Prahladrai Dalmia

Lions College of
Commerce &
Economics

Subject: -
Service Sector Management
Project on: -
Product Mix Of Microsoft
Corporation

Standard: -
T.Y.BMS (A)

Submitted to: -
Miss Anshu
Student’s Name & Roll No.

Name Roll No.

Dishank Khandelwal 47
Aachika Kariwala 45
Dinesh Mali 54
Kamal Lakhani
Farid
Parshva Mehta
What is Product Mix?
Product mix is a combination of products manufactured or traded by the same
business house to reinforce their presence in the market, increase market
share and increase the turnover for more profitability. Normally the product
mix is within the synergy of other products for a medium size organization.
However large groups of Industries may have diversified products within core
competency. Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Godrej, Reliance in India are some of the
examples. 
One of the realities of business is that most firms deal with multi-products. This
helps a firm diffuse its risk across different product groups. In addition, it
enables the firm to appeal to a much larger group of customers or to different
needs of the same customer group. Therefore, when Videocon chose to
diversify into other consumer durables like music systems, washing machines
and refrigerators, it sought to satisfy the needs of the middle and upper
middle-income group of consumers. 
The number of products carried by a firm at a given point of time is called its
product mix. This product mix contains product lines and product items. In
other words it’s a composite of products offered for sale by a firm.
The product mix of a company, which is generally defined as the total
composite of products offered by a particular organization, consists of both
product lines and individual products.
A product line is a group of products within the product mix that are closely
related, either because they function in a similar manner, are sold to the same
customer groups, are marketed through the same types of outlets, or fall
within given price ranges.
A product is a distinct unit within the product line that is distinguishable by
size, price, appearance, or some other attribute.
Product decisions at these three levels are generally of two types: those that
involve width (variety) and depth (assortment) of the product line and those
that involve changes in the product mix occur over time.
Product Lining
Product lining is the marketing strategy of offering for sale several
related products. Unlike product bundling, where several products are
combined into one, lining involves offering several related products
individually.
A line can comprise related products of various sizes, types, colors, qualities, or
prices. Line depth (assortment) of the product mix refers to the number of
product variants in a line. 
Line consistency refers to how closely related the products that make up the
line are. 
Line vulnerability refers to the percentage of sales or profits that are derived
from only a few products in the line.
The number of different product lines sold by a company is referred to
as width (variety) of product mix.
The total number of products sold in all lines is referred to as length of product
mix.
If a line of products is sold with the same brand name, this is referred to
as family branding.
When you add a new product to a line, it is referred to as a line extension.
When you add a line extension that is of better quality than the other products
in the line, this is referred to as trading up or brand leveraging. When you add
a line extension that is of lower quality than the other products of the line, this
is referred to as trading down. When you trade down, you will likely reduce
your brand equity. You are gaining short-term sales at the expense of long-
term sales.
PRODUCT-MIX ANALYSIS
Since top management is ultimately responsible for the product mix and the resulting
profits or losses, they often analyze the company product mix. The first assessment
involves the area of opportunity in a particular industry or market. Opportunity is
generally defined in terms of current industry growth or potential attractiveness as
an investment. The second criterion is the company's ability to exploit opportunity,
which is based on its current or potential position in the industry. The company's
position can be measured in terms of market share if it is currently in the market or
in terms of its resources if it is considering entering the market.
These two factors—opportunity and the company's ability to exploit it—provide
four different options for a company to follow.
1. High opportunity and ability to exploit it result in the firm's introducing new
products or expanding markets for existing products to ensure future growth.
2. Low opportunity but a strong current market position will generally result in
the company's attempting to maintain its position to ensure current
profitability.
3. High opportunity but a lack of ability to exploit it results in either (a)
attempting to acquire the necessary resources or (b) deciding not to further
pursue opportunity in these markets.
4. Low opportunity and a weak market position will result in either (a) avoiding
these markets or (b) divesting existing products in them.
These options provide a basis for the firm to evaluate new and existing products in
an attempt to achieve balance between current and future growth. This analysis may
cause the product mix to change, depending on what management decides.
The most widely used approach to product portfolio analysis is the model developed
by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The BCG analysis emphasizes two main
criteria in evaluating the firm's product mix: the market growth rate and the
product's relative market share. BCG uses these two criteria because they are closely
related to profitability, which is why top management often uses the BCG analysis.
Proper analysis and conclusions may lead to significant changes to the company's
product mix, product line, and product offerings.
The market growth rate represents the products' category position in the product life
cycle. Products in the introductory and growth phases require more investment
because of research and development and initial marketing costs for advertising,
selling, and distribution. This category is also regarded as a high-growth area (e.g.,
the Internet). Relative market share represents the company's competitive strength
(or estimated strength for a new entry).
Market share is compared to that of the leading competitor. Once the analysis has
been done using the market growth rate and relative market share, products are
placed into one of four categories.

