Google Case Study

Management

Introduction

Google was started as a project by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1996. The two people were students of Stamford University. Through the project, Larry and Sergey aimed at developing a search engine that had the capability of a ranking website according to the number of other Internet-based sites. Finally, their ides resulted in the creation of present-day Google. Initially, Google was named BackRub due to its ability to rate websites for relevancy. A year later, the company gained loyal followers among Silicon Valley Internet users. One of the followers was Yahoo co-founder, David Filo. At that time, David influenced Page and Brin to leave Stamford University and make BackRub the basis of a new Internet company to schooling. The move was followed by the adoption of Google as the new name for the invented search engine.

Adoption of the new name reflected Brin and Page’s mission of organizing an infinite amount of information on the Internet. Presently, Google search position has become very competitive in cases regarding the Internet search. It has approximately 67% of market share in Internet search performed from work computers and home PCs. The same year, it had a 97% share of searches made from mobile devices. Its operation model enabled businesses that are advertising their products and services online to bid on search terms that would describe their products on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression basis.

The initial strategies of the company were operating on a shoestring budget, which was used by Brin and Page to establish the main server. They built the main server from discounted computer components, while their employees were working in a garage owned by the founder’s friend. In 2012, Google’s search-based advertisements were displayed near its search results, generating $ 43.6 billion in regards to advertisement revenues. It also accumulated approximately $2.4 billion on license fees that were charged to businesses that wanted to install appliances of Google search on their companies’ intranets.

Strategic Issues

Summary

Google search has become a trending accompanied by many strategic factors. The first issue is that its market has attracted several competitors. The second issue is that it has been able to grow tediously within the last few years. Therefore, Google should examine its potential and develop strategies to make them better not only for sustenance purposes but for competition purposes, as well. In so doing, I should exhaust any opportunity that comes its way. The company is currently holding a good position in the market, being slightly above than its other competitors, such as Bing, Yahoo! Search, and AltaVista. However, competitors are major threats to the market. Should Google gather personal information to expand? Should it apply new strategies to overcome its rivals? Should the company focus on research and strategic development in order to make its services more efficient? What opportunities can Google utilize to overcome their rivals? Should the company focus both on ranking websites according to the number of other websites and the organizing amount of information on the Internet? Apart from Bing, Yahoo, and AltaVista, what are the other competitors to the company?

Strategic Issue Statement

What strategic direction should Google take from now onwards as it struggles to achieve its goals improving the infrastructure to acquire more productive engineers, to be the best in the Internet search, to increase its community, content and advertising system, to spread its tools and to increase the scale of innovation?

Google’s External Analysis

Most cultures in the world use the Internet to search for receiving answers to questions, procedures, steps and, ways of facing a particular issue. Such cultural application has freed Google from geographical dependence. Currently, the company has over twenty offices in the United States. Besides, it has international offices located in more than thirty nations that are working on search. In fact, the company provides a personalized Internet search engine for more than a hundred and fifteen countries.

The external environment of Google contains technology, economy, political, and legal policies, as well as social culture. As technology improves, Google search develops correspondingly. The company has been taking appropriate measures to ensure that it will not be outperformed with the evolving technology. It uses commodity computers parts ensuring that each part has a substitution. Therefore, the components are attached to computers that have Velcro technology instead of screws. Such combination allows the company to not only to function effectively but also upgrade.

Currently, the United States is experiencing a period of recession, in which stocks trend at 52-weeks low. However, Google is relatively isolated due to search options and, consequently, Internet-based advertisements are used widely by the global society in promoting the economy. As a strategy, Google Company majorly focuses on highly targeted advertisements. Such advertisements have made it more recession-proof compared to any other business operating in the same market.

Google Company has faced numerous challenges and pressure from the Department of Justice to relinquish achieved search terms. However, most formal institutions have not affected the Company’s operations in any way. For example, in 2008 Google responded to users by adding a private link to its home page. By creating the link, the company aimed at creating awareness of the legal issues by leading customers to an isolated center used to demonstrate political and legal issues. The company has also faced copyright issues as it has been storing copies of a third party, including its web pages and images. In response to such criticism, Google responded by delivering a copyright information page. The page gives relevant information about digital information. It also provides links that notify both Google and the U.S. Copyright Office of the suspected infringement.

