Introduction

Competitive advantages are conditions that allow a company or country to produce a good or
service of equal value at a lower price or in a more desirable product. These conditions allow the
productive entity to generate more sales or superior margins compared to its market rivals.
Competitive advantages are attributed to a variety of factors including cost structure, branding,
and the quality of product offerings, the distribution network, intellectual property and customer
service.

Google, because of its size, innovation, and market position, has a number of competitive
advantages. While Google has many competitive advantages, it possible to narrow Google’s
competitive advantages into three main categories consisting of infrastructure, innovative
services, and market share. First, Google has an incredibly powerful infrastructure is not easily
replicated. Just like Wal-Mart is known for having highly efficient supply chain infrastructure
with a massive investment in plant assets and equipment including transport vehicles, enormous
warehouse facilities, and high tech inventory systems, Google has a vast technology
infrastructure.

Technology Infrastructure:
Google does not disclose the number of data centers or servers they operate, but based on energy
usage, the dollar amount of Google’s capital expenditures, and other factors, estimates can be
made on the size and efficiency of Google’s infrastructure. Royal Pingdom, a technology
company whose clients include Microsoft, Amazon.com, IBM, and McAfee, among many
others, has complied information to locate the 36 data centers they believe Google was using as
of 2008 (Pingdom AB, 2008). According to information provided by Google on their data
centers page, most of their locations cost between $300-600 million to build and equip (Google).

Google’s services would not be possible without their infrastructure which makes it very hard for
competitors to copy or even try to rival Google. Even if they had the computing know-how, they
would have to spend billions building from the ground up to establish the backbone of their
operations. This makes Google’s infrastructure a sustainable competitive advantage.

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 Innovative Services:
The next competitive advantage that Google boasts is all of its innovative services. While the
case lists 40 different Google services, a Wikipedia article lists well of 100 Google services
including the renown ―Google Search,‖ Gmail, Blogger, Google Finance, Google Docs, Google
Apps, Adsense, and Google Chrome, just to mention a few. While many of these services were
developed in-house, Google has also greatly expanded its services through acquisitions, with
YouTube, being a classic example.

The incredible value of Google’s services lies in the fact that Google can offer nearly all of their
services at zero cost to web users. Because of the number of services and users, Google is able to
offer an attractive advertising model and make billions of dollars every year. Because of its
infrastructure, Google is able to offer an incredible range of services. While similar services may
be used by competitors, Google gives its users the chance to enjoy a ―one-stop-shop‖ for all their
Internet and computing needs. This is a hard advantage for competitors to overcome; however,
Google must continue to innovate in order to make this advantage sustainable.

Market Share:
Google’s market share in various industries is not only a sign that the company’s strategies are
paying off, but also creates a strong competitive advantage. Because so many people use Google,
it has become more than a household name. In fact, the word ―Google‖ has even become noun as
people often say ―I’ll just Google it,‖ as a reference to searching the Internet. This is not only
good for Google’s brand, but it also gives Google an edge for any new products or services they
wish to launch. Customer loyalty also plays a role because individuals using Google’s services
are less likely to try other competitors since they may feel comfortable using and understanding
Google’s products such as their search engine or Android operating system.

These three competitive advantages place Google in a very strong position for the future. A
recent article featured on Seeking Alpha, an investment website, argued that Google stock is
likely to increase $140 in the next year (ValueMax, 2012). The evidence presented by these
strategic advantages certainly lends creditability to the previously stated conclusion.

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 Background of the company
The Google story begins in 1995 at Stanford University. Larry Page was considering Stanford
for grad school and Sergey Brin, a student there, was assigned to show him around. By some
accounts, they disagreed about nearly everything during that first meeting, but by the following
year they struck a partnership. Working from their dorm rooms, they built a search engine that
used links to determine the importance of individual pages on the World Wide Web. They called
this search engine Backrub.

Google's mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and
useful. Google Inc. was founded and incorporated in 1998 with its sole focus on its successful
search technology. Since then, Google has greatly expanded its large portfolio of products and
services beyond Internet search.

Soon after, Backrub was renamed Google (phew). The name was a play on the mathematical
expression for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros and aptly reflected Larry and Sergey's
mission ―to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.‖

Over the next few years, Google caught the attention of not only the academic community, but
Silicon Valley investors as well. In August 1998, Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote
Larry and Sergey a check for $100,000, and Google Inc. was officially born. With this
investment, the newly incorporated team made the upgrade from the dorms to their first office: a
garage in suburban Menlo Park, California, owned by Susan Wojcicki (employee #16 and now
CEO of YouTube). Clunky desktop computers, a ping pong table, and bright blue carpet set the
scene for those early days and late nights. (The tradition of keeping things colorful continues to
this day.)

