Business Strategy at Google: The Leader as a Strategist - Case Study Example

? The Leader as a Strategist Report Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Analysis of the strategic cascade 3 Business Strategy 4 Target market 4 Value proposition 4 Positioning 4 Sustainability 5 SWOT Analysis 6 Strength 6 Weakness 6 Opportunity 7 Threat 7 Internal Environment 8 Company Culture 9 Reference 11 Introduction This project would deal with one of the most innovative and most culturally organized company where every person dreams of working in the company. Google was founded in the year 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Ben; the company has grown to hundreds of thousands of customers and users across the globe. The mission of Google is to organize the information of the world and thus make it universally useful and accessible (Google, n.d). Analysis of the strategic cascade According to Michael E. Porter, strategy is the ability of the organization to make an informed decision about when, how and where to target the customers, set the desired objectives and facilitate resources and thereby make a difference between mangers who thinks strategically for future prospects. Therefore anticipating these desired movements into the current decision making process helps to set stage in order to create a competitive advantages. Porter had referred to operational effectiveness as “performing similar activities better than rivals” and referred strategic positioning as activities performed by organization in different way. Real strategy for an organization is to choose a different path in order to deliver mix of activities and values. According to Porter, strategy is about choices and not about what to do and what not. Thus it can be said that Strategy is all about combing the activities and Google has adopted the similar strategy which has made it the top most search engine company across the globe. Business Strategy Target market Goggle has targeted both consumers and the business enterprises or the advertisers. Google searchable database favors the big business houses and the established merchants. Google deals with viral marketing and has been able to attract the attention of media for both paid and free promotions. Goggle has also targeted the software market; the search engine has let firms run the email calendar and other services in order to build in the offerings for the individuals (BBC News, 2006). Value proposition Goggle is search engine and it derives its value proposition by delivering with all the important and necessary information that is need by the target customers. Google value proposition is based on the concept of reaching people actively who are looking for information about the products and services online. Thus it becomes easier for a searcher to reach the concerned people who are looking exactly for the products or services that one is offering. Therefore the value to users and to the advertisers is aligned hence everybody wins, the advertisers and the users. And most important in Google when something is searched for, the ads are in the form of result that is meeting with the needs and wants of the customers. Positioning Google has positioned its products and services in the market and with its respective target market as a search engine which provides information about everything that the customer’s types in, which means that search with Google gets smarter and faster. One can share document without having to cut and paste through Gmail contacts and use all the necessary services. Google defines itself as the “perfect search engine” as it tends to understands what a customer wants and gives back exactly the desired information (Google-a, n.d). Google earns most of the revenue from advertising and is one of the most visited sites on the internet. In order to produce user fees, the company has supplemented their searches which are free with a service named Google Answers. Google pays about three quarter of its revenue who answers the question and keeps with it the other 25% of the fees. Fees start at a price of $2.50 and at an average point of $75 (Kotler, 2008, p.283). Sustainability Google in order to deal with the sustainable issue has created a web “Google green” which is better for the environment. Google is greening the company by making use of the resources efficiently and by supporting the renewable power. This means when the customers use Google products, they are better to the environment. Google has started the initiative of Green web pages to protect the environment and make it a better place. As compare to other data centers Google data centers uses only 50% of the energy which has saved Google spending millions of dollars and have helped to cut the impact upon the environment. Google is working on the way power can be used and decides to buy electricity from the wind farms and strives to power Google with 100% renewable source of energy. As a result Google has been recognized for its commitment towards the environment and reducing the impact (Google-b, n.d). This is unique in Google as no other search engine has performed or taken up initiative to make the environment green through the use of its product and services. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a strategy planning tool that examines both internal and external environment for factors and trends that should shape planning and operations over the next five years. Environmental factors internal to the company are classified as strengths (to be leveraged) or weaknesses (to be mitigated), while external factors are classified as either opportunities (to be pursued) or threats (to be monitored and responded to) Strength Google is a search engine company which provides products and services through the internet and is ranked the top most search engine company which adds on to its strength. Google provides all kind of information that is being searched by the customers. Google holds the lead in the online search industry. Google has been able to distinguish its services from the rest of the company offering the same services; Google has managed to gain a high awareness, brand loyalty and also perceived quality (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2009, p. 139) and it has been possible through branding strategy that Google has followed and has made it the most frequently used search engines. Goggle has a low operation cost as it tends to use low cost UNIX servers to index million of web pages across the net. Weakness The technology of Google usually compromises the privacy of the users through sources such as Gmail and Google search. Thus the privacy should be improved and the company is experimenting with new added features that which would enable the users to keep a record of all the past result and request (FPO, 2005). Many spammers tends to manipulate the technology ranking of Google by creating sites which are not real