...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 a very competitive industry, which fundamentally competes to provide higher technology to users, low prices for advertising, and capacity to engage suppliers to subscribe to the search engine. Google, who is well known in the ever-changing search engine industry, must find a way to survive and compete. One of the biggest tasks...
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...“I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check. If that was the case, Microsoft would have great products.” Steve Jobs, Cnet News. May 10, 2007 1. Patterns in Microsoft’s response to competitive threats and opportunities Standardization and simplification, complementary products, aggressive market penetration strategies (tenacity, deep investments and bundling), aggressive deal making. If I were to quote Microsoft’s best and most genius strategy that allowed them to gain impressive market share and become virtually impregnable in OS and application software market, it would be standardization (=compatibility) and simplification. They made their products easy to use, switch between and upgrade, which saved their clients a good amount of money in training and re-training employees, equipping new sites, etc. They looked past minor competitive losses in favor of bigger gains that would allow them to ultimately win market share, as in the example when they made their Office package available on Mac OS while Lotus and WordPerfect were hesitant to do so, even though Apple had many products competitive to Microsoft offerings. Another winning strategy was to produce complementary products: OS and applications that were perfectly compatible, as well as making these products available for different PCs and operating systems (=Apple) thus making Microsoft products ubiquitous and omnipresent. Impressive profits and large cash account further allowed Microsoft to...
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...done. In our analysis we focus on four major categories: the company’s history, how did this company rise to the current level of prominence?, product, why is the company held in such esteem by the public?, company culture, how does culture promote employee morale and approval? and lastly, current and future status, where is the company now and how will it remain relevant in the future? History/Foundation Sergey Brin and Larry Page adopted the name Google in 1997. Sergey and Larry developed “a formula to rank the order of random search results by relevancy.” (McLellan, 2014) By 1998 the two had gone to the World Wide Web Conference with their idea of the Google search engine. It wasn’t until 1999 that they had raised about 30 million dollars in funding and later launched the site. In 2001 Eric Schmidt was appointed as Google’s CEO. Google launched advertising services in 2001 and 2002. In 2001 they launched AdWords; which is a search based advertising service. They also launched a context-based service AdSense in 2002. Up until 2004 the company had stayed private and it was later that year that they went public. Google has made various investments throughout the years starting in 2005 when it “invested $1 billion for a 5% stake in AOL.” (McLellan, 2014) One of the most expensive purchases that Google has ever made was in...
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...(Case Ch 6) Search Engines in Global Business 1. Google: Started in 1998 Provides in-depth result Diversified product lines & services Highly dependent on advertising Constant need to tweak the layout and results Yahoo: Launched in 1994 Global leader in daily habits Selling of placement advising links Baidu: Introduced in 2000 Adapted to the research of Chinese words English site for developers Recently introduced in Brazil Bing: Launched in 2009 Microsoft/Yahoo alliance Microsoft’s attempt to challenge Google All in one Ask: California 1996 Question and answer format The About.com group Poor quality results 2. A number of scholars and IT professionals have regarded this as an era of technology advancement throughout the world. Within the next five years, there are expected to be many more search engines besides Google and Yahoo. There will be interactive search engines, where users will be speaking instead of typing. This will make search process a lot easier. For example, a user will just have to speak few keywords and search engine will automatically search the relevant information. The search engines will work around the trend history and will display a column with search results on a side from last few hours, days or weeks. Further, it is expected that search engine home page will be customized based upon the result of most frequent search keywords. There would be enhanced and strict rules and laws in regards to search performed on search engines. Also, there...
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...Under the deal, Microsoft gets 12% of the revenue Yahoo generates from search ads that appear next to search results on its websites. Because the combined search-ad system was expected to face challenges initially, Microsoft guaranteed a certain level of revenue for every search query done on Yahoo's sites. Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicholas & Co., estimated that Microsoft's revenue-per-search guarantee is worth about $12 million to $15 million per quarter. The deal terms between Microsoft and Yahoo mean that the partnership can only be called off if either Microsoft closes or sells Bing, or if Yahoo's revenue per search falls below 40 percent of Google's. * The deal is the next step in the 10-year Microsoft Bing and Yahoo search merger, which was announced in July 2009. Under the plan, Microsoft’s Bing search engine will power Yahoo Search and its ad sales. Microsoft will get 12 percent of revenue from Yahoo searches. In August, the two companies announced that Bing was now powering Yahoo Search. “This will provide advertisers with the benefit of a combined marketplace through a single platform, creating a competitive alternative in search,” said David Pann, general manager of the Microsoft Advertising Search Network. “Rather than managing campaigns on Bing and Yahoo! Separately, advertisers can now reach the combined audience of both search engines by managing a single account, saving time and simplifying campaign management.” But in all honesty...
