MICROSOFT (WINDOWS 7)

Microsoft (Windows 7)

Microsoft (Windows 7)

Introduction

Microsoft plans to introduce new software products to China and other developing nations. Strategies need to be developed to develop Microsoft into Chinese culture. Brand image and potential will need to be evaluated. The Chinese market needs and risks are analyzed in our paper. In our introductory product launch, we show Microsofts potential for software sales in China.

Marketing mix

Microsoft is globally recognized to be a high quality brand. The company has dominated the market in retail software sales, driven by advertisements and successful marketing strategies. To increase their market share in developing countries, Microsoft faces several challenges, including high pricing for the demographic, piracy of the software, and loose government regulation on illegal software systems. Microsoft will need to overcome these challenges by marketing information to its customer demographic. Xiaobai (2005) has suggested that working with the Chinese government officials to show the importance of product licensing can lead to increased piracy enforcement. With high brand equity in Asian countries, Microsoft will likely be able to expand its market and financially succeed.

Marketing management functions

As any company looks to offer new products or expand into new territory, understanding our market and acting on that knowledge is essential for sales and marketing success (Primary Intelligence, 2007). The Chinese market is expanding; however the business profits are lower than the United States and other countries. Microsoft has experienced an unfortunate start in China. Software prices were extremely high for Windows operating system and office applications. The organization learned the Chinese population pirated Windows and the Chinese government started using Linux, free open-source operating systems.

The product offering is a subscription-based copy of Windows 7 for emerging countries. Despite preventative measures, piracy rates of software in developing nations exceed 90% (Gopal & Sanders, 1998). The product is bit for bit identical to Windows 7 Home Premium available in both Cantonese and Mandarin languages for Chinese consumers. The fundamental difference in the product is how it is priced and how consumers purchase the product. Currently, in the U.S., the only way to purchase Windows is through a perpetual license (it can be used on that PC indefinitely). The product we are introducing will be purchased through a time-based subscription model at time of purchase. If a customer can only afford to pay on a year to year basis they will be able to buy one, two, and three year subscription ...