Steve Ballmer, CEO / Microsoft
The Microsoft CEO—whose five-year tenure has come under scrutiny of late—faces criticism over the company&'s stagnant stock price and an increasingly diverse set of threats, ranging from software-as-a-service and open-source development to the Apple iPod and Google search engine.
Ballmer is responding by drawing up new plans to accelerate growth. To that end, he has invested heavily in the search arena, introducing new search capabilities in MSN, Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7.
He also signed accords with rivals Palm, RealNetworks and Yahoo to grow Microsoft&'s mobile and Internet services businesses.
And to energize the company&'s software-based services strategy, he reorganized Microsoft&'s seven business units into three divisions. The Platform Products and Services Division, for example, is tasked with developing Windows Live and Office Live services and integrating other software-based services with its server and client platforms.
After the fall of Netscape, few doubt Microsoft&'s ability to dispose of threats by leveraging its existing platforms and integrating the services into Windows and Office quickly.
“There&'s a significant risk that the marketplace is moving on past the fat-client technologies that are Microsoft&'s only really profitable products,” says Paul DeGroot, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft. “However, Microsoft is formidable when it faces real competition, and this is where a good cheerleader is important: Ballmer is good at articulating those challenges and encouraging the team to beat them.”
But great cheerleaders don&'t win ballgames, DeGroot says. Ballmer will also have to keep his stars from leaving the team, which has been a struggle since the company eliminated its generous stock options in 2004.
ALLISON WATSON
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Vice President, Worldwide Partner and Worldwide Small Business Group
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MISSION:
In her new role, she's turning up the heat on Microsoft's small-business activities and is more closely aligned with longtime Microsoft exec Jeff Raikes.
MARGO DAY
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Vice President, U.S. Partner Group
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MISSION:
In her new role, she's turning up the heat on Microsoft's small-business activities and is more closely aligned with longtime Microsoft exec Jeff Raikes.