...Competitive Strength Assessment 1. Reveals strength of firms’ competitive position. Google’s gigantic infrastructure is the big barrier to entry for its rivals, and will remain so, as long as the company keeps spending billions on it Google upholds the position as the dominant search engine in the world, with 65 percent of the total search market, according to Hitwise. To maintain Google’s competitive advantage, the company has developed an infrastructure that guarantees a fast and efficient search engine, as well as branching out their efforts in other directions beyond search. Let’s first examine the speed of an average Google search. Any random search takes between 0.06 to 0.12 seconds (Gigaom). Google’s competitive edge is traced to the fact that they’ve built their own infrastructure of servers, storage systems, bandwidth and hardware that supports the fastest search on the web. While the cost for the company is high, as Google spends billions of dollarsin development and upkeep, this competitive strategy builds a formidable wall for other general search engines, such as Bing (formerly MSN Search) which is merging with Yahoo!. At the same time, the cost of building the advanced infrastructure is an investment for Google to ensure that the cost of conducting a query keeps going down. Google’s advantage over competitors is its rapid speed that keeps users coming back. The results of the search may vary, but because of the incredible speed, a user can search...
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...------------------------------------------------- Google Inc. ------------------------------------------------- [Document Subtitle] Ivan Castillo, Poliane Cruz, SharadhChandran Sethuraju Abstract Google case write-up Google Inc. 1. How did Google create a competitive advantage initially (before 2006)? There are many types of competitive advantage, and they can be separated into two categories: advantages based on the firm’s position and advantages based on firm’s capabilities. Advantages based on the firm’s position happen when a company accomplishes superior performance because it was the first to enter the industry. The forms of positional advantage are: positional advantage from an attractive industry structure, positional advantage from heterogeneity within the industry, positional advantage from a network of relationships. Advantages based on the firm’s capabilities happen when a company is definitely better than most of its competitors, at performing certain activities. This type of advantage tends to be hard to identify. However it can be easier by starting with the areas that the firm has already demonstrated success. According to the explanation above, it is possible to say that Google create a competitive advantage initially (before 2006) based on the firm’s capabilities. Google was not the first company in its industry but Google was able to improve the techniques presented in the market and make them its competitive advantage. Yahoo was one of the earliest...
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...Ethical Values: Google is known as one of the best company with strong ethical value. It has created strong work ethics among the employees and business operation. Google made outstanding working environment by outstanding facilities like gym, massage parlors, cafeteria with variety of foods for different types of people, sleeping room and so on they also provide health care service, academic scholarship, childcare facility and many other meaningful facility. These facilities made the employees life joyous which tends to create integrated ethical value. Google as a company run almost each and every function considering the social and environmental impact. For example, companies green credentials includes cooling their power hungry data center, running free bus for employees and encouraging then to drive electric cars. Google also invest heavily in solar and wind power. Their ambition is to become world's first carbon neutral company in future. That’s why Google maintains strong ethical value to run their operation. Competitive Advantage: Google is the most dominant search engine with 65% of total search market. Google has its competitive advantages in different ways by creating the infrastructure that ensures a fast and efficient search engine .it has built its own infrastructure of storage system, server, bandwidth and hardware that are fastest search on web. Rapid speed of Google makes user coming back which is a competitive advantage over competitors. This company...
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...factors and use those factors to obtain a competitive advantage within the environment. The author will discuss how an organization creates value and sustains a competitive advantage through strategies. How an organization measures success to identify the effectiveness of a strategy. The author will identify the strategies of various companies and identify tactics that make the company successful. Competitive Advantage An organization that has a strategic advantage over its competitors that enables the organization to have greater sales and retain more customers is believed to have a competitive advantage. Many organizations have a competitive advantage within technological industries to include: Google, Apple, and Amazon. Each organization creates value in its products and services to stay ahead of the competition. Google is considered the industry leader when it comes to search and has 65% of the search market, according to Hit Wise. The company maintains its competitive advantage by developing a diversified infrastructure that gives them the ability to provide high-speed searches and branch out into other industries. Goggles infrastructure is made up of hardware, bandwidth, storage systems and servers. The company has access to all kinds of information about the organization from all over the world and can easily track the competitions movements. Google has developed a brand and tools that customers have learned to depend on. Google has expanded into the mobile phone industry...
