What factors facilitated the emergence of the PC clone industry

1. What factors facilitated the emergence of the PC clone industry? How did the emergence of the clones change the economics of the PC industry? How did this benefit Microsoft? (3) — Open for student volunteering

2. Why do you think that Microsoft started to lose its competitive edge during the Ballmer years? Why were their so many high profile failures? (3) — Open for student volunteering

3. Evaluate the early moves of Satya Nadella. What is he trying to do? How successful do you think he will be? (4)

For extra credits:

4. How would you characterize the management style of Bill Gates? How do you think this shaped the culture at Microsoft? Did this benefit the company? How may it have hurt the company? (2)

5. What are the Implications of Nadella’s mobile first, cloud first vision for the business model and profitability of Microsoft? What are the implications, strategically, for Microsoft? (3)