Microsoft is a company at a crossroads. On one hand, flagship products such as Windows and Office continue to bring in healthy revenues from both businesses and consumers. On the other, Microsoft faces the prospect of losing ground to Google, Apple and other companies in vital areas such as cloud computing and smartphones. While Microsoft has taken steps to meet these challenges - such as its 'all in' cloud strategy, and the new Windows Phone 7 - it will likely be some time before those newer initiatives' full impact can be felt.
The following executives have a direct hand in whether Microsoft will succeed or fail in its efforts. Most of the list constitutes a 'who's who' of the company's day-to-day executive leadership - such as CEO Steve Ballmer and his various division presidents. Others, such as departing chief software architect Ray Ozzie, have more nebulous but nonetheless decisive parts to play in Microsoft's broader strategy. The vice-presidents mentioned here find themselves in a more tactical position with regard to some of the company's most do-or-die initiatives, such as Windows Phone 7 or online business solutions.
Name: Steve Ballmer
Title: CEO
Most Wall Street analysts seem to love Ballmer for Microsoft's ability to deliver high revenues and profits, but Microsoft's board of directors also recently declined to fulfil his full financial award for the year - thanks in part to the Kin phone fiasco, and the company's falling share in the mobile space.
Name: Kurt DelBene
Title: President of Microsoft Office Division
As Microsoft's most recent quarterly earnings demonstrated, the Office franchise - headlined by Office 2010 - remains one of the company's main product pillars. The release of Office 365, following Office Web Apps, shows the division's involvement in Microsoft's 'all in' cloud strategy.
Name: Ray Ozzie
Title: Chief software architect (departing)
Having inherited the chief software architect title from Bill Gates, Ozzie was instrumental in shaping Microsoft's current cloud strategy. His responsibilities also included initiatives such as the social networking-centric Fuse Labs. His departure date has not yet been announced.
Name: Andrew Lees
Title: President of Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business
As president of the Mobile Communications Business, Lees' job involves shepherding Windows Phone 7 into the marketplace. Given the rising prominence of mobile devices, and Microsoft's need to make up ground lost to Google and Apple, it's also a vital one.
Name: Bob Muglia
Title: President of Microsoft's Server and Tools Business
Microsoft's STB division is a key part of its enterprise strategy. Products that fall under the division's umbrella include Windows Azure, making it vital in Microsoft's cloud-based efforts. In a keynote discussion at October's Gartner conference in Orlando, Florida, Ballmer described the STB division as essentially Microsoft's Azure division.
Name: Don Mattrick
Title: President of Interactive Entertainment Business
The Interactive Entertainment Business is responsible for Xbox 360, Xbox Live and the hands-free Kinect controller. Considering the importance of the Xbox 360 platform to Microsoft's overall fortunes - both the console and its games, especially 'Halo', are frequently cited as revenue drivers - there's a pressing need for the division to perform.
Name: Steven Sinofsky
Title: President of Windows and Windows Live Division
Windows and Internet Explorer represent two of Microsoft's key franchises - perhaps the key franchises, at least for the moment. Windows 7 enjoyed a successful launch - with more than 240 million licences sold to date - but rumours suggest his team is already working on Windows 8, possibly for a 2012 release.
Name: Qi Lu
Title: President of Online Services Division
Microsoft's Online Services Division is responsible for the company's Web portal and search efforts, i.e., the company's primary instrument for challenging Google. Although the division has consistently lost money, Microsoft evidently views its endeavours - and thus Qi Lu's management - as a vital part of future strategy.
Name: Kevin Turner
Title: Chief operating officer
Turner oversees Microsoft's worldwide sales, marketing and services. That means everything from the online advertising sales organisation to Microsoft's nascent retail-stores business.
Name: Peter Klein
Title: Chief financial officer
Klein supervises Microsoft's financial structure. The former CFO of Microsoft's STB division, he's also one of the main voices on the company's quarterly earnings call.
Name: Craig Mundie
Title: Chief research and strategy officer
Being responsible for Microsoft's long-term technology strategy, and interfacing with government officials, positions Mundie to influence the company's direction in long-term ways.
Name: Joe Belfiore
Title: Corporate vice-president of Windows Phone program management
The importance of Windows Phone 7 (and any successors) to Microsoft's corporate strategy makes Belfiore, who oversees the platform's design and “software product definition", a key player.
Name: Jean-Philippe Courtois
Title: President of Microsoft International
Courtois is responsible for Microsoft International's sales, marketing and services, which includes 100 subsidiaries in 240 countries.
Name: Brad Smith
Title: General Counsel and senior vice-president of legal and corporate affairs
Tech titans' battles over patent infringement and intellectual property have increased of late. That, combined with Microsoft's other legal and governmental issues, creates a potential minefield that Microsoft trusts Smith to navigate.
Name: Rick Rashid
Title: Senior vice-president of research
Microsoft invests substantial sums of money in research and development, hoping its labs will produce the next billion-dollar product. Rashid oversees the company's 850 researchers in six global labs.
Name: Kirill Tatarinov
Title: Corporate vice-president of Microsoft Business Solutions
Tatarinov supervises the part of Microsoft responsible for business solutions such as supply-chain management (ERP and CRM), which are vital in the company's competition against Oracle and others.
Name: J Allard
Title: Senior vice-president of design and development for E&D (departed)
Earlier in 2010, J Allard announced he was leaving Microsoft, but would continue to advise Ballmer. Despite the massive shake-up that heralded Allard's departure (as well as that of E&D president Robbie Bach), chances are good that an executive who helped push Xbox and other key products onto the marketplace will continue to have a receptive ear in Redmond's executive suites.
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