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...Brian Haggard, Win Qin Google strives to “organize the world’s information … and make it universally accessible and useful”. The most effective and profitable way to accomplish this mission is to put the needs of Google’s users first. How will Google accomplish this immense goal in an ever-changing market? Google’s Strategy in 2011 Zhengzheng Bao, Brian Haggard, Win Qin Google strives to “organize the world’s information … and make it universally accessible and useful”. The most effective and profitable way to accomplish this mission is to put the needs of Google’s users first. How will Google accomplish this immense goal in an ever-changing market? 08 Fall 08 Fall BA5080-Business Strategy BA5080-Business Strategy Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 3 2 Analysis 6 3 Appendix 14 4 Specific Strategic Statement 17 5 Functional Strategies 17 6 Critical Assumptions 17 7 Works Cited 19 Executive Summary In January of 1996 an Internet search engine company initially named BackRub soon grew into what is now Google Incorporated. Partners Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with a few investors lived on a shoestring budget. By year-end 1998 Google Inc. was handling 10,000 search queries each day. Google was also voted one of the top 100 Web Sites and Search Engines in 1998. Google was recording successes at a lighting speed pace and embarked on their Initial Public Offering on April 29, 2004. Google has found itself amidst...
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...Strategy in 2012: A Strategic Case Analysis BUS 5480: Strategic Management Professor: February 6, 2014 Executive Summary The origin of the name Google might explain the excess in capture of vast business verticals by Google’s internet and technology services. ‘Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin named the search engine they built "Google," a play on the word "googol," the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros’ (Bhatia, 2012). Through our strategic analysis of Google Inc. we provide for a discussion on profitability of Google. Based on competitive advantage, strategic management and the Five-force model of competitive forces, we better understand the nature and strength of competitive pressures within the internet and technology industry. Google must remain a differentiator among competitors to retain market share. The evolution of “search” capabilities on the internet has been the driving force from the beginning. In 2012 Google is the leading search firm with nearly ‘67% market share in search from home and work and 95% market share performed from mobile devices’ (Thompson, et al, 2013). For Google to remain profitable is to focus on the key business model that is still driving hard revenue and to reach into those verticals that are working, while leaving the losers behind. In the year of 2012 Google captured 67% of search in the U.S., with 29% of the balance going to Yahoo and Microsoft. Advertising revenues from search drove over $36 billion of $37...
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...Google announced on August 15, 2011 its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the biggest acquisition this online search and software company has ever made. It is interesting enough that Google chose to perform a strategic alliance with Motorola Mobility. Motorola is a great American company with a rich history of innovation including the invention of the first cell phone. As a result of this acquisition the expected result is to utilize Motorola Mobility’s IT resources to help maintain that sustainable competitive advantage. With Motorola Mobility now being under Google, the company would benefit from the expertise of the existing Motorola engineers and employees, and would be able to more closely integrate their Android OS with hardware, allowing them to compete with Apple’s Iphone/IOs. While it’s true that with this $12.5 billion acquisition, Google intends to improve their sustainable competitive advantage by using IT Hardware from Motorola Mobility, I believe it is only a small part of their overall approach to be competitive. In the book Managing & Using Information Systems, the authors Pearlson & Saunders point out in chapter 2, Google’s main competitive advantage “Google’s search algorithm is a source of competitive advantage for the search company” (P.51). In order to keep a sustainable competitive advantage Google should continue to build on their strengths by introducing innovative products, continued releases of their Android OS, and seeking out strategic alliances...
