Microsoft shifts company focus, re-arranges management

Microsoft re-organized management structure once again so it better aligns with new corporate strategy. CEO Steve Ballmer declared in October 2012 that Microsoft would transition to a “devices and services” company, focusing on making hardware, online services and apps that work together across multiple screens and gadgets. The company aims to break current division organization as emphasizing into four areas – operating systems, apps, the cloud and devices.

The changes are meant to position the company better to come up with new computing experiences that take advantage of the mobile devices and services that are defining the way technology is now delivered, Mr Ballmer said in an email to employees. Ballmer also added company has no plans for lay-offs. The new re-organization strategy plans to create more cross-group relations between employees as they would work together for a common goal.

“We have to be more like a football team that is, we all play a specific position, and we run every play together than we do like a baseball team, where athletes are often times more individual in their orientation,” Ballmer told analysts Thursday.

Under Mr Ballmer’s latest plan, Microsoft’s engineers will be placed in four groups, bringing together all of those working on operating systems for products such as PCs, mobile devices and the Xbox games console who were previously in different divisions.

According to insiders the fierce competition in the company and strong corporate culture has traditionally been so competitive that collaboration with other teams has been discouraged. This will change for Microsoft as mixing divisions would force employees to work together.

That should make it easier for Microsoft to come up with a single software platform that operates across for all devices, making it more competitive with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android software, analysts say.

Microsoft’s shares added nearly 3% on Thursday. They have rebounded nearly 30% since the start of the year, adding nearly $100 billion to the company’s stock market value, as investors have started to look beyond the fall in PC sales and acknowledge the changes which company makes for a future growth.