Google Core Competencies Report

Question

Task: Provide a detailed report on the Google core competencies.

Answer

Introduction
It was the students of Stanford University, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page who have established the company of Google. It was in the garage of a friend that they had found the company in September 1998. By August 2004, the company was able to accumulate about 1.67 billion USD via Initial Public Offering. By then the company had developed its operations all over the world which employed overall 12000 professionals. The efficient human resources have contributed profoundly to the google core competencies. Arriving at a profit through an ethical manner by considering all the challenges and tasks as fun within a corporate culture is the major statement of Google Inc. At present, the company has developed into a multinational public corporation, which provides internet facilities and various IT products all over the world. Its user-friendly characteristics and use of advanced technologies have made it the largest search engine in the world. The active participation of the company in other fields like the development of android software, Gmail service, various social networking platforms, etc. has converted it into a dominating company in the world IT scenario. The company has developed close links with various smartphone manufacturing companies by the active contribution of Android OS development. Without any doubt, Google could be stated as one of the ruling companies in the global market (Luchetta, 2014).

Below is provided a SWOT analysis of google core competencies.
Strength

• It is the major contributor to the development of various mobile technologies by adopting the Android operating system. Google is now the straight forward competitor of the Apple Company.
• The scope of Google is not limited to the technically advanced demography. Even the small households are reliant on the services offered by Google. The monthly budget to even sustain the efficiency of the search engine surpasses the amount of 1.2 billion dollars.
• The operational level of the company is at a very higher level since it generates immense turnover by collaborating with third parties.
• There is no competitor for Google as a search engine in the world. The worldwide search is being controlled and dominated by Google. The company holds more than 68% of the market share in the aspect of internet searches.

Weakness

• In recent years, the rising concern over cybersecurity has forced various governments to put restrictions on the company.
• To date, the company is not ready to reveal its searching algorithm. No specific trends or formulas regarding it are revealed to the public. Hence, there has been rising criticism and suspicion towards the activity of the company because of its lack of transparency (Arnold, 2000).
• Though the company has been a great success at the global level, it has still not focused on the aspect of product integration.
• There is a major part of the revenue created, but the company is still dependent on its advertising returns. Hence the policies and interests of the company are highly reliable on these clients.

Opportunities

• The company could explore more into cloud computing technology. The company would not have to go through major upgradations for this since it already has an operational cloud storage and solutions services.
• In recent years, the accessibility of the internet has drastically increased, and there is a large community of new online users. The contribution of the increasing rate of online users in the rate of growth of the company has been very high. The new prospects will only be covered by the company if it emerges as a major contender before Samsung and Apple.
• The introduction of modern advanced technologies to users like Google Play and Google Glasses has changed the reputation and perception of the company in the global market. The opportunity could be utilized to enter into new markets (Jasimuddin, 2008).
• The new approach of the company is towards decreasing its reliance over adding revenue. The new approaches in increasing commercial transactions through the company's facilities should be promoted to generate revenue. However, Google maps and Google books could be innovatively used for advertisement revenue generation.

Threats

• The new advancements in the field of mobile computing have created substantial challenges to the existing technology of the company. If the company does not address this aspect soon, the users will shift towards the new company which could offer a better presence of mobile computing technologies (Edelman, 2015)
• The emergence of advanced features in social media has emerged as an extensive threat before the company. Various features offered by Twitter and Facebook are encouraging users to stay longer in their portals.

Competitor’s analysis
Microsoft

• The first computer operating system for domestic and industrial use was introduced by this company.
• It is after the technologies delivered by this company that various business organizations and individuals have realized their own potential.
• The advanced electronic technologies, user-friendly computer software, and online services offered by it, still makes it an incomparable firm at the global platform.

Yahoo

• Before the decline of its market share in 2008, the company used to be the most preferred internet services among the business personnel and household customers.
• The media services, online services, various solutions, applications, etc. are still famous among online users.
• The company poses strong competition as a search engine in a global scenario.

Hence it gets clear from the above-provided competitor's analysis that the major competitors of the Google Company are Microsoft and Yahoo. In the previous years, the turnover of Microsoft and Yahoo was 4.8 billion USD and 6.8 billion USD respectively. The high competition offered by these companies has helped the customers with getting high quality and relevant search results. The competition has coerced Google to develop the technology which will direct the user faster to the advertisements when compared to the competitors. The constant threat offered by these companies has helped Google to sustain itself on the track of technological development. Almost 11 % and 24 % of the global market are still held by Microsoft and Yahoo, respectively. The increased arrival of new websites, along with huge investments in advertisements is creating fierce competition among these companies to acquire a higher market share.

Recognizing Google Core Competencies
The whole Google core competencies depend upon the development of new technological knowledge that could further advance the existing search engine. Further, the search engine should be advanced in handling the database on the internet platform so that it will get effective in providing relevant results for the online users (Hou, 2014). The high proficiency in the aspects of software engineering and computer hardware had contributed heavily to the Google core competencies. Google still is known among the global community as an efficient and reliable search engine. The Google Company could be considered as the flag bearer of innovative culture among the global community.

Google's core competency has enabled the company to withstand short-term and long-term challenges. The advanced Google core competencies have reduced the risk of imitation that has still sustained the dominance of Google in the global IT scenario. The high prevalence of Google services and its various advanced products that have been developed by utilizing various technologies, skills, researches, etc. have given a high contribution to Google core competencies.

References
Arnold, U. (2000). New dimensions of outsourcing: a combination of transaction cost economics and the core competencies concept. European journal of purchasing & supply management, 6(1), 23-29.

Edelman, B. (2015). Does Google leverage market power through tying and bundling?. Journal of Competition Law & Economics, 11(2), 365-400.

Hou, S. I. (2014). Health education: theoretical concepts, effective strategies, and core competencies. Health promotion practice, 15(5), 619-621.

Jasimuddin, S. M. (2008). Pricing strategy of online knowledge market: The analysis of Google answers. International Journal of Business Research (IJEBR), 5(1), 55-68.

Luchetta, G. (2014). Is the Google platform a two-sided market?. Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 19(1), 185-207.