Competitive Strategies Case Study

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7: A Competitive Response to Mozilla’s Firefox?

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Abstract:
Microsoft Corporation launched the latest version of its web browser, Internet Explorer 7, in October 2006. Some industry analysts believed that the latest offering from Microsoft was more as a response to the pinch it was feeling in terms of market share erosion since 2004, when its nearest competitor, Mozilla Corporation released Firefox 1 rather than a proactive market strategy. Internet Explorer 7 was reported to include various features that were pioneered by Mozilla like integrated search window, tab browsing and pop-up window blocker besides adding certain enhanced security features. However, at the juncture of Microsoft’s latest release, Mozilla was reported to release Firefox 2, an upgraded version of its earlier web browser. The two back-to-back releases were found to herald a new era of strategic warfare between the corporate entities fighting for their dominance in the web browser market.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To seek an overview of the competitive landscape in the web browser market during the 1990s
• To understand and analyze the competitive strategies of Microsoft and Mozilla over the years
• To analyse the future implications of Internet Explorer 7’s launch by Microsoft.

Keywords : Internet Explorer; Mircrosoft; Mozilla; Netscape Navigator; Web browsers; Safari; Competitive Strategies Case Study; Opera; Open source; Windows XP; Windows Vista; Downloadable applications; HTML (hypertext markup language); Phishing protection; Firefox 2; Integrated search window

Contents : 
Web Browsers: The Competitive Landscape over the Years
Microsoft’s IE7: A Competitive Response
The Growing Usage Share of Firefox
Factors Causing the Browser Usage Switch
The Consumer Switch Between Web Browsers
The Microsoft Anti-trust Case