Even in the beginning, things were unconventional: from Google’s initial server (made of Lego)
to the first ―Doodle‖ in 1998: a stick figure in the logo announcing to site visitors that the entire
staff was playing hooky at the Burning Man Festival. ―Don't be evil‖ and ―The ten things we
know to be true‖ captured the spirit of our intentionally unconventional methods. In the years
that followed, the company expanded rapidly — hiring engineers, building a sales team, and
introducing the first company dog, Yoshka. Google outgrew the garage and eventually moved to
its current headquarters (a.k.a. ―The Googleplex‖) in Mountain View, California. The spirit of
doing things differently made the move. So did Yoshka.

The relentless search for better answers continues to be at the core of everything we do. Today,
with more than 60,000 employees in 50 different countries, Google makes hundreds of products
used by billions of people across the globe, from YouTube and Android to Smartbox and, of
course, Google Search. Although we’ve ditched the Lego servers and added just a few more
company dogs, our passion for building technology for everyone has stayed with us — from the
dorm room, to the garage, and to this very day.

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 Competitors Analysis

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in the final stages of conducting its Google
investigation. As the agency contemplates whether Google is a monopolist in the ill-defined
market for search, they may find the competitive ground has shifted beneath their feet in just the
15 months since they began investigating. While a year or two ago, Google’s main competition
in search might have been Bing and Yahoo, today it’s Apple and Amazon, and tomorrow it may
be Facebook. The market is almost certainly broader than general search engines as we normally
think of them.

Just last week, the New York Times ran a story explaining that Google and Amazon are ―at war
to become the pre-eminent online mall.‖ The story cited survey data from two consultancies that
should give the antitrust authority pause:

 Forrester Research found that a third of online users started their product searches on
Amazon compared to 13 percent who started their search from a traditional search site;
and
 comScore found that product searches on Amazon have grown 73 percent over the last
year while shopping searches on Google have been flat.
These impressive statistics suggest that Google lacks market power in a critical segment of
search—namely, product searches. Even though searches for items such as power tools or
designer jeans account for only 10 to 20 percent of all searches, they are clearly some of the most
important queries for search engines from a business perspective, as they are far easier to
monetize than informational queries like ―Kate Middleton.‖

One senses that the FTC has not focused much on competition from Amazon in product search,
or that they even think of Amazon as a search engine. Instead, antitrust agencies around the
globe have fixated on helping middlemen comparison-shopping sites such as Nextag and
PriceGrabber, most of who charge retailers for listings. Google is taking heat from comparison
sites for doing the same thing because Google is perceived to be the most important source for
online shoppers. That regulators are willing to breathe life into these intermediaries implies they
do not recognize the platform-based competition between Google and Amazon for product
searches.

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Amazon is not the only behemoth that competes with Google for search. Apple’s Siri can do
search and whole lot more, from helping Samuel L. Jackson design the perfect dinner to making
John Malkovich laugh to helping Martin Scorsese maneuver through New York. As search
evolves from links into answers, services like Siri become highly valuable. And the ITunes App
Store represents the launching pad for many searches that would otherwise start on Google. A
couple in Virginia that enjoys winery tours might begin their search by installing ―Virginia Wine
in My Pocket‖ or ―Virginia Wineries‖ on their iPhone rather than search the web. In March of
this year, Apple announced that more than 25 billion apps had been downloaded from its App
Store by the users of the more than 315 million iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices worldwide.
One wonders whether any of these downloads are being counted by the FTC in their calculations
of Google’s market share.

And now Facebook is getting into search. At a Disrupt conference last week, Mark Zuckerberg
explained that search engines are evolving into places where users go for answers, and that
Facebook is uniquely positioned to compete in that market: ―And when you think about it from
that perspective, Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer a lot of the questions that
people have. So what sushi restaurants have my friends gone to in New York in the past six
months and liked? . . . . These are queries that you could potentially do at Facebook if we build
out this system that you just couldn’t do anywhere else.‖

It may not be natural to associate Amazon (an online retailer), Apple (a device maker), and
Facebook (a social media site) with search, but in the technology industry, your next competitive
threat can come from anywhere. Monopoly and the kind of robust platform competition between
Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook are mutually exclusive portraits of reality.