Socially, the globe has become more connected due to the means of communication eased with the help of the Internet. Google has been at the forefront to make the Internet more navigable for most Internet users. As the Internet apply multiple across age groups and culture, Google is determined to become more dependent, especially in regard to the Internet search. The company tends to utilize opportunities brought by new cell phones and benefit from them due to the increased search queries. It has released an Operating System and Google Mobile App that can be operated from other platforms, such as Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask.com, AOL and Apple, to make more people access the company’s services.

Substitute Products

Low

· Substitutes are available but moderately priced.

· Low switching costs.

· Moderate to the high availability of substitutes.

Google’s 5 Forces Model

High Performance

Search engine market

(Google)

Suppliers Power

Low

· The weak power of suppliers.

· There are many suppliers to choose from.

· The large population of suppliers (weak force).

· More supply (weak force).

Google Case Analysis External Environment

Buyers Power

Strong

· The small number of buyers (weak force).

· The demand increase from buyers (weak force).

· Quality information (moderate).

· Moderate bargaining powers from buyers (weak force).

Competitive Rivalry

Fierce

· Google has many competitors, some of them being Bing, Comcast, Yahoo, and Apple.

· It experiences strong force from competition rivalries (limits its growth potential).

· Factors that contribute to strong competition are:

· Low switching cost (strong force).

· High firm’s diversity (strong force).

· Large number of firms (strong force).

· Movement of customers from Google to other company is easy.

New Entrants (low)

· Requires much money (high capital).

· The cost of brand development is necessary (high cost).

· The risk of losing users to other companies.

· Companies fighting for market share. They are likely to lose to Google because Google already has one of the most valuable brands in the world.

Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis:

After analyzing Google’s situation and strategic issues, it is very important to look at its external environment. The analysis of external factors can be done by looking at the extent to which the company is dependant on Porter’s 5 Forces. The demonstration is shown in the diagram above. Just like any other company, Google is affected by the 5 forces: competitive rivalry, buyers bargaining power, suppliers bargaining power, substitute product, and new entrants. Analysis of the forces is highlighted bellow.

Competition rivalry for Google Company is wide hence, imposing a strong force. The company’s ability to compete favorably and sustain its competitive advantage among other search companies relies on its ability to create and maintain a strong relationship among the organization and Internet users, websites, and businesses that make their advertisements online. Such a good relationship enabled Google to be the leading search Engine in 2012. The leading position of the company has been consistent for several years. As demonstrated in Porter’s 5 Force model, the competition rivalry inhibits Google’s growth capability. Therefore, the company must consider factors, such as firms that are currently entering the market, their high diversity, and low switching force. Examples of businesses that are competing with Google are Bing, Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask.com, AOL, and Apple. These are a few main firms that share the Internet search market. Apart from the given rivals, Google has a diversified set of competitors. Currently, the organization is providing Google Fibre, Google Glass, and Chromecast, while Google Search is under development, as well. Such a condition imposes a strong force on the company’s business. The low switching cost is experienced by customers due to the availability of many firms to create a variety of areas where they can operate swiftly. Therefore, the minimum switching cost exerts a strong force on the company. The nature of competitive rivalry can be said to be very aggressive, hence the company’s management needs to improve their strategies to gain more profits.

U.S. Search Engine Market Share Ranking (May 2010-June 2013) (Percentage of Searches )
Search Entry	May 2010	July 2011	June 2012	June 2013
1. Google sites	63.7 %	65.1 %	66.7 %	66.7%
2. Microsoft sites	12.1 %	14.4 %	15.4 %	17.9%
3. Yahoo sites	18.3 %	16.1 %	13.4 %	11.4%
4. Ask. Com	3.6 %	2.9 %	3.0 %	2.7%
5. AOL	2.3 %	1.5 %	1.5 %	1.3 %
Total	100 %	100 %	100 %	100 %

The buyers bargaining power is moderate in influencing Google Company. According to Google Porter’s 5 Forces analysis model, such a weak force is only moderately considered in the company’s business strategic decisions. Factors that contribute to the low bargaining power of customers on Google business are few individual buyers, high demand from customers, and moderate information quality. Few buyers and high demand exert weak forces, while moderate quality information imposes moderate force. Each customer contributes minimally to Google’s revenue. Therefore, buyers impose only a weak force on the firm. Due to high and increased demand from buyers over products from Google and its counterparts, individual buyers influence the firms minimally. The low quality of information means that customers have limited knowledge. For instance, Google analytic data can be accessed by advertisers. However, such data is not enough to keep advertisers informed about the dynamics and complexity of the web-based advertisements.

