Developing Plans and Forecasting.
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The plan in the beginning was to develop software for vendors. They figured they could sell software to vendors cheaper than the vendors developing their own software for their products. Bill and Paul started tracking the developments of the hardware side of the industry by attending technology fairs. The people at these fairs were so excited about all the new technology that they were all sharing what everyone was doing. Nothing was a secret. This is how Bill and Paul would find out what was going to be big in the technology world and they would take the opportunity to go back and work hard to produce products that they knew were going to be big in the market. .
Later, as Microsoft grew, more people were hired that were experts in certain areas. For instance, an expert was hired to run the sales department. An expert was hired to hire good people. An expert was hired to run the marketing department. Basically, Microsoft was determined to have many products that did well instead of focusing on one particular product to dominate. .
There were several mistakes made in the beginning but because the philosophy at first was to work long and hard, Microsoft was ahead of everyone else so they had time to correct was went wrong or to toss an idea and start a new one. .
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Strategic Management.
Although several mistakes were made in the beginning and Bill Gates just started with 16 employees, now, 23 years later, Microsoft Corporation has over "50,000 employed, in 78 countries, with revenue of $28.37 billion for the fiscal year of June 2002. The management planning process of deciding on the course of action was the way Bill Gates formed the Microsoft Corporation. Today, the Microsoft's vision statement is, "empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device."" (http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/). .
Through the company's vision statement you can have a better understanding of Microsoft's course of action throughout the years.