EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Google has developed into an integrated technology company from a

search engine that was initially and which constitutes its core business. In

this context, a huge list of available and under development Google

products exists, making the company a top provider of products/ services

in a series of different fields.

Since Google is having an extensive products/ services portfolio

addressing different target markets and needs, the list of indirect and

direct competitors that it has to deal with seems endless. In order to

properly address the competitors and continue to preserve a top position

in many market fields, Google needs to do what it practically does so far,

i.e. continuously developing new market niches in established markets.

As such, it would be important for Google to continuously invest in fields

its already operating by providing new products for a significant number

of customers. By further addressing the automotive industry with more

specialized and state-of-the-art technologies, by giving an emphasis on

new devices (e.g. wearable technologies) and new communications

technologies (e.g. fiber cables), the company shall be able to maintain its
Report on Google

leading position but also prevail in the long term and gain a sustainable

competitive advantage.

Table of Contents
1. COMPANY BACKGROUND.......................................................................4

1.1 Organizational structure..................................................................4

1.2 Product Portfolio...............................................................................5

1.3 SWOT Analysis.................................................................................5

2. MARKET ANALYSIS.................................................................................6

2.1 Competitor Analysis.........................................................................6

Benchmarking.......................................................................................6

Indirect Competitors..............................................................................6

Direct Competitors Resources/ capabilities.........................................7

2.2 Branding & Positioning.....................................................................9

2.3 Segmentation/ Targeting................................................................10

3. STRATEGIC CHOICES............................................................................11

3.1 Ansoff Matrix..................................................................................11

New Product development...................................................................12

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3.2 PEST Analysis.................................................................................13

3.3 Opportunities.................................................................................14

4. CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................15

5. REFERENCES........................................................................................17

6. APPENDICES........................................................................................20

1. COMPANY BACKGROUND

1.1 Organizational structure

Google has developed into the top search engine and a technologically

advanced company providing systematic professional services in a series

of technological fields. Google, in less than 20 years, has become a

reputed firm employing more than 40.000 employees (Google, 2014) and

a significant career target for a series of professionals. Such a number of

employees and a constantly developing firm require for an efficient

organizational chart that encompasses all the roles and secures

effectiveness in decision making.

The firm is broadly organized in 3 levels, the administrative level

professionals, the executive level officials and the operational

professionals. Companys chart is provided below; the highest position is

given at the top while the lowest one is at the end.

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Figure 1: Google Company Structure (hierarchystructure.com, 2013)

1.2 Product Portfolio

Google has developed into an integrated technology company from a

search engine that was initially (Carlson, 2014) and which constitutes its

core business. As such a broad list of available and under development

Google products has occurred leading to the consideration that the

company is providing holistic technological services and products; in

Appendix 1 one can see that Google is a search engine, a suite of

applications, a storage choice, a smartphone operating system, a

computer provider, a self-driving cars provider, etc.

1.3 SWOT Analysis

In order to critically evaluate Googles external and internal environment

the SWOT framework (Humphrey, 2005), is a useful tool to understand

where the company stands. The figure below illustrates Googles

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Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Major Sources:

(Google, 2014), (McCue, 2013), (Bhatia, Deep, & Sachdeva, 2012)).

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Figure 2: Googles SWOT Analysis

2. MARKET ANALYSIS

2.1 Competitor Analysis

Benchmarking

As defined (Douglas & Morgan, 2005) Benchmarking is appropriate for

identifying and enhancing valuable marketing capabilities. In this

context, Google brings the following to a fierce competition:

A state of the art search engine and innovativeness in an extensive

product/ services portfolio.
A constant investment and spending on infrastructure and on new
technological solutions.
A think out of the box rationale.
Focus on resources (i.e. employees, infrastructure, etc.) that provide
a competitive edge, i.e. resources that are beneficial, rare, complex
making it difficult for competitors to imitate by developing the
overall firms value (Barney, 1991).

Indirect Competitors

Indirect competition is stealth competition; its actually about a product/

service that can satisfy the same need in a different way that the

company provides. As such, if one looks at Google search engine, for

example, it would identify a series of indirect competitors. Facebook is an

indirect competitor in this field; via its Graph search option it is indirectly

entering Google's field. Moreover, Wolfram Alpha, although having a

totally different rationale providing computational knowledge info, is also

an indirect competitor as its core rationale is being on the search

business.

