Strategy management Google Essay Example

product investments. This means that 70% of their investments go towards core search and advertising products while 20% is invested in related products. The remaining 10% is dedicated to experimental products that may have uncertain user adoption and profitability. Some examples of these experimental products are Google News and Froogle.

Although this beta approach aligns with their strategy of under-promising and over-delivering, it raises concerns among users regarding data collection practices and potential information selling by the company. Despite these concerns, Google's stock price reached an all-time high of over $1,000 per share in October 2013 compared to its initial public offering (IPO) price of $85 per share back in August 2004When users visit a Google website or perform searches, information about their visits is recorded by Google's servers. In 2005, Google categorized its products and services under different categories such as "Google.com," "Web and content search," "Communication and collaboration," etc. However, these categories have been simplified to "Search," "Explore and innovate," etc., for clarity in this research. Instead of providing direct links to all products, Google uses words like "more" and "About Google," which can make it challenging for users to find all available offerings. For instance, finding the newest launch like Google Spreadsheets requires users to use keywords for searching and exploring various links. Although this saves space on the homepage, it can make discovering products difficult. Competition from companies like Yahoo!, Microsoft, eBay, and Amazon influences Google's success. To maintain a sustained competitive advantage in its highly competitive environment, Google invests heavily in infrastructure development. In Q3 2013 alone, they invested $2.3 billion on infrastructure, marking a significant 50% increase from the previous

year.
Google's search engine has been highly praised and continuously improved, now handling over 3 billion searches per day. In 2012, it held a market share of about 67%, surpassing Bing's 16% and Yahoo Search's 13%. With more than 100 acquisitions, including YouTube and Motorola Mobility, Google offers a wide range of products and services that highlight its competitive advantage. Among these acquisitions, YouTube dominates the online video market with over 40% market share.

Google fosters creativity and innovation within its workforce, leading to the development of new ideas and products. According to the Resource Based View (RBV), an organization can achieve sustainable competitive advantage by possessing resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable. For Google, its most valuable resource is its search engine which generates a significant portion of its $37.9 billion revenue through advertisements.

Furthermore, Google's employees themselves are valuable resources due to their vibrant culture that supports the creation of innovative tools and services. Additionally, after acquiring Motorola Mobility in 2013, Google gained access to numerous patented technologies that further enhance its portfolio. Moreover, replicating Google's infrastructure scale poses challenges for competitors.

Google Search is renowned for its quick information retrieval and minimalist user interface; hence finding a substitute for it becomes difficult.Google's competitive advantage, according to the Resource-Based View (RBV), lies in its valuable and rare resources that are difficult to imitate or replace. Despite being a young company, Google has established itself as a model by fostering an innovative culture that attracts software developers and engineers through appealing perks like free meals and laundry facilities. This environment promotes imagination and creativity, making brainstorming new ideas essential during periods of economic growth.

However, when the

economy slowed down and the stock market declined, Google had to adapt by becoming more financially responsible while still preserving key aspects of its culture. The modified culture now prioritizes investment in core areas such as search, advertising, and web-based software applications. To achieve this goal, employees from unrelated projects are being reassigned to work on more profitable ideas in these critical areas.

Furthermore, Google encourages employees to consider the potential impact of their ideas on the company's bottom line, particularly if they can enhance the user experience. Moreover, hiring has slowed down as directors must justify hiring decisions based on specific business needs.

Maintaining employee motivation and enthusiasm for targeted innovation is currently the main challenge for Google since they previously focused on experimental innovation. To prevent hostile takeovers and retain control over its operations, Google introduced dual-class equity in its IPO prospectus.Class B stockholders receive 10 votes per share, giving Google's top management team over 80% of the voting power. This structure ensures swift decision-making and allows for one-third ownership of shares. Additionally, Google faces constant competition from rivals in various sectors such as web search, online advertising, radio, mobile devices, and web-based products and services. To combat this competition, the company invested $6.8 billion in research and development efforts in 2011.

In terms of demographics, Google.com attracts over 195 million people monthly with around 60% of Americans visiting on a weekly basis. These users are typically young, affluent college-educated individuals under the age of 50. The number of users is expected to rise due to the increasing prevalence of smartphones.

Google's main cultural impact revolves around enhancing access to information for individuals through features like keyword-based

searches and products such as Google Books and Google Translate. By organizing global information in a universally helpful manner, Google contributes to a more interconnected society.Google's success can be attributed to a variety of socio-cultural and technological factors. Socio-cultural influences, such as traditions, values, social trends, and societal expectations on businesses, can be categorized into population demographics, income distribution, lifestyle changes, and education levels. However, Google stands out by offering its services worldwide without considering demographic differences or income disparities. This inclusive approach gives them an advantage in the market since their tools are available to all. Furthermore, they excel in areas such as search functionality, email services, and advertising capabilities - positioning themselves as a market leader.

In terms of technology factors impacting their success, Google has several key aspects to consider. Their IT infrastructure is highly secure and serves as a competitive advantage. They also stay ahead of the curve by embracing rapid technological change and making new discoveries and developments. Additionally, government research spending plays a role in their success along with access to the latest technology through strategic acquisitions of start-up companies across various fields.

