Use your completed strategy map to formulate functional-level strategy for the primary business functions included in your plan. Functional-level strategies are the action plans used by departments within organizations to support the execution of business-level strategy at the managerial level. Create a 500-750 word action plan that addresses the following:

1. Identify which management tactics and strategies you will implement to meet your strategic goals for each of the stakeholders, departments, or business functions impacted by your plan: MBO, MBM, single-use or standing plans, competitive advantage, contingency planning, building scenarios, crisis planning, and innovation.
2. Provide an explanation of how you will apply managerial decision-making methods throughout your action plan.
3. Which business functions will be impacted by your action plan? What tactics will you use to manage implementation across business functions? What can you do to enhance collaboration/cross-functionality to ensure the success of your plan?
4. Identify leadership strategies you plan to implement throughout the execution of your action plan. In particular, explain which strategies you would implement to foster team collaboration among the multiple stakeholders who must collaborate to successfully implement the plan. Why do you think these will be successful?

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

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SWOT Analysis for Microsoft

Strengths

Putting into consideration recent statistics, Microsoft’s Windows computer system has quite a significant stake of the current market share in the desktop OS segment. Their existing management techniques have been attained over time through building various levels of brand loyalty that prompt positive inferences on company finances.

Desktop Operating System Market distribution

As characterized in the above chart, Microsoft has a broad range of cloud-based computing services that include Skype, Microsoft Azure, Yammer, Microsoft Office365 as well as Bing. Furthermore, the revealing of strategies by rival companies that Microsoft is approximated to earn close to twenty billion dollars through cloud computing goes out further to emphasize the commitment by subscribers to the precise business. Moreover, this factor goes out to accentuate Microsoft’s presence in the prevailing cloud computing venture. Likewise, the increased popularity of the previously mentioned aspect aids in explaining the high growth that is occurring between different aspects of the economy.

Weaknesses

On the other hand, Microsoft to some extent has overtaken its key competitors such as Apple since they focus on designing creative and efficient products as well as services that are designed to provide cost-efficient elements hence solving everyday challenges. Nevertheless, besides the fact that competitors are primarily consumed by ideas such as the introduction of the Smart television and Apple watches, Microsoft creates products that are impeded on tackling problems that face all people in the society without necessarily discerning them based on their financial abilities. Nevertheless, Microsoft is viewed to be biased regarding which consumers have access to their products.  A relevant example is that Windows updates are only available for devices that work with Windows operating systems subsequently leaving out customers that do not possess Windows-enabled devices (Jurevicius, 2013).

Opportunities

Previously, Microsoft mainly relied upon intermittent upgrades of Windows and Office systems to generate new revenue. However, over time, Windows users stuck with outdated versions as opposed to upgrading. Recent findings show that close to seventeen percent of personal computers worldwide function on Windows 8/8.1.Similarly, it was also discovered that twenty-eight percent of companies that were surveyed were currently using Windows Office 2003 (Jurevicius, 2013).

In the combined effort of decreasing the recent fragmentation, Microsoft is focused on implementing a “One Windows” approach. For example, Windows 10, which is projected to be accessible as a free advancement to a large number of periodic Windows 7 and Windows 8 users, could unite all the current tablets, computers, smartphones and through a joint operating system. The overall capability of the above mentioned operating system serves to strengthen Microsoft’s strong suit in personal computers so as to counterbalance its weakness in mobile phone devices. Microsoft also has opportunities to expand in the area of cloud services and software as the consumer demands for these services continue to expand (Jurevicius, 2013).

Threats

The current largest perennial threat to Microsoft products is Google.  This is regarding the fact that Google heavily relies on advertising proceeds as a form of revenue generation; Google can repetitively offer free and efficient substitutes to Microsoft’s paid software.  A good illustration is that Chrome operating systems and Google Docs are becoming quite detested as opposed to Windows and Office. Nonetheless, the steady development of the previously mentioned system in the inconsistent software market has subsequently required Microsoft to reduce their initial charges (Jurevicius, 2013).

From a different standpoint, the target market for software development is focused on the young generation since they are viewed to be much more energetic and resourceful. What is more, the favored market for the aspect mentioned above similarly characterizes itself as overly broad in the sense that they are focused on solving prevalent challenges in the society.

Strategic goal

The strategic goal for Microsoft in this scenario is to produce software that is easily accessible to its target market and equally ensures that it is user-friendly. Similarly, putting in place of incentives to the existing target market will go a long way in facilitating better customer relations hence promoting the popularity of the product.

Reference

Jurevicius, O. (2013). SWOT analysis of Microsoft.Microsoft SWOT Analysis 2013,1. 

Strategic Planning Strategy Map

Microsoft Corporation can utilize the scorecard because the tool is designed for both the profit and non-profit organizations to facilitate maximum generation of capital. Microsoft operates under the mission of enabling the people and the businesses throughout the world in the realization of their full potential. Microsoft considers the mission statement for the corporation as a commitment to serving the customers of the corporations.

The Microsoft stakeholders include the customers, the stockholders, the IRS, and the employees. Stakeholders are usually analyzed in a five-step process in the facilitation of identification of the employees in their order of importance. The first step includes defining the shared goal. For Microsoft, the shared output or outcome is defined by considering at what the corporation is trying to achieve by the service they are delivering. The second step involves defining the group of the stakeholder. Microsoft can define the group of the stakeholder for the goals in question. However, the internal and external factors are essential in this step, and maximum information should be included in the coverage (Varvasovszky, 2000) .

The third step of identification of the stakeholder includes an analysis of the relationship. The basis for the engagement must be clearly defined, and Microsoft can consider a different approach based on the resources that the corporation is willing to surrender in this process. At this level, Microsoft will be in a position to determine the level of engagement with each stakeholder and rank the priority of each of the stakeholders in engagement. Finally, there is the need of developing an engagement plan. At this step, the information created in the third step should be developed. This step creates coordination and a mechanism that defines how the users can work out together as well as how the users of the corporate products can relate to the various stakeholders (Varvasovszky, 2000).

By the use of the above analysis, stockholders can be given the priority followed by the employees, the consumers and finally the IRS. One primary duty of a corporation is being the stockholders and increasing the stoke value of a corporation. The stockholders play this role in the Microsoft Corporation. They directly contribute to the corporate development through funds and decision making in the critical organizational situations, hence given the highest priority. The corporate employees, be it the manager or the CEO, or the subordinate employees, plays another fundamental role in the corporation. They make decisions on the real time issues on the ground. They make things happen and ensure that the goals are refined into shape. They provide tangible items for the supply to the consumers that consequently generate income for the corporation, hence ranked after the stockholders. Consumers are ranked after the employees because they buy the Microsoft products, giving the corporation revenue that keeps it moving. Finally, we have the IRS (Varvasovszky, 2000).

The strategic goal for Microsoft from the previous scenario is the production of readily available software to the target market and software that is at the same time ensuring that it is user-friendly. Besides, it is Microsoft’s strategic goal to put incentives to the existing target market by going a long way in the facilitation of better customer relations. This measure will promote the popularity of the corporate products.

References

BurgeSmani, R. A., & Wheelwright, S. C. (2004). Strategic management of technology and innovation. READING, 1(1).

Hulen, C., Chau, C., & Yang, V. (2005). U.S. Patent Application No. 11/039,714.

Rarick, C. A., & Vitton, J. (1995). Corporate strategy: Mission statements make cents. Journal of Business Strategy, 16(1), 11-12.

Varvasovszky, Z., & Brugha, R. (2000). A stakeholder analysis. Health policy and planning, 15(3), 338-345.