1 Google Overview

A global technology company, Google Inc. was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in
1998 (Google Inc., 2017). The company designs and develops different services and products. The
primary focus of the company is its web-based search along with its advertising display and tools
followed by other products and services such as enterprise solutions, consumer content, mobile
operating system, cloud computing, document sharing, etc. (Google Inc., 2017). The core service
offered by Google Inc. is its Internet Search Engine. Google Inc. has differentiated itself through
various acquisitions. But, in an attempt to separate its core businesses like Google Search and
YouTube from other non-core ventures (Harvard Buisness Review, 2015), it has set up an umbrella
company called Alphabet in 2015 (Harvard Business Review, 2015). It has been one of the most
valuable brands of the world in the past decade and in 2016, was the second most value brand of
the world after technology giant Apple, with a brand value of $82.5 billion (Forbes, 2017). Exhibit
A provides and overview of the Google Inc. Company profile.

2 Market Positioning of Google Inc.

Google has positioned itself as an innovative, solution centric company with deep knowledge
and extensive networks. The Company has developed Google a search engine that has not only
surpassed its competitors, but has offered a quick way of retrieving information that is unpatrolled
and difficult to imitate (Todd, 2012). The company continued to innovative throughout the years
through the provision of different, new services such as Google doc, Google map, Google Play
Store, etc. along with innovative ad-services that provide the best solution for companies.
Knowledgeable employees, creative company culture, and highly effective operations are the key
to the development of innovative tools and services (Lavanian et al., 2013). Furthermore, the
company continually expands and the large scale of infrastructure and patents it possesses is hard
to imitate. Among other marketing methods, the company uses viral marketing as a tool to enforce
their positioning in the market.
2.1 Extended Marketing Mix of Google Inc.

Marketing mix refers to the set of marketing tools used by an organization in pursuing its
intended marketing goals in the target market (Kotler et al., 2015). It describes the tactics used by
company to develop a product or service and bring it to the market. The extended marketing mix
includes product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. Table 1
describes the extended marketing mix of Google Inc. (Google Inc., 2017).

Table 1 - Extended Marketing Mix of Google Inc.

Google
Products or The products and services offered by Google can be divided into three categories of 1.
Google search engine; 2. Advertising; and 3. Business solutions. Some of the main
Services
products and services include: Google Search Engine, Google Places, Google Maps,
Google Video, Gmail, Google Ad-words, Google+, Google Scholar, etc.
Price Main source of revenue is ad revenues generated through Ad-Words;
Low cost offering bets possible results;
Pricing policy depends on the value of goods and factors such as credit terms, discounts,
payment periods, etc.
Place Internet; Online platform

Promotion Word of Mouth;

Viral Marketing;
The print media television and radio;
Android Mobile Phone Ad.
People 61,814 employees in 2016;
hiring the brightest and the best;
Lack of top-down hierarchy with a casual, democratic atmosphere;

Practicing transparency and open-door environment;

Employee recognition for small and big contributions (Google Inc., 2017)
Process Gathering search data to refine the search algorithm;
Gathering search terms to identify users search habits;
Physical Evidence Various facilities around the world;
Google Brand Name.
3 Analysis of the Flower of Service in Internet Industry

The idea of flower of service is that similar to a flower, every service offering begins with
developing a core service offering which delivers results expected by customers which is then
followed by an array of supplementary services (Wirtz and, Lovelock 2016). These supplementary
services are divide into two groups facilitating services and enhancing services based on whether
they facilitate the use of core service or enhance its usage (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015).
Companies operating in Internet industry generate the bulk of their revenue through ads. As such,
the core product they offer is their Internet Search Engine. Facilitating supplementary services in
Internet industry include security; conditions of service; storage capacity, maintenance and repair;
problem solving, technical consulting, and customized advice. These services are necessary in the
delivery of the core service, facilitating and supporting its delivery to customers. Enhancing
supplementary services in Internet industry include home and office services, business services,
mobile services, specialized search, media and social services. These are added levels of service
that enhance the core service and contribute incremental value to it. Figure 1 illustrates the flower
of service in Internet industry.
 Storage
Capacity,
Maitenance,
Repair
Home and Buisness
Office Services

Internet
Conditions of
Service Search Security

Engine
Specialized
Search, Media, Mobile Sevices
Social Problem
Solving,
Technical
Consulting;
Customized
Advice

Figure 1 - "Flower of Service" in Internet Industry

4 Important vs. Determinant Attributes of Google Inc.

Services like products are consisted of different attributes which can be regarded as their
benefits and features (Kotler et al., 2015). These attributes help in delivering value to customers.
Attributes are divided into two categories of important attributes and determinant attributes.
Important attributes are those features that a service must possess in order for it to be considered
as a possible appropriate choice to be used by consumers. These are the necessary attributes, ones
that must be present to provide the intended purpose of a services. Determinant attributes on the
other hand refer to features that provide added value for a service. These attributes are the ones
that differentiate between the services provided by a company and its competitors.

