It is a fact of nature and of business; in order to survive, you must be able to adapt to changes in your environment. So it is that Microsoft is reorganizing its business in an attempt to engender faster innovation and provide a sharper focus on devices and services.
Why has CEO Steve Ballmer decided to make such drastic changes, you ask? It likely has to do with the release of Windows 8 only generating a tepid response from consumers, and the fact that there is a continuing decline in the demand for PCs as more and more people look to tablets and other mobile devices for their computing needs. Moreover, as both Apple and Google are proven powerhouses in the realm of mobile gadgetry, it seems as though Microsoft has realized they must shift their business paradigm if they want to remain relevant in the future.
Ballmer has taken cues from his biggest competitors, Apple and Google, in an effort to provide Microsoft with the means to adapt to changing markets that increasingly revolve around mobile devices and internet services. He has examined the multitudinous divisions at Microsoft, and is attempting to consolidate them in the hopes that this will allow all Microsoft products to work together more seamlessly, much like Apple has done since the late 1990s, after Steve Jobs returned as their CEO.
At the same time, Ballmer seems determined to slash bureaucracy, so that Microsoft is able to operate more like a sprightly startup, able to rapidly innovate, rather than the tired giant it seems to have grown into in recent years. This goal is reminiscent of that of Google CEO Larry Page, and he was able to accomplish it in under two years.
Will Microsoft be able to re-energize their company through these changes? Will they succeed in ensuring their relevance in the future, while maintaining the personal computer franchise that has always been their goose that lays the golden eggs? Only time will tell.
What do you think about Ballmer’s strategy? Will it work? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments!