MICROSOFT’S STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 1

Microsoft’s Strategic Objectives

Sofie Bower

BUS/475

Heike Soeffker-Culicerto

November 9, 2021

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Microsoft’s Strategic Objectives

Financial objectives

The first is market capitalization. Its measure is market cap value. The target timeline will

be enlarging the market cap from two trillion dollars to two and a half-trillion dollars over the

succeeding year.

The next is profitability amelioration. The measure will entail total profits. The timeline

will be to enlarge the profits by ten percent in the first year.

The third is expanding sales. Its measure will be the volume of sales. Timeline is

enlarging total volume sales by eighteen percent over the following one financial year.

Customer Objectives

The first will center on new customers. The measure will be the measurement of the

firm’s global sales. The timeline will be in the next twelve months; the firm will increase sales to

ten countries where the firm’s merchandise hasn’t yet permeated.

The second is current clients. The measure will be client retention. The timeline will be

the firm realizing eighty-five percent client retention over the next two years.

The third is expanding client value. Its measure is expanding profit contribution per

client. The timeline is enlarging by five percent in the first year.

Internal Business Process Objective

The first is the optimization of quality. Its measure is the amount of wastages. The

timeline is decreasing contemporary manufacturing wastage by six percent over three years.

The second is process improvement. Its measure is the duration taken to authorize the

process. Its timeline is reducing internal processes approval duration by slightly five percent over

the next year.

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The next is reducing the lead period for novel contract implementation. Its measure is the

time frame for project execution. The timeline will be reducing duration by three percent in the

first year.

Learning and Growth Objectives

The first is talent and skills refinement. Its measure is the quality and performance of

services given by workers. The timeline is the refinement of available talent and skill

identification, fostering, and enhancement schemes.

The second is career or people development. Its measure is career growth. The timeline is

generating career growth opportunities for the team.

The third is reducing employee turnover. Its measure is to enable constant training and

opportunities for growth. The timeline is decreasing by four percent in the first year.

The objectives, as mentioned earlier, are essential as they aid the enterprise-

Microsoft, to move at a satisfactory pace towards realizing both its mission and vision

statements. Also, the stated objectives will enable Microsoft to implement and achieve its

values. For instance, the learning and growth objectives aid in putting prominence on employee

improvement, retention, and management. They aid in recognizing the rationale why some

workers have left the firm or may want to leave Microsoft. It’s essential to note that immediately

the hurdles are fixed, it will aid in enhancing the retention levels of the employees in Microsoft.

Elsewhere, the career growth goals would ensure that the workers advance impeccably on their

career ladders for the good of Microsoft and the individual employees themselves. The same

applies to people's expertise and talent or skill development objective. Additionally, according to

Punniyamoorthy and Murali (2008), the objectives aid in ensuring that Microsoft adheres to

quality production, which directly controls the mission, as mentioned earlier.

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The internal business objectives would considerably aid in expanding Microsoft’s

efficiency by decreasing the wastage operations. Also, Microsoft would be able to lower its

expenses which would enhance its profit realization. The reduction of the duration taken to

approve several things would aid in expanding the swiftness of operations. The client-oriented

objectives are intended to develop client satisfaction, which eventually will enable Microsoft to

realize its ultimate targets, e.g., market capitalization and increasing revenues and profits

(Agarwala, 2008).

As mentioned earlier, the metrics and timelines are essential for Microsoft’s

strategic plan as they break down the objectives into smaller portions that easily be realized.

Also, they aid in the simplification of processes that can be achieved without having one

consolidated target that could be inconvenient. For example, reducing worker turnover by four

percent implies that Microsoft would have realized a forty percent worker turnover decrease in

around ten years. Besides, the retention metric of over eighty-five of the client ensures that

Microsoft remains stable regarding its clients and thus benefits from its retained workers

(Boswell, 2006).

It is essential to note that the metrics enable the quantification of the subsequent

collective achievement of Microsoft, its timelines. And the steps and percentages that are to be

initiated to ensure step-by-step delivery of the goals. Also, they make sure the goals are realized

realistically and not merely state them without any feasible or tangible plan to realize them. For

example, the percentages specify the realistic values and measures to be realized concerning the

distinct goals. In contrast, the timeframe specifies the practical duration within which the goals

or part of the goals are realized (Monahan, 2008).

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It is apparent from the above that for Microsoft to advance its expand its

competitive advantages besides advancing its objectives, it requires to have the right strategy of

achievement which would aid it to achieve the goals. Also, it requires breaking down the

objectives into smaller feasible parts that can enable the overall realization of its objectives. The

organization is required to have teamwork that is collaboratively intended for the defined goals

with common objectives all aligned with its vision and mission statement (Volonino & Watson,

1990). The progress of Microsoft regarding different goals can be measured by the use of the

metrics as mentioned earlier and many more than could be perceived appropriate for the firm.

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References

Agarwala, T. (2008). Strategic Human resource management.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://smvdu.ac.in/images/stories/pdf/

Publications/arthanvesan/2007-07-2008-01-arthanvesan.pdf%23page

%3D75&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UwmKYbfXIOaTy9YP89-C4As&scisig=AAGBfm3oI-

gUs5LtQgMEVA_LJ_PkdXFu-Q&oi=scholarr/

Boswell, W. (2006). Aligning Employees with the Organization’s Strategic Objectives: Out of

‘line of sight’, out of Mind. The International Journal of Human Resource Management.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585190600878071/

Monahan, G. (2008). Enterprise risk management: A methodology for achieving strategic

objectives (Vol. 20). John Wiley & Sons.

Punniyamoorthy, M & Murali, R. (2008). Balanced score for the balanced scorecard: A

benchmarking tool. Benchmarking: An International Journal.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238325867_Balanced_score_for_the_balanced_

scorecard_A_benchmarking_tool/

Volonino, L & Watson, H. (1990). The Strategic Business Objectives Method for Guiding

Executive Information Systems Development. Journal of Management Information

Systems. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07421222.1990.11517895/