Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Emerges From the Cocoon of Bureacracy

Be like Apple
On a high level, this is largely the structure that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has employed. The Mac maker has groups that work on individual products, but organizationally the company’s primary departments are for software engineering, hardware engineering, and online services, and other functions. There is no overarching “iPhone” department; instead, there are employees within each organization that work on different products. To get a better picture, here is an organizational chart that Fortune compiled back in 2011.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) just made its own organizational changes last year under Tim Cook in the name of greater collaboration. The changes weren’t as sweeping as Microsoft’s, but the underlying goal is identical. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also had a software exec (Scott Forstall) that had a bad reputation of not playing well with others.

Back to the future
As Microsoft embarks upon its fiscal 2014, it’s facing a computing landscape that favors integrated offerings. It’s also safe to say that competition over the future of computing has never been more intense. Mobile is here to stay and Apple and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) call the shots there. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has started to gain traction, recently becoming the No. 3 smartphone platform over Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), but it has a long way to go if it hopes to remain relevant in an era of integrated mobile computing.

The restructuring is an important step in the right direction.

The article Microsoft Emerges From the Cocoon of Bureacracy originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Evan Niu, CFA.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

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