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 External Environment

 Global:
Internet search is applicable to most cultures all over the world freeing Google from geographic
dependence. In fact, the company now has 20 offices in the U.S. and international locations in
over 30 countries working on research, sales, and marketing. Google offers a personalized search
engine for more than 115 countries, and as language support improves, the company is likely to
gain market share.

 Demographics:
Google is well positioned in demographics because it has a relatively young userbase. This
means that it will be less affected as the Baby Boomers age in comparison to other companies
that depend on the 50 to 60 year-old demographic group. Internet search is also not a gender-
specific issue, and would not be hurt by changes in the ratio of female to males.

 Technology:
Technology is obviously always improving and Google has taken specific measures to make sure
it does not fall behind. Google can use commodity computer parts (cheap components) knowing
they will fail by ensuring that every component always has a duplicate.

 Economic:
The United States is currently in a period of recession and stocks are trading at 52-week lows.
However, technology companies like Google are relatively isolated because search and
consequently internet-based advertisements have become a staple to the world society and
economy.

 Politcal and Legal:

Formal institutions have not significantly affected Google’s operations, although Google has
faced pressure from the Department of Justice to relinquish archived search terms. Google’s
―Don’t be evil‖ mantra has been put to the test as users ask whether cooperation with
governments undermines their privacy and freedoms.

Google has also faced concern on copyright issues because the company stores copies of third
party web pages and images on their servers. They have responded to this criticism by releasing

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a copyright information page. The page provides the relevant information regarding digital
information and provides links to notify both Google and the U.S. Copyright Office of suspected
infringement (Google, 2008).

 Socio-Cultural:
The world is increasingly becoming more connected due to the means of communication
available through the internet. And, for many people, the search giants like Google make the
internet navigable. As internet use increases among all age groups and across all cultures, we
will become increasingly more dependent on internet search.

In addition, most new cell phones are internet capable devices. People will use these devices for
driving directions, to locate restaurants, check sports scores, download music, and even quick
research. Google stands to benefit from this with an increased number of search queries. To
enable more people to access Google’s services from their mobile devices, the company has
released its Android Mobile Phone Platform and Operating System as well as the Google Mobile
App that can be downloaded on other platforms such as the Apple iPhone.

Industry overview and analysis

The industry Google Inc belongs to is the Internet Service Provider (ISP). The search industry is
an ecosystem with a number of different companies and related technologies that together
provide complete solutions for intranet and customer-facing content search. It is a fact that, most
search engines use very similar technologies. They all have features that support customers
across a broad range of requirements. But there are some the companies that we feel are
strongest in the field and who are the major competitors for Google Inc.

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 Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis
Porter’s 5 Forces analysis is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy
development relative to the competitors of the firm (QuickMBA, 2007).

 Potential New Entrants:

The barriers to entry in the internet search market are high. The current competitors have
thousands of servers deployed in locations all over the world and have accumulated many years
worth of data about user habits. A new entrant would need to provide better search results at very
fast speeds to compete in this highly competitive market. With that in mind, it must be
recognized that when Google was founded in 1998, Yahoo, Excite, and Altavista dominated the
search market and Google has since eclipsed them all (Viney, 2007). The market now, however,
is more mature with a necessary path dependency to gather data on both the content of webpages
and the search history of users. Therefore, the threat of new entrants in the internet search market
is relatively low.

 Suppliers:
Google’s ad system is a reliable source of income because both the ad-making partner and ad-
receiving individual are both customers of Google’s. So as long as Google maintains its market
dominance with the search product, supplier bargaining power will remain low.

 Current Competitors
Google’s stated goal is to ―organize the world’s information‖, and to merit they have created
many complimentary products to their main internet search service. Targeted advertisements
based on the information they collect with their products are Google’s primary source of
revenue. In 2007, Google had revenues of $16.6 billion which grew an average of 115% annually
in the preceding five years/

Google’s main competitors are Yahoo, and Microsoft (operating under their respective brands –
MSN and Live Search), posted revenues of $7.0 billion and $51.1 billion respectively (Google,
2007). There is a dizzying amount of money made in this industry.

Presently, Google commands 57% of internet searches in the United States (Agence France-
Presse, 2008). This large market share enables them to improve the quality of their search results
and targeted ads more quickly than their competitors. This creates a sort of self-perpetuating

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draw for customers as the search results constantly improve. Yahoo and Microsoft lag behind
with 23% and 11% respective market shares (Figure 3) (Agence France-Presse, 2008). The
competitive rivalry is strong and ongoing in this industry because large amounts of advertising
dollars flow to the website that has captured the largest volume of searches.