 Stars: Products with high growth and market share are known as stars.
Because these products have high potential for profitability, they should be
given top priority in financing, advertising, product positioning, and
distribution. As a result, they need significant amounts of cash to finance rapid
growth and frequently show an initial negative cash flow.

 Cash cows: Products with a high relative market share but in a low growth
position are cash cows. These profitable products generate more cash than is
required to produce and market them. Excess cash should be used to finance
high-opportunity areas (stars or problem children). Strategies for cash cows
should be designed to sustain current market share rather than to expand it.
An expansion strategy would require additional investment, thus decreasing
the existing positive cash flow.

 Problem children: These products have low relative market share but are in a
high-growth situation. They are called "problem children" because their
eventual direction is not yet clear. The firm should invest heavily in those that
sales forecasts indicate might have a reasonable chance to become stars.
Otherwise divestment is the best course, since problem children may become
dogs and thereby candidates for deletion.

 Dogs: Products in the category are clearly candidates for deletion. Such
products have low market shares and unlike problem children, have no real
prospect for growth. Eliminating a dog is not always necessary, since there are
strategies for dogs that could make them profitable in the short term. These
strategies involve "harvesting" these products by eliminating marketing
support and selling the product only to intensely loyal consumers who will buy
in the absence of advertising. However, over the long term companies will
seek to eliminate dogs.
As can be seen from the description of the four BCG alternatives, products are
evaluated as producers or users of cash. Products with a positive cash flow will
finance high-opportunity products that need cash. The emphasis on cash flow stems
from management's belief that it is better to finance new entries and to support
existing products with internally produced funds than to increase debt or equity in
the company.
Based on this belief, companies will normally take money from cash cows and divert
it to stars and to some problem children. The hope is that the stars will turn into cash
cows and the problem children will turn into stars. The dogs will continue to receive
lower funding and eventually be dropped.
 Microsoft Corporation
Type Public
NASDAQ: MSFT
Dow Jones Industrial Average Component
Traded as
NASDAQ-100 Component
S&P 500 Component

Computer software
Consumer electronics
Digital distribution
Computer hardware
Industry Video games
IT consulting
Online advertising
Retail stores
Automotive software
Founded Albuquerque, New Mexico (April 4, 1975)
Bill Gates
Founder(s)
Paul Allen
One Microsoft Way
Headquarters
Redmond, Washington, United States
Area served Worldwide
Steve Ballmer (CEO)
Key people
Bill Gates (Chairman)
Employees 89,000 (2010)
Website www.microsoft.com
Introduction
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an American public multinational
corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops,
manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services
predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions.
Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair
8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with
MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating
systems.

Microsoft would also come to dominate the office suite market with Microsoft Office.

