Description and analysis of Google Company

Introduction

Google Company is one of the most famous online companies, besides Yahoo and many others like Microsoft. The company has a mission to provide relevant information services to its various customers all over the world. The Google Company has been able to achieve continuous growth potential in the search engine industry, the growth which is derived from the variety of products and services, which it is offering to its customers. The company derives its revenue mainly from the advertising, search activities among other activities. On the other hand the company provides other products and services for free, like Google maps and mobile phone services to its customers. This research paper focuses on the description and analysis of Google Company, while considering its various activities in the supply chain, and the significance of those activities to the performance of the company. In relation to the supply chain management, the products and services, which Google Company provides in the market, are highlighted in order to establish the basis of analysis of the research paper.

Google Company

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Google Company is an American business entity, which is involved in the business activities that encompass online research. Its headquarters are in California in the United States of America. Google Company has managed to maintain a website which as compared to the rest of the online companies is the most visited, by most of the consumers all over the world. In its business operations, the company has managed to establish more than nine million web pages on the World Wide Web. These web pages  according to various researches on the online companies has demonstrated that, Google is one of the most used and famous search engines, that online consumers use on the World Wide Web in this business environment today. For any person who has internet connection in his or her access, the person is able to use the website to find for information, which he or she needs to meet his or her expectations. Considering the various services and products that Google Company offers to its various customers, the company has turned out to be one of the most recognized online search companies and its most unique brand is recognized. The company has managed to offer its online search services to its wide range of customers, allover the world by use of not less than100 languages (PR Newswire 2007).

Google Company acquires its revenues and other returns from the sale of various products and services to its users, which include advertising services that consists of a collection of advertisers who use the search engine to advertise their products and services. In addition to that, the company receives revenue from web hosting activities on behave of the other companies. The company also generates its revenues from the use of the search appliance, which is a set of hardware and software materials that offer viable solutions to the companies that use search engine to carry out their Google search technology, while taking into consideration the various kinds of information both internal and external at their disposal (Nicholas 2008).

 Such search activities that Google Company has managed to offer to its consumers include, blogging, shopping as well as mapping and many other activities like research. So as to be able to carry out its various business activities in the business environment in an effective and efficient manner, Google Company has managed to establish a number of sales offices in various countries allover the world, so as to meet the changing needs and expectations of their customers. The company also maintains direct sales teams, which are in charge of establishing links with advertisers that carry out high volumes of advertising activities so as to create expand on its business activities (Manyika 2008).

Read also SWOT Analysis of Google

Products and services

As described in (Nicholas 2008) the various products and services, which are being offered by Google Company, include mostly free software and other for profit products and services. The software products of Google Company form a foundation for most of the services, which the company provides to its customers. One of the products that are being offered by Google Company is advertising, that forms the largest component for the revenues, which the company receives in its business activities. The advertising services are comprised of AdWords as well as AdSense, whereby the AdWords are used to display advertisements, which are considered to be relevant to the given web page. The company derives revenues from such services from the payments, which various companies make to display AdWords on the Google site. Considering the AdSense component, the company pays various publishers to protect AdSense from being injected into their various sites (PR Newswire 2007).

Google also provides its customers hardware products, which comprises of Google mini as well as Google search appliance. The Google mini is a product that the company offers for companies, which have small scale operations in the business environment. As for the Google search appliance, it is a product that is set to serve companies that range from medium to large scale companies. The company derives revenue fro this hardware products by renting them out to the various companies, which will use them to carry out search services for the companies’ production activities in the business environment (PR Newswire 2007).

Besides the advertisement services, the Google company offers its customers a number of free products and services that include Gmail, Google maps, Youtube, and Google finance among many others like Google to mobile phones and Google analytics. In its pursuit to stay at pace with the changes in technology in the general business environment, the company has been carrying out a number of innovations that seek to develop program plans to meet the needs and wants of customers. One such advance has involved the use of the Google labs to come up with Google gears, which enables the users to have an offline access to a wide range of online files and pages (Nicholas 2008).

Supply chain management

As discussed in (Cohen and Roussel 2004, p2-50) supply chain management encompasses the various activities, that business organizations carry out in the provision of their products and services. These activities ensure that the organization delivers value to its customers, and in return enable the company to achieve its main goals and objectives, that regard to profitability and expansion. The major components of any supply chain management of an organization include the network structures, which exist within and outside the organization. As well as the various management components, that seeks to support the collaboration activities, between the organization and other parties in the business environment. In addition to that, the third component in the supply chain management is the business processes, which are involved in production of various goods and services of the organization, and they cover on the issues that relate to the flow of information within the organization. The main business activities in that are considered in any business organization in supply chain management include, processing customer orders, distribution as well as product development among many other activities (Cavinato 2002, p60-66).

