Post on 11-Jan-2016
description
1Running head: Google
2Running head: Google
Overview
Purpose
The purpose of this case study is to examine the factors for organizing Google’s
innovations and to gain competitive advantage over the markets.
Google was started as a research project by two students of Stanford PhD. named Sergey
Brin and Larry Page. Google has successful established its brand name in the powerful internet
search engine. The company went publicly in 2004, raising about 1.6 billion IPOs. And by the
end of 2004, the company had covered almost 75% of the U.S. market. There are several factors
which led to its success and to gain competitive advantage over the market. The search engine,
applications, web components Google makes are all free and paid for through advertisements on
Google (Saran, 2008). Google had sound competitive advantage in the form of PageRank
algorithm that efficiently delivers highly relevant searches to users (marketing news, 2007).
Google focuses on developing its strategies and licensing its search technologies to other parties.
Furthermore, according to Schmidt innovations are driven by people or in teams having
innovative way of thinking with no control or pressure. Google employees are encouraged to try
out their personal ideas (Saran, 2008). Employee’s work at Google is divided as, their 20%of
time should be spend on innovative projects of their choice, 70% on the core business and the
rest 20% on different projects. Google products and features like Gmail AdSence are the
outcome from the 20% time invested by Google engineers. This is how Google organizes for
innovations. Therefore, staying true to its competitive advantage and focusing on its search
services, Google grew quickly.
3Running head: Google
Technologies and Innovations
Google’s technology has emerged from a series of continuous improvements. Google’s
technological advantage comes from Google’s incremental innovations and clear adaptation of
research computing concepts. The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank, a system
for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google’s
mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accepted”. This led the
company’s core business: “search” and became the leader in internet search. Today, the company
leverage its core search and advertising capabilities into blogging, online payments, social
networks, and information-driven businesses (Schilling, 2010).
Core business, competencies, capabilities
The core business of Google is its powerful ‘search’ engine. Google is the leader in the
internet search (Sinker, 2007). Visiting www.google.com, one can find information in many
different languages, find images, videos, maps, and check stock quotes and many more. Now,
Google Goggles is the new way to search the web without typing and just by using the images.
Android users can also use this application to find information about books, artworks, etc. by
taking pictures (Hernandez, 2009). Google has focused on achieving a leadership on two distinct
services: the search engine and the advertisements services on the web (Sugano, joel; Goncalves,
Jardel; and Figueira, Mariane, 2009).
Google's core competency is based on the technology used in the search service, which is
capable of building and organizing a database that makes it possible for the Internet user to find
practically any piece of information he may be looking for. Secondly, direct advertising and
4Running head: Google
portable applications core competencies distinguishes Google competitively and making it
distinctive.
Evidence of strategic vision and implementation
Google’s leaders know the measures that are used to gauge some important components of
Google’s performance such as customer satisfaction, technologies change over time, and user
friendliness. Google founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the perfect search engine
which enabled users to find information over the simple user interface. In 2000. Google
introduced new service named, AdWords. AdWords sells targeted keywords to advertisers
(Google pedia, 2007). In 2003, Google launched AdSense, the flip side of AdWords. The
AdSense program puts ads on non-Google website.
Google continues its innovations and technologies in mobile industry also. For many,
mobile is now becoming the foremost means of accessing web. Google’s goal is to build mobile
applications like Google maps, Gmail that will work across multiple devices and locations. Then
in 2008, Google introduced the modern browser named Google Chrome designed to handle to
handle today’s complex dynamic web. Google’s innovations are possible only due to its
strategies of unique culture and policies to promote innovations (Hummer, Jones, Wilde, Ellison,
2006).
Role of technology and innovation in the organization
Google’s success is due to its innovative approach and outstanding technology. Larry Brin and
Sergey Brin developed the perfect search engine which enabled users to quickly find any
information through simple user interface. Google had sound competitive advantage in the form
of PageRank algorithm that can efficiently index web pages and delivers highly relevant searches
5Running head: Google
to users. When a user enters its query in Google search, it is sent to Google machine which is
then compared with the documents stored in Google’s index to identify the most relevant
matches. The other key elements of Google search are relevancy and comprehensive. According
to Larry, Google use more than 200 signals including PageRank and update these algorithms
weekly. Google offer personalized services based on user’s web history and location. Moreover,
in 2007, Google introduces universal search making their search more comprehensive by
integrating images, videos, books, news etc.
Additionally, in terms of technology, Google has the hardware and software engineering
expertise to build applications rapidly, perform computationally-intensive applications quickly,
and deliver high-reliability services from low-cost, commodity hardware. Google AdWords
allows web advertisers to display their Ads on Google’s search result and on Adsense website
owner can display their ads on their own website and can earn money every time when there is a
click on their Ads. Therefore, Google are innovating technologies and matching its technologies
to the market demonstrating its ability to make value to its customers and investors which is a
key process for successful emerging technologies.
Furthermore, Google innovations continue with the Google phone named Android. The
Android phone users can get benefits from the new services launched recently by Google.
(Hernandez, 2009), Google Google’s is the new for searching the web using images instead of
typing or dictating. Mobile users with an Android version 1.6 or above can use this application to
find out information about books, artwork and landmarks simply by taking a picture. In addition,
it allows users to scan a business card, save the information and later contact the person directly
without having to type a thing. Thus, whether to call Google engineering company, an
6Running head: Google
information company, or simply a money-making machine, Google prides itself on innovation
and drive.
Google's web search service forms its major factor of success. As of December, 2006,
Google is the most used search engine on the web with a 50.8% market share. Furthermore, most
of Google's revenue comes from selling advertising links (Google pedia, 2007). Google
‘AdWords’ allows Web advertisers to display advertisements in Google's search results and the
Google Content Network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. ‘Google
AdSense’ website owners can also display adverts on their own site, and earn money every time
ads are clicked. Therefore, Google innovations continue making their customers satisfied by
bringing new innovative products.
Importance of innovation and creativity
Innovation and creation play a powerful role in creating successful products. According
to Eric Schmidt “Innovations always has been driven by a person or a small team that has the
luxury of thinking of a new idea and pursuing it”. For Google innovations and creativity is
always being an important part for its success. All the employees at Google always spend their
twenty percent of time on innovative projects of their own choice no matter how far from the
company’s central mission. This helps to develop new product ideas. Gmail and AdSense are the
results from the 20 percent time spend by the Google employees on new ideas. Therefore,
Google has managed its organizational culture pretty well which helps in producing innovative
and creative ideas.
Conclusion and Recommendation
7Running head: Google
To conclude, Google has won most of the internet customers with its powerful search by
concentrating on its strategies and technologies. By developing various innovative products
Google has gained and nurtured evolutionary innovation model. The success behind innovating
various products are not only the creativity of Google but also the rigor and discipline behind
their approach.
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