 Customers:
As of 2007, 99% of Google’s revenues are derived from advertising (Google, 2008). However,
no single account contributes more than 3% to net revenue, and less than 5% of the revenue is
generated by any given network partner site (Google Inc., 2007). This means that no single buyer
has a controlling interest. In Google’s system many advertisers bid on keywords. Popular
keywords like ―Dallas Texas‖ are sold for much higher value-per-clickthrough than obscure
topics (Google, 2008). This distributed approach allows Google to attract both large companies
and small ―mom-and-pop shops‖ keeping buyer power low

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  Potential Substitutes:
In 2008, the internet has become the mode chosen by millions of people all over the world to
request and retrieve information. In light of this fact, there really is no suitable substitute for
search. Information can be organized in different ways including categories and sorted by date,
but Google provides tools to complete these tasks as well as conduct searches. A substitute
product may be invented in the future, but there are no obvious substitutes to organizing
information on the internet.

Google has positioned itself well to weather each of Porter’s Five Forces of Competition as well
as stay afloat in a turbulent external environment. Google’s ability to please its stakeholders will
continue to define the success of the venture and the future of the company.

Industry Strategic Group Map:

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 Major Competitors:

In the Google website segment, the company competes with search innovator Yahoo (YHOO),
Internet pioneer and media company AOL, technology giant Microsoft, business and career
social networking site LinkedIn, and several other companies.

The Adsense Google Network websites compete with the previously mentioned Yahoo and
AOL, among others.

In the total advertising revenue segment, Google competes with Yahoo and AOL along with
employment website operator Monster Worldwide, online travel conglomerate Expedia (EXPE),
media company Scripps Interactive (SNI), media conglomerate E.W. Scripps Company and
online auctioneer eBay (EBAY). It also competes with the Gannett Company, Inc, which has the
largest circulation of newspapers in the United States; entertainment and mass media
multinational The Walt Disney Company (DIS); IAC Interactive (IACI), an Internet company
with over 50 brands; social network company Facebook (FB); online travel website operator
Priceline; the social media newcomer Twitter; the previously mentioned Microsoft and LinkedIn,
among others.

In the other revenues segment, Google competes with database pioneer and technology services
giant Oracle, software company PTC, semiconductor giant Intel, independent software company
CA Technologies, software company Compuware, American semiconductor company EMC,
software company Red Hat and network optimizer F5 Networks. Other Google competitors in
this segment include IP protocol device manufacturer Cisco Systems, multinational technology
company Hewlett-Packard, computer security company Symantec, risk management and bond
rating company Moody's Investor Services, American technology icon IBM, cloud computing
and customer relationship company Salesforce, and Microsoft, among others.

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 Internal Environment
Internal environment consists of the events and trends within an organization that affect the
management, employees and organizational culture. ―To organize the world information to make
it universally accessible and useful― From this statement we can see that Google Inc is not
interested in profit maximization but strives to meet the needs of its customers with a high
quality product. Therefore, Google provides a high value product which satisfies its consumer
needs, whatever they may be, quickly and efficiently
―It’s really the people that make Google the kind of company it is. They hire people who are
smart and determined, and we favor ability over experience. Although Googlers share common
goals and visions for the company, we hail from all walks of life and speak dozens of languages,
reflecting the global audience that we serve. And when not at work, Googlers pursue interests
ranging from cycling to beekeeping, from frisbee to foxtrot.
They strive to maintain the open culture often associated with startups, in which everyone is a
hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. In our weekly all-hands
(―TGIF‖) meetings—not to mention over email or in the cafe—Googlers ask questions directly
to Larry, Sergey and other execs about any number of company issues. Our offices and cafes are
designed to encourage interactions between Googlers within and across teams, and to spark
conversation about work as well as play. ―

Core Competencies

Google Inc is one of worlds rapid growing and innovative web 2.0 companies who provides wide
variety of commercial and free products to the end-users. Core Competencies are technical or
managerial process that integrates diverse technologies, processes, resources and know-how to
create unique offerings to the customers and gains a unique competitive advantage to the
organization. Core products are developed with core competencies and wide variety of
competitive end-products can be developed by using the core products and it creates completive
advantages to the corporation in short and long term basis.

Google Inc has core competencies in software engineering in content indexing and maintaining
scalable hardware infrastructure. The company's culture of innovation also can be highlighted as
a core competence. Google owns few core products and they are PageRankâ„¢ indexing
technology, Google Ads and Google Mapping platform and based on the core products the
company has developed wide variety of end-products.

