Google Inc Analysis

Google Inc. Analysis

Table of Contents

Executive Summary..........................................................................................03

Introduction and Company Overview.....................................................................04

Mission and Vision Statements Analysis..................................................................04

Situation Analysis (EFE and IFE Analysis)...............................................................05

Porter's 5 Forces Analysis..................................................................................06

Strategic Direction............................................................................................07

CPM Analysis................................................................................................08

Trend Analysis................................................................................................09

Financial Analysis............................................................................................09

Corporate Culture.............................................................................................09

Corporate Structure...........................................................................................09

Conclusion....................................................................................................10

References.....................................................................................................23

Appendix

EFE Matrix...................................................................................................12

IFE Matrix....................................................................................................13

Porter's 5 Forces Model.....................................................................................14

CPM Matrix...................................................................................................15

Income Statement (2008-2010)............................................................................16

Balance Sheet (2008-2010).................................................................................17

Company Ratios..............................................................................................19

Trend Analysis: Share Price.................................................................................20

Corporate Organizational Structure Graph...............................................................21

Industry Life Cycle Graph..................................................................................22

Executive Summary

The following business analysis examines the various areas of operations regarding the technology giant, Google. Since its initial incorporation in 1998 and re-incorporation in 2003, Google has remained a formidable competitor within the web-search industry: as well as online advertising, operating systems, and mobile devices markets. Through their innovative corporate culture and business savvy, Google has demonstrated its market dominance and potential for future growth to shareholders, despite recent legal antitrust investigations by the FTC. With a business strategy that focuses on horizontal integration and unrelated diversification, investor confidence over the last eight years has continued to grow. This strategy has allowed Google to raise the capital needed for continued growth and expansion.

Introduction and Company overview

Beginning in 1996, Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin built a search engine called "BackRub" that used links to determine the importance of individual web pages. In 1998 they had formalized their work, becoming incorporated and re-incorporated in 2003, creating the company known today as Google (Google Corporate, 2011). Now synonymous with the term "search", Google continues to dominate the online search industry and has become a leader in the online advertising industry. In addition to the web-search industry, Google has branched into email services (Gmail), mapping (Google Earth), and is in the process of branching into the social networking industry (Google Me). During the writing of this analysis, Google was facing an antitrust investigation, following the acquisition of the advertising company AdMeld; however, Google has demonstrated the ability to overcome past regulatory barriers and has continued innovation of its services and products, bringing utility to over one billion users worldwide.

Mission and Vision Statements Analysis

Google's mission statement is, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" (Google Corporate, 2011). The language used in the mission statement reflects precisely what Google has done in the last decade. Their audience is clear, with the use of the word "world," and the words "accessible" and "useful" demonstrate their goal to offer a platform for users to effectively and efficiently find and use sought-out information. Their mission, however, lacks any mention of employees (or any personable descriptors, for that matter), which is an area that needs improvement to be a more effective statement.

Google's vision statement is "to develop a perfect search engine" (Adams, 2009). The vision statement is concise, yet flexible. The use of the word "perfect" leaves their direction ambiguous, as perfect is extremely subjective. The vision statement can better communicate its goals insofar as its consumers, employees, and stakeholders to better align their strategy with their goals