Business portfolio. Company Google - Term Paper Example

Google Portfolio Week Introduction to Portfolio Produce a summary of the financial performance of the company overthe past five years Annual Financials 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Sales/Revenue 23.33B 29.12B 37.86B 49.96B 59.73B Gross Income 14.48B 18.7B 24.67B 29.45B 33.91B Share price 445.28 386.5 485 581 540.37 (Edmonston , 2014) The Share line Graph 2009-213 From the statistics shown in the table above, it is apparent that the performance of Google for the last five years is impressive. In fact, it shows that Google is a market leader in the technological and search industry. There are a number of portfolios that have made Google to stand out. First, the company adopted online search. This followed by the ads which accompanied the search. These portfolios positioned the company ahead of its competitors. What came next were services such as Gmail that have continued to attract more users and at the same time they also carry relevant ads that continue to generate revenues for the company. Later, the company acquired YouTube and then followed by android in recent times. Android is one of the best mobile platforms across the globe (Marks, 2013, p. 20). With all these portfolios, it is no surprise that the company is performing well because investors hold high expectations about the future of the company (MarketWatch 2014). Google has been heavily investing both home automation and hardware which also plays an important role in enhancing the value of its shares. Week 2 Company Background Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin whilst studying for their doctorate Stanford University in 1995. However, the company was founded in 1998. The company mainly specializes in Internet-related products and services. These products and services include software, search, online advertising technologies, cloud computing. The company also derives a lot from returns from ads (ANTHONY, 2014, p. 113). The company also offers online productivity software including Gmail, as well as social networking site. The other products offered by the company particular in desktop section include web browsing applications, instant messaging, and photo editing. Last but not least, the organization leads the development of the mobile operating system for Android. Describe the mission and vision statements of the company The mission of Google is mainly to organize the information and make it universally useful and accessible by every person. The company’s initial goal before it diversified to collect all global information and organize it before making its universally useful. A good mission and vision statement should capture the aspirations of the company and should also indicate where the company wants to go, and along with its core products. In the case of Google, the mission and vision statement does not meet the criteria. This is because it aims to organize information and make it universally available to all people. This kind of mission does not even indicate which kind of information it want to organize and how people will access given that not everybody across the world has access to the Internet (Keen 2014). In addition, the vision sounds well for a starter company but for Google it would have captured the aspirations of the company including where it wants to be in the near future and the kinds of products it wants to offer. Week 3 Who are the most important stakeholders in the company? Stakeholder mapping is simply the Power / Interest Matrix. The map mainly groups stakeholders based on the power commanded and the degree to which they are very likely to show interest in organization’s strategies (Worthington 2009). The Power / Interest Map can be used to indicate what type of relationship the organization should have with each of the groups. The most important stakeholders of Google include: Users, Investors, Developers, Employees, and Advertisers. 1. Users Their interests are to have products that meet their desires. There are very many users of Google products. They are probably more than one billion. The company is endlessly coming up with products that are indispensable for its users some of them include Google search and Gmail. Users impact Google as they contribute to its success by using or buying their products. According to recent American Consumer Satisfaction Index reports, there are more contented Google users these days than it was yesteryears. The satisfaction rating stood at about eighty six percent and as predicted, Google managed to surpass all the other online search engines. 2. Investors The interest of investors is to see their investment yield returns and get paid promptly. Investors also expect their companies to perform well. They impact the company in many ways. Through their investments, the company can be able to enhance its offerings in a way that meets consumer demand. This is no exception for Google. Since its inception almost 19 years ago, it has been registering positive results. In 2012 for instance, the company in their last quarter or fourth quarter made close to $14 billion the amount that was almost forty higher than that recorded the previous year. This is what drives investors to buy its shares and invest in the company. 