Suppliers also exert the weak force on Google. According to Porter’s Five Forces analysis model, the suppliers bargaining power is weak, especially when the firm has many suppliers to choose from. External factors related to supplies include the availability of high supply and high population of supply. The two given factors impose weak force on the firm. Their combination reduces the effect of bargaining power of any supplier on Google’s business. Therefore, the company is flexible and can shift from one supplier to the other one. Furthermore, Google’s supplies are diversified taking into consideration the company’s diverse array products, such as Google Glass, Google Fibre, Google Search, and many more.

Lastly, the threat of new entries is also a determinant of how the search market would develop. For the Google business, new entrance companies impose low influence. The new entry usually requires new ventures of investments from large technology companies, and can also start organizations that produce and supply products of the same type as the ones offered by Google. In Porter’s Five Forces analysis model, external factors that contribute to the moderate threat of new entries against Google are the moderate cost of performing the business, the high cost of developing the brand, and regulatory requirements that it can fulfill easily. The low cost of performing business exerts moderate force to Google’s business. It means that there is a great number of start-up organizations and other businesses that can easily enter the market and compete directly against the Google Company. The satisfaction of regulatory requirements is not a problem, as well, hence, it is comparatively easy for the new entries to establishment the companies, which in turn can actively compete against Google. Nevertheless, the cost of developing brands is high. Therefore, Google is considerably protected against competition as many firms find it difficult to sustain their operations on a long-term basis. Furthermore, at present, Google Company has already imposed one of the most valuable brands in the global market. Therefore, the new companies are likely to pose a little threat for several years, investing much money and time struggling to outperform Google.

In conclusion, it is evident that three out of the five forces are low, while one is moderate and one is strong. Therefore, it can be concluded that the market for high-performance Internet search is moderate for making a profit. The strongest issue is a competitive rivalry. However, it is diluted by the high cost of brand development. Another strong force imposed by the buyers as the demand for products is high. It is also advantageous for Google. The other force is also moderate, consequently, it does not have a big influence on the company. Therefore, for Google Company to maintain success in the market, acquire maximum buyers and make maximum profit, it should put emphasis on the competitive rivalry. It should also promote strategies and goals to deal with the new entries.

Key Success Factors

Success factors are fundamental elements that are vital to the company’s success. Such elements enable the company to maintain a high standard of competence in any situation experienced in the market. For Google Company, the four key success factors are considered to be a leadership group, commitment to innovations, wise expansion, and subtle marketing. The four key success factors are extremely important in affecting the high-performance of the Internet search industry. Therefore, being a top firm, Google Company must put emphasis on them in its strategic implications.

A well-coordinated leadership group is vital for the victory of Google in the search industry. The main reason for it is that leadership facilitates the team’s process and functioning as a single group. In other words, every effort is directed towards a particular goal. Such leadership is highly predictive to the success of the firm. The strategic implementation for Google to attain the given success factor is to acquire and maintain the corporate culture, classic leadership, and effective team.

Commitment to innovation is equally important for the company’s success. Google has always been at the forefront, showing the high level of commitments in promoting technology through innovation. Such commitment is vital for the firm’s success because it has made the process of searching for online information more convenient and revealing for Internet users. The strategic implementation of the current factor can be done by making instant issue suggestions to enable the searcher to find the intended link easy. It is made possible because as soon as the searcher completes typing the link, a variety of sources appear for selection.

The wise expansion is advantageous for Google success. The strategic implication of the given factor can be done by venturing and acquiring markets outside the search engine industry. For the case of Google, an example of such expansions was evident in 2012 when the company launched Google News. It is important because it can attract more customers. It also provides users with convenient ways of drawing upon more than 4000 news sources. The early expansion created many opportunities for the company’s core businesses.

To summarize, the top four success factors Google Company should emphasize are the following: the leadership group, commitment to innovations, wise expansion, and subtle marketing. All of them are important in producing high-quality products to promote the technology. For the company to be successful in achieving the four success factors, it should use the strategic implications that are mentioned in the above discussion of each factor.

