BENETT

INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Strategic Business Management & Planning

Prepared byName-Deepak Kapoor

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Word limit- 5000

TABLE OF CONTENTS:Abstract . Introduction................................................... Aim of Microsoft SWOT.............................................................................. ECONOMIC..................................................................... SOCIAL.......................................................................... TECHNOLOGICAL......................................................... ENVIRONMENTAL........................................................ BARRIER TO ENTRY..................................................... SUPPLIER POWER....................................................... BUYER POWER............................................................. COMPETITIVE RIVALRY .............................................. Types of Information Systems needed to aid in the decision making process at managerial levels......................................................... Improvement of Customer Relations.. Critical analysis of competitive advantages to an organization Challenges to an organization & Managing change Conclusion.. References. Bibliographies.

Abstract: In my assignment I have highlighted the aims of the renowned organization like Microsoft whose continuous success due to their strong strategies and planning astonished the entire IT industry in the 21st century. I clearly stressed Microsofts strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which explains the organization continuous business strategies and planning. Based on various obvious facts I must say that any organization who want to be successful must plan ahead to achieve the companys desire goal which should include economic, social, technological and environmental factors.

INTRODUCTION: According to William E. Ward: Four steps to achievements Plan purposefully, prepare prayer fully, proceed positively and peruse persistently Strategic business management and planning in business world and in business organization whether it is a public sector organization or private sector organization refers to the set or the change of the goals and aims of the organization. Strategic management and planning is a key to success to reach the corporate ladder that is to give the organization a strong plat form from the very beginning of the business. The management is responsible for the strategy and planning as how to achieve a one desire goal of an organization. The management should give the judgment after considering all the aspects of that planning. Good management and planning strategy. According to L.H.Hunt Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work MICROSOFT This assignment is about the Microsoft. Microsoft is the worlds leading producer of 3

computer software. Microsoft was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico in1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen and is now one of the largest and most successful companies in the world (Microsoft, 2005). They are the largest and most successful companies in the world. Microsoft headquarters are located in Redmond, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. It is the developer and distributor of softwares such as Windows, Microsoft Office, and DirectX and other programmers and games which will be listed later on in this assignment. In almost all the countries in the world people are using Microsoft operating system. Microsoft is one of the most dramatic examples of network externality in economics. The Microsoft Corporation is doing a monopoly business and their product has an effective domination in the operating system market. Almost every computer that is sold has a copy of Microsoft Windows pre-installed (Microsoft industry products and solutions, 2006). This assignment describes its mission statement (Microsoft), evaluating its strengths and weaknesses using the SWOT analysis, establishing the strategic information systems needed to give the company a competitive edge, discussing the information systems (ISs) that could aid in the decision making processes at the different managerial levels.

Aim of the Microsoft At Microsoft, we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflect this mission and the values that make it possible. A mission statement captures an organisation's purpose, customer orientation and business philosophy. Effective missions are inspiring, longterm in nature, and easily understood and communicated (Learn Direct Business, 2003) The mission statement of Microsoft comprises of a general objective which is, to assist individuals and businesses become cognizant of their presently unrealized capacity. Secondly, not only does the mission statement capture this but in the journey to allowing individuals and businesses realize their full potential they intend to do this in a morally ethical way. Thirdly the mission statement captures the target group for Microsoft which is the world. The question is then asked, Has Microsoft achieved its goals and objectives outlined in its mission statement for the last 31 years and if yes, how? In allowing people realize their full potential Microsoft has made available the following Office Software including Word (a word processor), Excel (a spread sheet), PowerPoint (presentation software) and Access (a database storage) to list a few Microsoft Windows pre-installed on most computers, the current versions being XP and Windows server Microsofts company web browser the Internet Explorer Hotmail (online mail service) MSN Messenger (online chat service) Windows media player (for listening to music) XBOX, for those individuals who are into gaming and this is also used for playing movies Microsoft's succession of Windows operating systems, Vista is the most recent.

