A 6 page SWOT analysis of Microsoft's position at the beginning of its fiscal year 2003. The PC industry remains virtually flat, and the general decline in the US stock market has resulted in a 24 percent loss in market capitalization. Microsoft continues to be strong, however. Its individual points look weak, but the fact remains that it still outperforms its industry and remains as leader of that industry. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
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late 1970s with only a handful of people, all of whom were considered somewhat strange and a bit on the "nerdy" side. They were all intrigued with this new
machine that appeared to hold so much promise, but with which no one was completely certain of what to do. The Microsoft empire
is one that is well known all over the world. The company cast its future with the open architecture of the PC rather than deal with the platform originated
with and promoted by Apple Computer. Had early decisions taken it in the direction of the Apple operating system, then the face of the personal computing industry would be
far different today. The vast empire that Microsoft has become has formed because of the companys Windows(r) operating system. It was Windows
to which Internet Explorer(r) was bound, and it was Internet Explorer that caught the attention of the US Department of Justice. Today, it is yet another incarnation of Windows
- XP - that is credited for preserving profits at the beleaguered company. SWOT Analysis Strengths * Microsoft is the worlds largest
software maker. * The company recently reduced sales forecasts for the fiscal year that will end in June 2003 to between $31.4 billion and $32.0 billion, "which would represent an
increase of 11 to 13 percent from $28.4 billion in the year just ended" (Stevenson, 2002). This is lower than Microsoft and its investors would like to see, but
the 11 to 13 percent growth over 2002 it represents still is stronger than sales forecast in the rest of the industry (Stevenson, 2002). * Sales grew 10 percent in
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