Tearing down walls worked in Europe - Germany is now one country. Keeping competing divisions within a company is a very stupid thing to do. Reorganizing the company is thus a good idea - and it is about time. The big question is execution - can they pull it off? To reap the benefits of a "one company" strategy they need to change the internal culture of a very big organization - that is very, very challenging. Hopefully they succeed - Microsoft needs an update to stay ahead of changing trends and the silos they have been operating have not been able to do this. PC sales are in dramatic decline - innovativeness and adaptability will be crucial for the future of the company. Many of the challenges they will face in the big change program they obviously will need to initate will look like challenges in big M&A deals. They need their entire management to be trustworthy, understanding and loyal to both the company and the employees. A typical problem with large change processes is too much focus on measurements, target numbers, etc and too little focus on running the core business as well as taking care of the people working there. Hopefully they will manage - Microsoft have been bragging about their positions in lists like "100 best places to work" etc. I wish them luck, because I really do not want to see an iPad-ification of the entire consumer market. That is no better than the MS monopoly we had in the mid 90's on the desktop.
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Tearing down walls worked in Europe - Germany is now one country. Keeping competing divisions within a company is a very stupid thing to do. Reorganizing the company is thus a good idea - and it is about time. The big question is execution - can they pull it off? To reap the benefits of a "one company" strategy they need to change the internal culture of a very big organization - that is very, very challenging. Hopefully they succeed - Microsoft needs an update to stay ahead of changing trends and the silos they have been operating have not been able to do this. PC sales are in dramatic decline - innovativeness and adaptability will be crucial for the future of the company. Many of the challenges they will face in the big change program they obviously will need to initate will look like challenges in big M&A deals. They need their entire management to be trustworthy, understanding and loyal to both the company and the employees. A typical problem with large change processes is too much focus on measurements, target numbers, etc and too little focus on running the core business as well as taking care of the people working there. Hopefully they will manage - Microsoft have been bragging about their positions in lists like "100 best places to work" etc. I wish them luck, because I really do not want to see an iPad-ification of the entire consumer market. That is no better than the MS monopoly we had in the mid 90's on the desktop.