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U.S. Publicly Traded Company Research Paper

Publicly-Traded Company Sharing a passion for computer programming, two childhood friends; Bill Gates and Paul Allen (the two founders of the computing products manufacturing company, Microsoft) changed the Application Software Industry for good with their revolutionary computer software products designed for a wide range of computing devices across the world. In this text, I develop a financial research report of Microsoft. In so doing, I will first give an overview of the company and thereafter perform a ratio analysis as well as stock price analysis of the company.

Microsoft Corporation: An Overview

With Redmond, Washington housing its headquarters, Microsoft has in the recent past diversified its operations with its numerous product divisions churning out new innovations in a wide range of areas including but not in any way limited to consumer electronics, phone operating systems as well as video game applications. Originally the company was established to undertake the development as well as sale of Altair 8800's BASIC interpreters. This was way back in the mid 70s. Today, the company has curved out a name for itself as a leading software products and services firm with operations and product divisions spread out across the globe. It can be noted that basically, Microsoft's presence in global markets...

According to the company's website (www.microsoft.com), Microsoft has five divisions across the world. These are listed on the website as Online Services Division, Windows and Windows Live Division, Entertainment and Devices Division, Server & Tools Division and lastly; Microsoft Business Division.
When it comes to competition in Microsoft's marketplace, that is, the Applications Software Industry; Elleithy (2007) notes that the main drivers of demand include smart appliances, mobile devices, web services as well as other relatively new advances in the global economy. Hence effectively, the profitability of companies in this industry is largely hinged on their ability to streamline operations as well as develop superior marketing plans. Over time, the company's most persistent competitors have included Oracle Corporation, Google Inc. And Apple Inc. (Bentzel, 2006). The distribution of the company's products as well as services is mainly done through manufacturers, resellers as well as distributors of original equipment. The company also offers for sale a significant portion of its products and services online.

In the past, the company has been accused of business practices which are more or less monopolistic. Some…

Sources used in this document:
References

Bentzel, J.E. (2006). Asymmetric Marketing. Tossing the 'Chasm' in the Age of Software Superpowers. Asymmetric Marketing

Elleithy, K. (2007). Advances and Innovations in Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engeneering. Springer Lopez-Claros, A. (2010). The Innovation for Development Report 2010-2011: Innovation as a Driver of Productivity and Economic Growth. Palgrave Macmillan
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