The important attributes of the service provided by Google Internet Search include providing
reliable data and information; enabling customers to access vast amount of information; providing
options for users to manage their accounts; providing easy, fast and accurate search results; high
levels of security; great storage capacity; and the ability to search in various languages. The
determinant attributes of the service provided by Google Internet Search include simple design of
search engine to facilitate the search process; providing specialized search services; added tools,
providing mobile services, and seamless integration of different products and services into as
features, tools or capabilities into a service offering (For instance, the ability to save phonebook
into a google account). Moreover, the brand name of Google has become an important and
deciding determining attribute on its own since the brand name has become synonymous to quality,
innovation, efficiency and effectiveness through the companys positioning. Table 1 shows some
of the main important and determinant attributes of the service provided by Google and its main
competitors.

5 The Expected Service Level to Be Established by Google

Managing a service correctly and well requires knowledge of behaviors and features that are
really important for the service and an understanding of how those behaviors and features can be
evaluated and measured (Wirtz and, Lovelock 2016). As such, the expected service level refers to
set objectives and goals where the basic features of metrics that are important and essential in a
service, and the value these metrics must possess are identified. As such, target values are
determined by service providers and a set level of service is defined by the provider which is
then used in measuring the performance of that service. Companies use their understanding of
what customers and users want, experience, and intuition to define their service level objectives
(SLOs) and service level indicators (SLIs). These set levels of service are then shared with users
through Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Google has provided an extensive document on the established level of service that can be expected
by customers. The company has provided a detailed Service Level Objective (SLO) for its various
products. In the Googles SLA, it has been mentioned that if the Company fails to its published
and stated SLO, customers have the eligibility to receive Financial Credits described in Googles
SLA. Google has set some standards for its search engine service provision the failure of which is
estimated based on these predetermined standards. Some failures in Google service provision
include error rate (defined under covered services), quality of tools, downtime (which refers
to a rate of above 10% error rate, downtime period (which refers to a period of five consecutive
minutes of Downtime), etc.

6 Current Positioning Map of Google

Positioning map is a technique that shows the perception of Brand by customers. In this
method, the position of a brand relative to its competitors is illustrated (Berry, Parasuraman, 2004).
Two of the most important factors for search engine brands is the level of service quality they
provide along with their technical and technological abilities. Currently, the two main competitors
of google in search engine market are Microsoft and yahoo. Figure 2 shoes the current positioning
map of Google Inc. and its competitors.

Table 2 - Current Positioning Map of Google Inc.

High Service Quality

Low-tech

High-tech

Low Service Quality

6.1 Market Analysis

Market analysis investigates different aspects and attractiveness of specific market in a

particular industry (Kotler et al., 2015). The aim of a market analysis is to identify the current and
future attractiveness of a markets. Two of the most important factors that need to be assessed in a
market analysis are market size and market growth. Market size illustrates the market volume and
potential. Figure 2 shows the Internet search engine market size. From the figure it can be observed
that the size of search engine market is expected to continue its growth rate. However, the figure
illustrates a sharper growth rate for mobile. As can be observed, the size of desktop search is
expected to grow at a much lower rate than mobile search.

Internet Search Engine Market

Size and Growth Rate
Desktop Search Mobile Search

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Figure 2 - Internet Search Engine Market Size and Growth Rate

Another important factor in market analysis is assessing market trends. Market trends
provides information on upward and downward movement of market, target market, customer
demand and consuming behavior, etc. (Chernev, 2014) As can be observed from Fig. 2. The search
trend is shifting from desktop search toward mobile search in the future. Another shift in trend is
caused by the increasing presence and dominance of social media. The search engine market has
also been greatly affected by specialized search engines and applications (such as amazon, e-bay,
trip-advisor, etc.). One of such platform that provides specialized search capabilities is Amazon
who according to google executives is among the most important competitors of Google Inc. as
people who are looking to purchase a product will no longer use google, but directly use such
platforms.

6.2 Internal Analysis

Internal analysis explores the competencies, capabilities, resources and competitive

advantages of a company in the marketplace (Chernev, 2014; Kotler et al., 2015). It usually
provides information that show the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT
analysis) of a company. In order to provide a view of the resources, capabilities, etc. of Google
Inc., a SWOT analysis is conducted which is shown in Table 2.

Table 3 - SWOT Analysis of Google Inc.