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Indirect competition leads practically to an extended list of alternatives

covering the needs that Google addresses. Amazon can also be an indirect

competitor when it comes to Google Scholar, for example. In addition, a

provider of a hardcopy of an encyclopedia is also an indirect competitor to

Google. The company, concerning this part, is and needs to constantly

concentrate in new market niches in order to prevail against indirect

competitors.

Direct Competitors Resources/ capabilities

Since Google is having an extensive products/ services portfolio

addressing different target markets and needs, the list of direct

competitors seems endless. Taking this into consideration, the focus shall

be on major competitors per market where the company is having a

dynamic presence (e.g. search engines, mobile operating systems, etc.).

The idea is to spot direct competitors and consider their main resources/

capabilities that Google needs to properly address so as to be in a leading

position.

Company Market Field Main resources/

capabilities
Yahoo Search engine A strong brand trusted and
visited by more than 700
Advertising services
million people around the

Applications world (Thompson, 2012)

Policy on acquiring
Internet Access promising start-ups; focus
on hiring/ engaging
Communication
talented people (Williams
tools & Perez, 2014)
Large mail subscriber base
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Company Market Field Main resources/

capabilities
Microsoft Search engine Long tradition has created
brand loyalty
Advertising services Acquisition of trending
companies having an
Applications
established leading market
Internet Access share (e.g. Skype)
Strong distribution
Operating systems channels globally
Significant cash reserves
Hardware

Communication &

publishing tools
Apple Hardware/ Software Innovative marketing and
promotional capabilities
Mobiles Strong distribution
channels especially in the
Digital distribution
US
Established brand loyalty
Vertical integration in its
products addressing loyal
Apple customers
Samsung Mobile devices Wide product range
offering
High quality products
awarded various quality
prizes
Oracle Technology services Hosts a wide scale of
specialized projects
providing the technological
base for development
inorganic growth strategy
supported by a charismatic

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Company Market Field Main resources/

capabilities
leader (Dudovskiy, 2012)
TripAdvisor Specialized search Well established with open

tools and accessible reviews

Trusted website by a
significant number of
travellers

In order to address the above named competitors Google needs to do

what it practically does so far, i.e. continuously developing new market

niches in established markets. Niche marketing is extremely cost-effective

and meets customers constantly changing unique needs. Google has

incorporated this philosophy from its beginning and managed to prevail so

far. It is characteristic that back in 1998 the search engine market was

considered saturated and dominated by Yahoo and the promising

Altavista; at that time Google managed to enter and dominate the market

with its simplicity and to-the-point addressing of customer needs.

2.2 Branding & Positioning

Branding helps firms to determine who they are and communicate about

it. Branding practically develops as the company develops and expands.

Google, with its branding constantly evolving, has gained a top position as

a world top brand. Several characteristics can be spotted defining Google

successful branding:

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Visual company - Google uses a lot pictures to promote its product,

while its splash projects (e.g. the self-driving car) create a visual

impression before entering the market.

Focus on design Elegancy in design of applications and web is

Googles characteristic.
Constant interaction Simplicity in every companys product

supports interaction and positive feedback.

Stay in the heart of the news huge promotion in press keeps the

company in everyones minds.

Strong presence in multimedia
Influencing of influential groups the term Google it instead of

search it over the Internet hasnt accidentally occurred.

Being aggressive in world markets and markets way different than

the core business

Positioning refers to where the company stands in relevance to

competitors; in other words, it describes what the company is better at

than others. As such google, in the search engines field, holds the leading

position due to its simplicity, i.e. it actually shares the passions of its

customers by providing solutions to the worlds problems - from the

everyday to the epic, from the mundane to the monumental (Google,

2014).

2.3 Segmentation/ Targeting

The following table provides the market segments that the company is

mainly targeting based on companys evidence and nature of business.

Segment Targeting
Office workers (through applications,

mobile devices, etc.)

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Segment Targeting
Characteristics: High technology

awareness, mentality that everything is

achievable (Sherry & Hans Anton, 2011),

confidence, impatience, anxiety.

Students (through applications, mobile

devices, etc.)

