Case Study of VMware, Inc., 2008
MGMT-8700 Strategic Management
Peng Zhang-20978246
Lecturer-Sathya Ganganahalli
October 2014
Contents
I. Executive Summary .............................................................................................. 3
II. Description of Business ........................................................................................ 4
III. Business Environmental and Firm's Issues ........................................................... 4
1. External Environment ....................................................................................................... 4
2. Specific Issues for VMware .............................................................................................. 6
IV. Competitor and Industry Analysis ......................................................................... 7
1. VMware's Competitors .................................................................................................... 7
2. Specialty niche Competitor ............................................................................................... 8
3. Industry Analysis Framework ........................................................................................... 9
V. VMware SWOT/TOWS Analysis ....................................................................... 12
VI. Resources, Capabilities and Core Competencies ................................................. 13
1. VMware's Value Proposition .......................................................................................... 13
2. Value Chain ................................................................................................................... 14
3. VMware's Resources ...................................................................................................... 15
4. VMware's Capabilities and Core Competencies .............................................................. 16
VII. Options Analysis ................................................................................................. 17
VIII. Recommendations ............................................................................................ 18
IX. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 19
X. References .......................................................................................................... 20
Table of Figures
Exhibit 1 VMware, Inc.: Stock Price Trend, August 2007- July 2008(2008) ................................6
Exhibit 2 VMware Competitors ...................................................................................................7
Exhibit 3 Hypervisor Deployed in X86 servers(Jewell 2007) .......................................................8
Exhibit 4 Strategic Position Map of the Virtualization Market .....................................................8
Exhibit 5 Porter's Framework on the Virtualization Industry ..................................................... 10
Exhibit 6 The Industry Attractiveness ........................................................................................ 11
Exhibit 7 Virtualization Industry Life Cycle .............................................................................. 11
Exhibit 8 VMware TOWS Analysis .......................................................................................... 12
Exhibit 9 Value Proposition-VMware ....................................................................................... 13
Exhibit 10 Value Chain Analysis ............................................................................................... 14
Exhibit 11 VIRO Framework for VMware ................................................................................ 15
Exhibit 12VMware's Capabilities .............................................................................................. 16
Exhibit 13 Strategic Options for VMware ................................................................................. 17
CASE STUDY OF VMWARE, INC., 2008 OCTOBER 2014 3
I. Executive Summary
VMware, Inc. has established itself as a dominative player in the growing virtualization market.
However, the firm's flagship products which provides a virtual platform to guest operating system,
confronts fierce competition from players such as Microsoft, Citrix and Oracle. Even though
VMware accounts for more than half of the total market, its market share has...