SCP Analysis of Microsoft

This paper will perform an SCP analysis of Microsoft. The acronym SCP stands for Structure-Conduct-Performance, and is an effective method for evaluating companies. The SCP concept will form the main organization of this paper. Part I will deal with Structure and will explore the actual organizational structure of Microsoft. Part II will deal with conduct and pricing issues, including the recent anti-trust rulings. Part III will explore the profitability and performance of the company.

I. A. Type of technology and product

Microsoft has the business mission of manufacturing and selling software programs for use on personal and business computers. Its programs range from the Internet Explorer Web browser to Microsoft Office business suite to multimedia encyclopedia Encarta (Brinkley, 1998).

The dominance of its Windows operating system that has made Microsoft the world's largest software company and CEO Bill Gates the planet's richest man. The company continues to expand beyond the PC, pushing into interactive television (WebTV), television stations (MSNBC), and information appliances (Windows CE software).

It has invested billions in cable companies worldwide to assure its software will control interactive TV services. Meanwhile, online service Microsoft Network (MSN) is expanding its array of e-commerce offerings to compete with other major portals (Bank & Wilke, 1998).

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t Microsoft, a new definition of "team" is used. It is more than a group of people assigned to the same project(Cortese, France, Garland, Hamm & Mendel, 1998). An effective team "has the right expertise, for the project, empowers members to use that expertise, and holds them accountable for results in the area they own. Accountability and empowerment remove the obstacles to high achievement" ("Team Model...", 1998, Online). Without an effective team model in place, certain obstacles to success are impossible to overcome. This model uses the idea of the end application as the guiding architecture plan, since the end user applications are developing continuously as business needs evolve. Some people refer to this as "planning while building." It uses such Solutions Framework principles as risk-driven scheduling, a fixed release date mindset, and activity-based planning. Part II. Conduct Since the conduct of the company was of major concern during the recent trial, the most efficient way of determining the conduct of the company is to apply Porter's "Five Forces Theory." In this Five Forces model, Porter assumed that companies, when planning strategic survival, must do so within the framework of five forces: The for

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