The company has diversified in recent years into the video with the Xbox and its
successor, the Xbox 360 as well as into the consumer electronics and digital services
market with Zune, MSN and the Windows Phone OS. The ensuing rise of stock in the
company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO) made an estimated 4 billionaires and
12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. In May 2011, Microsoft
Corporation acquired Skype Communications for $8.5 billion dollars.[1]

Primarily in the 1990s, critics contend Microsoft used monopolistic business practices

and anti-competitive strategies including deal and tying, put unreasonable
restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics;
both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company
in violation of antitrust laws. Known for its interviewing process with obscure
questions, various studies and ratings were generally favorable to Microsoft's
diversity within the company as well as its overall environmental impact with the
exception of the electronics portion of the business.
History
Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a
passion in computer programming, were seeking to
make a successful business utilizing their shared
skills. The January 1975 issue of Popular
Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and
Telemetry Systems's (MITS) Altair
8800microcomputer. Allen noticed that they could
program a BASIC interpreter for the device; after a call from Gates claiming to have a
working interpreter, MITS requested a demonstration. Since they didn't actually have
one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the
interpreter. Although they developed the interpreter on a simulator and not the
actual device, the interpreter worked flawlessly when they demonstrated the
interpreter to MITS in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 1975; MITS agreed to
distribute it, marketing it as Altair BASIC.[4] They officially established Microsoft on
April 4, 1975, with Gates as the CEO.[5] Allen came up with the original name of
"Micro-Soft," as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article. In August 1977 the
company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first
international office, "ASCII Microsoft".[6] The company moved to a new home
in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979.[5]

Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, called Xenix.
However, it was DOS (Disk Operating System) that solidified the company's
dominance. After negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract
to Microsoft in November 1980 to provide a version of the CP/M OS, which was set
to be used in the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC).[8] For this deal,
Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products,
branding it as MS-DOS, which IBM rebranded to PC-DOS. Following the release of the
IBM PC in August 1981, Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS. Since
IBM copyrighted the IBM PC BIOS, other companies had to reverse engineer it in
order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles, but no such restriction
applied to the operating systems. Due to various factors, such as MS DOS’s available
software selection, Microsoft eventually became the leading PC OS vendor. [3][9] The
company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in
1983, as well as a publishing division named Microsoft.[10] Paul Allen resigned from
Microsoft in February after developing Hodgkin's disease.[11]
1984–1994: Windows and Office
While jointly developing a new OS with IBM in 1984, OS/2, Microsoft
released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20.
[12]
 Microsoft moved its headquarters to Redmond on February 26, 1986, and on
March 13 the company went public;[13] the ensuing rise in the stock would make an
estimated four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. [14] Due
to the partnership with IBM, in 1990 the Federal Trade Commission set its eye on
Microsoft for possible collusion; it marked the beginning of over a decade of legal
clashes with the U.S. Government.[15] Microsoft announced the release of its version
of OS/2 to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on April 2, 1987;[16] meanwhile,
the company was at work on a 32-bit OS, Microsoft Windows NT, using ideas from
OS/2; it shipped on July 21, 1993 with a new modular kernel and
the Win32 application programming interface (API), making porting from 16-bit (MS-
DOS-based) Windows easier. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2
partnership deteriorated.[17]

Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office, in 1990. The software bundled
separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft
Excel.[18] On May 22 Microsoft launchedWindows 3.0 with a streamlined user
interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel
386 processor.[19] Both Office and Windows became dominant in their respective
areas.[20][21]Novell, a Word competitor from 1984–1986, filed a lawsuit years later
claiming that Microsoft left part of its APIs undocumented in order to gain a
competitive advantage.[22]