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...MICROSOFT’S SEARCH | STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT | ASSIGNMENT # 04 | Submitted by: 1. Sheheryaar Mahmood 2. Amna Aslam 3. Madeeha Tahir Class: MBA-IV (F) Submitted to: Sir Suhaib Baluch Date: 12.03.2012 MICROSOFT’S SEARCH SUMMARY * In September 2008 the executives at Microsoft looked at alternatives to improve the company’s position. * The company got serious about search five years back, made great progress, but still lacks behind Google. The division leader is looking for a new ‘game changer’ move which helps then catch and pass Google. Microsoft in 2008: * Since its origin, Microsoft has grown to sell a complex line of software, services, and hardware. * The historical heart of the company was its line of operating systems for PCs, which was introduced in 1980. IBM had come to Bill Gates looking for someone to build a PC operating system. Gates purchased an OS and modified it to meet IBM’s needs, and named it MS-DOS. Rights to use this system were sold to IBM. * During the 1980’s this system dominated a rapidly growing market for PCs. * By 1990, clone makers (Compaq, Dell, etc.) were licensing MS-DOS for $15 per PC. Microsoft’s OS ran 90% of the worlds PCs, while Apple had a 7% share. * Apple launched Macintosh in 1984, and Microsoft introduced Windows 1.0. In 1990 Windows 3.0 was introduced, then Windows 95, 98, XP and finally Vista in 2007. * Development costs rose from $500 million for Windows 95 to $10 billon...
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...Google Inc., is a giant, an Internet giant with the record of 22.9 billion dollars solely on the advertising revenues in 2009. Furthermore, Google cooperation is the indisputable leader of the internet search. It’s so big that every generation knows about it. In the October of 2013, Google‘s shares has been surged to a high record of more than 1000 dollars per shares. Solely by the comparison, Google’s initial public offering in August 2004 was 85 dollars per share. In less than ten years Goggle price has increased rapidly and nearly 1200%. What makes Google so successful? It’s their competitive advantage. Today we are going to discuss about Google and their competitive advantage which make them successful. Google operates in a very competitive...
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...strategic focus (discuss competitive advantage in this section) Both Facebook and Google make the vast majority of their money through advertising. This is somewhat ironic because both companies were either outright hostile or uninterested in advertising when they were first formed. Google’s cofounders actually wrote a paper warning against the “evils of advertising” and Facebook was originally designed solely as a place for friends to stay connected. After failed attempts at raising revenues, both Google and Facebook turned to advertising as a way to generate revenue. While both make the majority of their money through advertisements, they go about it in two different ways. The result of each company’s competitive advantage is the access both Google and Facebook have with a worldwide consumer base. The interesting thing, is that while the results are the same, the sources of competitive advantage for both companies are different. Facebook focus’s its business model on social media. As such, it relies on heavy volume and exposure to generate advertising revenue for its advertising base. Facebook’s Competitive Advantage is its massive base of potential consumers for advertisers. Facebook has approximately 1.4 billion user’s worldwide which is an excellent platform to sell advertising space. Google is trying to enter the social media market with Google(+). The overall success of this venture remains to be seen. As a result, its current competitive advantage is found with its...
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...related searches and the positive impacts of Google’s competencies towards its business model. Moreover, this report provides recommendations that Google are effectively able to utilise. Introduction Google, a provider of multiple products and services, with the mission to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, is the number one web search engine. Additionally, Google has an old online shopping service site whose rivals include Amazon and eBay (Newth, F 2012). However, recently, in 2012, Google announced its adaption of a new paid model, where retailers were now starting to get charged. Moreover, the bases discussed throughout the report will be grounded in Google’s competency test, and its impact towards Google business model (Newth, F 2012). Google’s development of new strategicresources, dynamic capabilities and core competency Google’s recent change of passing on costs, a fee, to online retailers who display their products on the Google online shopping site (Hartwig, J. I 2012), will require Google to develop new strategic resources, dynamic capabilities and a core competency. Firstly, developing new strategic resources to work aside Google’s new paid model (Hartwig, J. I 2012), will mean that Google will need to improvise on teaching Google employees currently working in the Google online shopping sector, to adapt to the new changes appropriately, through being educationally mentored on new policies, procedures and most importantly...
