Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies

Business –Level and Corporate –Level Strategies
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Introduction
Google, Inc. is a corporation that was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. Google started as a small research project by Brin and Page at a time when search had become crucial due to an ever increasing number of Web pages. They developed the search engine while they were graduate students at Stanford University. The technology uses an algorithm to get possible Web pages using the search criteria applied by the user through solving an equation containing over 500 million variables and over 2 billion terms. The principle source of revenue for Google is obtained through the advertising that is placed on the company’s Web site. Google’s services are used by hundreds of millions on daily basis and are free because they are supported by ads. This has become possible because billions of people can easily access internet on their mobile phones and computers (Schmidt, 2008). The Google’s search philosophy is mainly to maintain search neutrality as much as possible having advertisements being distinct from other search results. Google reported a tremendous financial and market success. In 2005, the company had 5,680 employees scattered globally, realized a positive cash flow totaling to $ 3.45 billion and over $1 billion as from 2006 in every quarter (Martin, 2006). This paper is aimed at analyzing the business strategies adopted by Google Inc. Company.
Companies develop strategies or an overall plan that is employed to deploy resources as a means of establishing favorable positions. The strategy adopted by companies is made up of a combination of business approaches and competitive moves used by managers to compete in a successful manner, achieve organizational objectives and at the same time please their customers. Strategy has also been viewed as a pattern of purpose, programs, policies, decisions, actions, or allocation of resources that serves the purpose of defining an organization, what it is involved in and why it gets involved in it. From the above perspectives, a strategy can conclusively be defined as a plan or a course of action that denotes a pattern that evolves the direction that is followed by an organization. Secondly, a strategy relates to pursuing the activities that enables a company to move its current position to a desired state in the future. Thirdly, strategy is concerned with the assets essential for executing a plan or pursuing a specific course of action. Lastly, a strategy describes a company’s current activities and also for the future through making tradeoffs amid its various activities as well as making a fir among these activities (Kaur, n. d).
Google has put in place several strategies that have ultimately lead to changes if not to where the company wishes to be. Some of the motivating factors for Google include the fact that the company’s revenue is derived from advertising. Consequently, the company requires lots and lots of spaces to display its ads so that its revenue can go up. The company’s move in expanding customer’s reaches through AdSense situational ad and acquisition of DoubleClick is very appropriate. These two moves enable Google to place advertisements on Web properties owned by other companies.
Google has gone further to acquire properties such as You Tube and Blogger which has served as venues for its ads. Similarly, it has pioneered more offerings such as Gmail which attracts audiences for the ads. Google has also developed Google Gears which allow its users to browse offline. Google Chrome browser allows the users to browse at a faster rate since it uses JavaScript known as V8.
Other strategies that have really worked smart for Google is the fact that Google’s ads have an advantage of customer’s attention. Consequently, Google’s ads have command first-class prices unlike banner ads. The company understands that the critical part in advertisement is having the message attract as much attention as possible so that it can be of high value to the advertiser. Showing a presentation of an ad does not necessarily ensure true client attention. Accurate attention is a function of how relevant the ad is to the consumer.
One strategy that Google has strategically put in place is the command for attention with its search ads and the company seeks to create akin relevance with its other kinds of advertising. The act of searching on Google Web page is based on relevance, but the company’s contribution in making advertising relevant is the ranking scheme of hybrid paid search. The company was the first to initiate ranking of search ads depending on the combination of click through rate and bid price. In addition to maximizing the company’s income, Google also raised the relevance of the paid search ads when it added click through rate to the previously used approach of high-bidder (Latif et al, 2014).
One would argue that the steady increase in clicks on the paid search ads can be attributed to the fact that they have become more significant than they were before and that the searchers have learned to trust them more with time. However, this is not the strategy Google has put in place, but it is the company’s history. It is obvious that Google sells ads that are most relevant and this is determined by attention paid by the people to those ads. The strategy that Google has put in place is that of broadening the relevancy beyond search. The company plans to have the plain old banner advertisements command similar attention as that attained by paid search ads. That kind of r...