SWOT ANALYSIS OF GOOGLE

STRENGTHS

1. King of the Online Search: Google is the undisputed king of the online
search engine department. Statista reports that in July 2020, Google has
a market share of 86.86% in desktop searches worldwide. 
2. Unbeatable: Till now, no competitor has come close to challenging its
position let alone reaching its market shares in search engine. Next close
competitors of Google are Bing (with 6.43%), Yahoo (with 2.84%) and Baidu
(with 0.68%) market shares in desktop search engines worldwide.
3. Most Valuable Brand: Google is a highly recognized brand in the world.
According to Forbes, “the world’s most valuable brand list,” Google is ranked at
second position after Apple. 
4. Brand Valuation: In 2019, the brand value of Google was $207 Billion, as per the
Forbes brand list. It is now the world’s most valuable brand, according to a new
study, snagging the No.1 spot from  Apple  which has been the incumbent since
2011.The annual ranking from  Brand Finance  says Google’s monetary value
increased last year, representing a 24% increase overall. By contrast, Apple’s
(AAPL) monetary value fell from $145.9 billion in the previous year to $107.1
billion, according to the study. The decrease in Apple’s monetary value allowed
Google to snag the top spot
5. Search Queries: This powerful brand processes more than 40,000 search
queries per second on average, which is equivalent to about 3.5 billion searches
per day. It is the biggest traffic generator and has a clear advantage over its
competitors such as Bing, Yahoo, Baidu.
6. High Revenue: The huge revenue of $161.86 Billion (2019) that Google has
garnered through advertisement has ensured its growth. Over the years,
Google has built and acquired a slew of ad tech tools that enable content
publishers to make money through advertising and let ad buyers seek out the
kinds of people they would like to get in front of on Google Search and on other
websites across the internet. While Search and other properties make up the
bulk of Google’s ad revenues, its YouTube advertising business, which saw a
near 50% year-over-year jump in the first quarter.
7. Rapid Growth: Google is one of the fastest-growing companies in the world.
In 2001, the company had fewer than 300 employees; then it increased 10-fold
to 3000 in 2004, it grew 10-fold again to 32,470 in 2011, and more than
doubled to 61,814 by 2015. By 2018, Google had more than 98,000 employees
and increased by more than 20,000 to over 118,899 by December 2019.

WEAKNESSES
 1. Privacy policies: Google has been slammed by many experts for its excessive
reliance on privacy, especially when it comes to hiding information about
algorithms. The company has since taken steps to address the allegations.
2. Overdependence on Advertisement: Google’s overdependence on
advertising has increased speculations regarding the company’s future. In
2019, the company made 83.9% of its total revenue from advertisement related
projects. Advertisement space is highly cyclical, competitive, and rely heavily
on macroeconomic conditions.
3. Unfair Business Practices: As the most used search engine, Google exploits
this advantage unfairly to prevent the entry of new players in the sector. In the
U.S., the company was recently sued for colluding with Apple to make it
the default search engine for Apple’s browser.
4. Failure in Social Media Revolution: Before the emergence of social media
giants like Facebook and Twitter, most people relied on Google to access the
latest news digitally. Now, people can access the latest news via social media
platforms. To protect its interests, Google has attempted to launch several
social media platforms unsuccessfully like Google Plus and Shoelace, which
failed to gain traction and forced the company to shut it down.
5. Poor Pricing Strategy: On June 30, 2020, Google raised the subscription
price of its YouTube TV service from $49.99 to $64.99 per month. According
to Google, the $15 increase (30%) reflects the rising cost of content, but critics
argue that the increase is absurd. Most streaming services
like Netflix, Disney+, and Peacock offer more content than the 80 TV channels
offered by YouTube and charge between $5 and $15. Google can lose a majority
of the 2 million YouTube subscribers due to the price hike.
6. Employees Protest: Consumers dislike companies that advance evils and
suppression in society or collaborate with the oppressors. In June 2020, more
than 1,600 Google employees petitioned the company to stop offering its G-
suite services to police departments in the light of Black Lives Matter protest. 
7. Boycott of Google and YouTube by Major Advertisers: Major brands
boycotted against Google and YouTube when they discovered that their ads
were running alongside extremist, hate-filled content. It has negatively affected
Google’s image. The companies that boycotted against the search engine and
video platform included Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, and Verizon in the U.S,
L’Oreal, HSBC, RBS, the BBC, the Guardian newspaper, British retailer Marks
& Spencer, Lloyd’s of London in U.K, and Audi, Havas, Tesco, Volkswagen,
Sainsbury. In addition to these brands, even the British government boycotted.