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...At the beginning of 2010, our biggest competitor Google search engine indicated that it threatened to exit China internet. In December, 2009, Google revealed that hackers tried to access their customers’ email accounts on its servers. It was a huge shock to the world. One of the biggest search engine companies decided to exit the largest internet market of China. It not only became the issue of politics between the two countries but also brought some impacts to its competitors. Being forced to censor the search results was the most important reason for giant Google to quit China. And Google's chief legal officer David Drummond pointed out in a blog post that at least 20 other large companies from a wide range of businesses were similarly targeted as the same reason. As another biggest company in the world, should our Microsoft’s Bing search engine follow Google exiting China? It becomes a big issue for us. Should our Microsoft’s Bing search engine follow Google exiting China? What if Bing quits China? What will be the results? Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, confirmed in an interview with China Daily that Bing now has less than 1 percent of Chinese market share. Will Microsoft’s Bing take the high road or the low road in order to gain a bigger piece China's fast-growing Internet market? This report is to explore whether Microsoft’s Bing should quit China or not and the results will come from the decision. Especially on these most...
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...Competition from Substitutes: High * Google may have a competitive advantage over the rest of the search engines, however being so easy to select a different search engine and with Microsoft trying to forward its own product through its operating system, might change the figures in the future. Threat of Entry: Medium-high * New search providers might concentrate on localized search and succeed into getting a niche in that area, however when it comes to global search there is a high entry barrier due to the large scale of information and infrastructure already acquired by the biggest companies. Rivalry between Established Competitors: Medium * Currently the four biggest search engines are Google, Microsoft’s Bing, Yahoo, and AOL. However, Google has the largest piece of the market and seems to be ahead of the others with Bing being on the rise and the rest three very close to each other. Smaller ones such as Altavista, Lycos and Excite do not seem to pose a direct threat to any of the biggest four. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Low * Advertisers recognize that the biggest providers together concentrate the largest number of searches, around 95% of the total. Therefore there is no room for negotiating advertisement prices. Also, even if a few users change search engine, it is unlikely to have any effect. Bargaining power of Suppliers: Low * The essence behind the search engines is their computer infrastructure. The biggest companies have such wealth that they can...
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...and surf the web for what interests them. Microsoft and Google are known to many people as internet giants. The two companies compete for business in the internet world by offering similar online business services. Microsoft also offers an array of computer products to consumers and businesses such as Windows 7, Microsoft office and MSN. Google’s main focus of business is its search engine that many people use today to surf the internet. This paper will compare and contrast Microsoft’s and Google’s business model, financial management system and explain which company could better withstand a major recession and at the same time, compare their financial ratios and decide which two companies that would be better to invest in. Microsoft was started in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen who developed an interpreter for basics programming language systems that has contributed to Microsoft’s being so successful. Microsoft is one of the largest technology companies in the world which specializes in developing and licensing computer software products such as Windows 7, Microsoft office, MSN and Bing. Microsoft’s management team is led by chief executive officer Steve Ballmer who also serves on the executive board, chairman Bill Gates, seven directors, and one chief financial officer which are all non-executive board members. The company has been known for its leadership style through its founder Bill Gates for donating money to many charities and helping the poor. Microsoft is also said...
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...Current Events: Google proved that Microsoft copy their search We know that Google is the number one search engine web, but Bing, Microsoft search engine, is another option. Microsoft has always been tried to take market share from Google. In the article “You are previewing premium content. Become an Insider to read the full article. Google: Bing Is Cheating, Copying Our Search Results”, Danny Sullivan (2011) examined how Google's search engine team set up its own “sting operation” in December to show that Microsoft's Bing is copying some of Google's search results. Amit Singhal, the head of Google's core ranking team, wondered that whether Bing copy the search results from Google or not. Therefore, Google has managed a team investigation for the implementation of sting operation by using a fraudulent website (which does not have in Google and Bing data storage), and using weird keyword such as hiybbprqag to do the experiment. Google use 20 engineers who were using the Google.com search through the Internet Explorer browser to install and launch Bing Toolbar, and open Suggested Sites feature. After Google has stored pages (indexing), they tried to search with Bing and showed the exactly the same page, and in the top even though the keyword “hiybbprgag” does not mean anything. From this event, Stefan Weitz (Director of Microsoft's Bing search engine) argued that we use several methods to organize rank websites, but we will not discuss in deeper details as well as other competitors...
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...companies offer superior services such as search engines, e-mail, and other services designed to connect users with the rest of the world. Although these organizations may have similar products and services, there are limitless factors that set them apart from one another. The business models and financial management strategies for Google and Microsoft differ, directly correlating with the success of the company. Financial ratios help to indicate the success or failure of a company’s attempt to gain profit by selling products and recruiting investors. Annual reports track the expenditures, assets, and net income for Microsoft and Google. Leadership styles, new products and services, and company goals are influenced by annual reports. The technological competition continues, as both of these companies attempt to increase and retain revenue, beat out their competitors, and attract more and more customers. The core business of an organization outlines the most important and essential activities to the company. This sector of business activity fulfills the purpose for the organization, and it is needed for the organization to function properly. The core business can be viewed as the foundation for the organization; aspects of the business are built on top of the underlying purpose. Google and Microsoft Bing utilize core business values to remain relevant in the competitive technological market. According to Beal (2010), Google stated: “Search is our core technology; ads are our...