Characteristics: High technology

awareness, seeking for simplicity,

impatience.
All age ranges familiar with or willing to

explore the Internet and new technologies

3. STRATEGIC CHOICES

3.1 Ansoff Matrix

Companys scope and positioning as well as the nature of the business

demand for a constantly developing marketing strategy so as not to

remain stagnant, which would be devastating for Googles prosperity.

Existing
More specifically, GoogleProducts New
should focus on Products changing needs
addressing
Existing Markets

constantly. In order to properly decide what kind of growth strategy

Market Penetration Product development
should be pursued by Google Ansoff Matrix (Ansoff, 1957) is examined.
New Markets

Market development Diversification

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Figure 3: Ansoff Matrix

The strategic alternatives for Google are, according to the above figure,

the following:

Market Penetration: In market penetration the firm is looking to

increase its market share with the products it already provides to

the markets it already operates. Its a low risk strategy.

Market development: Existing products are provided into new

markets in other countries or in different market segments.

Product Development: New products are developed to meet

changing needs in existing markets.

Diversification: New products are provided to new markets. A firm

uses customer awareness on its brand so as to develop new

products that meet different needs.

New Product development

Considering the case of Google it would seem more appropriate of a new

product development strategy to be adopted from now on. Considering

products such as google glasses or the self-driving car it seems that the

company, so far has being following a diversification strategy by providing

new products to target groups of different market segments than what the

core business was addressing.

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The company seems to have opened a lot of operational fields that

havent been explored adequately. In order to increase its market share in

these fields, to enhance brands strength and to manage costs effectively

it seems appropriate to follow the new product development strategy. The

self driving car, for example, is introducing the company to another

fierce competitive environment, i.e. the automotive industry. Considering

the industrys technical requirements, the security issues, the

technological advancements, etc. it would be wise for Google to further

invest in this field by providing new products for a large and quite

remunerative customers group.

3.2 PEST Analysis

Having in mind the proposed strategy provided above the following

external factors define the companys macro-environment and their

impact on new product development (Johnson, Scholes, & Whittington,

2010).

PEST Analysis

Political/Leg 1. Global urbanization is the trend in the recent

years.
al
2. Authorities (EU, US Department of Justice,
Chinese Government, etc.) put pressure on
censoring search results
3. Increasing laws on privacy and freedoms.
4. Digital information is vulnerable to copyright

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PEST Analysis

issues.

1. Global economic power changes hands, from

developed to developing countries.
2. Growth economies are changing from centers of
Economic labor to consumption-oriented societies.
3. Global economic recession is still present having
negative results in Internet-based
advertisements.

1. Increasingly connected world through the Internet

requesting for relevant support platforms.
Social/
2. Global trend towards an ageing population
Environmen leading to a limited number of human resources
available
tal
3. Stakeholders require for respect to privacy and
personal freedom.

1. Serious developments are taking place, ranging

Technologic
from nanotechnology to robotics, opening up new
al
market opportunities.

3.3 Opportunities

Considering that the new product development approach is to be adopted

and the SWOT Analysis on the company, a SWOT/TOWS (Weihrich, 1982)

Analysis could be formed in order to gain an insight on where the

company could focus in order to further develop and expand on existing

opportunities.

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Opportunities (O) Threats (T)

Consumers constantly Fierce competition
asking for new hi-tech from other major
products players (Microsoft,
Mobile devices are Apple, etc.)
constantly gaining bigger Strict EU antitrust
market share laws
Access to patents Similar free open
through acquisitions source products are
Electronic cars are constantly developing
gaining a bigger market
share to the wider public
Fiber cables are on their
way to develop
Strengths (S) S-O Strategy S-T Strategy
Open source provider 1. Focus on the next step 1. Differentiation to avoid
Focus on customer - through acquiring a firm or direct competition and
high quality developing new technology. create new market niches
Top financial position 2. Emphasis on wearable 2. Constant development and
computers, mobiles, etc. acquisition of promising
Access to a large group
3. Acquiring of a large start ups to preserve the
of customers globally
automotive firm to further leading position
Patents portfolio
enhance electronic cars 3. Emphasis on the notion
Holistic solutions 4. Development of patents on that open source products
Continuous development fibre cables technology can lead to new profitable
- innovation developments
Weaknesses (W) W-O Strategy W-T Strategy
Relies mainly on online 1. Further investment on other1. Realistic approach towards
advertising sources of income providing differentiated
Some of its products add 2. ABC Analysis on all current products that address new
little value to business and under development needs and facilitate
Litigations (e.g. with EU products/ services peoples lives
on patents) lead to costly3. Heavy investment on PR and
and time consuming hiring of legal experts
results

4. CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS

Google has managed to become a global leader in less than 20 years.