On July 27, 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division filed a
Competitive Impact Statement that said, in part: "Beginning in 1988, and continuing
until July 15, 1994, Microsoft induced many OEMs to execute anticompetitive "per
processor" licenses. Under a per processor license, an OEM pays Microsoft a royalty
for each computer it sells containing a particular microprocessor, whether the OEM
sells the computer with a Microsoft operating system or a non-Microsoft operating
system. In effect, the royalty payment to Microsoft when no Microsoft product is
being used acts as a penalty, or tax, on the OEM's use of a competing PC operating
system. Since 1988, Microsoft's use of per processor licenses has increased." [23]
1995–2005: Internet and the 32-bit
era
Following Bill Gates’ internal "Internet Tidal Wave
memo" on May 26, 1995, Microsoft began to
redefine its offerings and expand its product line
into computer networking and the World Wide
Web.[24] The company released Windows 95 on
August 24, 1995, featuring pre-emptive
multitasking, a completely new user interface with a
novel start button, and 32-bit compatibility; similar to NT, it provided the Win32 API.
[25][26]
 Windows 95 came bundled with the online service MSN, and for OEMs Internet
Explorer, a web browser. Internet Explorer was not bundled with the retail Windows
95 boxes because the boxes were printed before the team finished the web browser,
and instead was included in the Windows 95 Plus! pack. [27] Branching out into new
markets in 1996, Microsoft and NBC Universal created a new24/7 cable news
station, MSNBC.[28] Microsoft created Windows CE 1.0, a new OS designed for devices
with low memory and other constraints, such as personal digital assistants.[29] In
October 1997, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court,
stating that Microsoft violated an agreement signed in 1994 and asked the court to
stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.[30]

Bill Gates handed over the CEO position on January 13, 2000 to Steve Ballmer, an old
college friend of Gates and employee of the company since 1980, creating a new
position for himself as Chief Software Architect.[5][31] Various companies including
Microsoft formed the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance in October 1999 to,
among other things, increase security and protect intellectual property through
identifying changes in hardware and software. Critics decry the alliance as a way to
enforce indiscriminate restrictions over how consumers use software, and over how
computers behave, a form of digital rights management; for example the scenario
where a computer is not only secured for its owner, but also secured against its
owner as well.[32][33] On April 3, 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of
United,[34] calling the company an "abusive monopoly"; [35] it settled with the U.S.
Department of Justice in 2004.[13] On October 25, 2001 Microsoft released Windows
XP, unifying the mainstream and NT lines under the NT codebase. [36] The company
released the Xbox later that year, entering the game console market dominated
by Sony and Nintendo.[37] In March 2004 the European Union brought antitrust legal
action against the company, citing it abused its dominance with the Windows OS,
resulting in a judgment of €497 million ($613 million) and to produce new versions of
Windows XP without Windows Media Player, Windows XP Home Edition N and
Windows XP Professional N.[38][39]
2006–present: Vista and Cloud
computing
Released in January 2007, the next version of
Windows, Windows Vista, focused on features,
security, and a redesigned user interface
dubbed Aero.[41][42] Microsoft Office 2007, released
at the same time, featured a "Ribbon" user
interface which was a significant departure from
its predecessors. Relatively strong sales of both titles helped to produce a record
profit in 2007.[43] The European Union imposed another fine of €899 million
($1.4 billion) for Microsoft's lack of compliance with the March 2004 judgment on
February 27, 2008, saying that the company charged rivals unreasonable prices for
key information about its workgroup and back office servers. Microsoft stated that it
was in compliance and that "these fines are about the past issues that have been
resolved".[44]

Bill Gates retired from his role as Chief Software Architect on June 27, 2008 while
retaining other positions related to the company in addition to being an advisor for
the company on key projects.[45] Azure Services Platform, the company's entry into
the cloud computing market for Windows, launched on October 27, 2008. [46] On
February 12, 2009, Microsoft announced its intent to open a chain of Microsoft-
branded retail stores, and on October 22, 2009 the first retail Microsoft Store opened
in Scottsdale, Arizona; the same day the first store opened Windows 7 was officially
released to the public. Windows 7's focus was on refining Vista with ease of use
features and performance enhancements, rather than a large reworking of Windows.
[47][48][49]

Microsoft is a founding member of the Open Networking Foundation started on

March 23, 2011. Other founding companies include Google, HP Networking, Yahoo,
Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and 17 other companies. The nonprofit organization is
focused on providing support for a new cloud computing initiative called Software-
Defined Networking.[50] The initiative is meant to speed innovation through simple
software changes in telecommunications networks, wireless networks, data centers
and other networking areas.[51]
Product divisions
For the 2010 fiscal year, Microsoft had five product divisions: Windows & Windows
Live Division, Server and Tools, Online Services Division, Microsoft Business Division,
and Entertainment and Devices Division.

