groups of users to include and exclude. Before you assign groups to the app, you must set the assignment type for an app. The assignment type makes the app available, required, or uninstalls the app.

To set the availability of an app, you include and exclude app assignments to a group of users or devices by using a combination of include and exclude group assignments. This capability can be useful when you make the app available by including a large group, and then narrow the selected users by also excluding a smaller group. The smaller group might be a test group or an executive group.

As a best practice, create and assign apps specifically for your user groups, and separately for your device groups. For more information on groups, see Add groups to organize users and devices .

Important scenarios exist when including or excluding app assignments:

Including user groups and excluding user groups when assigning apps

Including device groups and excluding device group when assigning apps

For example, if you assign a device group to the All corporate users user group, but exclude members in the Senior Management Staff user group, All corporate users except the Senior Management staff get the assignment, because both groups are user groups.

• Intune doesn't evaluate user-to-device group relationships. If you assign apps to mixed groups, the results may not be what you want or expect.

For example, if you assign a device group to the All Users user group, but exclude an All personal devices device group, All users get the app. The exclusion does not apply.

As a result, it's not recommended to assign apps to mixed groups.

When you set a group assignment for an app, the Not Applicable type is deprecated and replaced with exclude group functionality.

Intune provides pre-created All Users and All Devices groups in the Microsoft Intune admin center. The groups have built-in optimizations for your convenience. It's highly recommended that you use these groups to target all users and all devices instead of any "all users" or "all devices" groups that you might create yourself.

Android enterprise supports including and excluding groups. You can leverage the built-in All Users and All Devices groups for Android enterprise app assignment.

Include and exclude groups when assigning apps

To assign an app to groups by using the include and exclude assignment:

Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center .

Select Apps > All apps . The list of added apps is shown.

Select the app that you want to assign. A dashboard displays information about the app.

In the Manage section of the menu, select Assignments .

Select Add group to add the groups of users who are assigned the app.

In the Add group pane, select an Assignment type from the available assignment types.

For the assignment type, select Available with or without enrollment .

Select Included Groups to select the group of users that you want to make this app available to.

When you add a group, if any other group has already been included for a specific assignment type, the app is preselected and can't be modified for other include assignment types. The group that has been used can't be used as an included group.

Select Yes to make this app available to all users.

Select OK to set the group to include.

Select Excluded Groups to select the groups of users that you want to make this app unavailable to.

Select the groups to exclude. This makes this app unavailable to those groups.

Select Select to complete your group selection.

In the Add group pane, select OK . The app Assignments list appears.

Click Save to make your group assignments active for the app.

When you make group assignments, groups that have already been assigned aren't available to be modified. If you want to select a group that currently isn't available, first remove the app from the app's assigned list.

To edit assignments, in the app Assignments list, select the row that contains the specific assignment that you want to change. You can also remove an assignment by selecting the ellipse ( … ) at the end of a row, and then selecting Remove .

Removing a group assignment does not remove the related app except on Android Enterprise dedicated, fully managed, and corporate-owned work profile devices. The installed app will remain on the device.

To change the view of the Assignments list, group by Assignment type or by Included/Excluded .

• For more information about including and excluding group assignments for apps, see the Microsoft Intune blog .
• Learn how to monitor app information and assignments .

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Additional resources

Microsoft Offers Global Opportunities to Chinese Staff as US-China Relations Tighten

Microsoft Corporation’s China headquarters is encouraging its employees to consider overseas assignments.

Microsoft announced on the 16th (local time) that it is asking some of its China-based employees to consider overseas assignments as tensions between the US and China continue to escalate due to AI and semiconductor technologies.

Read more: Will Chinese Electric Cars Dominate Europe? U.S. Tariffs Shift Focus

According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is asking 700-800 employees working in cloud computing and machine learning fields to consider overseas assignments.

Officials stated that most of the engineers of Chinese nationality were offered the option to relocate to the United States , Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand earlier this week.

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A Microsoft Corporation spokesperson said, “Offering internal opportunities is a regular part of managing our global business, and as part of this process, we have shared optional internal relocation opportunities with some employees.”

The spokesperson also added, “Microsoft remains committed to China and will continue to operate in China and other markets.”

This action comes amid deteriorating US-China relations as the Biden administration raises tariffs on various Chinese imports, including electric vehicle (EV) batteries, computer chips, and pharmaceuticals.

Reuters reported earlier this month that the US Department of Commerce is considering new regulations to restrict the export of software and data used in proprietary or closed AI models.

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