Industry Profile and Attractiveness

The Google case study outlines the company characteristics that contribute to its success at innovation. In general, the company has eight organizational characteristics. To begin with, Google is innovation-oriented. The company grows alongside the rapidly developing technology. Secondly, the company has highly committed employees. They have a greater passion for placing the company at the same level as technology through innovations. Moreover, the company has quality leadership style, exerted by leaders who demonstrate trust and are responsible, who value the roles they are assigned with and remove barriers to ensure that the company maintains the lead in the Internet search market. Google is a non-bureaucratic entity, having recognized innovation-oriented and incentive business system. Besides, it is characterized by its specific attitude and individuals who are dedicated to continuous learning and top leadership, and who are equally committed to innovative processes and changes.

Lastly, the company is characterized by a belief that brilliant ideas can be derived from anybody. Such belief has made the company to value its every employee and utilize any source of information to satisfy the interest of Internet users. Considering such characteristics, one can conclude that Google Company is highly committed to affirming that users are completely satisfied irrespective of their culture. The company is determined to improve its products through innovation. Being a non-bureau entity and valuing every culture makes the company very attractive. Such an attractive nature has a great impact on the company’s future. Predictably, the company is likely to develop rapidly due to the customers it is acquiring from all cultures across the world. Unfortunately, it is likely to experience the challenges of competitors that are also diversifying across all cultures. However, the company remains highly attractive as most Internet users are likely to use its services. Being highly attractive, the company can acquire more profits and develop rapidly in the future.

Company Situation

Google Case Analysis: Company Situation

Financial Analysis

Revenue Growth for High-Performance Internet Search Industry
Top Ranked Companies	Revenue Growth 2012	Revenue Growth 2011	Revenue Amount of 2012 (Billions)
1. Google	32.37%	29.27%	$ 50,175
2. Apple	51.29%	54.78%	$ 176,064
3. Microsoft	11.56%	26.23%	$ 121,271

Introduction

Starting with the financial analysis of the Google Company, identification of the company’s situation by highlighting the current position and its growth rate is equally important. As shown in the table above, Google’s life cycle’s growth phase had pleasant revenue growths in 2011 and 2012. Comparison of Microsoft and Apple reveals that Google is experiencing faster growth. However, the two rivals are also in the growth phase of their life cycles, though it is significantly low. Such indication implies that both Apple and Microsoft are closer to maturity compared to Google Company. The financial information of the top three companies reveals much information on the state of Google financial stand. However, such information is not sufficient to be used to judge Google. It is similarly important to look at its financial ratios and investigate them more thoroughly.

Profitability Ratios

A financial ratio that was first applied to Google financial analysis it the profitability ratio. For such a particular ratio, Google proves to have a strong financial standing. Similarly to level ratios, profitability ratios can be measured by the assert or return ratios. It measures the company’s use of available assets and control of the expenses to generate an acceptable rate of return. In general, the profitability ratio indicates how liquidity, debt impact, and asset management affect the company’s income. For Google, profitability has made the company ranked 5th in relation to other firms in their respective industries. Such a position implies that the company’s net profit margin is much consistent and stable. Such stability is vital for the company’s future growth. The organization is posting a consistent profit margin at a time when it is floundering. Such situation portrays Google as a strong company, which makes its investors remain hopeful in regard to a firm’s performance. Therefore, Google has a good financial standing.

Liquidity Ratios

Liquidity ratios are the second set of financial ratios applied to Google’s financial data. Sustainability of the two ratios implies that the company is well-positioned with high ratios. Therefore, it means that Google can easily use its current assets to cover its current liabilities. Notably, current assets mean valuable items that can be transformed into liquid money very quickly. They may include marketable securities, receivable accounts or even cash. Having $ 4.8 of current assets is an indication that Google has good liquidity. In other words, it means that the company is liable and possesses enough assets to pay its liability, which is an advantageous state for Google. By viewing the company’s capital ratios, it is observable that the firm has enough internal funds to finance inventory expansion and pay off its current liabilities. In its turn, the internal funds make the company capable of expanding on a yearly basis. In summary, Google has a strong financial condition.

Leverage Ratios

The third set of financial ratios that were applied to Google financial data are the leverage ratios. Google has a return on equity ratio of at15% and 14%. Its return on assets stands at 12% and 14%. When the company is experiencing a low debt-to-equity, it is advantaged. Such ratios show that Google uses a minimal proportion of debt compared to equity to measure the company’s potential of generating profit from the asset or equity employed. The ratios are related to the organization’s assets that are generated internally.

