Flextronics: Deciding on a Shop-Floor System for Producing the Microsoft Xbox.

Question: The fact that McDermott provided visioning and leadership for the use of IT within USAA is clear from the case. Why is this so important?

Product positioning is the most difficult aspect of Microsoft’s marketing strategy for the Xbox. Consumers know that Microsoft is a great company and most computer owners have positive brand images of Microsoft. This really helps Microsoft get a jumpstart on their new product. But, the hard task comes when Microsoft

It is inevitable if firms increase their global operations because every country has something different to offer, something new, and without the current innovation being promoted to the market, the company will start to lose its edge on

Globalization is one of the crucial factors that have impacted the business. Without the proper utilization of the effects of the globalization, it is very difficult for a company to get the competitive advantage. There are many factors that need to be considered before rolling out the product in the global market. The first is to analyze the value chain of the company and to understand and decide on the position where they management wants the company to be into. Then comes the licensing,

Microsoft started developing their console after the DirectX, which was a programming unit that was mostly used for creating videos and various types of graphics for computers. Microsoft modified their DirectX and made it into the Xbox. Since Microsoft built the Xbox from a computer it was extremely powerful compared to Sony’s Play Station 2, Nintendo’s Gamecube, and Sega 's Dreamcast ( ). Microsoft was concerned if they would get support from third party developers because it was the first video game console they produced.

Challenge of Globalization W. L. GORE & ASSOCIATE had been expending their business in more than 30 over country; there are Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, Central America, North America and South America, leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products for the electronics, industrial, fabrics and medical markets. With the employees of 9.500 people around the world, managing the people also bring along the trouble as well. With the diversity of culture, people, background, language and norms, challenges and problems occur within the company and beyond the boundaries of the company. This is the major problems that will occur when a company goes global and expanding to the world. This challenge of globalization

The XBOX is now a 6th generation video game console that is manufactured by Microsoft. The machine itself was released in November of 2001, just in time for the 2001 Holiday Season in the United States, then subsequently worldwide. The decision to manufacture and release the system was Microsoft's first plunge into the gaming console market and designed to compete with the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCUbe, and Sega's Dreamcast. By November of 2002, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live service that allowed players to play interactive games online (Gamer's Catch, 2006). Looking at the evolution of the system, however, we now know that the Xbox began to be discontinued in late 2005 (in Japan) and then in early 2007 in North America. The last game was released in August 2007, and even support for out-of-warranty consoles was discontinued in 2009, with all new faulty consoles replaced with Xbox 360. Xbox Live support was discontinued in April 2010 (Whitten, 2010).

Section 1: A Synopsis and interpretation of the Supply chain changes made between Xbox and Xbox 360

Another strength that the Xbox One has is that it is financially backed by Microsoft. This company is very successful and can continue to finance the Xbox One, even during times in which the brand is having any difficulty breaking even or making a profit. Microsoft is also one of the most prominent technology companies in world, which is due in part to its willingness to continue to innovate through research and development. Because of this, many of Microsoft’s technological achievements have been incorporated into the Xbox One. For example, the Microsoft Cloud, which improves the quality of Xbox Live for many gamers as it speeds up load times and causes no host advantage. Microsoft’s achievements

The brand we represent is Microsoft Xbox. Below is a situation analysis for Microsoft Xbox as well as trends and driving forces for the last few years.

Increased globalization is the direction that all major multinational corporations are moving towards. Ford had made a good attempt at making a world car that proved to be partially successful in the beginning of sales. The company has learned that locational specialization is an extremely important aspect to selling globally because of the differing personal preferences and legal demands.

Microsoft Xbox is providing elite gaming systems as well as games and accessories to hard-core gamers.

However, when Microsoft started the development of its next generation console- the Xbox 360- it recognized the deficits and problems related to its initial strategy: the company was operating under too high costs in order to assure high product availability which was not the critical factor in this business. The nature of the console business is about providing the customer with a cheap hardware and a variety of games, in order to generate profits from games sales. Additionally, the first Xbox was released one year behind Sony’s PS2, Microsoft’s biggest competitor in the market. This delay resulted in a substantial loss of sales and consequently reduced game sales. Therefore, Microsoft learned that the Xbox 360 had to be launched ahead of Sony’s PS3. Accordingly, one relevant part of Microsoft’s new strategy was the “first-to-market” approach. Another essential change in Microsoft’s business strategy concerned its cost structure in the Xbox supply chain. Whereas the initial strategy focused heavily on reliability, Microsoft changed its strategy to achieving reduced costs and increased profitability. Additionally, the company insisted on owning the design of critical components, such as the microprocessor and the graphics chip, in order to “control its own destiny”. Therefore, the supply chain network needed to be redesigned in order to support Microsoft’s strategic shift. So as to reach the desired cost

This report talks about the successful strategies adopted by GE that was accountable for its success. It will start by answering the question the importance of studying GE recent globalization strategies and practices, and then, by giving a quick background of the company globalization process evolution. After that, the report will demonstrate a close analysis to 4 main strategies of the company. Finally a conclusion will be given based upon the current challenges and future perspective.

As trade increases hyper-competition grows forcing organizations to go global. By a company going global it requires them to rethink strategy and reform (Ananthram and Pearson, 2008). Global organizational structure is the way a company aims to merge local preferences with global strategy. The definition of global strategy is “strategic choices that have the characteristics of being globally uniform or integrated,” (Yip et al., 1997) such as standardization of products, uniform marketing, and competitive moves, but all globally (Townsend et al., 2004; Zou and Cavusgil, 2002; Bayraktar and Ndubisi, 2014). Global strategic strategy is a way to adjust to globalization. Globalization is “the economic and social process by which economies and communities grow inextricably interdependent “(Jhirad et al., 2009). The recent financial crisis (Das, 2010), large amount of poverty, and climate change are all problems that show how the world is globally connected because all countries impact each other (Jhirad et al., 2009).