1. How would you characterize the Oracle business strategy (i.e., cost leadership, differentiation, niche, or a combination of all three)? Explain your answer.
2. Conduct an external and internal analysis of Oracle. Briefly describe those factors that influenced the development of Oracle’s business strategy. Be specific.
3. In what way do you think the Oracle strategy was targeting key competitors? Be specific.
4. What other benefits for Oracle and for the remaining competitors such as SAP do you see from further industry consolidation? Be specific.

Oracle ‘s completion of its $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems on January 28, 2010, illustrated how in somewhat more than five years the firm has been able to dramatically realign its focus. Once viewed as the premier provider of proprietary database and middleware services (accounting for about three-fourths of the firm’s revenue), Oracle is now seen as a leader in enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and supply chain management software applications. The purpose of this case study is to show how industry-wide trends, coupled with increasing recognition within Oracle of its own limitations, compelled the firm to radically restructure its operations.