STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - Case Study ExampleFor caseful, Gupta et al. (2009) gave example of intellectual capital in research & development division of pharmaceutical companies as the core competency which can not only be copied substantially by competitors but also being developed over the course of long period. In such context, core competencies of Microsoft Corp can also be understood in context to core competency model proposed by Prahalad and Hamel (1990). According to the Microsoft case presented by Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2012), from the foundation of the company in 1975, Microsoft Corp invariably strive for getting the first mover advantage by continuously innovating with product application and design. It is evident from the research works of Gupta and Dwivedi (2012) and Edgar and Lockwood (2012) that core competency is a customer driven approach and providing value to customers should be integrated with core competency models. Now, the question may arise that is it pos sible for all products of Microsoft Corp to obtain at least one core competency? For answering this question, study of the product portfolio performance of Microsoft Corp will be conducted. However, there is not such(prenominal) scope to do, the limitations being the lack of time and resource. To overcome such difficulties, the report will use case study of Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2012) in order to understand give away core competencies of Microsoft. Product portfolio of Microsoft Corp can be segregated into seven segments such as Windows, Business Solutions, Xbox Game Console and Entertainment, Developer Tools, MSN, web browser and Servers, unsettled solutions (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). For example, Windows and windows live segment accompanies by Windows Operating System (OS), Internet Explorer etc are highest revenue earner for the company. On the other hand, business division segments of Microsoft come with by Dynamics ERP, Microsoft Office, CRM, Office Web et c are second largest revenue earner for the company (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). Interesting fact is that, Microsoft has acquired more than 80% of market ploughshare in the field of operating system and business division which show that the company has successfully integrated its technological core competencies in order to progress to market leadership. Microsoft is even performing well in the field of Entertainment & Gaming Solution with the help of its product portfolios like Xbox, Zune digital music platform, Windows remember and successfully defending its market share (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). However, same cannot be said for online service division of Microsoft such as Bing search engines which has incurred consecutive operational win loss due to unequal revenue distribution right agreement with Yahoo. Drejer (2002) and Clulow, Gerstman and Barry (2003) stated that core competencies can be achieved by deploying internal resources such starchy intellectua l capital, financial resources, technological capabilities, efficient human resource, marketing expertise, strong supplier relationship etc. In such context, Prahalad and Hamel (1990) stated that core competence gets enhanced with the use and sharing while other capabilities might get reduced with extensive use. Microsoft is still struggling to compete with Smartphone and technology companies like Samsung, apple and existing competency of Microsoft is not helping them