Windows & Windows Live Division, Server and Tools,

Online Services Division
The company's Client division produces the flagship Windows OS line such
as Windows 7; it also produces the Windows Live family of products and services.
Server and Tools produces the server versions of Windows, such as Windows Server
2008 R2 as well as a set of development tools called Microsoft Visual
Studio, Microsoft Silverlight, a web application framework, and Systems
Management Server, a collection of tools providing remote-control abilities, patch
management, software distribution and a hardware/software inventory. Other server
products include: Microsoft SQL Server, a database management system, Microsoft
Exchange Server, for certain business-oriented e-mail and scheduling features, Small
Business Server, for messaging and other small business-oriented features;
and Microsoft BizTalk Server, for business process management.

Microsoft provides IT consulting ("Microsoft Consulting Services") and produces a set

of certification programs handled by the Server and Tools division designed to
recognize individuals who have a minimal set of proficiencies in a specific role; this
includes developers ("Microsoft Certified Solution Developer"), system/network
analysts ("Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer"), trainers ("Microsoft Certified
Trainers") and administrators ("Microsoft Certified Systems
Administrator" and "Microsoft Certified Database Administrator"). Microsoft Press,
which publishes books, is also managed by the division. The Online Services Business
division handles the online service MSN and the search engine Bing. As of December
2009, the company also possesses an 18% ownership of the cable
news channel MSNBC without any editorial control; however, the division develops
the channel's website, msnbc.com, in a joint venture with the channel's co-
owner, NBC Universal.[52]
Business Division

The Microsoft Business Division produces Microsoft Office including Microsoft Office

2010, the company's line of office software. The software product includes Word (a
word processor), Access (a relational
database program), Excel (a spreadsheet program), Outlook (Groupware, frequently
used with Exchange Server), PowerPoint(presentation software),
and Publisher (desktop publishing software). A number of other products were
added later with the release of Office 2003 including Visio,
Project, MapPoint, InfoPath and OneNote. The division also develops enterprise
resource planning (ERP) software for companies under the Dynamics brand. These
include: Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP,
and Microsoft Dynamics SL. They are targeted at varying company types and
countries, and limited to organizations with under 7,500 employees. Also included
under the Dynamics brand is the customer relationship
management software Microsoft Dynamics CRM, part of the Azure Services Platform.

Entertainment and Devices Division

The Entertainment and Devices Division produces the Windows CE OS for embedded
systems and Windows Phone 7 for smartphones.[54] Microsoft initially entered the
mobile market through Windows CE for handheld devices, eventually developing into
the Windows Mobile OS and now, Windows Phone 7. Windows CE is designed for
devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user, in particular,
appliances and cars. The division also produces computer games that run on
Windows PCs and other systems including titles such as Age of Empires, Halo and
the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, and houses the Macintosh Business Unit which
produces Mac OS software including Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. Microsoft's
Entertainment and Devices Division designs, markets, and manufactures consumer
electronics including the Xbox 360 game console, the handheld Zune media player,
and the television-based Internet appliance MSN TV. Microsoft also markets personal
computer hardware including mice, keyboards, and various game controllerssuch
as joysticks and gamepads.
Corporate affairs
The company is run by a board of directors made up of mostly company outsiders, as
is customary for publicly traded companies. Members of the board of directors as of
June 2010 are: Steve Ballmer, Dina Dublon, Bill Gates (chairman), Raymond
Gilmartin, Reed Hastings, Maria Klawe, David Marquardt, Charles Noski, and Helmut
Panke.[66] Board members are elected every year at the annual shareholders' meeting
using a majority vote system. There are five committees within the board which
oversee more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee,
which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting;
the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other
employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles financial matters
such as proposing mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating
Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the
board; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent
company practices from violating antitrust laws.[67]

Five year history graph of (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock on September 29, 2009.