The assets are against the ones provided with others in debts. They summarize both the strength and profitability ratios where capital ratio indicates that most of the company’s capital is generated from investments done by stockholders, while normally it should be received from banks. In Google, a lower proportional debt is used in comparison to equity. Preferably, low debt-to-equity is better for the company’s sustainability. The nature of the equality ratio and the time interest earned ratios indicate that Google is capable of borrowing a huge sum of money to use it in its expansion process.

Activity Ratios

Activity ratios are the last set of financial ratios that were applied to Google’s historical financial data. The ratios that were used for a particular set were the turnover ratios and the days of inventory. Since the organization has existed for a long time, a slow inventory movement is not expected. However, both ratios indicate that the company has been more efficient with inventories, due to the reduced inventory that it tended to show from year to year. Therefore, it can be concluded that Google has good financial standing, which has been improving consistently.

Conclusion

After conducting a proper analysis of the various financial ratios, it is acceptable to conclude that Google has an excellent financial position. There are numerous potentials that the organization can utilize to improve its sales, expand, and make maximum profit. Due to the fact that the company is doing exceptionally well financially, it should focus highly on fixing financial data. Such a focus will enable the company to develop even further. Therefore, financial analysis reveals that Google is heavily supported financially. Consequently, it should only remain consistent to maintain good performance.

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths

Google Company has two main strengths. The company’s search engine processes approximately 70% of the queries conducted across the world, in which Android powers approximately 80% of smart-phones across the globe. Therefore, the fact that Google is the world’s leading Internet advertisement organization considering its annual revenue is not surprising. The company leverages its strengths in the mobile industry and Internet search by incorporating users into the ecosystem with useful applications, such as Drive, YouTube, Google Now, and Google Maps. The mentioned applications collect information from users, making the company craft better-targeted advertisements across its network. Apart from selling advertisements, Google also generates more mobile revenues by taking a 30 percent reduction in Play Store sales. Such growth engines help set the top and bottom lines in the company’s development as evident from the experience of the past three years. The company’s ad-dependent business enables it to launch productivity software and free operating system. As a result, it has a great advantage over its rival, Microsoft. In summary, the strengths of Google rely on its ad-dependent business model and capability of its search engines.

Weaknesses

Surprisingly, the biggest strength of Google is also its greatest weakness. Having over 90% revenue derived from advertisement, the company is vulnerable to the advertisements fluctuation demands. The ‘cost-per-click’ advertisements are among the most switched ones. The advertisements measure the willingness level of advertisers to pay for traffic. Google also has a high turnover rate among regular employees and top executives. It is an indication of the so-called “brain drain”, which can result in the company losing its competitive edge over its competitors. However, since the company has had great success in the U.S., it can still compete favorably and become successful on a worldwide scale.

Opportunities

Besides the mentioned weakness, Google is still capable of performing extremely well in comparison to its rivals. The representation of Android M (6.0) has enabled the company to add context-based applications and replace the app-based browsers with Chrome. In addition to such opportunity, Google is expanding into the enterprise industry with Chrome and Android for working conditions. The two efforts enable the company to shift medium-sized and small businesses away from Apple and Microsoft. With Google Play, the company is availed to a new opportunity that would generate fresh revenue from subscriptions and advertisements through streaming music. Furthermore, the organization is exposed to numerous opportunities for long term growth, including robotics projects, artificial intelligence, driverless cars, smart home efforts, and medical equipment. To sum up, Google’s opportunities include expanding into enterprise industries and using Android and Google Play for generating additional revenues. Utilization of such opportunities places the company in a better position of outweighing any weaknesses that the company might experience.

Threats

Key rivals of the company are Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo, which are likely to influence the company’s plans negatively. For instance, Apple made an effort to slowly outperform Google influencing its operation. In 2011, it exchanged Google with Bing as the default Internet search engine for Spotlight and Siri. It went further to block Google Maps on CarPlay. Such blockage had a bad influence on the company and became a reason for a threat to Google.

Appendix

SWOT Analysis
Strengths · Ad-dependent business model; · Capability of its search engine brand image.	Opportunities · Expanding into enterprise industries; · Android; · Google Play.
Weaknesses · High turnover rates; · International market share.	Threats · Competitive rivalries.

Google Company Case Analysis: Recommendations

Strategic Issue:

What strategic direction should Google take from now onwards as it struggles to achieve its goals improving the infrastructure to acquire more productive engineers, to be the best in search, to increase its community, content and advertisement system, to spread its tools and to increase the scale of innovation?

