The Business: Google Strategic Management Team Project, Functional Strategy at Google

Google Strategic Management Team Project
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Functional strategy at Google
Core Competencies
Google is the largest among the search engine companies in the world with revenues spanning billions of dollars (The Business Ferret, 2012). To get the world status Google has concentrated on the few competencies that could produce the best results. Among the main competencies that the company has managed to streamline is the Google search. The company has maintained the highest market share relative to the rest of the search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Aol, Ask and Baidu (Schwartz, 2015). The company has enjoyed this level of dominance over the desktop platform and has also managed to maintain this level of dominance over the mobile platform. With the largest number of searches being carried over the mobile platform, the company has managed to maintain the high level of dominance, with over 78% percent while yahoo comes in second with 5%. The Google search is currently the most used search engine, attracting more than a billion searches on a daily basis across the world. To make sure that the company is able to handle the massive traffic on their servers, the company invests in the state of the art servers that are able to handle the massive load. Using PageRank relative to the ranking algorithm, the users are able to get the most relevant result of the search in the fastest way possible (Schwartz, 2015). This means that the company has developed the PageRank mechanism to make sure that, whenever people make searches on the internet, they get the most relevant results at the top of the list of possible results generated (Castro, 2012). There is a diminishing level of relevance as one go down the list of the possible generated results. To underline the subtle element of the searches, relative to the fact that the engine is widely used, it can be used to generate data for analysis on the various social, economic and health trends that are taking place in the world in real time (Kokemuller, 2016). This is to mean that, aspects such as the latest health scare in the world can be determined by just analyzing the number of times a certain health related event has been searched on the internet. If there was an outbreak of a certain disease, it could be quite easy to establish what the outbreak is and the affected areas, based on the searches that would be made in real time about that outbreak. The company has indexed billions of web pages for ease of retrieval. With the current bloat in the results across the internet it is crucial that the company refines its search algorithm to cut out irrelevance in the results. A single search generates millions of results and more than half of the same are irrelevant (Schwartz, 2015).
One other core competency that they should enhance is the Adwords, which is part of the online advertising platform and one that brings the company billions of dollars in revenue (Castro, 2012). Using the Adwords the company is able to give the advertisers a chance to display adverts to billions of internet users based on the keywords that they use on the search engine. Relative to the fact that the Adwords use the key words, it would be quite crucial if the adverts were based on the location of the user in question. This would make it easier for users to find deals that are closer to their location before listing international business adverts.
Relative to the distinctive competencies the company has managed to make sure that it has a synergy among its services like no other company in the industry. The different business units, such as You Tube, Gmail, Google Earth, Google play, Google music and Google Drive among others are highly integrated for the users to access on the desktops and mobile devices. In recent times, much of the traffic is associated with mobile devices and thus the company should make emphasis to capitalize on the shift in the market. This is to mean that much of the traffic is directed at the mobile platforms and a smaller percentage of the people access these services across the desktop platforms (Castro, 2012). Much of the recent products are offered as bundle to the mobile users across the globe, especially persons using the Android platform. This is a smart move and one that is likely to generate more revenue from the increased traffic railing on convenience of accessing the services on mobile devices thereby boosting productivity (Korah, 2013).
Business strategy
Most of the competition such as Microsoft are also coming up with services that based on an ecosystem. Such that, users can enjoy all the productivity applications and platform in one place. Google however happens to benefit to have a large market share in the industry and thus they should take advantage of the same and offer low cost services. This will help clients to easily associate with the company relative to the robust systems and level of productivity the approach would give the users. Given the large number of persons that are using one or several of the Google services, introducing cost friendly payments would further help capture larger markets, as more clients would not only adopt the services for their robustness but also the cost saving attribute.
Relative to differentiation, the company has managed to come up with the most robust. With services such as Google drive, Google play, Google music, Google plus, You tube and Gmail, the company has managed to come up with services that increase productivity among the users. The idea of differentiation is crucial to the assessment of the success of each of the processes. This helps in assessing the level of success for the various services. The idea of having a seamless integration of the services across the mobile and the desktop platforms is also crucial to the level of productivity among the users. The company should further focus on the services ecosystem, where they offer their clients’ services that can help them share information across multiple platforms. With the android platform, the company has a chance of making the internet of things approach which can be the future of the company. Having the ability to access the various services across the mobile devices, desktops, vehicles and television among other platforms is the appropriate approach (Marr, 2016). In the near future there is a likelihood of the productivity levels increasing to include aspects such as smart cars and smart homes, which will mean that the company will have to set up focused strategies to take advantage of the same in good time (Ghose, 2015). Much of the focus that the company has maintained, is largely appropriate and in good time and anticipation of the future trends. The amount of focus that has been dedicated to the self-driving cars should also be directed to the smart homes, which also offer a very lucrative and promising market as the internet of things trend take on the consumer markets (Google Self-Driving Car Project, 2016). This is also a market that presents much less obstacles compared to the liabilities that the self-driving cars have to the company. Challenges such the level of control of the drivers, the legality of having a computer control a car that could easily endanger live is a complicated and one that is likely to put the company on the defensive with law suits in unending litigation battles (Ghose, 2015).