When Microsoft went public and launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 1986, the
opening stock price was $21; after the trading day, the price closed at $27.75. As of
July 2010, with the company's nine stock splits, any IPO shares would be multiplied
by 288; if one was to buy the IPO today given the splits and other factors, it would
cost about 9 cents.[69][70][71] The stock price peaked in 1999 at around $119 ($60.928
adjusting for splits).[72] The company began to offer a dividend on January 16, 2003,
starting at eight cents per share for the fiscal year followed by a dividend of sixteen
cents per share the subsequent year, switching from yearly to quarterly dividends in
2005 with eight cents a share per quarter and a special one-time payout of three
dollars per share for the second quarter of the fiscal year. [72][73] Though the company
had subsequent increases in dividend payouts, the price of Microsoft's stock
remained steady for years.[73][74]

One of Microsoft's business tactics, described by an executive as "embrace, extend

and extinguish," initially embraces a competing standard or product, then extends it
to produce their own version which is then incompatible with the standard, which in
time extinguishes competition that does not or cannot use Microsoft's new version.
[75]
 Various companies and governments sue Microsoft over this set of tactics,
resulting in billions of dollars in rulings against the company. [76][34][39] Microsoft claims
that the original strategy is not anti-competitive, but rather an exercise of its
discretion to implement features it believes customers want. [77]

Financial
Standard and Poor's and Moody's have both given a AAA rating to Microsoft, whose
assets were valued at $41 billion as compared to only $8.5 billion in unsecured debt.
Consequently, in February 2011 Microsoft released a corporate bond amounting to
$2.25 billion with relatively low borrowing rates compared to government bonds.[78]

For the first time in 20 years Apple Inc. surpassed Microsoft in Q1 2011 quarterly

profits and revenues due to a slowdown in PC sales and continuing huge losses in
Microsoft's Online Services Division (which contains its search engine Bing).
Microsoft profits were $5.2 billion, while Apple Inc. profits were $6 billion, on
revenues of $14.5 billion and $24.7 billion respectively. [79]

Microsoft's Online Services Division has been continuously loss-making since 2006
and in Q1 2011 it lost $726 million. This follows a loss of $2.5 billion for the year
2010.[80]

Environment
Microsoft is ranked on the 17th place in Green peace’s Guide to Greener Electronics
that ranks 18 electronics manufacturers according to their policies on toxic
chemicals, recycling and climate change.[81]Microsoft’s timeline for phasing out BFRs
and phthalates in all products is 2012 but its commitment to phasing out PVC is not
clear. As yet (January 2011) it has no products that are completely free from PVC and
BFRs.[82]

Microsoft's main U.S. campus received a silver certification from the Leadership in

Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program in 2008, and it installed over 2,000
solar panels on top of its buildings in its Silicon Valley campus, generating
approximately 15 percent of the total energy needed by the facilities in April 2005. [83]

