Marketing Spotlight - Microsoft Competitive Markets and Marketing Strategies

Microsoft was founded in 1975, when Bill Gates left Harvard at age 19 to work with high school friend Paul Allen on a version of the BASIC programming language. After moving the company from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Seattle in 1979, Gates and Allen began writing operating system software. What happened to the company since its founding is a well-known and often-told story. Here are highlighted a few of the key strategies that enabled Microsoft to achieve such …

…it remained focused on what would be best for themselves and the consumer rather than merely responding. Gates and Microsoft took some existing concepts and looked way out on the horizon to identify some possibilities that were literally beyond the horizon. However, in the future, given the public knowledge of their actions, and constant media scrutiny, Microsoft and other similar technology-based firms are unlikely to achieve as many competitive marketing advantages as in the past.