Microsoft and its investment in Ireland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Microsoft and its investment in Ireland - Essay Example A lot of work is done in Ireland unit of Microsoft which ranges from software development to operations, finance to localization, marketing etc (Microsoft, 2011). The first significant investment done by Microsoft since its inception in Ireland was the establishment of the EMEA Operation Centre. The European development centre which is the research and development centre for entire Microsoft Europe was established in 1988. The research and development work for the large range of products like windows, MS Office, Windows Live, Forefront, XBOX, MSN etc. About five hundred people are employed in this centre. This centre provides a vast variety of activities which ranges from customer support to providing business services, manufacturing to financial activities, billing, supply chain management activities etc. This is one of the important investments made by Microsoft in Ireland. The second significant investment done by Microsoft Ireland during the early nineties was setting up the â₠¬ËœSales, Marketing and Service Group’. The group offering sales, marketing and other related services are operating in Microsoft Ireland since 1991. The main activity of this group is to do the total sales and market the products and the services to all the customers and other business partners across Ireland. The customer group ranges from small personal computer user to business enterprises. This group comprises of a varied group of professional such as sales professionals, marketing professionals, technicians, and finance professionals etc who with their special skills and experience add value to the organization and its products and services. This was a very special and... It is evident from the study that globalization has paved the way for companies to invest and expand across the international frontiers. Companies generally expand to various countries to tap the favourable business condition of the foreign land. Foreign investments not only influence the business prospects of the foreign company but also have a strong impact on the overall economic, social and technological performance of the host country. In other words foreign direct investments influence the performance of the company as well as the performance of the country too. Foreign investments are generally made in that country which has good business prospects in other words where the company can expect good returns and where the business is hassle free. On the other hand a country also encourages foreign direct investments in those sectors which is expected to support and promote the overall development of the economy as well as the generation of employment. From the year 1985 Microsoft has started its business in Ireland and after then the country becomes an important base for Microsoft. Microsoft has continued to invest more and more in the country as the revenue from the country also increased. In the 1990s Ireland becomes an attractive country for the multinational companies for doing business especially the information technology based companies as the Irish government has started many policies, as a result of which the population become more educated and the education was more industry oriented.