OPPORTUNITIES

1. Wearable Market: In November 2019, Google has acquired Fitbit for $ 2.1
Billion to compete with Apple and Samsung in the lucrative and growing
wearable (smartwatch and fitness band) market. 
2. Google Glasses and Google Play: Google is prepared to market its newly
introduced Google Glasses and Google Play. It can boost Google’s progress and
development.
3. Cloud Services: In fiscal year 2019, about 5.5% ($8.9 Billion) of Google’s annual
revenue came from its Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and its services. Google is placing
 big bets on its cloud services to diversify its revenue stream. Google offers a wide range of
Services. Following are the major Google Cloud Services:

 Compute
 Networking
 Storage and Databases
 Big Data
 Machine Learning
 Identity & Security
 Management and Developer ToolS

4. Remote Work: Recent events have increased demand for remote work
solutions immensely, with Microsoft and Zoom making billions from its video
calling services. Google is already making moves to exploit the demand for
remote work solutions and recently added video-calling features and other
collaboration tools in Gmail to attract companies seeking to empower their
employees to work from home or remotely.
5. Expand Services to Emerging Markets: Emerging economies offer growth
opportunities. In July 2020, Google expanded its cloud services to offer
the world’s first commercial high-speed internet. The service was introduced in
Kenya and used balloons to provide affordable 4G internet to under-covered rural
communities in the East African nation.

6. Cloud Store: With its storage and cloud solutions, cloud computing can play a
vital role in Google’s enterprise.  Google introduced a new digital store, which
offers cloud-based software to all organizations. In line to this, the company
collaborated with MobileIron, Inc., to integrate its cloud Orbitera commerce
platform with MobileIron’s app distribution, security, and analytics capabilities.

7. Non-Advertising Revenue: Google needs to undertake a diversification

strategy and aim to build a non-Ad Business Model. In this effort, google has
introduced paid services such as Google Cloud, YouTube TV subscription, Google
Play (sales of apps), Hardware (Nest, Pixel phones, Fitbit) etc. 

THREATS

1. Decline in market shares: According to data gathered from e-marketer,

Google’s US digital ad revenue is expected to see a decline in market shares. It
was 38.8% (2017), 37.2% (2018), 36.2% (2019). This is because of the
growing competition from Facebook, Amazon, Instagram and Snapchat for ads
market share.
2. Antitrust controversy: Google has been embroiled in antitrust battles with
both US and EU legislators for years. Google has filed to appeal a 5 billion Euro
fine issued by EU antitrust officials.
3. Censorship Policy: Google has not managed to protect itself from backlash
over its censorship policy. Many whistle blowers have begun leaking formation
over its political, ideological leanings.
4. Competitors: The primary threat that Google faces is from its
competitors Facebook and Amazon. The two competitors are slowly catching up
 with Google. Their new features and increasing popularity can take the spotlight
away from Google.
5. Economic Uncertainty due to Pandemic: Recent events have devastated
the operations and earnings of many companies, including Google. It is
projected that Google’s net U.S. advertising revenue will drop by 5.3%,
respectively, for the first time since the 2008 recession. Its net U.S. ad
revenue was $41.8 billion in 2019, but it is projected to drop to $39.58 billion in
2020. Economic uncertainty threatens Google’s Revenue and profits.
6. Anti-encryption drive to reduce Child Abuse: In the past few years, cases
of online child exploitation images have increased from thousands per year to
tens of millions. Multiple governments and child welfare groups are pushing for
the elimination of encryption technologies to ensure child exploiters online are
revealed promptly. Even though Google has pledged to standardize disclosure of
the culprits, governments and child welfare groups still insist that Google and
other tech giants should stop using encryption technologies. Without user
anonymity online, Google can lose customers.
7. Tension with China: Google had planned to provide cloud service in China
but was forced to scrap the plan due to rising geopolitical tensions. If the
political tensions spread to other regions across the world, it can affect Google’s
global operations.