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...of their services. I feel this company is very well structured but has more of a word of mouth type advertising campaign rather than a in your face market like Walmart or Google. Everyday you open Internet Explorer you see Google as the default search engine which is free advertising. Walmart has expanded all over the world so you see one on your drive into work or see the commercials. I don’t see the in your face type campaign with Amazon. They have a solid product and they know it. Sitting at 10% of processing capacity means they are well prepared for momentum which is true to their core competency of being a leading retailer. Often leading retailers exceed capacity and can’t meet customer demands like the wireless cellular networks and the dreaded dead zones. (This is my opinion. Please provide feedback. Dave) o Present areas where Amazon is competing with Google™ and Microsoft®, and whether competition is a wise strategy. -From my research, I broke it down into two main categories. Amazon vs. Google -Amazon is attempting to get into the business services market place that Google is currently working in. ie. Google Check out vs. Amazon Flexible Pay -Google has a successfully running search engine marketing system directing search inquiries while Amazon relies on their incredible size for virtual traffic. Once a customer is on their sight, Amazon is attempting to create a Sub-Google like browser inside their site. -Amazon...
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...comparison between Google and Microsoft, how Google’s expanding, challenge and risk for Google as it growth to the open market. Summary: Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that Google are becoming another Microsoft, which is dangerous. The company was “spreading itself too thin”. And like which Jobs said, they are turning into Microsoft. In the last few years, Google has grown from just a search company to a giant company which involve in any part of the internet. Analysts speculate that if Google continue that, it will make itself more difficult task. “How Google can avoided some of the missteps made by Microsoft during its rapid expansion?”, also what can Google learn from its opponent. Still the huge remain question for Google is how to become remain profitable. As professor of studies and business said, Google’s fear that it will become another Microsoft, which is known as a big company win through bullying. Now Google challenge is to remain open and innovative. The comparison between Google and Microsoft began since 2004, right after the time Google went public. First of all, Google was only developing as a search engine. But by using the strength of well develop and technology, Google step by step able expand into display advertising, and later the mobifone market with its Android operation system. And it’s also the same story for Microsoft, as it expanded into other...
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...innovative algorithm developed for Google search engine is obviously a key factors for its early success. The new algorithm offered the users with relevant search result and provided the advertisers with advertizing spots in industry related websites. The founders developed a search engine that weighed the search result relevance according to the number of website kinked to that page. More linked websites means more relevant results. Another important factor is the customer oriented strategy, instead of the content oriented, that provided users with a simple easy to use white search page with only the logo and the search box and giving the result lists in text format. This enabled Google’s page to open faster than major competitors, such as Yahoo and Bing, and to provide user friendly results free from advertizing. By delivering relevant search results and not imposing the advertizing but prosing search related products or services, Google succeeded in gaining the trust of internet users and the confidence of the advertisers as their ads were more precisely targeting customers. Moreover, the effectiveness of Google in monetizing the web search and generating huge revenues is also an important, if not the most important, key success factor. Using similar model to the cost per impression developed by Overture, Google succeeded in generating huge revenues making one of the most successful internet company. 2. Do you expect the search business to become more concentrated (i.e....
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...people search for information and this was the driving force for everything that followed. Besides having a clear vision, there were other factors that contributed to Google’s early success: • New search algorithm that provided users with highly relevant results. The search engine did what users wanted it to do: provided results redirecting users to the pages they needed. • Clean homepage design with no distractions. No advertising or sponsored results within search results in early years of the company. That helped Google build trust in the search results it provided: because of no advertising, the results were perceived “unbiased”. The company also actively promoted the fact that the results were never manipulated. • Significant investments into the infrastructure that resulted in extremely fast page loading. Google’s servers supported “cloud” applications. That allowed the company to offer novel services (applications) from one reliable source, such as Calendar, Google’s Reader, Google Photos, etc • Unique corporate image – Innovators, engineers, leaders. The company was so different from its competitors; it stood out of the crowd. • They took innovation as core value to the whole new level. They allowed engineers to spend 20% of time pursuing independent projects to expand business, which paid out. 2. Do you expect the search business to become more concentrated (i.e. dominated by fewer firms)? Is search a winner-take-all business? I think that the search business...
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...Cloud. In addition, independent software developers also derive value from the platform, through Amazon Web Services by building profitable applications and services that cater to Amazon customers and sellers which puts it in direct competition with both Google and Microsoft. When you search the Google search engine or one of more than 150 other Google domains, you can find information in many different languages. Also, you can check quotes, maps, patents and much more. As a business, Google generates the majority of its revenue by offering advertiser, measurable, cost-effective and highly relevant advertising, so that the ads are useful to the people who see them as well as to the advertisers who run them. Its web service is called Google Apps Engine. The Microsoft’s Azure platform offer’s a flexible, familiar environment for developers to create cloud application and services. With Windows Azure, you can shorten you time to market and adapt as demand for your services grows. Amazon is completing with Google and Microsoft in the area of advertising merchandise, customer service and information technologies. In the merchandising area of all three of the websites, potential customers search these sites and choose which site offers them the best price for the money. All three website does appear to offer satisfactory customer service to...
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