BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

1. BENETT
INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE
POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Strategic Business Management
& Planning
Prepared by-
Name-Deepak Kapoor
Word limit- 5000
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2. TABLE OF CONTENTS:-
Abstract …………………………………………………….
Introduction……………...................................................
Aim of Microsoft……………………………………………
SWOT..............................................................................
ECONOMIC.....................................................................
SOCIAL..........................................................................
TECHNOLOGICAL.........................................................
ENVIRONMENTAL........................................................
BARRIER TO ENTRY.....................................................
SUPPLIER POWER.......................................................
BUYER POWER.............................................................
COMPETITIVE RIVALRY ..............................................
Types of Information Systems needed to aid in the decision making process at
managerial levels.........................................................
Improvement of Customer Relations……………..
Critical analysis of competitive advantages to an organization
Challenges to an organization & Managing change
Conclusion………………………………………………..
References……………………………………………….
Bibliographies………………………………………….

3. Abstract:
In my assignment I have highlighted the aims of the renowned organization like
Microsoft whose continuous success due to their strong strategies and planning
astonished the entire IT industry in the 21st century. I clearly stressed Microsoft’s
strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which explains the organization
continuous business strategies and planning. Based on various obvious facts I must say
that any organization who want to be successful must plan ahead to achieve the
company’s desire goal which should include economic, social, technological and
environmental factors.
INTRODUCTION:
According to William E. Ward: Four steps to achievements ‘Plan
purposefully, prepare prayer fully, proceed positively and peruse
persistently’ Strategic business management and planning in
business world and in business organization whether it is a public
sector organization or private sector organization refers to the set or
the change of the goals and aims of the organization. Strategic
management and planning is a key to success to reach the corporate
ladder that is to give the organization a strong plat form from the
very beginning of the business. The management is responsible for
the strategy and planning as how to achieve a one desire goal of an
organization. The management should give the judgment after
considering all the aspects of that planning. Good management and
planning strategy.
According to L.H.Hunt ‘Decide what you want, decide what you are
willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work’
MICROSOFT
This assignment is about the “Microsoft”. Microsoft is the world’s leading producer of
computer software. Microsoft was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico in1975 by Bill
Gates and Paul Allen and is now one of the largest and most successful companies in
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4. the world (Microsoft, 2005). They are the largest and most successful companies in the
world. Microsoft headquarters are located in Redmond, Washington, a suburb of
Seattle. It is the developer and distributor of software’s such as Windows, Microsoft
Office, and DirectX and other programmers and games which will be listed later on in
this assignment. In almost all the countries in the world people are using Microsoft
operating system. Microsoft is one of the most dramatic examples of network externality
in economics.
The Microsoft Corporation is doing a monopoly business and their product has an
effective domination in the operating system market. Almost every computer that is sold
has a copy of Microsoft Windows pre-installed (Microsoft industry products and
solutions, 2006). This assignment describes its mission statement (Microsoft),
evaluating its strengths and weaknesses using the SWOT analysis, establishing the
strategic information systems needed to give the company a competitive edge,
discussing the information systems (ISs) that could aid in the decision making
processes at the different managerial levels.
Aim of the Microsoft
“At Microsoft, we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their
full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflect this mission and the values
that make it possible.” A mission statement captures an organisation's purpose,
customer orientation and business philosophy. Effective missions are inspiring, long-
term in nature, and easily understood and communicated (Learn Direct Business, 2003)
The mission statement of Microsoft comprises of a general objective which is, to assist
individuals and businesses become cognizant of their presently unrealized capacity.
Secondly, not only does the mission statement capture this but in the journey to allowing
individuals and businesses realize their full potential they intend to do this in a morally
ethical way. Thirdly the mission statement captures the target group for Microsoft which
is the world. The question is then asked, “Has Microsoft achieved its goals and
objectives outlined in its mission statement for the last 31 years and if yes, how?”