Microsoft has indeed been achieving one if its goals which is being a global organization as their product has had an effective domination in the operating system market. Almost every computer that is sold has a copy of Microsoft Windows pre-installed. Microsofts web browser is most widely used in the world and it has become a default browser with all the version of Windows since Windows 95. Microsoft has definitely aided in the realizing of our full potential as individuals as the preparation of this assignment is using Microsoft word. Organizations are able to have soft copy storage of data and so easy retrieval of information. In the financial services Microsoft 'experience Financial Services' program assists businesses in increasing their revenue by improving customer satisfaction and employee productivity while reducing operational costs (Microsoft industry products and solutions, 2006.) The work environment can be relaxing by listening to some music on the very computer you are using instead of spending more money to buy a radio. In the home the same device you use to play your games can be used to watch a movie. In so doing Microsoft has enabled us to maximize on our monetary funds. The company has made its presence in markets by online advertising, mobile devices, and enterprise software. In 2008 Microsoft made repeated efforts to acquire Yahoo! But ultimately two companies would instead sign a deal in 2009 to combine their search operations. Strengths and Weaknesses of Microsoft (SWOT analysis) There are two types of environmental factors that affect every organisation, these are remote and industrial. An organisations strengths and weaknesses are those factors within or closely related to the organisation such as Porters five forces (these include barriers to entry, supplier power, buyer power, substitutes available and competitive rivalry). However the opportunities and threats faced by the organisation are those remote environmental factors and these include economic, social, political, technological and ecological (PESTE) .In evaluating the possible opportunities and threats that Microsoft is faced with this report will group them according to the acronym PESTE. Political Many organizations are faced with possibly threats from political factors such as laws that can be enforced by the government and terrorism to list a few. Microsoft has experienced many political factors that have tried to impact on the organization in a negative way but the company has been successful in overcoming these factors and has been able to sustain its sales. In the past two years, Microsoft has made significant progress in resolving many of the legal issues facing the company including the recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision reaffirming its settlement with the Department of Justice, most of the state class-action lawsuits, and the AOL and Sun Microsystems cases along with patent claims such as the InterTrust litigation. Resolving these issues marks an important step forward in clarifying Microsoft's legal and related business risk (Gilbert and Katz, 2001). "We have resolved the large majority of our legal issues, which the 5

company has always said was a prerequisite to addressing our cash management plans," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "While we still have a number of legal issues and we take them seriously, we have reduced the legal uncertainties facing the company, and we have a much clearer understanding of the potential risks involved in the cases that remain, such as the ongoing European Commission case" (Redmond, 2004). Economic These factors usually pose as potential threats in an organization, such as internal and external inflation. Currency exchange rate has been affecting the demand for computers in certain parts of the world and fluctuating currencies can negatively impact revenues in the global marketplace (Microsoft, 2005). Increasing globalization of the Microsoft industry has definitely been a significant advantage for the company as this creates a domino effect which increases profitability for the company. Social The social lifestyle is not one that would affect Microsoft as in every country and in every industry, they desire new technology to help them boost their organization ahead of others in this rather competitive world that we live in. In other words Microsoft will not encounter much of a social barrier globally; it is a product that is welcomed by everyone. This is definitely a probable strength in favour of Microsoft as it means the sky is the limit socially. Technological Microsoft has made significant advancement in their technology which has definitely worked in their favor and so has strengthened the company. They continue to be innovative with their products and utilization of these innovations where increasing their market share is concerned. They are a pure dot-com enterprise which facilitates lower cost both for themselves and the customer, data communication and are user friendly. Being the big giant in the software market they have made and still continue to make hardware to support specific software business strategies and to list a few: Microsoft mouse which encouraged the use of windows operating system Graphical User Interface (GUI). This made GUI more user-friendly and so increased its sales Web TV (an internet television appliance) The tracing of stolen goods such as laptops and pirated software (this is done when these people log on to the internet. (This has given Microsoft huge benefits) PDA also known as the wireless system (The maximization of peoples time so they can mail while on their way) Microsoft has a big involvement in the productions of modified software for NASA and the Pentagon Recently introduced is the Trusted Computing which Microsoft has presented as their solution to computer insecurity Ecological/Environmental Being a software industry Microsoft has not been affected by these factors which comprise of elements such as salinity levels etc. To add to this Microsoft has had many opportunities in its favor as cheaper global telecommunication costs open new markets as people connect to the market; mobile phone applications and exploitation of personal digital assistants; popularity among

people for internet access and the demand for personal computers in the global market. Possible threats in the market exist from Apple and Linux, UNIX dominates high-end mission-critical applications, software piracy and hardware manufacturers (Sun Microsystems, Oracle, IBM, AOL and Apple) are issuing their own pre-bundled programmes on their own hardware. . DISCUSSION
ABOUT THE COMPETITIVENESS AND ATTRIBUTES OF EMERGENT ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN

