Google Case Study Essay

Today, Google, Inc. is worth more than General Motors, McDonald's and Disney combined, and the company continues to model the way in the global technology industry in which it competes. In fact, the company's name has become a verb and it is common practice for consumers to "Google" what they want to find online. To determine how Google, Inc. reached this dazzling level of performance in a relatively short period of time, this paper provides an analysis of the three external environments in which Google competes, the general environment, the industry environment and the competitor environment. Next, a discussion of two specific strategic issues as well as opportunities and threats that are facing Google, Inc. is followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Google Inc. was founded in 1998 by two Stanford University graduate students collaborating to create a new search engine. Today, Google employs over 19,000 people, has become the most widely used search engine in the world and now offers e-mail, mapping, video sharing and social networking services, just to name a few. The company’s success is notable, but not just for its financial growth, in 2007 Google was listed as the number one company to work for by Fortune 5 magazine (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/full_list/). Google has been noted for its unique corporate organizational culture, to which many attribute the company’s success.

In this scenario, if the United States Government were to mandate a similar set of restriction and censorship requirements on Google searches, and other search engines, the legal issue that would arise through this new government policy is the breaking of H.R.491 - Global Online Freedom Act of 2013. The Global Online Freedom Act of 2013 was created:

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 INC. CASE STUDY ML00001-091 © MARKETLINE THIS PROFILE IS A LICENSED PRODUCT AND IS NOT TO BE PHOTOCOPIED

Google, as well as other multinational companies, stands accused of taking a haughty attitude to its unethical affairs. Peter Barron, Google’s European public affairs chief, wrote in the FT “Governments make tax law, the tax authorities independently enforce the law and Google complies with the law.” Not only that, but it said its investment in various European countries helps their economies. In the U.K., “we also employ over 2,000 people, help hundreds of thousands of businesses to grow online, and invest millions supporting new tech businesses in East London,” said Google in a statement. Jane Penner, a spokeswoman for Google, however, declined to address the particulars

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

1. Author’s Perspective. Describe the perspective of the author(s) of the case study and possible biases of the author(s):

The purpose of this project is to review Google and analyze it as a potential employer. Throughout the report, we will cover their financial status, the culture of the company, and the future outlook. Additionally, we will explore the benefits and incentives offered, and employment opportunities. Our main goal is to come to a general consensus of what the company stands for and if it would be considered a suitable employer.

4. Describe Google’s customer value proposition, profit formula, and key resources linked to its business model. What strategies has Google relied upon to build competitive advantage in the industry?

The environment for business is continually changing, and organizations like Google that wish to succeed must establish communications strategies that help them overcome any challenges that such as changes may bring to them. According to Argenti (2013) companies should adapt to these changes in a way that is not detrimental to their own principles.

According to the text, Google relies on tracking along with other activities to maintain profitability, it has large stake in the privacy issue (p.471). Google has been working on updating their privacy policy to better comply with what the users want when it comes to their private information. In 2012, Google revamped their privacy policy and combined all its information it gathered from its users from the different Google services. Google drafted a 13-page letter answering all government questions (p.469). Google states that all users have the option of turning off certain features that collect users information. The new policy also states that it would not impact the amount of data it gathers or deletes and that it remains highly committed to user privacy (p.469). If Google can continue to follow this new policy where it commit to its users privacy and not have it clash with its profitability then Google users will be happy. Majority of Google users just want to make sure that when they use the Google search engine, their private information is secured and not leaked to hackers. Google has the power to respect its privacy and maintain its profitability by keeping the two issues separate.

This paper will examine Google’s success, including its consistent inclusion on the “Top Five Companies to Work For” list, Forbe’s, “Top Ethical Companies to Work For,” and employee performance and attitudes. Along with Google’s successes, the paper will also look at what has contributed to its success, perhaps internal factors that could be controlled as well as external factors, which there may have been no control. When we talk about internal influences or factors that Google could control, we will look at the role the founders’ backgrounds, their leadership style, primarily servant and transformational, although there could be more, and the organization’s structure and Board of Directors’ has had on their formation, daily operation,

In 2013 Schmidt released his first book called ‘The New Digital Age’ and in 2014 his second book, ‘How Google Works’. ‘How Google Works’ is not just another managerial book. In his book, Schmidt explains a manager’s perspective. When managers and CEO’s have meetings, we can sometimes think they are pointless, but these meetings have great meaning for an organization. Schmidt for instance, comes up with ways to enhance his methods of making his corporation successful. He also explains in his book that most

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