In allowing people realize their full potential Microsoft has made available the following
Office Software including Word (a word processor), Excel (a spread sheet), PowerPoint
(presentation software) and Access (a database storage) to list a few
Microsoft Windows pre-installed on most computers, the current versions being XP and
Windows server
Microsoft’s company web browser the Internet Explorer
Hotmail (online mail service)
MSN Messenger (online chat service)
Windows media player (for listening to music)
XBOX, for those individuals who are into gaming and this is also used for playing
movies Microsoft's succession of Windows operating systems, Vista is the most recent.
Microsoft has indeed been achieving one if its goals which is being a global organization

5. as their product has had an effective domination in the operating system market. Almost
every computer that is sold has a copy of Microsoft Windows pre-installed. Microsoft’s
web browser is most widely used in the world and it has become a default browser with
all the version of Windows since Windows 95. Microsoft has definitely aided in the
realizing of our full potential as individuals as the preparation of this assignment is using
Microsoft word. Organizations are able to have soft copy storage of data and so easy
retrieval of information. In the financial services Microsoft 'experience Financial
Services' program assists businesses in increasing their revenue by improving customer
satisfaction and employee productivity while reducing operational costs (Microsoft
industry products and solutions, 2006.) The work environment can be relaxing by
listening to some music on the very computer you are using instead of spending more
money to buy a radio. In the home the same device you use to play your games can be
used to watch a movie. In so doing Microsoft has enabled us to maximize on our
monetary funds.
The company has made its presence in markets by online advertising, mobile devices,
and enterprise software. In 2008 Microsoft made repeated efforts to acquire Yahoo! But
ultimately two companies would instead sign a deal in 2009 to combine their search
operations.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Microsoft (SWOT analysis)
There are two types of environmental factors that affect every organisation, these are
remote and industrial. An organisation’s strengths and weaknesses are those factors
within or closely related to the organisation such as Porter’s five forces (these include
barriers to entry, supplier power, buyer power, substitutes available and competitive
rivalry). However the opportunities and threats faced by the organisation are those
remote environmental factors and these include economic, social, political,
technological and ecological (PESTE) .In evaluating the possible opportunities and
threats that Microsoft is faced with this report will group them according to the acronym
PESTE.
Political
Many organizations are faced with possibly threats from political factors such as laws
that can be enforced by the government and terrorism to list a few. Microsoft has
experienced many political factors that have tried to impact on the organization in a
negative way but the company has been successful in overcoming these factors and
has been able to sustain its sales. In the past two years, Microsoft has made significant
progress in resolving many of the legal issues facing the company including the recent
U.S. Court of Appeals decision reaffirming its settlement with the Department of Justice,
most of the state class-action lawsuits, and the AOL and Sun Microsystems cases along
with patent claims such as the InterTrust litigation. Resolving these issues marks an
important step forward in clarifying Microsoft's legal and related business risk (Gilbert
and Katz, 2001). "We have resolved the large majority of our legal issues, which the
company has always said was a prerequisite to addressing our cash management
plans," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "While we still have a number of
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6. legal issues and we take them seriously, we have reduced the legal uncertainties facing
the company, and we have a much clearer understanding of the potential risks involved
in the cases that remain, such as the ongoing European Commission case" (Redmond,
2004).
Economic
These factors usually pose as potential threats in an organization, such as internal and
external inflation. Currency exchange rate has been affecting the demand for computers
in certain parts of the world and fluctuating currencies can negatively impact revenues
in the global marketplace (Microsoft, 2005). Increasing globalization of the Microsoft
industry has definitely been a significant advantage for the company as this creates a
domino effect which increases profitability for the company.
Social
The social lifestyle is not one that would affect Microsoft as in every country and in
every industry, they desire new technology to help them boost their organization ahead
of others in this rather competitive world that we live in. In other words Microsoft will not
encounter much of a social barrier globally; it is a product that is welcomed by
everyone. This is definitely a probable strength in favour of Microsoft as it means “the
sky is the limit” socially.
Technological
Microsoft has made significant advancement in their technology which has definitely
worked in their favor and so has strengthened the company. They continue to be
innovative with their products and utilization of these innovations where increasing their
market share is concerned. They are a pure dot-com enterprise which facilitates lower
cost both for themselves and the customer, data communication and are user friendly.
