Assessment: Google's Business Strategies and Competitive Advantages

General Environment. Today, Google, Inc. (hereinafter "Google" or "the company") competes in the global technology industry where in holds a leading position. The company remains committed to "improving the ways people connect with information" (Form 10-K, 2012, p. 3). The general environment in which the company competes is characterized by rapid growth as well as industry convergence as existing technologies and platforms are stretched to their limits (Hitt, Ireland & Hokisson, 2011). In this environment, Google has emerged as the major actor that is modeling the way for others. For

Which of the following approaches to innovation is Google Inc. using when it allows researchers to devote 20 percent of their time to pursuing their own ideas and projects?

We strive to develop strategies, business models, and dynamics to drive premier value-added services through means of integrity, respect, passion, persistence, and customer focus.

However, it can be argued that having a well communicated service concept could restrict an organisation and its managers should they what to change their service or product. Johnston et al. (2012) goes as far as saying that significant changes to service concepts can expose the weaknesses in the organisation. The service concepts of Travelodge and Hilton are considerably different, a comparison of the two (appendix four) shows this. It could be said that the service concept of Hilton provides broader outcomes and customer experience, should Travelodge want to tailor their service concept to achieve similar outcomes they would have to veer from the service concept in which their employees and customers are already invested in, creating a

Google Inc., American search engine company founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Google handled 70 percent of worldwide online search requests, placing it at the heart of most Internet users’ experience. Even though Google’s essential core business is search service, it now offers more than 50 percent Internet services and products from Gmail and online document creation to software for mobile phones and tablet computers. Google successfully maintained its core competence meanwhile expanded its business to advertisement and application three major core businesses. Its success in market levitates Google’s growth by acquiring other tech companies as a way of horizontal integration. For example, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put it in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top influential conglomerate companies in the high-tech market place. Google plays a very vital role in ICT ecosystem and it is one of the forces that enhance the growth of entire ICT ecosystem. For further illustrating the ICT ecosystem, I chose Apple and Comcast as device and Internet infrastructure firm to compare and contrast against Google.

Google Company is one of the global leaders in technology and in enabling people access information from the internet through their efficient search engines. Google immediately gained the attention of the internet sector for being a better search engine than its competitors (Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2015). This was after a tremendous effort in marketing their services and capturing a large market worldwide. However, there being so many risks and challenges in this line of business Google has had the urge to come up with new strategies so that they are able to overcome any challenge before them. The major problem that Google has

Google, Apple, Facebook and each have different business models. Each company focuses on different things that makes them unique and stand out to their customers.

Improving customer experience Driving clearer customer segmentation Adding new customers Unified delivery services platform Investing in developing services offers

Service firms are increasingly using customer service to develop sustainable competitive advantage – through value generation as well as differentiation. This

Google’s total assets have steadily increased dating back from 2008 to 2012. Some key figures to point out in their assets are the slow growth between the second half of 2008

Google’s organizational structure, like Zappos, is flat with low levels of management. Google encourages employees to take initiative without needing approval from multiple levels of managers. To inspire the spirit of innovation in its employees, Google came up with the 70-20-10 rule. Frenz (2013) states, “They have the freedom to spend 70 percent of their time on current assignments, 20 percent on related projects of their choosing, and 10 percent on new projects in any area they desire.” Employees have the freedom to set their own goals and change

Competitor's Ratios and Analysis. Using relative comparative analysis (Table 6), competing firms Google and Amazon have unique performance over fiscal years (FY) 2014-2016. Measuring profit performance using profitability ratios, Google has a greater gross profit margin than Apple and retains an average of 61 cents for every dollar spent on direct sales. However, Apple outperforms Google on both return on assets and return on equity ratios. Meaning, Apple retains 14 cents for every dollar in assets in comparison to Google’s 11 cent retained average. In addition, Apple retains a net average of 35 cents for every dollar invested by common shareholders.

Garvin’s article How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management describes Google’s unique approach to management. Google prides itself with having the best, most highly satisfied employees in the industry. A majority of its employees are engineers that prefer spending time creating and building, which makes it difficult for management to exist. Many of Google’s employees are also highly independent and do not like being micromanaged. Garvin (2013) described a 2002 experiment where Google made their organization flat, eliminating engineering managers, the company realized that managers do more than just manage projects. Managers contributed to the company, “by communicating strategy, helping employees prioritize projects, facilitating

Google’s organizational structure is less about control and meeting goals set by the company. The company is more focused on employees meeting the objectives that they have set for themselves. Google takes some aspects of the Laissez Faire style of leadership as all employees are given freedom to create and determine their own deadlines and ideas for projects. The managers act

Furthermore, because Google’s employees d are also equity holders, morale is high and Google encourages its employees to feel a part of Google’s success.