THE LIGHT OF

PORTERS

FIVE FORCES MODEL :

In a business world competition factor can never be overlooked and it is just like a built in threat or I say a mandatory threat which must take into consideration by the management of any organization while planning its strategy. Therefore the profit or the rates of return must be constant for any organization to be successful. Economic research states that many organization can face the above mentioned threat of competition factor and can be sustained to a certain level of profitability, thus following are the five forces that any organization can be effected by -: Barriers to Entry Microsoft has made it difficult for new entities into the software industry by increasing the barrier to industry. Klein, 2001 says that the dominance of windows in the market for operating systems is due in large part to its success as a software platform; that is, to the fact that a great many software developers write application programmes solely for the windows operating system. Because porting or rewriting application programmes to run on other less popular operating systems can be expensive, an applications barrier to entry may exist in the market for operating system but not succeed in competition with windows because of the lack of sufficient applications. Bessin and Baskin, 1999 state that the standard economic rationale for patents is to protect innovators from imitation and thereby give them the incentive to incur the cost of innovation. Conventional wisdom holds that, unless would-be competitors are constrained from imitating an innovation, the inventor may not reap enough profit to cover that cost. Thus, even if the social benefit of invention exceeds the cost, the potential innovator without patent protection may decide against innovating altogether (Gilbert and Katz, 2001). Supplier Power Being the great Monopoly Microsoft has been, its bargaining power is quite high which would cause a decrease in supplier power. Buyer Power Being a monopoly for many years Microsoft has been able to reduce buyer power however with the increase in competition this is gradually going up (Gilbert and Katz, 2001). It will however take a while for this to be of significant interest to the company as its products and devices are user friendly and it has in someway made its products very inelastic. Substitutes Available and Competitive Rivalry 7

It is in the interest of any thriving company to seek to have both competitive rivalries and substitutes of their products being low. There are not many substitutes available and so this has definitely worked in the favor of Microsoft. However they have to be very careful that they increase on their innovativeness and marketing strategies as the present competitors (AOL, Netscape, Oracle etc.) have been introducing great products and have every intention of being the next giant. Microsoft presently owns most of the market and if it keeps on increasing its technology it should be able to overcome the present and possible future substitutes (Netscape Communications Corporations Company Backgrounder, 1999). In addition to its weaknesses Microsoft has unsatisfied employees. Employees' complaints are rooted in a number of factors. They resent cuts in compensation and benefits as profits soar. They're disappointed with the stock price, which has barely budged for three years, rendering many of their stock options out of the money. They're frustrated with what they see as swelling bureaucracy, including the many procedures and meetings Chief Executive Steven A. Ballmer has put in place to motivate them. And they're feeling trapped in an organization whose past successes seem to stifle current creativity. "There's a distinct lack of passion," says one engineer, who would talk only on condition of anonymity. "We're missing some spunk" (Troubling exist at Microsoft, 2005). Still, Microsoft faces serious long-term challenges: the rising popularity of the Linux open-source operating system, a plague of viruses attacking its software, and potent rivals such as Google in the consumer realm and IBM in corporate computing (Bessin and Baskin, 1999; Yoffie and Cosumano, 1999). Operating systems ranging from Windows 98 to Windows Server 2003 64-bit edition, as well as the Outlook Express email program, are affected by the problems with the imperfect and insecure codes (Clark, 2004). Strategic Information Systems to keep Microsoft ahead in the game Decisions are classified into structured (repetitive) and unstructured (not routine). This information will allow the organisation to develop the best strategy to achieving or fulfilling its mission. Most scholars in strategic management are familiar with the distinction between "content" research which deals with the content of strategies and "process" research which examines the strategic decision process and the factors that affect it. Content research has been quite useful in providing rules and guidelines on the types of strategies which lead to the best performance for different types of organisations in different competitive conditions (Schwenk, 1995). Before a company can achieve improvements in its organisation, the company has to first recognise its weaknesses (intelligence phase), conceive alternative solutions (design phase), select the best suited among the alternatives (choice phase) and then execute the best choices (implementation phase). The question is then asked, what information is required to increase the competitiveness of Microsoft? Key Success Factors, factors which must go right if the company is to achieve it mission are indications of the position Microsoft stands in relation to its competitors and where it needs to go. In implementing systems that will aim at improving its security Microsoft will then increase its market share as people will be forced to buy. Secondly Microsoft will need to do

