QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES

IAS101 – FUNDAMENTAL OF INFORMATION ASSURANCE AND SECURITY 1

NAME: Vida, John Paul S.

STUDENT NO: 20-2167
YEAR/SECTION: 3rd Year / SBIT - 3L
DATE: 3-6-23

INSTRUCTIONS:

A. Individual Activity
B. Search for at least 5 companies who are dealing with the following:
1. Risk
2. Threat
3. Vulnerabilities
4. Impact on their business
C. Submit this in word file format to our Google Classroom

1. MICROSOFT

Microsoft Corporation is one of the best-known software companies in the world. The corporation is
famous for its Windows and Office software. In addition to software products the business
manufactures and develops consumer electronics such as tablets and game systems.

1. Poor acquisitions and investments. Few of Microsoft’s acquisitions were successful

and brought not just revenues and products but new skills and competencies to the
company. Massive, LinkExchange, WebTV, Danger are just few examples of multi million
acquisitions made by Microsoft but soon shut down or divested.
2. Dependence on hardware manufacturers. Microsoft is a giant software corporation
but it does not produce its own hardware and depends on computer hardware
manufacturers to develop products that run Windows OS. If a cheap and popular
alternative OS would appear, hardware manufacturers may simply choose the
alternative and Microsoft could do little to change the situation.
3. Criticism over security flaws. Windows OS, the main Microsoft product, has been
heavily criticized for being so weak against various viruses’ attacks. Compared to other
OS, Windows is the least protected against such attacks.
4. Mature PC markets. Only recently has Microsoft entered the mobile technology sector
and still heavily depends on its OS and software sales for standalone and laptop
computers. The market for these products has matured and Microsoft will find it harder
to grow revenues in these sectors.
5. Slow to innovate. Microsoft has huge R&D resources and a great position to enter new
markets with innovative products but constantly failed to do so. It had an opportunity to
be the first player in online advertising but missed the opportunity. Its entrance to mobile
OS was also too late, while Google and Apple captured the market share.
 QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES

1. Intense competition in software products. Microsoft is more than ever under

pressure to introduce a successful OS both in PC and mobile markets as such
competitors like Google and Apple have already established positions.
2. Changing consumer needs and habits. Customers shift from buying laptops and
standalone PCs to buying smartphones and tablets, the markets where Microsoft has
only a modest market share and may never establish itself.
3. Open source projects. Many new open source projects are coming to the market and
some of them became quite successful, such as the new Linux OS and Open Source
Office. Open source projects are free and so they can become an alternative to
expensive Microsoft’s products.
4. Potential lawsuits. Microsoft has already been sued many times and lost quite a few
large scale lawsuits. Lawsuits are expensive as they require time and money. And as
Microsoft continues to operate more or less the same way, there is a high probability for
more expensive lawsuits to come.

2. AMAZON.COM

Amazon’s popularity is widespread around the globe. It has over 310 million active users and 200
million prime subscribers worldwide. Being the world’s leading online retailer, Amazon bags many
achievements, eye-popping profits, and successful launches

1. Easily imitable business model – Online retail businesses have become quite common in this
digital world. So imitating Amazon’s business model for rival firms is not so difficult. A few businesses
are even giving Amazon a tough time. These include Barnes & Noble, eBay, Netflix, Hulu, and Oyster
etc.

2. Losing Margins in Few Areas – In few areas such as India, Amazon has faced losses. It’s free
shipping to customers can be one of the reasons that expose the risks of losing margins in some
markets.

3. Product Flops and Failures – Its Fire Phone’s launch in the US was a big failure while its Kindle
fire device didn’t even grow well.

4. Tax Avoidance Controversy – Tax avoidance in Japan, UK and US has sparked negative
publicity for Amazon. President Trump criticized Amazon over taxes on social media.

5. Limited brick-and-mortar presence – Amazon owns very limited physical stores. This sometimes
hinders customers buying things which are not sellable on online stores.
 QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES

1. Few controversies have caused a dent in Amazon’s brand image. People critically reacted and
boycotted Amazon sites in 2010 when they found that it’s selling the book “The Pedophile’s Guide to
Love & Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct.”

2. Government regulations can also threaten the business proceedings of Amazon in some critical
countries. Amazon does not ship to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

3. Links to exploitative labor – Amazon is one of three retail giants facing scrutiny from the US
State Department for maintaining supply chains and labor sources associated with human rights
abuses. This exposes the e-commerce giant to reputational, economic, and legal risks.