Microsoft makes use of alternative forms of transit. It created one of the worlds
largest private bus systems, the "Connector", to transport people from outside the
company; for on-campus transportation, the "Shuttle Connect" uses a large fleet of
hybrid cars to save fuel. The company also subsidies regional public transport as an
incentive.[83][84] In February 2010 however, Microsoft took a stance against adding
additional public transport and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to a bridge
connecting Redmond to Seattle; the company did not want to delay the construction
any further.[85]
Marketing
In 2004, Microsoft commissioned research firms to do independent studies
comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Windows Server 2003 to Linux; the
firms concluded that companies found Windows easier to administrate than Linux,
thus those using Windows would administrate faster resulting in lower costs for their
company (i.e. lower TCO).[86] This spurred a wave of related studies; a study by the
Yankee concluded that upgrading from one version of Windows Server to another
costs a fraction of the switching costs from Windows Server to Linux, although
companies surveyed noted the increased security and reliability of Linux servers and
concern about being locked into using Microsoft products. [87] Another study, released
by the OSDL, claimed that the Microsoft studies were "simply outdated and one-
sided" and their survey concluded that the TCO of Linux was lower due to Linux
administrators managing more servers on average and other reasons. [88]

As part of the "Get the Facts" campaign Microsoft highlighted the .NET trading

platform that it had developed in partnership with Accenture for the London Stock
Exchange, claiming that it provided "five nines" reliability. After suffering extended
downtime and unreliability [89][90] the LSE announced in 2009 that it was planning to
drop its Microsoft solution and switch to a Linux based one in 2010. [91][92]

Microsoft adopted the so-called "Pac-Man Logo", designed by Scott Baker, in 1987.

Baker stated "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between
the o and s to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and
speed."[93] Dave Norris ran an internal joke campaign to save the old logo, which was
green, in all uppercases, and featured a fanciful letter O, nicknamed the blibbet, but
it was discarded.[94] Microsoft's logo with the "Your potential. Our passion." tagline
below the main corporate name is based on a slogan Microsoft used in 2008. In
2002, the company started using the logo in the United States and eventually started
a TV campaign with the slogan, changed from the previous tagline of "Where do you
want to go today?".[95][96][97] During the private MGX (Microsoft Global Exchange)
conference in 2010, Microsoft unveiled the company's next tagline, "Be What's
Next.", as well as a new logo scheduled for use sometime in the future. [98]
Microsoft "blibbet" logo, filed August 26, 1982 at the USPTO and used until 1987.

Microsoft "Pac-Man" logo, designed by Scott Baker and used since 1987, with the
1994–2002 slogan "Where do you want to go today?".

Microsoft logo as of 2006–2011, with the slogan "Your potential. Our passion."

Logo by Microsoft with the slogan “Be What’s Next." 2011–present.

PRODUCT MIX OF MICROSOFT
PRODUCT
“A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition,
use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. “

A product is anything that satisfies a need or wants and can be offered in the
exchange. A product can be goods, service or idea. Without product, there is no
marketing. This includes product variety, quality, product design, and brand name,
sizes, warranties.
LIST OF MICROSOFT PRODUCTS
Products
1. Bing
2. Internet Explorer
3. Microsoft Advertising
4. All Office products
5. All Windows products
6. Microsoft Security Essentials
7. Windows Live
Business software
1. All Microsoft business products
2. All server products
3. Microsoft Dynamics ERP & CRM
4. Cloud services
5. Bing Maps
6. Microsoft Amalga
7. Microsoft Forefront
8. Microsoft Office Live
9. Microsoft Online Services
10. Windows Small Business Server
Developer tools
1. .NET Framework
2. ASP.NET
3. MSDN Subscriptions
4. Robotics Developer Studio
5. Visual Basic
6. Visual C
7. Visual C#
8. Visual Studio
9. XNA
10. Developer Centers
Entertainment
1. DirectX
2. Microsoft Mediaroom
3. MSN
4. MSN Games
5. MSNBC
6. PC gaming
7. Windows Media Center
8. Xbox home
9. Xbox LIVE
10. Zune
Design & user experience
1. Microsoft Expression
2. Microsoft Silverlight
Hardware
1. All PC hardware
2. Digital communications
3. Microsoft Surface
4. Mouse & keyboard products
5. PC gaming hardware
6. Xbox gaming
Home & educational software
1. AutoCollage
2. HealthVault
3. Money
4. MSN Direct
5. MSN Internet access
6. Office Home & Student
7. Songsmith
8. Streets & Trips
9. Windows Home Server
10. Works
11. WorldWide Telescope
Macintosh
1. All Macintosh products
2. Mac Expression
3. Mac mouse & keyboard products
4. Mac Office
Mobile devices & software
1. Microsoft My Phone
2. Microsoft Tag
3. Mobile software catalog
4. Ultra-Mobile PC
5. Windows Live Mobile
6. Windows Phone
7. Windows mobile devices
Servers
1. All server products
2. BizTalk Server
3. Exchange Server
4. Server trials
5. SharePoint Server
6. SQL Server
7. Windows Server
 Microsoft’s Product Mix
Microsoft’s Product Mix –Length