intensive research on its competitors, researching the products that they have (and Microsoft lacks) and improving on these systems. Making sure that its softwares (Microsoft) are always ahead of its competitors; improving on its present systems such as Internet Explorer, the Microsoft Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Library and Remote Procedure Call (RPC). Also extending its cliental and the types of softwares available will definitely give Microsoft a competitive edge to its competitors such as the automotive industry. Competitiveness and efficiency are more important now than at any time in the history of the automotive industry. Microsoft Dynamics business software can help with powerful manufacturing, financial, and CRM solutions that support lean business processes (Microsoft Dynamics solutions for automotive suppliers: Increasing global competitiveness, 2006). Also Microsoft will need to improve on its human resources as this is a critical factor to the successiveness in any organisation. On a tactical level, an enterprise competes for present market share. It does this by offering a continuing succession of product features and by adjusting price. As the niche fills with competitors, the competition becomes a squabble and profitability is eroded. On a strategic level, an enterprise competes for the future by envisioning a new niche, inventing and fielding the product capability to service the niche first, and reaps the benefits of this innovation and risk taking. However, Given human nature, evolving threat models and the increasing interconnectedness of computers, the number of security exploits will never reach zero," Gates wrote in the recent letter (Clark, 2004), (see fig.2).

Characteristics Information Source

of Operational Planning Control Largely Internal Well defined Detailed Historical Highly current High Very Frequent

Tactical

Planning Strategic

Planning

and and Control

and Control External Very wide Aggregate Future Quite old low infrequent

Scope Level of aggregation Time horizon Currency Required accuracy Frequency of use

Fig 2: The required characteristics of information in different planning and control activities Gory and Scott Morton, 1971 Planning:

For any organization to be successful in the business word and to reach the corporate ladder business planning is one of the major factor and this allows organization to handle any un avoidable circumstances which may comes in the way to success of any organization. Planning ahead of time gives the opportunity to identify any threat and to utilize business key strength at the right time. A proper business plan gives the precise picture of the companys goals and objectives, it does also foresee financial structure of an organization including financial forecast. Business plan must explain as how the business is going to be developed and how the finances will be managed. As I have discussed about the planning and strategy of Microsoft In implementing systems which aims the security of Microsoft result in increase of its market share, however by applying right planning formula Microsoft has to go in extensive research on its competitors and have to watch competitors movement, only planning ahead can make the difference in the interest of Microsoft. Types of Information Systems needed to aid in the decision making process at managerial levels An information system is a system, whether automated or manual, that comprises people, machines, and or methods organized to collect, process, transmit, and disseminate data that represent user information. There are 6 main types of information systems, these are: 1Executive Support Systems (ESS) 2Decision Support Systems (DES) 3Management Information Systems (MIS) 4Knowledge Work Systems (KWS) 5Office Automation Systems (OAS) 6Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) The three main managerial levels are; strategic, tactical and operational (Fig.3)

Figure 3: Strategic, Tactical and Operational BI Quinn, 2006

It is at these levels that the different information systems are used. ESS is utilized at the strategic level by senior managers. Business intelligence (BI) is an IS which provides performance metrics to management and executives, often in conjunction with a formal management methodology such as Balanced Scorecard or Six Sigma. Strategic business intelligence, one of the latest crazes, is generally called performance management (PM). Depending upon which analyst firm you subscribe to, PM might be preceded by a C for corporate performance management, an E for enterprise performance management or a B for business performance management (not to be confused with BPM, the acronym for business process management). ESSs are very expensive to develop and are used to monitor key performance indicators of the organization (e.g. Dividends and market share) and comparing them with competitors. It is at this stage that the decisions made are of an unstructured format and so will take more time and careful planning. This will indeed be beneficial to Microsoft in aiding in the decision making process (Quinn, 2006). As suggested by DeLone & McLean (1992), the executive managers are ideally positioned to act as key informants in a 11

qualitative assessment of IT impacts in their corporations. MISs and DSSs are utilized at the management or middle level used by professionals and staff. In making decisions managers are faced with what is known as limits on rationality; this is where the human perceptual system is slow, personal biases exist and personal characteristics such as dogmatism pose to be problems. DSSs assist managers in this area as they look at all the possible options, analyze them in terms of cost/risk etc. and then assist in the choice phase. Tactical business intelligence, called traditional and or analytical in various industry articles, is the application of business intelligence tools to analyze business trends, frequently comparing a specific metric (such as sales or expenses) to the same metric from a previous month or year. The analysts within Microsoft in each department would use online analytical processing (OLAP) and hoc query to perform this task.