Being the big giant in the software market they have made and still continue to make
hardware to support specific software business strategies and to list a few:
Microsoft mouse which encouraged the use of windows operating system Graphical
User Interface (GUI). This made GUI more user-friendly and so increased its sales
Web TV (an internet television appliance)
The tracing of stolen goods such as laptops and pirated software (this is done when
these people log on to the internet. (This has given Microsoft huge benefits)
PDA also known as the wireless system (The maximization of peoples time so they can
mail while on their way) Microsoft has a big involvement in the productions of modified
software for NASA and the Pentagon Recently introduced is the Trusted Computing
which Microsoft has presented as their solution to computer insecurity
Ecological/Environmental
Being a software industry Microsoft has not been affected by these factors which
comprise of elements such as salinity levels etc.
To add to this Microsoft has had many opportunities in its favor as cheaper global
telecommunication costs open new markets as people connect to the market; mobile
phone applications and exploitation of personal digital assistants; popularity among
people for internet access and the demand for personal computers in the global market.
Possible threats in the market exist from Apple and Linux, UNIX dominates high-end

7. mission-critical applications, software piracy and hardware manufacturers (Sun
Microsystems, Oracle, IBM, AOL and Apple) are issuing their own pre-bundled
programmes on their own hardware. .
DISCUSSION ABOUT THE COMPETITIVENESS AND ATTRIBUTES OF EMERGENT ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN
THE LIGHT OF PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL :
In a business world competition factor can never be overlooked and it is just like a built
in threat or I say a mandatory threat which must take into consideration by the
management of any organization while planning its strategy. Therefore the profit or the
rates of return must be constant for any organization to be successful. Economic
research states that many organization can face the above mentioned threat of
competition factor and can be sustained to a certain level of profitability, thus following
are the five forces that any organization can be effected by -:
Barriers to Entry
Microsoft has made it difficult for new entities into the software industry by increasing
the barrier to industry. Klein, 2001 says that the dominance of windows in the market for
operating systems is due in large part to its success as a software platform; that is, to
the fact that a great many software developers write application programmes solely for
the windows operating system. Because “porting” or rewriting application programmes
to run on other less popular operating systems can be expensive, an “applications
barrier to entry” may exist in the market for operating system but not succeed in
competition with windows because of the lack of sufficient applications. Bessin and
Baskin, 1999 state that the standard economic rationale for patents is to protect
innovators from imitation and thereby give them the incentive to incur the cost of
innovation. Conventional wisdom holds that, unless would-be competitors are
constrained from imitating an innovation, the inventor may not reap enough profit to
cover that cost. Thus, even if the social benefit of invention exceeds the cost, the
potential innovator without patent protection may decide against innovating altogether
(Gilbert and Katz, 2001).
Supplier Power
Being the great Monopoly Microsoft has been, its bargaining power is quite high which
would cause a decrease in supplier power.
Buyer Power
Being a monopoly for many years Microsoft has been able to reduce buyer power
however with the increase in competition this is gradually going up (Gilbert and Katz,
2001). It will however take a while for this to be of significant interest to the company as
its products and devices are user friendly and it has in someway made its products very
inelastic.
Substitutes Available and Competitive Rivalry
It is in the interest of any thriving company to seek to have both competitive rivalries and
substitutes of their products being low. There are not many substitutes available and so
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8. this has definitely worked in the favor of Microsoft. However they have to be very careful
that they increase on their innovativeness and marketing strategies as the present
competitors (AOL, Netscape, Oracle etc.) have been introducing great products and
have every intention of being the “next giant.” Microsoft presently owns most of the
market and if it keeps on increasing its technology it should be able to overcome the
present and possible future substitutes (Netscape Communications Corporations
Company Backgrounder, 1999).
In addition to its weaknesses Microsoft has unsatisfied employees. Employees'
complaints are rooted in a number of factors. They resent cuts in compensation and
benefits as profits soar. They're disappointed with the stock price, which has barely
budged for three years, rendering many of their stock options out of the money. They're
frustrated with what they see as swelling bureaucracy, including the many procedures
and meetings Chief Executive Steven A. Ballmer has put in place to motivate them. And
they're feeling trapped in an organization whose past successes seem to stifle current
creativity. "There's a distinct lack of passion," says one engineer, who would talk only on
condition of anonymity. "We're missing some spunk" (Troubling exist at Microsoft, 2005).