4. Increasing cybercrime can affect the network security system of the company.

5. Aggressive competition with big retail firms like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, eBay can give
Amazon a tough time in the future. In addition, now Amazon competes with the following companies:

3. IBM CORP.

IBM is best known for producing and selling computer hardware and software, as well as cloud
computing and data analytics. The company has also served as a major research and development
corporation over the years, with significant inventions like the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, and the
UPC barcode.

1. Mainly focuses on product customization

IBM’s core area of operation entails providing large and medium enterprises with customized
solutions. Even though this is a highly profitable business model, it attracts a smaller market share.
The remaining market may be fine with off-the-shelf solutions.

2. Generic products

IBM suffers the weakness of the imitability of its products, which means other technology companies
have a low barrier of entry to develop products that are similar to IBM’s.

For the moment IBM remains profitable thanks to its large scale which allows the operations to have
minimized costs, but things might get difficult if its competitors decide to start a price-war.

3. Declining popularity

Even though IBM still rides on its strong brand reputation, the company’s popularity has declined in
recent times. For instance, last year, they ranked 22nd in brand value, while this year, they are at
18th.

The firm is losing brand value. If the company fails to keep up with its market, it may eventually give
in to the competition.
 QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES

4. Stiff competition

Anyone operating in the tech industry must be ready to deal with one of the fiercest competitions. IBM
is not an exemption.

IBM has been losing market share to best-in-class competitors such as Google and Amazon Web
Services despite sector tailwinds – this something that does not invoke investor confidence.

That forces the company to set aside a bigger budget for marketing in an effort to wade off
competition. Emerging IT firms also take away a sizable chunk of IBM’s potential client base.

5. Legal challenges

IBM has faced several lawsuits in the past that cut across diverse issues. One of the most recent
lawsuits touches on the company firing as many as 100,000 employees in the last few years. The
lawsuits claim that IBM targeted older workers who have been instrumental in re-inventing the firm.

1. Failure of innovation

IBM has been actively expanding its business into disruptive technology sectors such as hybrid cloud,
blockchain, and artificial intelligence. If IBM fails to keep innovating cutting-edge technologies, it will
fall behind in the competition in these highly profitable yet ever-shifting sectors.

2. A market recession that reduces businesses’ investment in technology

IBM has constantly invested heavily in its research and development to keep up with the competition.
A recession could harm the firm’s ability to do so by reducing the availability of funds, which will put
IBM in a disadvantageous situation.

3. Predicting market trends and changeability

IBM invests heavily in key strategic areas to drive market share gain and revenue growth; thus, the
failure of industry trend recognition and client adoption in emerging businesses will unfavorably
impact the firm’s operations and profitability.

This happened once in the early 1990s, when IBM’s market share plummeted from 70% to 26% due
to missed market trends.

4. Unfavorable laws and regulations

The company has a strong global presence across all regions, which makes its business and
operations vulnerable to changes in the local legal, political, and economic environment.
 QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES

4. ACCENTURE PLC

Accenture plc is a global professional services firm headquartered in Ireland that specializes in IT
services and consulting. Accenture started off as Arthur Andersen’s technical and business consulting
branch. Andersen Consulting changed its name to “Accenture” in 2001.

● Lack of coordination – Due to several sectors working simultaneously there can be a lack of
communication and coordination in teams. Accenture has been trying to serve several mid-size
companies as well but faces stiff competition which can further lead to slower growth.
● Dependence on consultancy – Consultancy is a major source of revenue in Accenture, despite
having different sector works which can be bad for companies long run.
● Investment in R&D – Accenture has not been able to compete with the leading players in the
industry in terms of innovation and R&D. It has come across as a mature firm looking forward
to bringing out products based on tested features in the market.

● Inconsistent supply of unique items – The firm has produced various products over the years,
but they are frequently in response to the development of other companies. Second, the
supply of new items is irregular, resulting in high and low swings in sales numbers over time.
● Competitive pressure – Over the previous two years, stable profitability has expanded the
number of participants in the business, putting downward pressure on both profitability and
overall sales. The demand for highly profitable items is seasonal, and any unforeseen
occurrence during the peak season might have a short- to medium-term impact on the
company’s profitability.

5. FUJITSU
Fujitsu Ltd. is a Japanese technology company that specializes in consumer and industrial
electronics. Fujitsu's products include servers, PCs, laptops, media centers, tablets, storage
hardware, displays, air conditioning and heat pump units.

RISK
1. Seen as lesser brand than compared to global leaders in electronics product sale
2. Market share is limited due to intense competition

THREATS
1. Geopolitical risk for Fujitsu
2. Large Global Competitors
3. Wars in middle East
4. Tsunami conditions in Japan
5. Fluctuation of currency Yen
6. Global Economic turndown