This document provides an overview of Google's history and competitive position. It discusses how Google started as a search engine created by Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google quickly grew due to its accurate search results and now dominates the search engine market. While maintaining the top spot, Google faces competition from Microsoft, Yahoo, and Apple across various products and services. The document also includes a SWOT analysis of Google's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as recommendations and Google's current strategic priorities and organizational changes.

1. Case Study Google
Most people would not what to do without the use of Internet search engines they have become a
part of our daily lives. While Google started out as a collaborated effort to “develop a new search engine”
in January 1996 by “Stanford University Computer science graduate students Larry Page and Sergey
Brin” it quickly became a huge success originally named “BackRub because of its ability to rate websites
for relevancy of websites to a particular search query used by other websites at the time” (Gamble, 2012,
p. C-168 & C-169). The search accuracy of this program lead to Backrub being renamed “Google which
was a play on the word googol- a mathematical term for a number represented by numeral 1 followed by
100 zeroes” (Gamble, 2012, p. C-169).
Google’s growth initiative is a “natural extension of the company’s mission to organize the
world’s information and it make it universally accessible and useful” (Gamble, 2012, p. C-168). Google
has used their growth initiatives to form several partnerships with other companies and receives the
majority of their profits from advertisement sales. “Google was the leading Internet search firm in 2012,
with nearly 67 percent market share in search from home and work computers and a 95 percent share in
searches preformed from mobile devices” (Gamble, 2012, p. C-168). Google has become so big that it has
become a word in the dictionary meaning, “to use the Google search engine to obtain information about
(as a person) on the World Wide Web” (Merriam-Webster, 2015).
Google’s Competition
Google while maintaining their status as number one has not come without competition as a
search engine giant. “Google management believed its primary competitors to be Microsoft and Yahoo”
(Gamble, 2012, p. C-183). Google’s competition with Microsoft started with Microsoft’s creating the
MSN search engine and has continued with the “deploying [of] Google Apps” (Grigonis, 2008, ¶ 1).
Yahoo has become an even bigger competitor for Google with “the merger of Bing and Yahoo! Search
[which] will create the 2nd Largest Search Engine in the U.S., second only to Google, the long-standing

2. dominant player in search engine share” (Karma Blue Marketing LLC., 2010, ¶ 1). This competitive
rivalry is “strong and ongoing in this industry because large amounts of advertising dollars flow to the
website that has captured the largest volume of searches” (Bhatia, Deep and Sachdeva, 2012, p. 2).
According to the ComScore chart for July of 2010 Google is still the number one most used
search engine site. This it helps to play into “Google’s strategy to dominate Internet advertising [by
becoming] the number one search engine used not only in the United States but also around the world”
(Gamble, 2012, p. C-179).
(Karma Blue Marketing LLC., 2010, ¶ 2).
With the popularity of social media sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn; Google soon followed
suit with their own social network site Google+ that was launched in 2001 as a way “to capture additional
advertising opportunities” (Gamble, 2012, p. C-168). Google+ “like Facebook, [allowed] users [to]
maintain profiles, post comments, link to content from other Internet sites, and keep online photo albums”
(Gamble, 2012, p. C-179). However, the issue with Google+ had to do with a missed opportunity that
Facebook took advantage of “around 2010-2011, Facebook looked like it was going to devour the world”

3. (Faktor, 2014, p. 1). Facebook at this time was taking time surf time from Google as well as “collecting a
lust-worthy set of data about interests, private lives, and relationships” (Faktor, 2014, p. 1).
(Faktor, 2014, p. 1).
The idea behind Google+ to allow users to carry on conversations with other strangers who liked
the same things was good in concept, but this not want people wanted. While Google could have listened
to their customers and changed Google+ to reflect the needs of their customers “in the end, it was a
network without purpose” (Faktor, 2014, p. 3).
Google vs. Apple
As smartphones gained popularity Google saw this as an investment oportunity and “though
Google and Apple started off as pals, they’ve been at each other's throats since the smartphone market
took off in the late 2000s. After the launch of Android, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said he was willing
to go to “thermonuclear war” with Google, and since then, Apple has dropped both Google Maps and

