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Strategies for Windows 7® and Office® should Microsoft follow

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Questions/Tasks

What pricing and marketing (target market, product, place, and promotion) strategies for Windows 7® and Office® should Microsoft follow? Defend your positions on why you selected the strategies you have chosen.

The Situation

Microsoft has launched Windows 7®. Google has announced that it will soon offer a free operating system. Sun offers a free version of Office.

Expectations

In answering the question make reasonable assumptions, (clearly you won't have the same information available to you as does Microsoft's VP of Marketing, e.g. about costs, but make some assumptions and follow through in your analysis).

You should also bear in mind that a fundamental goal, as with all the cases you build in MKT501, is to demonstrate your learning. In preparing your CASE5, ensure that you demonstrate your learning of the marketing concepts and frameworks for analysis outlined in the modular learning objectives. In particular, in answering the question, ensure that you demonstrate your understanding of promotion, the factors affecting success of promotion, as well as your learning from previous modules.

Pay special attention to Microsoft's pricing methods as you review Microsoft's pricing strategy as an intrinsic component of the marketing strategy for Windows 7® and Office®. In terms of that marketing strategy, you should comment on Microsoft's target market(s) and how its products are differentiated from competitive products, whether it should be distributed more or less intensely than competitive products, and whether it should be promoted more or less intensely than competitive products.

Note that this assignment does NOT require you to prepare a detailed essay. Instead use section headings for each of the topics you address in your paper followed by a discussion of that topic.

Case-related articles in the popular press

Wenzel, Elsa (2009 September 28) Beyond Microsoft Office: We compare 9 productivity suites. CNET. Available on 28 October 2009 at:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9787816-2.html Click on <Alternatives to Microsoft Office>. Then click on <Read More>

Finkle, Jim (2009 May 12) Free Microsoft Office Competitors Flock to Market. It's not just Zoho and Google that are offering free, online competitors to Office anymore. PD Zone. Ziff- Davis. Available on 28 October 2009 at:
http://www.pdfzone.com/c/a/Content-Management/
Free-Microsoft-Office-Competitors-Flock-to-Market/

Mossberg, Walter S (2009, October 8). A Windows to Help You Forget --- Microsoft's New Operating System Is Good Enough to Erase Bad Memory of Vista . Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y. D1. Avaiable via ProQuest on 28 October 2009 at
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1874358551
&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD

PC makers will rush to flood physical and online stores with new computers pre-loaded with Windows 7, and to offer the software to Vista owners who wish to upgrade. [...] Microsoft has stripped Windows 7 of familiar built-in applications, such as email, photo organizing, address book, calendar and video-editing programs.

Colker, David (2009, October 4). Looking beyond Vista for PCs; Microsoft's Windows 7 is more user friendly, with features such as lightning-fast search. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif. B1. Available on 28 October 2009 via Proquest at:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1871249521
&sid=6&Fmt=3&clientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD

The Vista operating system, which Windows 7 will officially replace later this month, had a terrible reputation almost from the time it debuted in 2007. Because of Vista's technical foibles, sluggish operation and inability to play nicely with some other programs, consumers and professionals shunned it in droves, refusing to update from Microsoft's old, reliable XP operating system.

Parekh, Rupal (2009, September 10). Microsoft to Break Windows 7 Campaign on CW's 'Vampire Diaries': Initial TV Advertising Push Touts Early Blog Buzz for New OS in Spot That's Heavy on the Cute. Advertising Age. Crain Communications.

Hiltzik, Michael (2009, Sepember 3). Microsoft's grip on users is being lost in the cloud. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif. B1. Available on 28 October 2009 via Proquest at
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1852157391
&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Presumably there also exist retail consumers with specialized needs who can put Word 2007's more arcane features to use better than I. And not everyone owns a vintage Office 97 disc, as I do, to transfer trusty old Word 97 to new computers when they upgrade their hardware. [...] the alternatives to many Microsoft products aren't so great.

Parekh, Rupal (2009, August 10). Microsoft Marketing for Windows 7 Could Get Bump From Buzz: Planned Global Push for New OS so Far Avoids Vista's Fate of Early Negative Reviews. Advertising Age. AdvertisingAge.com.

Burrows, Peter (2009, July 27). Microsoft's Aggressive New Pricing Strategy. Business Week. New York. 51. Available on 28 October 2009 via Proquest at
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1800343861
&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Forelle, Charles (2009, July 25). Microsoft Yields to EU On Browsers.
Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y. B1. Available on 28 October 2009 via Proquest at
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1802219021
&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Vascellaro, Jessica E & Clark, Don (2009 July 9). Google Targets Microsoft's Turf. Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y. A1. Available on 28 October 2009 via Proquest at
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1780215361
&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Worthen, Ben & Scheck, Justin (2009, June 22). Tech Giants Ramp Up Their Online Offerings. Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y. B1. Available on 28 October 2009 via Proquest at
http://proquest.umi/pqdweb?did=1755159121
&sid=2&Fmt=4&clientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD

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Solution Summary

Strategies for Windows 7® and Office® should Microsoft follow for marketing and pricing is determined.

Solution Preview

Please find the guidlines for Pricing and Marketing Strategies for Microsoft's Windows 7® and Office® below.

Regards,
Reena

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Running Head: PRICING & MARKETING STRATEGIES

Pricing and Marketing Strategies for Microsoft's Windows 7® and Office®
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Introduction
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that formulates, manufactures, licenses and affirms an all-encompassing range of software products for computing devices. The company's headquarter is in Redmond, Washington, USA. Its most advantageous products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. From the time of its inception the company had launched different kinds of productivity software and windows operating system and in present the company had launched Windows 7® and Office® for which it need to determine appropriate pricing and marketing strategies' in regard to its target market, product, place and promotion.
In this paper, we will discuss the peculiar pricing and marketing strategies' for Microsoft's Windows 7® and Office®. This would be better done with the help of marketing mix for company's new launch as it will assist the company in a significant manner in making decisions regarding its product, price, place and promotion. Before taking decision on company's marketing mix we need to analyze its target market as with this only we can develop appropriate marketing and pricing strategies'.
Target Market
Development of Windows 7 began just after the release of Vista which concentrates on meliorating execution. The target market of windows 7 can roughly be classified into two target markets along with numerous sub classifications. Its target market can be divided into consumer and business markets. Subsequent to this each and every target market can be classified with different edition ...

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