KWS is used by the technical staff especially research and development and this exist between the lower most level and the middle level. As Microsoft is an innovative leading company in technologies, it is essential to establish a good knowledge work system in which the tactical managers and the operational managers within Microsoft branches in different countries can follow the same standardized knowledge, instructions and decisions made by the executive level. Standardizing quality control systems and procedures and smooth functioning in manufacturing processes have occurred when companies have established good knowledge work systems. With these systems in place and efficiently utilized Microsoft will definitely stay ahead in the game. TPSs are basic computerized systems which are used at operational level. This system can be used to record and process day-to-day transactions of an organization. However they are most successful for both B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to customer) companies and in the establishment of innovative and creative transaction processing systems in which both frontline staff and outside customers can used these transaction processing systems via online. This will enable these systems to be operated for dual purposes. Although the main purpose of transaction processing system is to gather day-to-day transaction information towards the company, these

systems are being adapted as a customer relationship tool innovatively by companies, e.g. online order processing system, online payment and online after sales service system). Nowadays more or less customer relationship management programmes (CRM) are integrated with companies transaction processing systems and are playing a vital role for the companies long term success. Microsoft could adapt the transaction processing system at operational level to gather day-to-day transaction information as well as maintain existing customer relationship by creating online service programmes (e.g. DELL computers) (Marketing research and business information system, 1996). Office automation system consists in a fully computerized and automatic system which can be used at any managerial level in a company. When the office automation systems have been created by the large companies these systems are operating by themselves without much human control. Creating an error-free culture within the company, cost effectiveness & less human interference and speed and accuracy are the main benefits of a good office automation system. Nowadays the large companies are operating with their own specific office automation systems in which these companies can manage their large customer data base as well as other relevant stake holders and cater to all of them by using intranet and extranet. Microsoft could have a specific and unique office automation system throughout the branches which could help to manage the large number of customer data base and relevant stake holders as well as inside and outside of the organization (Marketing research and business information system, 1996).

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Improvement of Customer Relations In thinking of how Microsoft can improve its customer relation with IS/IT systems Microsoft has to first analyze its present strategic situation by asking itself some questions; these are 11-What are the industrys dominant economic features? 22-What is the competition like and how strong are the competitive forces? 33-What is causing the industrys competitive structure and business environment to change? 44-What companies are in the strongest/weakest positions? 55-What strategic moves are rivals likely to make next? 66-What are the key factors for competitive success? 77-Is the industry attractive and what are the prospects for above average profitability? The answers to these questions and the IS/IT systems used will improve Microsofts customer relation. The key factor that must affect the industry within the market place is identifying the basis of customers choosing Microsoft over competing brands. (What can Microsoft offer me that AOL is not offering me?). Microsoft also needs to ensure that it has the necessary resources and competitive capabilities to compete successfully and they need to ensure that they achieve and sustain this competitive advantage. Key Success Factors (KSFs) are also known as Key Result Areas (CSFs); each key success area needs a measure of performance or performance indicator. In the software industry a key performance indicator could be the ability of Microsoft to increase its technology with new and innovative softwares and browser provider. The customer relations seem to be improved when the use of technology and efficient flows of information are available for both parties. The IT/IS facilitates better customer contact and thus bigger customer loyalty when they can contact the business representatives with no need to queue, thanks to the Web (online procedures such as e-mails, e-commerce and ebusiness) or the telephone itself. This kind of system at the end of the day leaves the customer and the employees smiling. According to Porter, 1999, efficiency is achieved

by using IT to reduce operating costs or to improve productivity, while effectiveness comes from using IT to foster greater flexibility and responsiveness to changing market needs. CHALLENGES TO THE ORGANIZATION: Change is very living part of every organization. In the business worlds, all people like change. Change can be implemented in many factors. Organizational structure, Policies and rules, processes, systems, work force, culture, factual activities. Changes are not new. In past decade, changes are taking place In todays economy, major three factors are influenced. They are knowledge, change, and globalization. The competitive pressure forced the changes in the counties in various parts of the world and the creation of Free trade agreements. It creates changes in economics, changes in technology and political changes. Tragic options are value added activities, Raw Materials, Components, End Products Firm, Specific Knowledge, priority Technologies, Management Skills, Marketing Skills, Brand Equity Production, know-how agreements. Changing is very important context. All business organization faces new challenges from globalization, new technologies and business models. Plan for the development of change in an organization I would like to highlight the process of organizational change as follows-:

Planning for the change to meet the Challenges:

Analysis of the environmental and social economic system Analysis of the stake holders Decision making of facilitating community Developing of an ECHO System management strategies. Negotiation among agencies and other organization Strategy of the management system in an organization.