4. YouTube as preinstalled apps on the iPhone” (Rodriguez, 2015, ¶ 5). Google with their Android smart
phones and Apple with their iPhones “are the Coke and Pepsi of mobile operating systems” (Baig, 2015, ¶
4). While the iPhone is iconic “around the globe Android phones have the dominant market share” (Baig,
2015, ¶ 4). The differences in the way these companies use their smartphone technology can be summed
up as “Apple is giving you recommendations based on the phone in your pocket; Google is giving you
recommendations based on everything you’ve done that it has recorded” (Malik, 2015, ¶ 11).
Google and Apple are in competition in the smartwatches game with Apple creating the “Apple
Watch” (Baig, 2015, ¶ 9). The battle with photo apps came “after Apple's recent launch of its newly
revamped Photos app” with “Google Photos app offers an unlimited free online locker for all your pics”
(Baig, 2015, ¶ 12).
“The battle between Google and Apple has shifted from devices, operating systems, and apps to a
new, amorphous idea called “contextual computing.” Google’s approach to context is using billions of
data points in its cloud and matching them to our personal usage of the Google-powered Web; Apple’s
approach is to string together personal streams of data on devices, without trying to own any of it”
(Malik, 2015, ¶ 13). The mobile payments battleground is still to early for it be determined as to who
will be the lead in this and the movement of cyber connectivity being available “into all sorts of
household objects and appliances, [is] expected…to become the next big battleground” (Baig, 2015, ¶
17).

5. Google’s SWOT Analysis
(Christina Cecil, 2015)
Strengths
 Google’s Search Engine:
 Google’s search services provide people with the ability to find what they are
looking for on the Internet. Google has been able to establish a brand name for
itself and has been able to stay as the number one search engine. Google’s
services include image search, news search, maps, scholar search, and local
search services and provided by the Google homepage. “Google reinforces its
brand image by keeping its name in nearly all its products. Google’s perspective,
[is that] the more uses a person has for Google services, the more opportunity
there will be to show them ads” (Bhatia, Deep and Sachdeva, 2012, p. 6).
 Communication and Collaboration:
 Users can keep track of event, appointment, and special occasion with the use of
Google calendar which is one of many free Google products. Google also has a

6. free e-mailing service G-mail which is connected to their Google Play Store and
can be used with their video service YouTube. Google has also made sure that
they are user friendly by offering “the Google search page…in 129 languages”
(Djurup, 2010, p.77).
 Video Services:
 “Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion,
brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video
revolution” (Associated Press, 2006, ¶ 1). In addressing some of the copyright
concerns YouTube “announced new partnerships with Universal Music Group,
CBS Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Those alliances followed a
similar arrangement announced last month with Warner Music Group Inc.”
(Associated Press, 2006, ¶ 15). With Google having bought YouTube it gives
Google the video playing opportunities that they have working on getting.
 Recommendation Services:
 Google bases their recommendations by what people do on their sites “the more
repetitive [the consumer is in their] behavior, the more the algorithms learn to automate
things. Google’s approach has its benefits—the company’s products are free, and you can
be fairly confident they won’t break. Someday, Google will want to make money from all
these experiences, either through advertising or through transactions that are hyper-
tailored to you” (Malik, 2015, ¶ 8).
Weakness
 Privacy Concerns:
 There are serval privacy concerns in how much information Google is obtaining with
their data collection. “Eric Grosse, Google's vice president of security and privacy
engineering, said in an interview that the company cares deeply about protecting people's

7. personal information and tries to be "as forthcoming as we can" about how all the
intricate mechanisms on the Web work” (Efrati, 2013, ¶ 6).
 Social Media Presence:
 It has weak presence regarding their social media presences with the issues of Google+
not being as popular as Facebook for user preference.
Opportunities
 New Search Engine Features:
 Google has the opportunity to launch a search engine section that will target specific
markets such as children and teenagers. Since “complimentary products serve to increase
the use of the each of the other products and increase brand awareness” (Bhatia, Deep
and Sachdeva, 2012, p. 6) this could be a great opportunity for Google.
 Alternative Reality:
 Google has the opportunity to continued expansion into 3D with the 3D messaging
market and 3D gaming market. “Google has been trying to make virtual reality a
mainstream reality through its inexpensive Cardboard holder that leverages your
smartphone. Google upped the stakes by announcing a VR partnership with action
camera maker GoPro” (Baig, 2015, ¶ 20).
 A.I. Technology Advancements:
 With advancements in robotics it allows opportunities for Google to get involved.
Threats
 Tracking Limitations:
 Anti-Spyware programs can block cookies that are used to monitor the users web based
activities.
 Competition:

8.  The war between Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Apple will never end and while
“Google has a strong franchise in search technology, [it] doesn’t mean it will hang onto
its lead” (Bhatia, Deep and Sachdeva, 2012, p. 12).
 International Issues:
 “Google’s 2006 entry into China was accompanies by challenges, including strong
competition from local search provider Baidu and requirements by the Chinese
government to censor search results that were critical of the government” (Gamble, 2012,
p. C-179). International legal issues related to privacy and content could cause issues for
Google with foreign governments.
Google’s Strategy
Google not only works hard to stay on top of the latest and greatest trends in technology but, “the
company’s strategic priorities in 2012 focused on expanding its share of mobile search and smartphone
platforms, expanding into the design and sale of smartphone handsets, making Google+ a strong
competitor to Facebook, pushing forward with its plans to become the dominant provider of cloud
computing solutions, increasing search advertising revenues from markets outside the United States, and
extending search to television” (Gamble, 2012, p. C-185). It is essential for Google to keep trying “to
maximize its information gathering about individuals so it can transition its relevance algorithms from
content-based to individual interest-based so that banner ads are just as much of a resource as text”
(Bhatia, Deep and Sachdeva, 2012, p. 11) By maximizing its information gathering Google is better able
to compete with Apple.
Recommendations
As mentioned under opportunities in the SWOT analysis Google can utilize the opportunities
present in A.I. technological advancements. Advancements in A.I. Technology such as Danny Choo’s

9. “Smart Dolls” with his first doll being “designed based off of the anime character Mirai Suenaga, the
mascot for Culture Japan” (Simon, 2015, ¶ 2). Mirai is more than advancements in robotics. With Choo
having upgraded his 3D printers he is now able to “producing a copy of the same Mirai Suenaga robot as
large as 120 cm while maintaining [her] the lifelike details” this larger version of Mirai is known as Smart
Doll Plus. “In addition to being able to walk around on her own and pick up recognizable objects that will
be programmed into her AI, the Smart Doll Plus is also connected to the internet 24/7 and is capable of
tapping into any information that a user wants her to have” (Simon, 2015, ¶ 7). This could be a great
opportunity for Google if they were to partner up with Danny Choo and his Smart Doll program and have
it to where the Smart Doll Plus retrieved information from Google’s search engines.
By creating new search engine features that target children and teenagers this would give Google
more access into a growing market. With the increased use of computer and cell phone usage among
children and teens this gives Google an opportunity to market this section. According to research by the
Pew Research Center “about three in four (74%) teens ages 12-17 say they access the internet on cell
phones, tablets, and other mobile devices at least occasionally” (Madden, Lenhart, Duggan, Cortesi and
Gasser, 2013, p. 4). However, in marketing to this section regulations and search protections would have
to be enabled.
While Google does face several concerns with working with foreign governments “Google [also]
understands that valuable profits and minimized risk can be garnered with international operations”
(Bhatia, Deep and Sachdeva, 2012, p. 6). It is an important aspect for Google to do a study of
international data issues and regulations in order to prevent legal issues. By staying on top of international
regulations regarding privacy and technological issues in other countries would also be beneficial to
Google.

10. Google faces several issues with privacy concerns. In Googles privacy settings it is stated that,
“When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our services, you give Google
(and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative
works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your
content works better with our services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and
distribute such content,” Google says” (Goodale, 2014, ¶ 7). In order to combat these issues Google needs
to make sure that user are aware of these terms of use and become more responsible in respecting user’s
privacy.
Google’s Current Position
While Google continues to work toward being the dominating force by keeping up with the trends
in the technological market and by implementing some of the suggestions made in this paper Google
would be able to expand its sphere of influence. In 2014-2015 “Google took 74.9% of US search
referrals followed by Bing on 12.5% and Yahoo on 10.7%, down from 10.9% in January” (Crum, 2015, ¶
2).
(Crum, 2015, ¶ 2).

11. Google has worked hard for the position it is in but growth is still needed and “Google Inc.
(NASDAQ:GOOG) announced a radical shake up in its organizational structure. The core search engine
advertising business will be removed to a separate subsidiary from the entity’s diverse portfolio of
investments. We believe the new holding group, Alphabet Inc., could serve as a model for tech giants in
the future” (Blanc, 2015, ¶ 1). These changes will give investors a “clear picture of the company’s core
search advertising division” (Blanc, 2015, ¶ 5).
By implementing some changes that makes Google more transparent in the industry they hope
that “over the next three years, the organization’s top and bottom line [will be] envisaged to expand at a
healthy mid-teens rate, as the graph below shows” (Blanc, 2015, ¶ 7).
(Blanc, 2015, ¶ 7).
The changes that Google is making will affect “the growth rate [and] could accelerate if the most
profitable arm becomes leaner and more efficient… [allowing] management [to] concentrate efforts on
improving monetization of Google’s platforms” (Blanc, 2015, ¶ 8). This transparency with investors gives
a better view of the benefits that could be had with partnering up with Google.

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