Considering its course so far, one would consider that the company has

probably reached the highest point to be reached and there is no field for

further improvement or development. However, the company, through its

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simplicity philosophy, is constant seeking for development and its

expansion to other market fields, has managed to have an impressive and

continuous development.

In order to deal with indirect stealth competition and a fierce direct

competition, Google needs to evolve into providing new products to

existing markets. Google glasses or the self-driving car are at this

direction; some further recommendations that occurred from the analysis

given above could concern the following:

More dynamic entering into the automotive industry: In order to gain

valuable know-how and manage to successfully combine state of

the art self-driving technology with mechanical excellence an

acquisition of a traditional automotive firm could be considered.

Emphasis on the next level of devices: Wearable technologies seem

to be, at the moment, the Question mark in their course to

becoming the next Star products if one considers the BCG Matrix

(Henderson, 1970). A low market share seems not promising at the

moment, but high growth markets secure a profitable future.

Fiber cables technology is the next step on communications.

Google, on the other hand, is providing a huge investment on R&D

or on acquiring promising start-ups. Having made the first steps on

fiber optic cable deployment methods (Smolaks, 2012), it would be

wise for the company to further invest on this technology through

heavy investment.

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5. REFERENCES

Robinson, S., & Stubberud,H. (2011). Student communication preferences

for work/school and social purposes. Academy of Educational Leadership

Journal, 16(1), 55-57.

Ansoff, I. (1957). Strategies for Diversification. Harvard Business Review,

35(Sep-Oct), 113-124.

Barney, J. B. (1991). Firm Resources And Sustained Competitive

Advantage. Journal Of Management, 17(1), 99-120.

Bhatia, A., Deep, G., & Sachdeva, A. (2012). Strategic Analysis of Serach

Engine Giant: A case study of Google Inc. International Journal of

Computing & Business Research, I, 1-13.

Carlson, N. (2014). A List Of Products Larry Page Has Google Working On

Other Than Search, Such As Spoons. Retrieved December 30, 2014,

from http://www.businessinsider.com/a-list-of-google-products-2014-

Douglas, W. V., & Morgan, N. A. (2005). Benchmarking marketing

capabilities for sustainable competitive advantage. Journal of

Marketing, 69, 80-94.

Dudovskiy, J. (2012). Oracle SWOT Analysis. Retrieved December 31,

2014, from http://research-methodology.net/oracle-swot-analysis/

Google. (2014). Google Company. Retrieved December 30, 2014, from

http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/

Google. (2014). Google Investor Relations. Retrieved December 30, 2014,

from http://investor.google.com/

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Google. (2014). Marketing & Communications. Retrieved December 31,

2014, from http://www.google.gr/about/careers/teams/markcomm/

Henderson, B. (1970). The Product Portfolio. Retrieved January 1, 2014,

from

https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/Classics/strategy_the_pro

duct_portfolio/

hierarchystructure.com. (2013). Google Company Hierarchy. Retrieved

December 30, 2014, from

http://www.hierarchystructure.com/google-company-hierarchy/

Humphrey, A. (2005). SWOT Analysis for Management Consulting. SRI

International, 2-4.

Johnson, G., Scholes, K., & Whittington, R. (2010). Exploring Corporate

Strategy (8th Edition ed.). Prentice Hall.

McCue, T. J. (2013). Apple #1, Google #2 - 50 Innovative Companies

Ranked By 1,500 Execs. Retrieved December 30, 2014, from

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/01/10/apple-1-google-2/

Smolaks, M. (2012). Google To Patent Fibre Optic Cable Deployment

Method. Retrieved January 1, 2014, from

http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/workspace/google-to-patent-fibre-

optic-cable-deployment-method-63776

Thompson, S. (2012). Yahoos Competitive Advantage Is Its Data.