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DOING: Making changes in the managements Building of the capacity Experts in projects and advancement of technologies Running the management system successfully Development of the community

REVIEWING: Evaluation of the success and performance of the organization Analyze the social and economic outcome of an organizational change

Conclusions In this ever changing world a corporation needs a lot of things to survive and compete. Microsoft has been a giant success story in the software industry for approximately 30 years. Being an industry that produces softwares, Microsoft can better improve itself by using what it produces in aiding decision making at specific levels of management. Microsoft will guarantee itself success in this rather competitive market by coming up with creative devices and softwares that are globally craved for. Furthermore, we can say that strategic business management and planning is a process of making wise judgment and selection of different options while considering the information available from different sources. Thus management and planning we decide the aim and objective of business organization then we look to achieve one common goal that is professional management and planning.

8.0 References Bessen, J and Maskin, E (2002) Sequential Innovation, Patents and Imitation. Research on Innovation and Visiting Scholar, MIT Sloan School of Management [online] Available from <URL:http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patrev.pdf> Clark, M (2004).Software giant Microsoft has admitted to no less than 20 new flaws in its software, the most ever announced at once. Entropy [online] Available from <URL:http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9407701> DeLone, H and McLean, R (1992) Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable. Information Systems Research Gilbert, RJ and Katz, ML (2001). An Economists Guide U.S. v. Microsoft Journal of Economist Perspective 15: 25-44 Gory, GA and Scott Morton, MS (1971) A framework for management information systems Sloan Management Review 13 (1) Learn Direct Business, (2003) [online] (Available from

<URL:http://www.learndirect-business.co.uk/campaigns/finances05/glossary/ Marketing research and business information system, (1996) The Chartered Institute of Marketing Microsoft Dynamics solutions for automotive suppliers: Increasing global competitiveness, (2006) [online] Available from <URL:http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/industry/automotive.mspx.> Microsoft industry products and solutions, (2006) [online] Available on <URL:

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http://www.microsoft.com/business/industry.mspx> Netscape Communications Corporations Company Backgrounder, (1999) [online] Available on URL:http://wp.netscape.com/company/about/backgrounder.html Porter, M Spain. Product overview: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 [online] Available from <URL:http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/product/overview.mspx> Redmond, W (2004) Remarks by Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation Microsoft CEO Summit 2004 [online] Available from <URL: http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/2004/0520CEOSummit.asp> Quin, K (2006). Strategic Information Architecture: Strategic, Tactical and Operational Business Intelligence [online] Available from (1999) Ser Competitivo: Nuevas Aportaciones y Conclusiones.

<URL:http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleId=1055164> Schwenk, CR (1995). Strategic decision making - Special Issue: Yearly Review of Management Journal of Management Available from <URL:http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4256/is_n3_v21/ai_17154315> Troubling exists at Microsoft, [online] Available form <URL: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_39/b3952001.htm> Yoffie, DB and Cosumano, MA (1999) Judo strategy. The competitive dynamics of Internet time Harv Bus Rev. 77: 70-81.

9.0 Bibliography Davenport, TH (1998). Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System. Harvard Business Review, pp. 121-131. How BTs e-ticketing service, Rialto, helped Alton Towers improve customer service while increasing cost efficiencies (2005) [online] Available from <URL: http://www2.bt.com/static/i/media/pdf/alton%20towers.pdf Information Systems as Aids in Managerial Decision Making [online] Available from <URL: http://zeus.bke.hu/oktatas/cems/perspectives/DecisionMaking.pdf> Klein, B (2001). The Microsoft Case: What can a dominant firm do to defend its market position? Journal of Economist Perspective 15: 45-62 Moaz, M and Fellow, G (2006). The Best Customer Strategy: Fire the Manager, Not the Employee [online] Available from <URL: http://crm.blog.gartner.com/blog/index.php?blogid=7>

Nicho, M (2004) Implementation Failures in Customer Relationship Management Software Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol 2, Issue 1 (March 2004).

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