In light of the corporate strategy the company has made some very precise moves to make sure that the company is experiencing growth. One of the moves that took place in 2012 was the acquisition of Motorola mobility. This further places the company in the right track relative to the mobile devices industry. With competitors such as Apple and Microsoft having their own hardware and software and an ecosystem build around their services. As such, acquiring Motorola should also be taken as a step in the right direction with reference to beating the competition. One of the most crucial elements that the company can take advantage of and one that presents an opportunity for the company in the future is the customer base size. Using this strength the company can then capitalize on the opportunity in the industry to maintain stability and foster growth. The company should also concentrate more effort on the Nest programs along with cloud computing. These are two areas that are bound to have massive impacts in the economy and thus cause a shift in the industry. By focusing more efforts in these two the company will be in a position to stay ahead of the tide. Less efforts should be focused on the self-driving cars, which are bound to bring about a lot of litigation battles and drain away resources that could be used elsewhere.
Implementation
Technology is taking up vast areas of economic production and is slowly moving into the social spaces. Internet of things is one of the approaches that is taking the industry by storm. Google has a chance to take advantage of the industry by investing in better strategies to take up large market shares, relative to its coverage and robust systems. In the recent implementation of the Nest platform, the company will be able to offer the clients across the globe big data services along with the internet of things (Google Developers, 2016). People will be able to tap into a robust system for their security systems, fire safety and even thermostats. With the internet of things, the company is only going to experience success with the implementation of a number of elements to stream line the strategies. One of the aspects that is going to be very crucial, is the development of cost friendly platform. Using the Nest ideology, the company can offer customers low priced installation, operation and maintenance fees. This will attract massive customer base and in this case the company will only have to appeal to the already existing customers’ base. Using the advantage of the mobile platform that is formed under the android software, the company can develop apps to better manage the internet of things.
The company will also have to bring to the service high security features that will attract clients to a reliable network and service (Google Developers, 2016). This is a crucial element relative to security risks associated with hacking. Hackers may gain access to homes, which is a security risk that most customers would be concerned about and one that could easily affect the brand. The ability to access the services from anywhere in the world is crucial. The idea behind the internet of things is so that, one can have access to their home systems from anywhere in the world. With a robust systems such as Google servers a reliable platform such as the Nest and the Android operating system, the company has enough resources to launch a formidable system that will rival the competition. One other element that the company should implement is a mobile hardware that is coupled with the software. One of the biggest challenges that the company has faced in the mobile industry is that, there are too many phone manufacturers, all of whom have different devices and applications (Nhat, 2015). As such the android operating system has become highly fragmented which is compromising on quality.
Companies such as Apple, have benefited from quality control derived from the fact that they control both the software and the hardware. As such, customers are always assured of the quality and reliability of the Apple devices, something that not all Android users can speak of. This is one of the main reasons that the Nexus brand of Mobile phones experienced such success, relative to the fact that the company partnered with quality handset manufacturers such as LG and Motorola. With the acquisition of Motorola, the company can further strategies on how best they can reign in the quality by producing quality handsets to match the quality operating system.
Evaluation and control
To maintain quality on the company should continually invest in the best talent in the industry. Relative to the high competition, the company should make sure that, it gets the best personnel on the job, to match the industry standard. Relative to the fact that, the company is based on an innovative culture, having personnel that match this trend when introducing and developing new services into a competitive market. In light of the evaluation process, Google has one of the greatest analytical tools at disposal (Nhat, 2015). Using Google analytics and search engine analytical tools the company can collect data on the implementation and success of the products. As such evaluation of the products and services can be developed from the search engines and the analytical tools to assess what the customers are saying and evaluate their patterns of consumerism relative to the said products and services.
Alphabet Inc., Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows





USD $ in millions












12 months ended

Dec 31, 2015

Dec 31, 2014

Dec 31, 2013

Dec 31, 2012

Dec 31, 2011

Net income

16,348

14,444

12,920

10,737

9,737

Depreciation and impairment of property and equipment

4,132

3,523

2,781

1,988

1,396

Amortization and impairment of intangible assets

931

1,456

1,158

974

455

Stock-based compensation expense

5,203

4,279

3,343

2,692

1,974

Excess tax benefits from stock-based award activities

-548

-648

-481

-188

-86

Deferred income taxes

-179

-104

-437

-266

343

Impairment of equity investments

–

–

–

–

110

Gain on divestiture of business

–

-740

-700

-188

–

(Gain) loss on marketable and non-marketable investments, net

334

-390

-166

–

–

Other

212

192

272

-28

6

Accounts receivable

-2,094

-1,641

-1,307

-787

-1,1...