3. Employees The interest of employees is to see the company meet its targets. They significantly impact the company in that they implement everything needed to help the company succeed. Employees are very important stakeholders of any company. In addition, the employees have the interest of the company at heart as they work achieve the objectives and protect their jobs. As a major stakeholder, the company needs to keep them intact and happy (SCOTT, 2014). Google employees have been reporting improvements particularly in the rewards received which is a show of hard work. 4. Developers The interest of developers is to create products that will enable the company meet the desires of its customers. They impact the company considerably as through them, the company will either continue or cease to be in business. Since Google is a technological company, developers are not an option. The number of developers working for the company rose considerably after developing the Operating System for Android. In fact, the current position of Google is credited to its developers. With this, the company has a huge responsibility towards its developers. The company manages to retain the best developers through good pay and ample working environment. With this, developers and other stakeholders feel that the company is appreciating their efforts even in small ways. 5. Advertisers The interest of advertisers is to get a constant business from the company. They impact the company in that through advertising, they help the company position its products to the target market. Google has developed a platform for advertisers. The platform is called Google AdWords. This makes advertisers key stakeholders of the company. Advertisers pay a lot of money to have their adverts distributed to millions of viewers globally. At present, Google has more than one million advertisers (Silverthorne, 2010). Stakeholder mapping High power, High interest: Advertisers shareholders, suppliers High power, Low interest: the employees content providers Low power, Low interest Government the Community Low power, High interest: The mainstream media IT Critics Source: (Silverthorne, 2010). Week 4: collect a minimum of four articles and produce a 200-word summary Based on this current research on the company, identify and describe: 1.Who are the company’s main competitors? Google has many competitors but the main ones are Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook and Amazon (Getty 2014). Currently, Facebook stands out as the main competitor because Googles major business is advertising particularly on its search engine and through its AdSense and AdWords program. 2. What marketing orientation does the company follow? Kokemuller (2014) indicates that when an organization has a marketing orientation, it manages to satisfy the wants and requirements of its target clients its core business motivation. Also, this entails reacting to the consumer requirements by coming up with new products, improving services and enhancing on exist products. The marketing orientation of Google at moment is customer-centric. The company produces products that aim to solve the challenges facing consumers. Some of its products and services include: advertising on its search engine as well as on other websites that are linked or participate directly in its AdSense/ AdWords program (Sterling 2014).  Importantly, its achievement in this field has come from small, non-intrusive advertisements geared towards the intent of the search of an individual or the page content.  3. Who is the head of the marketing department of your company? The head of marketing department of Google is Lorraine Twohill. Her job description is Senior Vice President, Global Marketing (Google, 2014). Week 5Produce a MINDMAP to review the following: Who are its customers? (In other words, what is the company’s target market?) Ever expanding entrepreneurial businesses Specifically for Google, the major customers or the target markets are already established people or businesses that want to advertise their brands. In order to meet the needs of this business segment, the company has designed a searchable matrix and database to favor established businesses. At the moment the company also serves established big merchants with recognized brands. The company has developed viral marketing. This platform is specifically aimed at tapping into all sources of media especially those that are interested in promotions. This platform has offered all media sources with an opportunity to advertise and promote their offering for free or through paid links. In regard to this tare market, the company continues to develop more opportunities for Internet technology and advertising in order to enhance revenues from advertisers. Savvy students The company in category targets enrolled students most of whom are aged between 18 years and 30 years. They are huge consumers of Internet services (Mccracken, 2014, p. 52). They also have become accustomed to technology compared to much younger or older people. In addition, being in the colleges, this segment relies heavily on the Internet to find information. Leisurely fad following families This segment consists of middle class and upper class small families who hold different types of jobs. This segment uses Google products mainly for entertainment, leisure and communication. The segment is well educated and trained in many disciplines including technology (Ostrow, 2007). Above all, this segment has the capability to keep with the latest trends in the technology industry. The hard up household This segment is large. It consists of lower-end families with a high school education or much lower. The major characteristic of this segment is that it does not consume Internet in most cases. It consumes the Google brand sporadically and it is not loyal to its products. It uses the internet mainly for communication purposes and at times for shopping online. In addition, it does not have the ability to upgrade the technological devices as often as student savvy. Illustrate how the company is reaching its target market specify how this is being undertaken i.e. adverts/news clips /sponsorship? Google uses open source technology to reach its clients which allows not just collaboration with developers but also advertisers. It also positions it products through adverts on different web pages. This reaches the target market directly as opposed to positioning through mass media such as television. Week 6 Check through all the past publication (newspapers, websites, magazines etc.,) and describe in 250 words a major customer-related problem that the company has faced or gone through in the last five years, what contributed to the problem and how it was handled by the management. One of the key aspects of an online marketing strategy that is successful is great management of customer reviews. In fact, potential clients