# kaal:claim:3411897-014

**Claim.** Microsoft under Steve Ballmer missed the shift to networked technologies and mobile consumption because it focused on short term financial metrics rather than on designing products relevant to the next generation of consumers, and so ceased to be relevant despite excellent traditional metrics.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** evidenced

**Holds when.**

- Ballmer's tenure as CEO from 2000

**Source quote.**

> Microsoft missed these developments because it focused on short-term financial metrics, rather than on designing products relevant for the next generation of consumers.

**From.** Wulf A. Kaal, *Decentralization - Past, Present, and Future* (2019), Part I: The Past, How We Got This Far, page 21

**Cite as.** Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization - Past, Present, and Future (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3411897

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `82f0aea026b3e3a526ec51bc073b3b864dc06cd9083ff9c54c550037045edaa9` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Kaal%20-%202019%20-%20Decentralization%20-%20Past%2C%20Present%2C%20and%20Future.pdf

**Failure mode.** metrics-driven-irrelevance  (family: short-termism)

**Topics.** risk-and-incentives

**Keywords.** microsoft, short-termism, relevancy, incumbent-failure

**Related claims.**

- extends: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-006
- supports: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-004

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of the claim. Its sha256 is the content hash used for attestation.