Time ContextEssay Preview: Time ContextReport this essayTime ContextIn the dot-com bubble, Sun began making much more money, and its shares rose dramatically. It also began spending much more, hiring workers and building itself out. Some of this was because of genuine demand, but much was from web start-up companies anticipating business that would never happen. In 2000, the bubble burst. Sales in Suns important hardware division went into free-fall as customers closed shop and auctioned off high-end servers.
Summary of the CaseSun Microsystems, Inc. began in 1982 with all their systems having a network interface and all four of their employees using email. Sun, also, initiated a workstation that included TCP/IP, transmission control protocol with Internet protocol, which is now known as the Internet protocol suite.
Sun emerged as the number one database platform by forming alliances with Sybase, Oracle, Ingres, and Informix during 1989. During 1991, Suns market share in RISC rose to 63%.
*The first universal software platform was introduced during 1995.*The number one supplier of UNIX multiuser disk subsystems was Sun.*In 2001, Sun has offices in 170 countries, is a $19.2 billion global leader in network computing solutions.* “Take it to the nth”Through 1994, Sun workstations and servers were used to reduce costs and improve public safety during a retrofit of the Golden Gate Bridge. Suns home page, sun.com was established. Sun provided up-to-minute information for the 1994 World Cup Soccer game over the Internet..
Vision StatementThe vision of Sun is “The Network is the Computer”. Suns vision is of computers that can talk to each other no matter who built them. Technology works for the user, not the provider.
Statement of the ObjectiveTo determine the importance of analyzing and understanding the firms external environment.To provide information that would guide firms on how to cope with the changing environment.To determine several factors that is useful to the firms in formulating strategy.Central ProblemHighly uncertain environmentBloated cost structureSlow adaptation to changesAreas for Consideration (SWOT ANALYSIS)StrengthsCustomer view Sun as repository of wisdom and competenceStrong portfolio of productsStrong performance of disk storage systemsGood at repositioning productsImproving operating efficiencyWeaknessesDeclining revenues from the USExcessive dependence on single customerTraditional business being eaten away by PCs
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All of the above is part of our experience of the environment as a management model—and not just a market. But, for me, it’s not just one of these cases – it is something I believe we are working towards with my companies.
Our experiences are not limited to the markets in which we operate, but are also being used by those around us. This gives new opportunities for companies to do more with less. We’re trying to show how our experiences, driven by our shared sense of common value and belief, can shape how we manage, analyze, and manage businesses.
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Our strategy is to build our business model around two important goals: create an understanding of key aspects of the world and then, together, design an execution plan that will support a wide range of business scenarios
We can see, for example, these three main factors driving our success with this new, more efficient approach:
Understanding
The ability to use the cloud as a starting point; and how to combine products, services, and processes in one place
Identifying
the complexity of the underlying technologies and processes; and, providing effective, efficient, and predictable systems and solutions for them
We can see examples over time of various businesses using products, services, and processes in complex ways. The world is changing and businesses are in need of technology to make it easier to compete. The world is changing but that doesn’t mean the business ecosystem as we know it is stagnating.
Creating that understanding means getting the most out of the new technologies, from cloud to mobile; from the use of technology to address and automate some of these fundamental problems.
By building our business model around these three important factors, we can make sense of the opportunities we have and the challenges that can face us. While they may sound counterintuitive to some, most of us are aware that these are the two most pressing matters and that they will play important roles in shaping the business, such as in adapting to changes in the IT environment. The important thing we have learned over the course of five years in IT consulting is that it’s not enough just to know who is doing what; to also know where to find the resources and the solutions.
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We are starting to understand how the global cloud will change the way we perceive the world and how we work in it. But, as with any new business opportunity, there are a lot of unintended consequences:
We may become a company that requires additional infrastructure in the cloud;
We may need to rethink the way we think about the IT environment.
Our customers may no longer have to navigate on the web or on to an offline system to solve the problem of scaling a business. Our customers may not necessarily want to purchase products that have to be sold to them online.
We may continue to see smaller and smaller businesses with fewer services have to deal with the scale