1. If Microsoft does not build a cloud computing business, what might happen to the company over the next decade? Why did the company decide that it had little choice but to invest in cloud computing?
2. The case talks about Microsoft's strengths, which might help it to build a cloud computing business. It does not talk about weaknesses. Can you think of any weaknesses that the company might have?
3. How does the business model for cloud computing differ from the traditional business model used by companies such as Microsoft? What are the implications of this new business model for Microsoft's future financial performance?
4. To develop its cloud computing business, Microsoft implemented a self-contained unit within its organization dedicated to that task. Why do you think that it did this?
5. Cloud computing is still in its infancy. If business history teaches us anything, it is that events often do not turn out the way that planners thought they would. Given this, might it have been better for Microsoft to adopt a "wait and see" attitude? What would be the benefits of delaying investments? What would have been the costs?
With Microsoft's business model being threatened, the company faces the need for a plan that would bring them back to profitability and to re-position themselves as successful in the technology market. The plan, cloud computing, is positioned as an answer to many environmental trends and has the potential for success but Microsoft must remain aggressive in its stronghold of the initiative among pressing competition.