Strategy Recommendations:

Generic Strategy Recommendations

Though Google has created a reputation among its customers and strived for innovation, it has had a tendency to disregard the ethical concerns of customers and other moral dilemmas, such as pricing and communication. Due to such weakness, I would recommend that the company should implement a human approach strategy that addresses ethical issues. Such an approach will enable the company to become more focused on the moral entitlement of customers and on what should be expected in relation to privacy protection and the promotion of honest pricing strategies.

Due to the company’s applications, such as Google Search and G-Mail, the risk of privacy inversion has increased. The risk increment has taken place because the past searches were recorded. In addition, inbox items are deleted and retained. Another trending issue is Street View, the company’s online map service. The service has been accused of taking an individual’s pictures of properties and private homes. Google’s operation relationship with advertisers and customers considering honesty in communication and pricing approaches is another ethical dilemma. Advertisers should be granted the right of knowing when their advertisements should be priced so that to prevent misconstrues that may arise.

Grand Strategy Recommendations

The grand strategy that Google should adhere to is addressing the conflicts and issues that exist between convenience and privacy. Such an approach is related to the generic strategy mentioned above as both of them are directed towards ethics and rights of customers and advertisers to know when their advertisements are priced. Such a major strategy means that the organization should inform advertisers on the specific location where their advertisements would be positioned on the websites and the amount that they would cost. When the company notifies the customers where their advertisements are situated and on the number of clicks they obtain, they have the right of deciding on whether to invest or not on a daily cost-per-click. Such awareness will help elongate the advertisement’s appearance duration on the search engine hence, generating more profits by providing higher ranks. Implementation of such a strategic policy will also attract more profits to the organization as customers will be motivated to invest more funds in advertisements and reduce the number of clicks per day.

Google should also expand its current Research and Development (R&D) group. It means that the company should start by increasing its brand name and then proceed to pursue telecommunication. As the risk of losing profit is increased by the firms’ competitors, the company should initiate more ways to stabilize its position in the market. Due to the fact that most customers access the Internet via cell phones and mobile devices, which have a great share of the market, it is important for the company’s R&D team to implement and utilize the company’s current acquisition with AdMob. Such implementation will assure that the company has loyal customers, which is equally important in determining the future of Google.

Another major strategy that is recommendable for Google is hiring highly skilled and advanced technicians to efficiently establish and maintain effective ways of ensuring efficient communication to expand the R&D team. It is significant for the company to maintain good communication plans between the company’s headquarter and other branches. Lastly, the company should create a good financial plan to avoid capital wastage, make profitable investments, and ensure that most of its money is directed to guarantee the provision of quality products.

Objectives

Dealing with the company’s strategies will require setting reasonable objectives. For both the generic and grand techniques, the most significant performance objective that must be observed keenly is ethics. If all issues that revolve around ethics are considered, taking into account the customers rights in regards to privacy, the company would prove that the implemented strategies are working as required. Similarly, when the number of cost-per-click is reduced, the maximum profit will be realized. Consequently, such a situation will prove that the strategy is working. In relation to the strategic implementations, a realistic goal for the company would promote the privacy of customers and maximize profit. As far as the products are concerned, the company should set a goal of spreading its tools and scale of innovation to provide high-quality services.

Strategic Justification:

It is wise to consider some strategies that do not coincide with the company’s ones to prove that the mentioned recommendations are appropriate for Google. Some of such approaches are discussed below.

Generic Strategy

Having a great focus on product promotion and ignoring conflicting issues regarding customer’s privacy would not benefit Google in any way. It is caused by the fact that the company needs to be the best in search activities, as well as in increasing the number of customers. Hence, since individuals have issues with their privacy and the company does make efforts to solve the problem, it would mean that the company provides low-quality search engine services and does not have an interest in its customers. Therefore, Google would lose most of its customers to the rivals and eventually experience a great loss in profits. As a result, a great focus on product promotion and little attention to concern regarding the customer’s privacy will not be effective for Google.

Grand Strategy

Identifying a specific business area and utilizing it is not appropriate for Google. It is caused by the fact that the market is experiencing new entries, meaning that there is a risk of losing customers to other firms. Therefore, the organization should not dwell on one business area only. Instead, it should expand its current R&D group to venture into more businesses. Besides, the company has a goal of spreading its tools, which can also be achieved by expanding its R&D team. Therefore, utilizing a specific business area is not good for Google.

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