Retrieved December 31, 2014, from

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/04/thompson-yahoo-competitive-

advantage-data/

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Weihrich, H. (1982). The TOWS Matrix -- A Tool for Situational Analysis.

Long Range Planning, 15(2), 54-66.

Wikipedia. (2014). List of Google products. Retrieved December 30, 2014,

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products

Williams, S., & Perez, M. (2014). Yahoos acquisition strategy is actually a

talent strategy. Retrieved December 31, 2014, from

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/yahoos-

acquisition-strategy-is-actually-a-talent-

strategy/2014/07/03/d8bb72fc-0070-11e4-8fd0-

3a663dfa68ac_story.html

6. APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Googles Product Portfolio (Wikipedia, 2014)

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Search tools

Google Search

Encrypted Search

Author Rank

Google Alerts

Google Books

Google Custom Search

Experimental Search

Google Finance

Google Groups

Google Hotel Finder

Google Flight Search

Google Image Search

Language Tools

Life Search

Movies

Google News

Google News archive

Google Patent Search

Google Scholar

Google Shopping

Google Video

Voice Local Search

Web History

Knowledge Graph

Google Trader
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Zagat

Advertising services

AdMob for Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8

Google AdSense

Google Ad Planner

Google AdWords

Adwords Express

Google Certification Program

DoubleClick

Google Grants

Google Think Insights

Wildfire by Google

Communication and publishing tools

Google Cultural Institute

Google Art Project
Feed Burner
Google Keep
Google 3D Warehouse
Google Apps
Google Bookmarks
Boutiques.com
Google Business Solutions
Google Calendar
Google Docs
Google Drive
Google Hangouts
Google
Gmail
Google Inbox
Goo.gl
Google+
Panoramio
Picasa Web Albums
Google profile
Google Sites (was Jotspot)
SMS Channels (Google India only)
Speak To Tweet

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Google Voice (United States only)

Google Fonts.
YouTube
Google Ventures
Google Classroom

Development tools

AngularJS
Google App Engine
Google Developers
Dart
Go (programming language)
OpenSocial
PageSpeed
Google Swiffy
Google Web Toolkit
Webmaster Tools
Translator Toolkit

Security tools

reCAPTCHA

Map-related products

Google Map Maker

Google Maps
Google My Maps
Google Maps Gallery
Google Mars
Google Moon
Google Sky
Google Transit
Zygote Body

Statistical tools

Google Analytics
Google Consumer Surveys
Google Correlate
Freebase
Google Fusion Tables
Google Public Data Explorer
Trendalyzer
Google Trends
Zeitgeist
Google Activity Report

Operating systems

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Android
Chrome OS
Google TV
Android Wear
Android Auto
Android TV

Desktop applications

AdWords Editor
Google Chrome
Google Earth
IME
Google Japanese Input
Picasa
Picasa Web Albums Uploader
Google Pinyin
Quick Search Box
Wireless access VPN
Google Toolbar
Visigami
Android Studio
Google Web Designer

Mobile applications

Blogger Mobile
Google Calendar
Drive
Gmail
Google Keep
Google Maps
Maps Navigation Android
Mobilizer
Google News
Google Offers
Orkut
Google+
Picasa Web
Google Product Search
Google Search
Google Search for Android
Google Wallet
Google Currents
Google Translate
YouTube

Mobile standalone applications

Books
Gmail
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Catalogs
Drive
Google Keep
Google Goggles
Listen.
Maps
Google Music
Google Play Newsstand
One Today
Shopper
Sky Map
Google Sync
Talk VoIP
Hangouts
Translate
Google Voice app
Yinyue (Music) (Google China)
YouTube
YouTube Remote
Google Now
Google+
Field Trip
Waze

Hardware

Google Search Appliance

Google driverless car
Nexus One
Nexus S
Galaxy Nexus
Google TV
Nexus Q
Nexus 7
Nexus 4
Nexus 5
Nexus 6
Nexus 9
Nexus 10
Nexus Player
Chromebook
Chromebook Pixel
Chromebox
Chromecast
Google Glass
Google Contact Lens

Services

Google Crisis Response

Google Fiber
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Google Public DNS

Google Ideas
Google Person Finder

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