c
 



   
  










   

  

   


À

 
y 

 
   After years of putting money into other markets and
concentrating their financial resources in established alliances, Sun Microsystems leveled out
in fiscal years 2004 and 2005. They don¶t really have any borrowing power because the
majority of their collateral assets are inventory. Also, with each administrator having
multiple titles (founder, chair, CEO, and acting COO, CFO, etc.) there are little resources for
generating funds internally.
y ^
 


  £t seems as though the majority of the time specified in the
case, that there was a decentralized organizational hierarchy. That is, until it reached
Masood Jabbar and then it became uber-centralized. The business managers, US and foreign,
answered to Jabbar who then answered to McNealy.
y c
 
  Software, Hardware, and Service systems; an established chip
maker
y À


 
  Excessive amounts of research and development




 
y 

   McNealy still with the company provides stability and a sense of
where to go based on where the company has been. Jabbar who had the foresight of the
markets that needed to be introduced to the company.
y 


 


   Other than the research and development that has taken the life
of the company to develop and expand, there is not much else in Sun Microsystems ³back
pocket´.
y  


   loyal customer base, known for ³The Network is the
Computer´

Sun Microsystems is the iPhone of the 1990s and early 2000s. Their products have the same
components as the more cost-effectively made models but Sun marketed the fact that they had
the higher-end materials inside their products. ³«Technological advancements led to
performance improvements«making use of these advances and using various sources of
leverage to lower cost structures, many firms were able to offer products similar to Sun¶s, but at
a fraction of the price´ (pg 306).

c
 


   
 
  

   
 


 




Sun has the technological ability to build their products without relying on third-party
manufacturers for the majority their parts. This does not serve as a core competence but acts as
the opposite since this makes it impossible for Sun to lower their costs and in turn to lower the
customer¶s price.
They do have an excessive amount of research and development that could one day lead to a
competitive advantage but Sun is going to need to develop something based on their research in
order for it to be useful.

à


  
 
  
       
 
 
 
 
 
   À  


  

 


  
   
 
  
  
    



 

c


   
    
 

   


ü  à    agree that Sun does not have any. Too much is wasted on R&D and not
enough on making a marketable and affordable product

à


  agree here as well. Many competitor companies are producing the same
things as Sun at fractions of the cost.



    as a service, Sun is non-substitutable. Their product is the complete
package, whereas other companies put together a piece of their hardware with someone else¶s
operating system and then the customer puts that assembled product on a network of their
choosing. As a product, any other computer company has the same basic functionality with their
product as Sun can claim.

c
 !"!#$%

Strengths: established as a company and a service

Weaknesses: reliance on markets outside of the US

Opportunities: Java Enterprise System

Threats: continuance of operations with £ntel

2