Google Case Study Solution

Google Case Study

By:

Benjamin Pewitt

Syed Abbas

Monther Almogait

Eric Frohnapfel

Mohammad Balobiad

Efaz Goffur

MGT 699

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Executive Summary

Company:

Google has been a firm known for its innovation and for having such a strong brand reputation. In the early going, it was able to differentiate itself from competitors because of its search engine, which at the time was considered cutting edge because of the way in which it simplified the search process. In that time, Google expanded to global markets and started to provide its services to 42 different languages. It has also earned the reputation as being one of the top firms in the world to work for, and this has attracted top talent into the firm. Currently, Google’s biggest and most well-known product is its search engine, but it also offers other apps, including Gmail, YouTube, and Google maps to users free of charge.

Problem(s):

While Google has a large market share, it is also in a very competitive market where consumers have little to no brand loyalty. Many search engines now have very similar capabilities that Google has, so differentiation is becoming tougher. Firms like Monster.com have also begun to become specialized by focusing on becoming search engines for specific areas, undermining Google’s stance as universal engine. Also, advertisements account for 97% of revenues, meaning that Google has not found a way to make its other apps a viable source of revenue. The company is mainly a web presence, so issues like security, user privacy, and spammers come into play and can potentially harm the integrity of the user experience.

Recommendations:

Google has a large cash position, so it does have the ability to acquire small tech startups that have a niche technology or invest in a new field that it currently doesn’t have a stake in. This is a way that the firm can diversify itself and attain revenues from areas besides advertising. Areas like fiber optic internet, handheld user electronics, and international markets are areas where Google can look to increase its offering.

It is the recommendation to Google that it leverage its very strong brand recognition as it pursues new markets. Smaller firms will likely be happy to work with a company like Google because of its reputation and the opportunities for promotions it can offer. By continuing to foster such a creative and attractive work environment, it will continue to recruit the best talent to help tackle these issues. Also, an increased expenditure in R&D can help the firm explore new technological breakthroughs which can serve may be profitable, and can also explore news ways to protect itself from online hackers and other security threats. These moves will help the firm to diversify itself and find new markets for which to gain revenue.

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Introduction

Google began in March 1995 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Originally the search engine used Stanford's website with the domain google.stanford.edu. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997. They formally incorporated their company, Google, on September 4, 1998 at a friend’s garage in Menlo Park, California. Google's name originated from the scientific term googol, which is the number one followed by one hundred zeros. Google grew rapidly and by 2000, Google was operating in 15 different languages.

Google has extended its presence to various different areas including AdWords, Gmail, DoubleClick, Google Docs, and YouTube. An initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. Its mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,” and its unofficial slogan was "Don't be evil.” In 2004, Google moved to its new headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex. Google announced plans to reorganize its interests as a holding company called Alphabet Inc. Once this restructuring is complete, Google will become Alphabet's leading subsidiary, as well as the parent for Google's Internet interests.

Rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond Google's core search engine. It offers online productivity software including email (Gmail), a cloud storage service (Google Drive), an office suite (Google Docs) and a social networking service (Google+). Desktop products include applications for web browsing (Google Chrome), organizing and editing photos, and instant messaging

Google has noteworthy threats which need to be addressed promptly. Technology industry revolves around innovation, which is always changing and making strides. Google must

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battle to stay on top and not get lost in the crowd or get outdated. The company faces critical rivalry including Yahoo and Bing. This implies that the company must maintain their top notch products, which must be upgraded and altered constantly to better tailor for the needs of their clients. Additionally, Google does not compete with its competitors on price points, which implies its revenues are originated from different sources. Google competes with its rivals on features.

Another significant risk associated with the company is the intellectual property rights claims. In the event of that taking place Google can be heavily fined and thus diminishing its revenues. Google has huge obstacles that they will need to overcome keeping in mind the end goal to remain focused at innovation. Google is a powerhouse not only in the technology sector but also with its expansion in other arenas. Reaching and maintaining this top notch position for Google in the industry would be a challenge in itself.

Firm Analysis

Google’s mission as stated in the case was to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Management believed that the most effective, and ultimately the most profitable, way to accomplish the company’s mission was to put the needs of the users first. Google search engine is the company major brand with high quality user experience which led to an increase in the website traffic and huge word-of-mouth promotion.

Google Marketing Mix: 4Ps

• Products: 

o Google.com –search engine and personalization. For example, Google Scholar and Google Images.