SWOT Analysis of Google - Case Study Example

Google Name Course Lecturer Date Introduction Google is one of the top internet oriented companies that has highly impacted the lifestyles of millions of people all over the world following advancements in information technology. It forms one of the extremely dominant search engines as well as the most viewed websites globally. Google has really grown but it remains crucial to continually re-examine its external and internal business environment in order for it to maintain its competitive advantage (Grant 2011). Analysis Industry Google has a dominant role in the internet industry with its diversification encompassing several sectors such as media sites, word processing and mapping software. An analysis of the industry in which Google operates, will be done using Porter’s five forces which are barriers to entry, buyer power, supplier power, threat of substitutes and extent of rivalry (Grant 2011). Barriers to entry There are no strong barriers to entry in the internet market and thus if another firm was to invent a superior search engine, it may penetrate the industry and affect the dominating firms especially Google. Yahoo and Microsoft have highly enhanced their search tools and may position them through their services as well as products. More so, internet advertising and regulations that oversee good and bad advertising operations are advancing each day a situation which may impact Google’s current technology and ideas (Grant 2011). Buyer power The application of search grading is a substantial control position in the internet industry by those who own search apparatus in bargaining like Google. Nonetheless, customers of search engines are turning out to be more complicated and also demand additional services free of charge. In addition, substitutes are readily accessible at the same charges hence buyer bargaining power is somehow high in this industry. No actual reviews are carried out in relation to the aspects that the web population would have interest on thus every search company utilizes researches to guess directions (Grant 2011). Supplier power Google is more of regionally rather than internationally dominant. It faces risk of forward integration. This is because, its search may end up not working well with fresh launching of programs from Apple as well as Microsoft. However, advertising forms a core source of Google’s income and both the inventor as well as the user of the advert are all regulars of Google, and thus the influence of supplier is kept low (Miller-Jones 2010). Threat of substitutes The threat of substitutes in Google’s industry is very high because switching charges are small. Buyer preference to substitute is mainly driven by pace and correctness of the outcome and too by the explicit pushing of adverts that are incorporated in the search outcomes and web pages. Google’s search engine is being compromised by search services from its rival companies like Yahoo, Amazon and Microsoft (Miller-Jones 2010). Extent of rivalry Although Google has dominated the internet industry for quite sometime, the degree of rivalry in the industry is very high with so many competitors offering different services and products that are comparable to those of Google. However, Google has a significant market share which gives it a competitive advantage over its rivals since it facilitates enhancement of the quality of Google’s adverts as well as search results (Miller-Jones 2010). Organization Analysis of the organization will be done using SWOT analysis. This is a management technique that is applied by majority of corporate institutions in making important tactical decisions that assist the firms to be steady and protracted in the long run. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Boyes 2012). Strengths Google has a strong brand name which makes its products and services to be known globally. It is also well known for its search engine technology which tops in the internet market. Google’s ability to give more relevant and unique content is made possible by its proprietary algorithm which ranks web pages on the basis of significance and notoriety. In addition, unlike most technology firms, Google has constant growth and revenue streams that mainly comes from its advertising business. It is the mainly visited website and on these grounds, it has no scarcity of customers who want to advertise their products through their platform. Additionally, the development job taking place at the firm where every worker gives 20% of his or her time to come up with personal projects, boosts innovation and constantly keeps the business in a moving position (Boyes 2012). Weaknesses Google’s key source of income is advertising. This is a weakness which may negatively affect the company in the future. More so, Google is simply a search engine that keeps its information in a structured way and presents it to its customers. As a result, it may be easily manipulated. Majority of Google’s products such as Google maps, news, book search, finance and picnic are not recognized by all its users. Moreover, Google’s relative advertising is perceived by promoters as less effectual in generating revenue because users of web pages demonstrating editorial content are less expected to purchase as compared to searchers. Lastly, the company does not have very personalized search on which it may charge its users switching fee if they choose to abscond Google’s services (Boyes 2012). Opportunities Google could advance its Google Books to present E-Books for retailing, much similar to Amazon’s Kindle Store. Moreover, with the quickly growing market for Tablet PC, and Google’s Android software dominating the market, Google could situate itself to take considerable market share of the E-Book industry. In addition, Google can begin providing completely fledged services on mobile gadgets in order to capture customers past usual internet. Furthermore, Google Plus has the capacity to merge all Google’s services and turn into the paramount social system and web search apparatus accessible (Boyes 2012). Threats Competition is at all times a threat, although in Google’s situation, intense rivalry emerges from fresh sources every day. Hence, the outlay of continuing being competitive could mount quickly. The raise in mobile gadgets and decline in personal computers may negatively impact search income. Smaller screen decisions can generate problems in screening advertisements. If therefore, Google cannot offer an attractive setting for advertisements, its service quality could decline. Additionally, Google can be caught up in issues concerning confidentiality if it chooses to go for extremely tailored search whereby it has to get user’s individual information. Rivals such as yahoo offer more services along with solutions with usual search. Google may begin losing its customers because of added appeals by such rivals (Barringer & Hess 2012). Customers Google has a wide range of customers both locally and internationally. They include students, business people, researcher, medical professionals, teachers among others. In terms of demographic aspects, most Google users are said to be highly educated and customers are male and Google’s search engine is commonly used by individuals who are well conversant with the current technological developments. Moreover, research shows that, majority of Google below the age of 34 years. More so, a big number of Google clients are business experts. Regarding geographical location, Google search results along with its assortment of products can be accessed through over one hundred languages (Barringer & Hess 2012). Competitors Currently, Google has several competitors who has diverse competitive advantages. Microsoft is one of Google’s top competitors. Microsoft’s competitive advantage in terms of information technology is in its Bing which competes against Google’s search engine. Currently, Microsoft’s Office Web tool is a big threat to Google Apps. Facebook is another top competitor with its competitive advantage being its knowledge regarding the average person as compared to Google. Hence, it is able to create a marketing program which grabs a big market portion from Google. Yahoo is also Google’s rival that has several products such as News, Messenger, Analytic services and email. Currently, Yahoo’s competitive advantage lies in its assisting users locate travel deals as well as compare the prices of products. Yahoo has also added Twitter on its search site (Barringer & Hess 2012). Recommendation Google’s search engine is still very powerful and leading in the market and thus it should continue improving the search results in terms of speed and accuracy so as to maintain its competitive advantage. Google should also work on the demands of its customers regarding sophistication so as to confine their loyalty to its products. Most of Google’s rivals, are devising new products every day and thus Google should invest heavily on technology if it has to continue leading in the market. More so, Google should capitalize on its probable opportunities like the Google Books and Google Plus to augment its competitive advantage and be able to retain its customers (Boyes 2012). Conclusion Google still has a strong brand name, customer base, advanced technology and significant market share which are core competencies that it should exploit for perfect search results. Google’s industry has no firm entry barriers and thus it needs to work on its product differentiation and improvement. Google has several rivals with diverse competitive advantages and focusing on how to overcome those advantages is a vital move for the firm. References Barringer, B & Hess, ED 2012, Entrepreneurship Lessons for Success, FT Press. Boyes, WJ 2012, Managerial economics : markets and the firm, Mason, Ohio , Cengage Learning. Grant, RM 2011, Contemporary strategy analysis, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons. Miller-Jones, ER 2010, Google Inc, Fastbook. Read More