Running of Apple, Microsoft and Google
Running of Apple, Microsoft and Google
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Introduction
The Microsoft, apple and Google companies are among the biggest corporates in the world. The beginning of the 21st century market the exponential rise of the three major companies. Although Microsoft and Google established themselves in good time, apple rose to prosperity under proper management and supervision of Steve Jobs (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). By the time of his death, he established and rebranded apple to produce one of a kind devices. Nevertheless, the three corporates face a number of challenges that the firms face.
Microsoft
According to some analysts, Microsoft is a company on the decline. The company was once the dominant in terms of the number of softwares it has produced (Wigley et al, 2009). The past decade witnessed a situation where nearly every computer would run on a windows operating system. Although the company still boosts dominance in the PC world, the recent top managerial shakeup and the purchase of the Nokia leaves questions about the ability of Microsoft to focus and maintain its global position.
The struggling PC market is a major challenge facing Microsoft. Tablets and smartphones are rapidly overshadowing the sales of PCs. Two years ago, Microsoft released windows 8, which was used to match the changing technological advances and global technological trends (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). The OS was designed to be used both in computers, tablets and smartphones. The current CEO Steve Ballmer has announced he is about to depart the corporation. What is uncertain is that the company is yet to announce his successor. Several analysts strongly suggest that the former CEO of Nokia; Stephen Elop (Brogan, 2012). The biggest question is how could a person who was part of the management of Nokia when it started its downfall be appointed to head Microsoft that is as well facing still competition from its rivals.
Microsoft Corporation has faced challenges emanating from device failure. The company launched the defunct Zune which was designed to compete Apple IPod (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). The purchase of Nokia is also another challenge that the company is seriously facing. The kind of establishment that iOS and android based devices have established it is very hard to match their commercial establishment and success.
However, the company too has several opportunities. The designing of several PC video games i.e. XBOX gives it a good platform to dominate the market (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). The advancement in terms of designing and coding of the games makes most gamers prefer playing Microsoft based games as preferred to others designed by other companies. The wide range of games provided by Microsoft ensures that consumers of different preferences get satisfaction.
Google is an American corporation that specializes in internet related services. The company offers services such as search, online advertisement and cloud computing among others with most of its profits earned from Adwords (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). The company is headed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who are the CEOs and co-founders (Brogan, 2012). Unlike the Microsoft Corporation, Google has minimal managerial challenges with the opportunities side having a better side of the company. The proper coordination and running of the top decision making panel has enabled the company venture in a number of opportunities that would, in the near future put Google at greater heights.
In China for instance, the company management has managed to coordinate and supervise the establishment of Google in the local Chinese market. Statistically, the company possesses 17% of the Chinese market (Wigley et al, 2009). In numerical form, considering the country has over 1.5 Billion people means a large number of people use Google (Brogan, 2012). Statistics further indicate that more and more people from the communist state are starting to use Google as their preferred search engine. Secondly, the company’s engineers are working on devices that can accommodate both the software and hardware dimensions of the android devices (Brogan, 2012). The devices are at their final stages and soon will be ready for the market. If the devices make a breakthrough to the market, then Google will make greater profit margins than Apple which works with (iOS and iPhone) (Arnold, 2008).
Proper coordination and team work of the management both at grass root level and top management as well as communication will likely spur Google to another level (Wigley et al, 2009). The research is designed to analyze both the problems and opportunities that Google has then create an analysis with a comparison of both ends while at the end provide a report that justifies the opportunities that Google has surpass the problems.
Apple
The apple incorporation began in 1977 (Brogan, 2012). The company enjoyed great dominance during its early years before it later was on a downfall trend before Steve Jobs rebranded and brought it to the limelight in the last decade. The company produces innovative products that are on great demand worldwide. The sales of apple based products is extremely high (Arnold, 2008). Nevertheless, the firm faces a number of problems that prove that its future could likely be uncertain.
The company faces the problem of worldwide warrant related complications. The top management is currently faced with numerous lawsuits in many different countries (Brogan, 2012). Recently, the company’s CEO Tim Cook made an apology to several countries that had filed lawsuits concerning warranty policies (Wigley et al, 2009). Such public announcement and lawsuits tarnish Apple’s reputation on the market.
The major reason Apple made a breakthrough in the market was the charismatic nature the late Steve Jobs had. When Tim Cook was appointed to replace Jobs, he has been unable to inspire and motivate his employees come up with exciting and brilliant innovations (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). He has struggled to fit in the shoes that were left by Jobs making the company’s employees reluctant to deliver to their full potential.
Conclusion
After an extensive analysis of the three companies, it is clear that for the success of any company, there should be good leadership. The leaders should not only be inspiring, they should command authority and create a good rapport with their consumers to ensure the success of the brand in the market.
References
Arnold, S. E. (2008, May 1). Google solves problem, sees opportunities.. KMWorld , 2, 3.
Brogan, C. (2012). Google+ for business: how Google’s social network changes everything (2nd ed.). Indianapolis, Ind.: Que.
Peter, J. P., & Donnelly, J. H. (2013). Marketing management: Knowledge and skills (11. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Wigley, A., Wheelwright, S., Burbidge, R., MacLoed, R., & Sutton, M. (2009). Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework (Core Reference). New York: O’Reilly Media, Inc..