Still, Microsoft faces serious long-term challenges: the rising popularity of the Linux
open-source operating system, a plague of viruses attacking its software, and potent
rivals such as Google in the consumer realm and IBM in corporate computing (Bessin
and Baskin, 1999; Yoffie and Cosumano, 1999). Operating systems ranging from
Windows 98 to Windows Server 2003 64-bit edition, as well as the Outlook Express e-
mail program, are affected by the problems with the imperfect and insecure codes
(Clark, 2004).
Strategic Information Systems to keep Microsoft ahead in the game
Decisions are classified into structured (repetitive) and unstructured (not routine). This
information will allow the organisation to develop the best strategy to achieving or
fulfilling its mission. Most scholars in strategic management are familiar with the
distinction between "content" research which deals with the content of strategies and
"process" research which examines the strategic decision process and the factors that
affect it. Content research has been quite useful in providing rules and guidelines on the
types of strategies which lead to the best performance for different types of
organisations in different competitive conditions (Schwenk, 1995). Before a company
can achieve improvements in its organisation, the company has to first recognise its
weaknesses (intelligence phase), conceive alternative solutions (design phase), select
the best suited among the alternatives (choice phase) and then execute the best
choices (implementation phase). The question is then asked, what information is
required to increase the competitiveness of Microsoft? Key Success Factors, factors
which must go right if the company is to achieve it’ mission are indications of the
position Microsoft stands in relation to its competitors and where it needs to go. In
implementing systems that will aim at improving its security Microsoft will then increase
its market share as people will be forced to buy. Secondly Microsoft will need to do
intensive research on its competitors, researching the products that they have (and
Microsoft lacks) and improving on these systems. Making sure that its software’s

9. (Microsoft) are always ahead of its competitors; improving on its present systems such
as Internet Explorer, the Microsoft Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Library and Remote
Procedure Call (RPC). Also extending it’s cliental and the types of software’s available
will definitely give Microsoft a competitive edge to its competitors such as the
automotive industry. Competitiveness and efficiency are more important now than at any
time in the history of the automotive industry. Microsoft Dynamics business software can
help with powerful manufacturing, financial, and CRM solutions that support lean
business processes (Microsoft Dynamics solutions for automotive suppliers: Increasing
global competitiveness, 2006). Also Microsoft will need to improve on its human
resources as this is a critical factor to the successiveness in any organisation. On a
tactical level, an enterprise competes for present market share. It does this by offering a
continuing succession of product features and by adjusting price. As the niche fills with
competitors, the competition becomes a squabble and profitability is eroded. On a
strategic level, an enterprise competes for the future by envisioning a new niche,
inventing and fielding the product capability to service the niche first, and reaps the
benefits of this innovation and risk taking. However, “Given human nature, evolving
threat models and the increasing interconnectedness of computers, the number of
security exploits will never reach zero," Gates wrote in the recent letter (Clark, 2004),
(see fig.2).
Characteristics of Operational Tactical Planning Strategic Planning
Information Planning and and Control and Control
Control
Source Largely Internal External
Scope Well defined Very wide
Level of aggregation Detailed Aggregate
Time horizon Historical Future
Currency Highly current Quite old
Required accuracy High low
Frequency of use Very Frequent infrequent
Fig 2: The required characteristics of information in different planning and control
activities
Gory and Scott Morton, 1971
Planning:
For any organization to be successful in the business word and to reach the corporate
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10. ladder business planning is one of the major factor and this allows organization to
handle any un avoidable circumstances which may comes in the way to success of any
organization. Planning ahead of time gives the opportunity to identify any threat and to
utilize business key strength at the right time. A proper business plan gives the precise
picture of the company’s goals and objectives, it does also foresee financial structure of
an organization including financial forecast. Business plan must explain as how the
business is going to be developed and how the finances will be managed.
As I have discussed about the planning and strategy of Microsoft In implementing
systems which aims the security of Microsoft result in increase of its market share,
however by applying right planning formula Microsoft has to go in extensive research
on its competitors and have to watch competitors movement, only planning ahead can
make the difference in the interest of Microsoft.