Strengths Weaknesses
Strong brand image Lack of ability to check for credibility of all the
information.
Providing interface to 88 languages Cost for data center is increasing
Using state of art technology in providing updated Weak performance in providing a suitable social media
results to users service
Large organizational size Over-dependence on one source of income (90% of
Google revenue is gained through advertising)
low operation cost High rate of inaccurate answers to search queries

Patented proprietary products Minimal physical presence

Providing solutions for wireless handheld devices and
personalized toolbars
A range of innovative additional services
Diversified business
Googles link-based ranking technology worked
ineffectively on actual traffic analysis.
Its cost-per-click advertising charge & ranking policy
makes it difficult for the clients to predict the
positioning of their ads and their costing.

Opportunities
Tap more mobile users
Develop a successful social media platform
Penetrate markets with consumer electronics
Add localized vendors paid advertisements on the
localized search.
Provide specialized and concentrated search capabilities
Provide more services to mobile devices
Expand Google Fiber
Threats
Tough competition
The continuous growth of social media platforms
Relatively low entry barrier in this market
Increase of specialized search platforms
Google can get trapped in issues regarding privacy
Imitation of some products
Privacy issues regarding the content ownership
6.3 Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis in marketing is used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of main
competitors, and their performance relative to the performance of the company under review
(Baker, 2014). One of the most useful tools in a competitor analysis is identifying the market share
of competitors within a market. Figure 2 shows the market share of search engines in 2016.

Market Share of Serach Engines in 2016

Google Bing Yahoo Others

Figure 3 - Market Share of Search Engines in 2016

Identifying the key success factors in the industry and using them to evaluate the
performance of a business provides a comprehensive view of the areas of strength and weakness
for a company and its competitors. Table 2 shows the performance of Google Inc. relative to its
two main competitors in search engine sector. Based on the information in Table 2, the success of
Google can be attribute to its overall great performance on the entire success factors, especially its
brand image and recognition. Google has become so prominent in the area of searching for
information that the term google has become synonymous with online search.
 Table 4 - Competitor Analysis
Key Industry Weight Google Google Yahoo Yahoo Microsoft Microsoft
Success Factors Weighted Weighted Weighted
Degree of Service .12 8 .96 4 .48 6 .72
Innovation
Service Quality .14 9 1.26 4 .56 7 .98
Brand Image and .22 10 2.2 6 1.32 8 1.76
Recognition
Revenue and Yield .06 9 .54 7 .42 9 .54
Business .18 9 1.62 6 1.08 8 1.44
Infrastructure and
Capacity
Reliability .12 7 .84 4 .48 7 .84
Security .16 7 1.12 3 .48 7 1.12
Total 1 8.54 4.82 7.40

7 Recommendation on the development of effective positioning strategy and

recommended positioning Map

Based on the information provided in previous section, including market analysis, competitor
analysis and internal analysis, the most important threat Google Inc. is facing in the future is the
change in market trend caused by increasing development of social media and specialized search
platforms and the inability of Google to exploit such opportunities. Despite various acquisitions
and different services and tools, there is a lack of awareness for various services offered by Google
Inc. and Alphabet company. Moreover, Google has not been successful in developing a successful
social media platform despite its resources (both physical and human resource). The company
needs to address these weaknesses and gaps. As such, a new positioning map is proposed. Here,
although the company emphasize its high quality of services, it concentrates its positioning efforts
on utilizing its current assets (google maps, google space, google cardboard, etc.) while also trying
to develop new services to address the growing need of mobile search as swell as growing presence
of social media. Thus, instead of providing a cluster of different unrelated services, the company
can focus its efforts to streamline and concentrate them on its core business through marketing and
other strategies.
 Table 5 - Recommended Positioning Map of Google Inc.

High Service Quality

Clustered

Streamlined

Low Service Quality

8 Conclusion

Google Inc. is a company specializing in innovation and technology and its main service the
Google Search Engine provides fast results for users. The company has been successful in shaping
the online search market to an extent that the term Googling has become synonymous with
online search. Despite the companys in the past decade, it seems to lack foresight for future
direction failing to address some of its immediate concerns which include the growth of specialized
search platforms and the increasing presence of social media. Although the company has engaged
in various acquisitions and patents, none were useful in addressing these immediate concerns. As
such, it is suggested that the company exploits its vast existing pool of resources. The company
can better introduce its existing service through marketing activities while also trying to develop
new, more effective services.

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Appendix

Exhibit A
 Google Inc.
Current CEO Sundar Pichai
Headquarters Mountain View, California, U.S.
Revenue US$74.541 billion (2015) 13.5% increase over US$65.674 billion
(2014)
Profit US$16.348 billion (2015) 15.6% increase over US$14.136 billion
(2014)
Parent Company Alphabet Inc.
Number of Employees 61,814 (2016)
Industries served Internet (Google Search, Google AdWords, Gmail)
Computer software (Chrome OS, Picasa, Google Earth)
Consumer electronics (Chromebook, Nexus, Google TV)