The core competence has facilitated Google Inc to enter to wide variety of markets and the core
competencies have created competitive advantage to Google Inc in short and long terms.The
strategy of Google Inc agrees to the concept of Core Competencies, which introduced by C.K.
Prahalad and Gary Hamel in 1994.Google's core competencies have created competitive
advantage and they have made the company profitable in short and long terms.

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 Distinct Competency

 Name recognition: Above all, Google has established its spot as the most notable search
engine. Because this competency is so difficult for other search engines to duplicate,
Google has projected itself apart from its competitors.
 High-end products: Google offers a wide variety of high-end products and features that
customers would not be able to find elsewhere. Its advanced software infrastructure has
easily allowed Google to excel its competitors in almost every way possible.
 Marketing: Google has access to a multitude of resources that provides the brand the
exposure it needs to garner attention. With an incredibly capable marketing team
onboard, the company is able to reach out to more people than any other organization of
its kind.

SWOT Analysis

 Strengths

 Market Leader in Search Engines:

Perhaps the biggest strength of Google is that it is the undisputed leader in search
engines, which means that it has a domineering and lion’s share of the internet searches
worldwide. Google has more than 65% of the market share for internet searches and the
competitors do not even come close to anywhere that Google does.

 Ability to Generate User Traffic:

Google is a household brand in the world, its ability to drive internet user traffic is
legendary, and this has helped it become one of the most powerful brands in the world.
Indeed, Google averages more than 1.2 Billion hits a month in terms of the unique
searches that users perform on the site. This gives it an unrivaled and unparalleled edge
over its competitors in the market.

 Revenue from Advertising and Display:

Its revenue model wherein it garners humungous profits through partnerships with third
party sites has held the company in good stead as far as its ability to mop up resources
and increase both its top-line as well as bottom-line is concerned. This is another key
strength of the company that has helped it scale greater heights.

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  Introduction of Android and Mobile Technologies:

The last of the strengths discussed here relates to its adoption of Android and Mobile
technologies, this has resulted in it becoming a direct competitor of Apple as far as these
devices, and operating systems are concerned.

 Weaknesses

 Excessive Reliance on Secrecy:

Google does not reveal its algorithm for searches or even its basic formula as far as
internet searches are concerned leading to many experts slamming the company for being
opaque and hiding behind the veneer of secrecy. However, in recent years, Google has
taken steps to redress this by providing a bare bones version of its unique search engine
algorithm.

 Falling Ad Rates:

In recent years and especially in 2013, the company has been faced with declining
revenues from ads and as a result, the profitability of the company has taken a hit. This is
partly due to the ongoing global economic slowdown and partly because of competitors
snapping at its heels in a more aggressive manner. Indeed, Apple has already taken steps
to garner search engine revenues in its devices and hence, Google must be cognizant of
the challenges that lie ahead.

 Overdependence on Advertising:

Google’s business model relies heavily on advertising and the numbers reveal that it gets
more than 85% of its revenues from ads alone. This means that any potential dip in
revenues would cost the company dearly (literally as well as metaphorically). The point
here is that Google has to devise a more robust business model that embraces e-
commerce and mobile commerce along with its current business model that is based on
ad revenues alone.

 Lack of Compatibility with next generation devices:

Another weakness for Google is that it is not compatible with many next generation
computing platforms including mobile and tablet computers and this remains an area of
concern for the company.

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  Opportunities

 Android Operating System:

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for Google lies in its pioneering effort in providing the
Android OS (Operating System) which has resulted in its becoming a direct competitor to
Apple and Samsung.

 Diversification into non-Ad Business Models:

As discussed earlier, the company has to diversify into non-ad revenues if it has to remain
profitable and current indications are that it is adapting itself to this as can be seen from
the push towards commercial transactions using its numerous sites like Google Books,
Google Maps etc.

 Google Glasses and Google Play:

The introduction of Google Glasses and Google Play promises to be a game changer for
Google and this is a significant opportunity that the company can exploit. Indeed, this
very aspect can make the company take the next evolutionary leap into the emerging
world of nano-computing.

 Cloud Computing:

Cloud Computing remains a key opportunity for Google as it is already experienced in

providing storage and cloud solutions. Indeed, if not anything, it can move into the
enterprise market using the cloud-computing paradigm.