prefer online reviews to personal recommendations from family members or friends. As a result of this, it is no wonder that there is a huge uproar in the world of Google search. However, at the moment customers have been complaining a lot regarding their lost reviews or postings all together. This is associated with Google+ Local. The site is notorious for deleting, losing, and misplacing reviews that clients leave for business purposes. Previously there were no such problem, but when the company changed to Google+ Local, around mid- 2014, the problem of losing customer information heightened. Despite complaints from customers, the company has not managed to stem the issue effectively. In fact, from a personal perspective, some of the complaints advanced by customers are about reviews deleted or disappearing, and at times, the reviews posted by clients are not shown at all (Brick, 2014, pp. 28-39). In fact, I have come to see this issue of review phenomenon negatively affect virtually half of all the listings managed by the Google+ Local. The bottom line is that whether it is a malfunction that mainly has to do with the process of transitioning, or migration over to Google+ Local platform or the company’s attempt at regulating or denying them a chance to enhance their presence on the Internet, genuine or legitimate reviews are generally biting the dust, and clients are up in arms, they want a more satisfying explanation. Week 7Identify and include a management-related job vacancy that the company has posted recently. The company announced the position of senior vice president, Global marketing. Currently it is held by Lorraine Twohill. In your own words, describe the attributes and qualifications required for the position. The applicant should have an idea of cross cultural management and effective leadership skills. Taking a keen look at the senior management team, it is seen that there are leaders from different countries such as Lebanon, Mexico, Australia, the UK, Turkey, Liberia, Colombia, France, the U.S and Ireland. Mostly, the company resembles the UN. These kinds of extraordinary diversity of cultures, beliefs and ideas are undeniably among the most key competitive business advantages the company has. Effective leadership is a key factor in the achievement of an organization and virtually anybody can actually learn to be a leader who is effective. Leaders are not born but made. According to Thomas Gordon a contributor to www1.agric.gov.ab.ca, being a leader does not actually make somebody one, for the reason that leaders do not directly get the acceptance and respect of their team members; thus in order to get the group or team leadership and have a positive impact on the members of the team or group, leaders usually learn some specific methods and skills. Some of the things that can differentiate an effective leader from other leaders are through the way they tackles organizational problems. Some of the problems usually emanate from the reward systems. Some employees may be feeling that other employees are being well rewarded than others, hence an effective leader is supposed to make the reward system as transparent as possible. Besides, acknowledging the differences between groups and individuals within an organization is an essential aspect of an effective leader. This is because diversity within an organization if well managed can appeal more to clients than anything else. In general, awareness as well as dialogue can present a clearer picture of diversity within an organization. Appreciation and acceptance of cultural diversity within an organization not only means tolerating differences amongst groups or individuals, but supporting and fostering them as well. A variety of talents, ideas, knowledge and skills is an attractive attribute to any group or team within an organization. Hence an effective leader can only be recognized if these aspects form part of his leadership. Knowing the company why do you think these might be the desirable attributes that are important for the job? As it has already been seen, being an effective leader in multinational company such as Google, it is helpful as it the leader has the skills that will help her achieve on the set objectives of the company. In addition, these skills help the company to instill a sense of loyalism towards the company by employees. Cross cultural skills, on the other hand, have been suggested because the company is a multinational with different centers in different countries that ascribe to different cultures. Therefore, being conversant with this skill will help the manager buy into the undertakings of employees in different countries. Week 8: Week 8 Write a 250 word (2 sides of A4 excluding pictures) summary. Products Google has many products but the major ones include Android mobile phones; search tools such as Google search; advertising products such as Google Adwords; and development tools such as Webmaster tools. These products can be accessed mainly via the web (Google.com). They are sold to users in the form of software and some can also be downloaded from the web. Through these are many other products, Google has been able to revolutionize technological industry. Price Google prices it offerings through value-based pricing strategy. This is based on the fact that its products are not like other conventional products. Each product is priced according to its importance and ease of developing it (Google.com). In most cases, some can be used only from Google platform meaning that a small amount is only charged monthly, or yearly. In addition, prices usually vary depending on how often one uses the product. The more one uses the product, subsequently prices becomes cheaper. Promotion Google being an online platform, most of its products are marketed via internet. In most cases, when the company has a new product it launches it at the headquarters where potential users and media are usually invited (Google.com). After that, the company uses banners on different blogs and its webpages to promote the product. Distribution Since most of the products offered by the company are softwares, the company distributes them directly to clients. In short the company uses direct channel to distribute its products (Google.com). Users of such products can either download or get the softwares right from the Google shop. Some of them are stored on CDs and can be purchased. Week 9 Describe what kind of leadership is evident in the company? Justify your argument with examples based on evidence.  