Types of Information Systems needed to aid in the decision making process at
managerial levels
An information system is a system, whether automated or manual, that comprises
people, machines, and or methods organized to collect, process, transmit, and
disseminate data that represent user information. There are 6 main types of information
systems, these are:
1Executive Support Systems (ESS)
2Decision Support Systems (DES)
3Management Information Systems (MIS)
4Knowledge Work Systems (KWS)
5Office Automation Systems (OAS)
6Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
The three main managerial levels are; strategic, tactical and operational (Fig.3)

11. Figure 3: Strategic, Tactical and Operational BI
Quinn, 2006
It is at these levels that the different information systems are used. ESS is utilized at the
strategic level by senior managers. Business intelligence (BI) is an IS which provides
performance metrics to management and executives, often in conjunction with a formal
management methodology such as Balanced Scorecard or Six Sigma. Strategic
business intelligence, one of the latest crazes, is generally called performance
management (PM). Depending upon which analyst firm you subscribe to, PM might be
preceded by a C for corporate performance management, an E for enterprise
performance management or a B for business performance management (not to be
confused with BPM, the acronym for business process management). ESSs are very
expensive to develop and are used to monitor key performance indicators of the
organization (e.g. Dividends and market share) and comparing them with competitors. It
is at this stage that the decisions made are of an unstructured format and so will take
more time and careful planning. This will indeed be beneficial to Microsoft in aiding in
the decision making process (Quinn, 2006). As suggested by DeLone & McLean (1992),
“… the executive managers are ideally positioned to act as key informants in a
qualitative assessment of IT impacts in their corporations.”
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12. MISs and DSSs are utilized at the management or middle level used by professionals
and staff. In making decisions managers are faced with what is known as limits on
rationality; this is where the human perceptual system is slow, personal biases exist and
personal characteristics such as dogmatism pose to be problems. DSSs assist
managers in this area as they look at all the possible options, analyze them in terms of
cost/risk etc. and then assist in the choice phase. Tactical business intelligence, called
traditional and or analytical in various industry articles, is the application of business
intelligence tools to analyze business trends, frequently comparing a specific metric
(such as sales or expenses) to the same metric from a previous month or year. The
analysts within Microsoft in each department would use online analytical processing
(OLAP) and hoc query to perform this task.
KWS is used by the technical staff especially research and development and this exist
between the lower most level and the middle level. As Microsoft is an innovative leading
company in technologies, it is essential to establish a good knowledge work system in
which the tactical managers and the operational managers within Microsoft branches
in different countries can follow the same standardized knowledge, instructions and
decisions made by the executive level. Standardizing quality control systems and
procedures and smooth functioning in manufacturing processes have occurred when
companies have established good knowledge work systems. With these systems in
place and efficiently utilized Microsoft will definitely stay ahead in the game.
TPSs are basic computerized systems which are used at operational level. This system
can be used to record and process day-to-day transactions of an organization. However
they are most successful for both B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to
customer) companies and in the establishment of innovative and creative transaction
processing systems in which both frontline staff and outside customers can used these
transaction processing systems via online. This will enable these systems to be
operated for dual purposes. Although the main purpose of transaction processing
system is to gather day-to-day transaction information towards the company, these
systems are being adapted as a customer relationship tool innovatively by companies,

13. e.g. online order processing system, online payment and online after sales service
system). Nowadays more or less customer relationship management programmes
(CRM) are integrated with companies’ transaction processing systems and are playing a
vital role for the companies’ long term success. Microsoft could adapt the transaction
processing system at operational level to gather day-to-day transaction information as
well as maintain existing customer relationship by creating online service programmes
(e.g. DELL computers) (Marketing research and business information system, 1996).
Office automation system consists in a fully computerized and automatic system which
can be used at any managerial level in a company. When the office automation systems
have been created by the large companies these systems are operating by themselves
without much human control. Creating an error-free culture within the company, cost
effectiveness & less human interference and speed and accuracy are the main benefits
of a good office automation system. Nowadays the large companies are operating with
their own specific office automation systems in which these companies can manage
their large customer data base as well as other relevant stake holders and cater to all of
them by using intranet and extranet. Microsoft could have a specific and unique office
automation system throughout the branches which could help to manage the large
number of customer data base and relevant stake holders as well as inside and outside
of the organization (Marketing research and business information system, 1996).
