Boston, MA 06/30/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is shaking up its regional office in Africa in clear attempts by the company to increase its penetration in emerging markets. The new leadership lineup is expected to be unveiled this week at a press conference in South Africa.
A Source reveals that the company will this week appoint the current head of South Africa operations, Mteto Nyati, as head of the Africa region. The place of Nyati in South Africa will be taken by Zoaib Hoosen, who is currently the chief operating officer in South Africa.
The latest regional leadership shakeup will see all African operations reporting to Africa region instead of Middle East as was the case previously. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has apparently added a new layer in its regional operations in efforts to increase the company’s penetration in the emerging markets.
More products to offer
The company currently has more to offer, and Africa is an important market especially for its cloud, software and hardware products. The company acquired the device and services arm of the Finnish company Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), which turned it into an overnight smartphone maker. The low-cost smartphones are vying for market share with devices from China that are offered at competitive prices in emerging markets such as India and Africa.
The company also has great interest in Africa for its cloud solutions where enterprise adoption of cloud computing is projected to experience meteoric growth in the coming years.
As such, reorganizing African leadership of the company seems to respond to the new business strategy in the company, which is an aggressive approach to business opportunities in emerging markets.
Game console
The reorganization of the African leadership office at Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) comes at a time when it is emerging that the company spends less on TV advertisement for its Xbox One console than rival Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), which offers PlayStation 4. A report by research firm iSpot revealed that Sony spent $59 million by May 2014 on TV ads for PlayStation 4. That compared with $34.7 million spent on Xbox One ads in the same period.
Perhaps the disparity in TV ad spending explains why Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has sold 5 million units of Xbox One while Sony has sold 7 million units and why the company is keen on boosting its regional operations.