and fictitious and as such Google should stay away from these market segment as it might lose the brand image that it has created over the years. The business model can be regarded as complex as the Cost per click charges are confusing and in a way makes it difficult for the marketers to predict the positioning of the ads and also the cost. Another weakness is that Google does not have sticky like MSN or Yahoo has which attracts quite a lot of customers. Opportunity With the growth in technology and internet Google has a vast opportunity to reach new segments or groups as well as new content. The online market is growing and Google can take steps where consumers can access online books through Google. Therefore e books as well as telecommunication are the opportunity that Google should grasp and create a competitive advantage over its competitors. Google can increase its overall spending on the online advertisements and make it more attractive and useful for the users. Threat A major threat comes from the other search engine sites such as Bing and can lose its control over the policy of indexing. Also competition from Yahoo ad MSN can also pose a serious threat to Goggle. Although Google experiences a strong cash flow and profit, it still has the threat of losing its business to the new companies entering the market with more modified and well diverse strategies. But despite of the weakness and threats, Google is and has been able to remain one of the most thriving corporation which continuous to supply its consumers the advantage of online searching and technologies. By means of exploiting the strengths, perfecting the weaknesses embracing the opportunity and finally acknowledging the threat, Google continues to dominate as one and only online search engine and also one of the most well recognized companies across the globe. Internal Environment Google is the one among the most admired organization and it follows formal responsibilities and roles. With innovation being the corner stone for Google, the formal organizational structure of Google has been adopted to facilitate the innovations at Google. The structure of the organization is flat providing huge responsibility to its employees. Google is not like other organizations where the hierarchy level needs to be consulted in order to ensure that the actions of the employees are not contrary while implementing the change. Encouraging innovation and the flat structure of the organization demonstrate the culture that Google has and recognizes adaptability and recognition (Weber, 2008, p.20). Google coordinates with all its employees and provides a friendly and informal working culture for the members working in Google. The offices provides a warm environment and a relax nature which helps members to work effectively. The management of Google do not set goal for the employees instead help them meet the objectives that the employees set for themselves. The goals are evaluated on a quarterly basis but the management does makes or gives suggestion. The employees make use of the metrics in order to measure their progress towards their desired goals. Supervisors in Google act as mangers and ensure that the employees achieve the goal but at the same time the employees regard themselves as leaders as the employers themselves set the benchmark that are to be achieved by them. The employees love their company and love to work in Google not just because of flexible work time, perks and bonus but also because of the work that tends to come from cross functional leadership structure. Company Culture Google has the most interesting culture and it is the people that make Google the kind of company it is today. Google hires people who are smart as well as determined and favors ability of the employee over experience. All Googlers share a common vision and goals for its company and tends to speak many languages which reflect the global customers that Google serves. Google maintains the policy of open culture where people associated with the company is a contributor and feels comfortable sharing their ideas and also opinions (Google-c, n.d). Google has created work culture where it celebrates the difference as well as diversity. Culture clash do not takes place in Google as the employees accept one another culture with open heart and everyone is respected. The employees are encouraged for creativity and innovation and are not discouraged for failure. Google also offers employee award program which encourages the employees to work harder and effectively. For the Googlers it’s not just about the money or the perk that they get but it’s about the passion and this emphasis that Google puts passion above anything else. The culture on Google is defined as employee satisfaction and the employee are well satisfied with all the extra benefits that they receive. New employees at Google are known as “Nooglers” and they get their own buddy to help them to assimilate themselves into the Google environment and in every Friday the company held’s TFIF meeting where the members celebrates accomplishment of their team. The culture that was started by the founder of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin has influenced leadership within the organization. The owners of Google run the organization as triumvirate as they believe that shared judgments and the energy from them would benefit the organization in one way or the other. Google hires officers for pot which many of the organization do not even think of adding into their organizational structure. Google hired Chief Cultural officer in order to maintain an atmosphere for the startups (CHEN, et al. n.d). Thus it can be said that Google unique way of conducting its business which tends to appeals to many and it is the environment and the culture which creates individual who has the desire as well as the motivation to stay with the organization. Reference BBC News. (2006). Google to target software market. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5292168.stm. CHEN, K. et al. (No Date). Organizational Behavior. Retrieved from http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~kathyc/files/written/google.pdf. FPO. (2005). Google service remembers every search. Retrieved from http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Information-Management-Journal/134256161.html. Google. (No Date). Company Overview. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/about/company/. Google-a. (No Date). Our products and services. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/about/company/products/ Google-b. (No date). Goggle Green. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/green/. Google-c. (No Date). Our Culture. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/ Kotler, P. (2008). Principles of Marketing. Pearson Education India. Weber, S. (2008). Organizational Behavior - Google Corporate Culture in Perspective. GRIN Verlag. Read More