Profile of top Level management CEO and Co-Founder He is Larry Page. He oversees daily functions of the company. He founded the company with Sergey Brin whilst doing their doctorate at the University of Stanford. He holds a degree in Engineering from Michigan University (Google.com). Chairman He is called Eric Schmidt. At Google, he is responsible for all outside or external matters affecting the company. Some of these include building broader business relationships and partnerships. Also, he advises the top leadership on policy and business issues. He holds degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate from Princeton University (Google.com). Sergey Brin Is the Co-Founder and is responsible for directing special projects. He also directs some of the day to day activities. He holds a bachelors degree in computer science and mathematics from Maryland University. He also holds a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University (Google.com). Chief Financial Officer Currently the position is held by Patrick Pichette. He is responsible for all financial matters of the company. Mainly he undertakes financial operations and management in the company. He holds a masters degree in economics from Oxford University (Google.com). Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer Currently the position is held by David Drummond. He also serves as senior vice president in corporate, legal and developmental matters. Specifically, he oversees Googles global teams in legal matters relating to public policy, product quality issues, acquisitions and communications (Google.com). Leadership is the act of impacting or influencing the actions of a structured group of people (Kokemuller, 2014). This group may be an organization or a team in order to make use of its efforts to attain a goal or an objective. Google uses “distributed leadership” style and culture. Distributed leadership is when the leaders on the company also employees to have a say in the decision making process of the company. Week 10: Self reflection What I learned from this study is that companies have to put in a lot to succeed. In the case of Google, one would be quick to point at the financial figures of the company without knowing what is behind attaining those figures. The company has a supportive ranging from stakeholders to strategies. The major stakeholders of the company are the key forces behind the success of Google. The management, the clients, developers at Google also work is synergy making the company to achieve a lot within a very short period. When preparing the portfolio, there are a number of challenges I faced. First, finding some important information was hard as their website did not have or some website demanded that only members are allowed in. Nonetheless, I managed to find them from the websites of the competitors. The portfolio helped a lot in my critical thinking especially the when exploring the client complaints against. In this case, it reminded me of the ever unending legal action actions against Google over defamation issues. It helped me to understand why Google always wins such protracted court battles relating to content providers and its search engine platform. In this case, I relied a lot on the information provided by the company on their website and some information was also provided by the competitors, when compiling the report, I had also to rely on published articles from Ebscohost library to help understand the aspect of strategies and the contribution of customers and other core stakeholders. I will apply the information abstained from this portfolio in my place of work especially when designing winning strategies such product positioning and segmentations. These are important strategies in any company and failure to get them right implies that the company will play second fiddle to its competitors. Having seen its strategies and organization, the company has a good financial base, so it should consider acquiring some of its competitors to strengthen its portfolio and more so, its market position. References Anthony, S., 2014. IS THIS A SEARCH COMPANY? PC Magazine, pp.113-119. Brick, M., 2014. IS GOOGLE MAKING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE WORSE. Newsweek Global, 162(8), pp. 28-39. Edmonston , P., 2014. Google’s I.P.O., Five Years Later. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from Getty, 2014, October 13. Amazon is Googles main competition in search - Eric Schmidt. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from Google, I., 2014. Management team . Retrieved November 27, 2014, from Keen, A., 2014, November 10. Is it time for a new Google mission statement? Retrieved November 27, 2014, from Kokemuller, N., 2014. Difference Between Marketing Orientation & Market Oriented. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from MarketWatch., 2014. Google Inc. Cl C. Retrieved November 26, 2014, from Marks, P., 2013. Googles real androids. New Scientist., 220(2948), pp.20-20. Mccracken, H., 2014. Which Company will Control Your Home? Time, 184(1), pp.52-52. Ostrow, A., 2007, July 06. Google Vs. Everyone. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from Scott, G., 2014. GOOGLES NEXT MOVE. Canadian Business, 187(3), pp. 10-11. Silverthorne, S.,2010, february 8. Looking Behind Google’s Stand in China. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from Sterling, G. (2014, October 13). Google’s Eric Schmidt: “Really, Our Biggest Search Competitor Is Amazon”. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from Worthington, I., 2009, February 9. Stakeholders and How They Affect Your Business. Retrieved 27 November, 2014, from Read More