 Threats

 Competition from Facebook:

The advent of Social Media has seriously threatened Google’s dominance in the internet
world and the company has to pull an ace to deal with the increasing features available on
Facebook and Twitter.

 Mobile Computing:

Another threat to Google is from the emerging area of mobile computing that threatens to
pass the company by as newer companies seize the opportunity to ramp up their mobile
computing presence.

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 VRIN Framework Analysis

 Value:
Google provides a high esteem product which fulfils its buyer’s needs, whatever they may be,
rapidly and productively. A costumer can utilize its search engine when searching for data on
actually anything too known, or not, that would be. This is the thing that keeps it in its market
ruling position as the leading search engine as it gives such an uncommon product. Moreover,
Google utilizes a system call Ad Sense which is essential in order for businesses to generate
income. This is because of the way that there is more traffic, henceforth more presentation,
which thus prompts an increment in deals.

 Rarity:
Google's search offerings are uncommon as a result of the significance of the results. Microsoft
and Yahoo, Google's fundamental rivals, essentially don't give connects that are as helpful as
Google's. Google's site emphasizes a moderate outline, which is phenomenal. Most sites
gimmick a pennant promoting and are littered with several words. The Google home page can
just contain 28 words as a strategy created by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the organization's
organizers. This keeps the disorder to a base which is a distinct difference to Yahoo and
Microsoft's search home pages. Google loyally sticks to the procurement in the statement of
purpose which perceives that "promotions ought not to be an irritating interference". This
uncommon service is confirmation to their charge to never "bargain client centre for transient
monetary addition".

 Inimitability:
Google’s results are not easily imitated because of the large infrastructure requirements to serve
the relevant pages quickly. Google has servers all over the world, all synced up and all running
on a very large quantity of RAM, fast computer memory. With each search, Google refines its
results so that the search engine gets ―smarter‖ and caters to people’s individual preferences.
Since Google has the largest market share, their search engine can effectively learn more quickly
than competitors’ products. Google’s operations exhibit path dependency because it takes time to
collect the data to provide results and even more time to analyze both the content and users
reactions to the results. Without going through a process of refinement over a significant period
of time, a competitor could not replicate Google’s search results.

 Non- Substitutability
Having expanded into various global markets, Google faces the challenge of maintaining high
quality of products and services and maintaining its competitive edge, especially with its flagship
products. It cannot allow the quality of service to go down as it tries to figure out ways to
monetize products that currently do not provide revenue. Google’s success also depends on
successful execution of its mobile strategy. With the acquisition of Motorola, the competitive
pressure to innovate encompasses a wider range of products and services, including products and
services that may be outside of Google’s historical core business. Also, since 95% of Google
revenues rely on advertising, increasing the number of platforms for advertising will also critical.
For instance, people may be willing to put up with longer ads on YouTube if the resolution of the
videos keeps improving.

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 Recommendations
 The company may improve its physical presence, such as through promotions and
opening of more physical stores.
 The company may emphasize efforts against the threats of competition and imitation.
 The company may provide better performance upon effectively addressing the strategic
factors.
 Google should modify its vision statement and mission statement in accordance to the
wide variety of products the company currently offers.
 The adjustment should reflect the current diversification of Google products.

Conclusion
To sum up, throughout its progress, Google has kept its dominant position over its competitors in
the information based services industry. Furthermore, it is very important to note that Google has
not only been consistent when it comes to providing a product of the highest and quality, but is
also constantly developing, adapting, but more significantly revolutionizing the industry. In
addition, what makes Google's product so unique in comparison to its competitors is the attention
that it gives to consumer needs in order to provide a reliable and difficultly substituted product
rather than focusing on maximizing its profit with every given chance which may compromise
the quality of its search result; its product. Having analyzed the corporation's internal and
external environment it is evident that Google pays attention even to the smallest detail to ensure
that it will be the leading company amongst the numerous other online search engines and has
been able to create loyal customers that are constantly increasing.

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 References

 https://toughnickel.com/industries/Googles-Competitive-Advantage-Strategy
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google
 https://www.cioinsight.com/it-strategy/google-it-its-competitive-advantage
 https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/120314/who-are-googles-goog-main-
competitors.asp
 https://www.forbes.com/sites/halsinger/2012/09/18/who-competes-with-google-in-
search-just-amazon-apple-and-facebook/#2bd08bc41703
 https://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/analysing-the-core-competencies-of-google-
inc-business-essay.php
 https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/core-competencies-of-google-inc
 http://panmore.com/google-vision-statement-mission-statement

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