Microsoft’s Product Mix –Width

 Products Business Developer tools Entertainment Design &
software user
experience
Bing All Microsoft .NET DirectX Microsoft
business Framework Expression
products
Internet All server ASP.NET Microsoft Microsoft
Explorer products Mediaroom Silverlight
Microsoft Microsoft MSDN MSN
Advertising Dynamics Subscriptions
ERP & CRM
All Office Cloud Robotics MSN Games
products services Developer
Studio
All Windows Bing Maps Visual Basic MSNBC
products
Microsoft Microsoft Visual C PC gaming
Security Amalga
Essentials
Windows Live Microsoft Visual C# Windows
Forefront Media Center
Microsoft Visual Studio Xbox home
Office Live
Microsoft XNA Xbox LIVE
Online
Services
Windows Developer Zune
Small Centers
Business
Server
 Microsoft’s Product Mix –Length

Microsoft’s Product Mix –Width

Hardware Home & Macintosh Mobile Servers
educational devices &
software software
All PC hardware AutoCollage All Macintosh Microsoft All server
products My Phone products
Digital HealthVault Mac Microsoft BizTalk
communications Expression Tag Server

Microsoft Surface Money Mac mouse & Mobile Exchange

keyboard software Server
products catalog
Mouse & MSN Direct Mac Office Ultra- Server trials
keyboard Mobile PC
products
PC gaming MSN Internet Windows SharePoint
hardware access Live Mobile Server
Xbox gaming Office Home & Windows SQL Server
Student Phone
Songsmith Windows Windows
mobile Server
devices
Streets &
Trips
Windows
Home Server
Works
WorldWide
Telescope
Product-Width
The width of a product mix refers to the total number of items in the mix.
Example: The total numbers of items are 10.
1. Products
2. Business software
3. Developer tools
4. Entertainment
5. Design & user experience
6. Hardware
7. Home & educational software
8. Macintosh
9. Mobile devices & software
10.Servers

Product-length
The length of a product mix refers to the total number of items in the mix.
Example:
The total Length of Microsoft’s Product mix is 75.
The Total width of Microsoft’s Product mix is 10 (No of lines).
Hence, the average product length is (Total Length / Number of lines) = 75/10
is less than 8.

Product-Depth
The depth of a product mix refers to how many variants are offered of each
product in the line.
 Microsoft’s Product Mix-Depth
Name of the Product Variants
Windows Windows 7
Windows Internet Explorer
Windows Phone
Windows Compatibility Center
Windows Help & How-to
Windows Service Packs
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Windows Automotive
Windows Azure
Windows Embedded
Windows Hardware Developers
Windows Media Center
Windows Media Player
Earlier Windows Versions
Windows Downloads
Windows Servers Windows Server
Windows Small Business Server
Windows Home Server
Windows Server Update Services
Windows Live Windows Live Home
Windows Live Essentials
Windows Live Hotmail
Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Mobile
Windows Live Movie Maker
Windows Live OneCare
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Live SkyDrive
Office All Office products
Home & Student
Office for Business
Office Servers
Office Trials
Office Web Apps
Product Information
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 www.google.com

www.microsoft.com