Every year, Fortune magazine publishes a list of the top 500 largest companies in the United States (Time Warner Co., 2008). Being ranked no. 44 in 2008, Microsoft has increased its revenues by 15.4% since 2006 due to its continuous efforts to release the latest technology (Time Warner Co., 2008). To understand how Microsoft continues to lead in profits, sales, and technology, the consumer must realize that internal and external factors influence how Microsoft behaves and operates. At its core, Microsoft's planning functions are influenced by consumer needs, which continue to influence Microsoft's products and services. The purpose of this document is to identify and explain the internal and external factors that impact management planning functions within Microsoft Corporation. The internal desire to conquer all global markets in the software industry is very challenging, but Microsoft has proven that it can be done with careful planning for rapid change. Externally, the information technology industry changes rapidly, so Microsoft uses a good portion of its resources to keep up with these events. Every location in the world is a different market that needs to be catered to accordingly. To adapt to these specific markets, Microsoft is flexible in quickly changing objectives if the local market does not seem profitable for the company's future. Proper business planning and monitoring ensure that such rapid changes have a benefit for the company. Microsoft's global development section has put a lot of effort into creating software for use in every country in the world, thus creating an external factor within the planning function. They have standardized operating systems so the whole world is on the same page. There are many reasons why Microsoft develops its products globally, including: increased revenue and profit potential, lower support costs, increased customer satisfaction, and advancement over the competition (Microsoft Corporation, 2008). Developing world-ready software is a way to deliver products quickly and at lower cost to international markets. The software must have the ability to support all languages ​​to be effective in the global market, especially when it comes to keyboard data entry. Some of the difficult languages ​​with characters instead of letters (for example Japanese) present a challenge even for the best programmers. Technology can be seen as an internal and external factor within Microsoft's planning function.