Overall, Google's strong presence in the technology industry is solidified by expanding into operating systems and browsers with Android and Chrome OS. They were early innovators in cloud computing with the introduction of Google Docs before other companies entered this field. In summary,
Google's success stems from its ability to adapt to socio-cultural factors while excelling technologically through strategic acquisitions and innovative approaches like global accessibility to their services.
It operates using a customized version of Linux operating systems called 000 waiters across 25 locations for employee command and flexibility.

One key factor contributing to Google's success is its innovative concepts such as Pagerank, Adwords, AdSense, Gmail, among others. However, there are global pressures that pose challenges for the company. Privacy concerns and fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates are some examples of these challenges. Additionally, increased regulatory scrutiny creates difficulties for Google. The stability of governments also plays a significant role in Google's strategy because it affects businesses' advertising activities on its platform. Most authorities lack specific laws regarding online information sharing which allows Google to effectively exploit legal loopholes. However, China has imposed regulations that restrict Google from operating according to their terms. The Chinese Government implemented the Golden Shield surveillance system to monitor civilian internet usage but it has had minimal impact on Google.Despite various political factors such as taxation policies, employment laws, and environmental regulations, Google remains unaffected.Economically,countries like South Africa, India ,China,and UK have experienced a consistent increase in GDP since the 70s.This positive trend benefits google by attracting higher investments both internally and externallyAs Google's search engine usage and advertising continue to grow, the company can invest in better services and expand its range of products to strengthen its economic position. Additionally, interest rates also impact Google's operations because of its reliance on investments. When interest rates gradually increase in countries such as the UK (8.2%), USA (6.1%), South Africa (13.3%), India (6.6%), or China (6.4%), Google stands to benefit as companies can seek loans for investment purposes or support their business activities by advertising through Google, creating opportunities for the company within these markets.

While inflation rates present challenges for clients or buyers facing increased costs of raw materials annually,

companies overall benefit from income growth resulting from inflation rates ranging between 2.5% and 9.5% per year across the USA, UK India, China,and South Africa in recent years.Companies are prompted to raise prices due to inflation, which subsequently benefits Google through increased advertising revenue.In general, the implementation of surveillance systems has had a limited impact on Google's operations. However, positive economic trends such as GDP growth, increased investments, and favorable interest rates have strengthened the company's position. The challenge posed by inflation is mitigated by increased advertising opportunities, which leads to continued success for Google in various markets.

Google's SWOT analysis and growth strategy highlight the logic, theme, and structure of the company. With 95% of its revenue coming from advertising disguised as minimalist ads, Google's B2B web platform enables targeted ad delivery within a "closed loop" system. The integration of users and clients on their ad service pages is seamless. Adwords support provides various phone numbers for assistance while recovering a Gmail password requires significant effort.

To diversify its revenue streams, Google charges for storage, business apps, and YouTube channels; however, these efforts contribute less than 5% of total revenue. The key to Google's success lies in continuous creativity through addictive utilities that attract and retain a large user base for ad delivery. Increasing the number of users and their visit frequency and duration on any Google property is crucial. Achieving this goal involves delivering ads to as many users as possible (e.g., Gmail or Search) or collecting data to improve ad targeting (e.g., Google+ and Maps).The text discusses how the growth of the "big data" engine brings both new revenue streams and privacy concerns. It

also explores how Google defends against competitors like Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, iPhone, and Twitter who may try to steal users' time. Platforms like Google+ and Play are specifically designed to support Google's presence in cyberspace. The development of organic products, constant upgrades, and acquisitions help Google achieve its objectives while enduring transition costs. The ultimate goal is to immerse users in Google's universe so they have no desire or ability to seek alternatives, willingly providing personal information and spending money. A misunderstood aspect of Google's strategy is its emphasis on market expansion by enlarging users' leisure time online through screens or smart devices, overcoming challenges associated with acquiring new customers and competing with emerging services.Google has two main examples that illustrate its strategy. Firstly, Glass aims to provide users with digital stimulation while still being aware of their surroundings by having its technology literally on their faces. Secondly, self-driving cars alleviate the fear of traffic and travel in certain locations.

Users are able to access a variety of features on Google, such as researching stocks, listening to Google music, and working with Google Docs. To encourage experimentation, Google has top-secret R&D projects in Google X labs and allows employees to spend 20% of their time on personal projects.

Currently, Google dominates the search engine market with a 65% share. To maintain this advantage, it should focus on constant innovation to position itself as a leader rather than a follower. Diversifying its products is also important for staying competitive and reaching a wider audience. For example, they offer various search engine tools like Google Maps, Earth, Translate, and the toolbar. They also provide specific search applications for different

types of data such as images, books, maps, and doctors.

In order for its strategic initiatives to succeed, it is crucial for Google to stay responsive to industry changes in the highly dynamic and disruptive search engine industry. This includes price wars in the smartphone sector and constant innovations from rivals like Microsoft in cloud computing.Google has recognized the importance of acquiring small venture capital corporations like Keyhole Inc., GrandCentral, and Aardvark since 2001. Additionally, they have collaborated with other companies such as DoubleClick to enhance their services, including Google Analytics. To maintain effective business strategies, it is crucial for Google to diversify its merchandise portfolio and adapt to industry changes. These efforts have resulted in numerous achievements for Google, including accolades, increased profits, improved services, innovative advancements, and effectively addressing competitors' weaknesses. Despite the imperfections in the world, Google possesses more strengths and opportunities than weaknesses and threats. This sentiment is even humorously acknowledged on the internet by someone who noted that "The only thing Google hasn't done yet...is fail."