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14. Improvement of Customer Relations
In thinking of how Microsoft can improve its customer relation with IS/IT systems
Microsoft has to first analyze its present strategic situation by asking itself some
questions; these are
11-What are the industry’s dominant economic features?
22-What is the competition like and how strong are the competitive forces?
33-What is causing the industry’s competitive structure and business environment to
change?
44-What companies are in the strongest/weakest positions?
55-What strategic moves are rivals likely to make next?
66-What are the key factors for competitive success?
77-Is the industry attractive and what are the prospects for above average
profitability?
The answers to these questions and the IS/IT systems used will improve Microsoft’s
customer relation. The key factor that must affect the industry within the market place is
identifying the basis of customers choosing Microsoft over competing brands. (What can
Microsoft offer me that AOL is not offering me?). Microsoft also needs to ensure that it
has the necessary resources and competitive capabilities to compete successfully and
they need to ensure that they achieve and sustain this competitive advantage. Key
Success Factors (KSFs) are also known as Key Result Areas (CSFs); each key success
area needs a measure of performance or performance indicator. In the software industry
a key performance indicator could be the ability of Microsoft to increase its technology
with new and innovative software’s and browser provider. The customer relations seem
to be improved when the use of technology and efficient flows of information are
available for both parties. The IT/IS facilitates better customer contact and thus bigger
customer loyalty when they can contact the business representatives with no need to
queue, thanks to the Web (online procedures such as e-mails, e-commerce and e-
business) or the telephone itself. This kind of system at the end of the day leaves the
customer and the employees smiling. According to Porter, 1999, “efficiency is achieved

15. by using IT to reduce operating costs or to improve productivity, while effectiveness
comes from using IT to foster greater flexibility and responsiveness to changing market
needs”.
CHALLENGES TO THE ORGANIZATION:
Change is very living part of every organization. In the business world’s, all people like
change. Change can be implemented in many factors. Organizational structure, Policies
and rules, processes, systems, work force, culture, factual activities. Changes are not
new. In past decade, changes are taking place In today’s economy, major three factors
are influenced. They are knowledge, change, and globalization.
The competitive pressure forced the changes in the counties in various parts of the
world and the creation of Free trade agreements. It creates changes in economics,
changes in technology and political changes. Tragic options are value added activities,
Raw Materials, Components, End Products Firm, Specific Knowledge, priority
Technologies, Management Skills, Marketing Skills, Brand Equity Production, know-how
agreements.
Changing is very important context. All business organization faces new challenges
from globalization, new technologies and business models.
Plan for the development of change in an organization I would like to highlight the
process of organizational change as follows-:
Planning for the change to meet the Challenges:
• Analysis of the environmental and social economic system
• Analysis of the stake holders
• Decision making of facilitating community
• Developing of an ECHO System management strategies.
• Negotiation among agencies and other organization
• Strategy of the management system in an organization.
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16. DOING:
• Making changes in the managements
• Building of the capacity
• Experts in projects and advancement of technologies
• Running the management system successfully
• Development of the community
REVIEWING:
• Evaluation of the success and performance of the organization
• Analyze the social and economic outcome of an organizational change
Conclusions
In this ever changing world a corporation needs a lot of things to survive and compete.
Microsoft has been a giant success story in the software industry for approximately 30
years. Being an industry that produces software’s, Microsoft can better improve itself by
using what it produces in aiding decision making at specific levels of management.
Microsoft will guarantee itself success in this rather competitive market by coming up
with creative devices and software’s that are globally craved for. Furthermore, we can
say that strategic business management and planning is a process of making wise
judgment and selection of different options while considering the information available
from different sources. Thus management and planning we decide the aim and
objective of business organization then we look to achieve one common goal that is
professional management and planning.

17. 8.0 References
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• Microsoft Acquires Anti-Spyware Leader GIANT Company New Offerings Will
Help Customers Keep Spyware and Other Deceptive Software off Their
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