Updated: July 14, 2020 (July 26, 2004)

Four Attitudes Toward Technology

Research about small business attitudes has helped Microsoft break down the massive small business market into more manageable segments based on characteristics such as their attitudes toward technology and their management style. This chart illustrates four key groups of small business that Microsoft has identified, and some of their distinguishing features.

	Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Attitude toward IT	Not critical or strategic	A useful tool	Critical to the business	Key to growth
Business attitude	Cautious, price sensitive	Practical, willing to take moderate risks	Supplier, customer requirements drive change	Willing to make big bets
Management style	Founder-driven	Owner-led, with key subordinates	Departmentalized	Collaborative
Network infrastructure	Mostly stand-alone PCs	About half have LANs	Most have LANs, virtual private networks	Most have

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