IT Strategy vs. Corporate Strategy: Microsoft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmU3zn5f-sQ Let's assume that in this hypothetical situation, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nardella, wants to develop a new strategy for Microsoft and appoints Bain to the role. Is Bain preparing an IT strategy for a technology company or is Bain preparing a technology company’s corporate strategy? To develop Microsoft's corporate strategy, the team assembled would be a generalist team of consultants. The consultants would need to develop Microsoft’s plan for the future and develop a set of detailed recommendations on how Microsoft should pursue that plan. Typical questions we would answer in a corporate strategy study include: 1 - What type of company should Microsoft be? 2 - Should Microsoft remain in hardware and software? 3 - If both, which segments should be exited? 4 - How should Microsoft organize its divisions/people to remain competitive? 5 - Where should Microsoft focus its investments? These are pretty much the main questions in any corporate strategy study. If we were developing a corporate strategy for a healthcare, financial services, or mining company, we would ask and answer very similar questions. However, the emphasis will change for this Microsoft study, the analyses will obviously differ, and the study structure will be different. That is because…