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...1.Google believed in capability based advantage. Search engine market before Google, was dominated by Yahoo so Google never had the first mover advantage. Downstream competitive advantage: Innovation and Expansion of its traditional Web Internet services. Brin & Page saw this unmet need for a quicker and better search engine and developed an all-together new algorithm for Google, providing benefit of relevant, to the point, and quick search. 1998: PageRankTM Algorithm favored pages that were referred by other pages and was determined by counting its inbound link. Till now the only source of revenue was licensing search technology to other search engines, no advertising revenues. Dec 1999: Paid Listing, cost per impression basis, i.e. they changed advertisers each time user views thread irrespective of clicking on the link. Mid 2001: Without spending on Marketing, Google became the 9th largest website in US. 2002: Google adopted a variant of cost per click (CPC) model. They weighted CPC by actual click through rate (CTR) to its expected CTR, i.e. Ads with higher CTR received more prominent position and vice-versa. This maximized their revenue. Google launches Froogle, a product search that identifies merchants for specific products along with prices. Merchants paid neither for their products to appear nor for referral fees when user clicked. May 2002: AOL switches fully to Google Algorithm and paid listing. March 2003: Launches contextual paid listing called AdSense, presented...
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...Google Case Study 1. Competitive forces of search engine industry Search engines have become necessity of life for the individuals. Their dependency on these search engines have been increasing to a considerable degree. In this context, their popularity has given rise to few search engine players in the market, among which the Google is holding the largest share of market and great popularity (Montgomery and Porter, 2004).They are offering various services like relationship with internet users through social networking, wed search and advertising which in turn have enhanced the competition among search engine players. According to Porter’s five force model, power of buyers can be considered as the strongest competitive factor that has been attracting many shareholders to get associated with Google’s services. The business men are investing big amount on advertising and fast communication with companies. Outsourcing of work has become even easier through these SEO’s. On the contrary, the threat of new entrants is the weakest competitive factor as per Porter’s model. New search engine players are trying to penetrate the market constantly. However, the Google’s popularity has been restricting the forceful entry of new players. In addition...
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...Marketing Innovation 14 Diffusion of technical know-how across more companies and more countries 14 Dominant Economic Features 15 Market size and growth: 15 Number of rivals: 15 Number of buyers: 15 5 Competitive Forces 16 Competitive Landscape 17 Financial Analysis 18 Identification of Rivals 19 Percent of Searches 19 Financial Summary from 2007 19 Financial Summary from 2009 19 Yahoo 20 Microsoft Online Services 21 Analysis of Company Strategy 22 Executive Summary To: Eric Schmidt, CEO From: Tyler Echevarria, Amanda Osburne, & Samantha Smith Re: Strategic Analysis of Google Inc. Date: April 7, 2010 This report will make recommendations for improvement of Google Inc. based on the analysis of the company’s financial resources and industry evaluations. Several analytical tools will be used in determining the direction the company should pursue. These analytical tools and techniques include the following: * Evaluation based on SWOT analysis * Evaluation based on Key Success Factors * Evaluation of Google’s business model and strategy * Analysis of financial data * Evaluation of current industry conditions These tools will be used to recommend new opportunities for Google to pursue as they continue to seek growth. Google has performed quite well recently, but must continue to push the technology frontier in order to continue this growth. Using the analysis of Google’s current situation, three recommendations have been...
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...determined through thorough evaluation of the external environment. The group would be answering the seven questions in assessing the company's industry and competitive environment. The first question is do the dominant economic characteristics of the industry offer sellers opportunities for growth and attractive profits? The search industry has a large market size. The case states that there are beyond 103 million Americans and an estimated 2 billion people worldwide who surfs the internet from smart phones. And almost all companies and people use computers and the internet. With these, advertisers are more willing to invest on the search industry. Most of the time, companies in the search industry competes globally but there are also search companies that caters to the local company like Baidu in China. With the numerous internet users, it creates opportunity for the search industry to broaden the scope of their products Usually in this type of industry, the market is not segmented, broadening its reach to the people and favoring the advertisers. The industry is in the rapid growth and takeoff position in the life cycle. With the increasing technological capabilities, it seems that potentials in the next years are limitless and the industry would continue to grow. The second question is what kinds of competitive forces are industry members facing, and how strong is each force? For the bargaining power of buyers, it is moderate. The primary source of revenue of the industry...
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