Google Company has been able to encompass an informal kind of corporate culture, which has enabled the various individuals who work for this organization to carry out the various activities of the company when they are relaxed. Besides that, the company has managed to compensate its employees accordingly in their production activities, a move that motivates them to actively carry out the activities of the organization, that are directed towards the achievement of the goals and objectives of the company (PR Newswire 2007).

As part of its strategic plans, Google Company has managed to maintain a set of network of activities, which are interrelated in the provision of its various goods and services to the costumers of the company. Some of the activities that the company has been carrying out to enhance the provision of value based services to its customers include, the company hiring qualified personnel, who have enabled the company to provide quality products and services to the customers. The information flow in the provision of its services and products has been in a free flow manner, which has enabled the organization to exploit the knowledge resources in their business operations. The employees of the company have been empowered to an extent whereby they are able to carry out special projects on their own, in that way they are able to come up with innovative products and services that meet the policies that are core to the innovation efforts of the company (Nicholas 2008).

Significance of SCM to Google

The supply chain management has enabled Google Company to create a strong competitive position in the market place. This has been enhanced in cases whereby, the company has been able to compete with companies like Microsoft as well as Yahoo in the provision of a high number of search activities to its users, the advertising products and also the use of the website to expand its market share in networking. By Google Company being able to focus on its core competencies in adapting very fast to the changes in the market place, it has managed to secure itself a strong competitive position (Nicholas 2008).

On the other hand, supply chain management has enabled Google Company to create value to its customers in the business environment. This has been achieved in the provision of its products and services in advertising services and search services as well as applications. The company carries out regular evaluation programs of its supply chain activities, that enables it to come up with ways in which it will cut the unnecessary costs, thus emphasize on the activities that create value to its customers for example through use of customized search services (Angles 2005, p51-65).

Features of the company’s operations

One of the most important features that Google company has managed to display in the performance of its business activities that is in relation to the supply chain management is that, the company has managed to carry out numerous innovation activities that seek to meet the needs and wants of customers in the market place. The employees working for Google are empowered in their various job positions to an extent that, an individual is able to come up with new ideas and try to carry it out in the performance activities of the company (Larry et al 2008). The company has formed its employees into various groups, which encourage individuals to share various business ideas. In addition to that, the company acquires small companies that show high potential in meeting the innovation goals of the organization. Those groups on the other hand, that do not meet the required standards are eliminated or at some point assigned different tasks, which they can be able to carry out (Manyika 2008).

Google Company handles most of the emergency situations with immediate effect by avoiding postponement of problem situations. In doing so, the management of the company has been able to keep on track with the various emerging situations that call for attention. The customers of Google have been able to find thus search engine a one and most reliable search company, which is able to guarantee quality for their money and also satisfaction of their needs and wants. In supply chain management, an organization needs to create value for its goods and services, which could guarantee the creation of value to the customers that will ensure profitability and expansion of the business entity (Nicholas 2008).

The management of Google Company is goal oriented, in that the management of the organization imposes deadlines for the various activities, that ensures that the employees of the organization seek to carry out the required activities of the organization. This will influence the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization. Besides the deadlines, the management of the organization encourages an open system of communication, which seeks to improve on the business ideas that the company needs in the provision of its goods and services. In such a way integration of ideas is enhanced as in most cases the great and viable ideas do not only come from the top management, but from all levels of management in the organization (Manyika 2008).

Google Company has built collaborations with other companies as part of its supply chain management strategies, which has enabled the company to avoid any form of divisional structures within its operations(Fusaro 2004, p33-38). The divisional structures are likely to lead the company towards a direction, which will do a way with the informal ties, which are essential in the in enhancing collaborations within the business environment. The collaborations ensures that individuals that are working for Google company carry out their different tasks in an independent way, that will lead to innovations of new products and services (Manyika 2008).

Challenges the company faces

Google company faces challenges as to the size of the distribution network, that it needs to establish so as to ensure that the company meets the needs and expectations of customers. Some of the critical points of interest, that the organization is faced with in establishing its distribution channels that could give it a better competitive position is the network missions of various suppliers and also the distribution centers in various locations, while considering the various environmental conditions that influence the activities of the organization (Nicholas 2008). With the business environment undergoing through a several changes, these changes present different forms of opportunities in the environment that needs to be exploited as well as threats that the company needs to deal with so as to achieve growth of the business in the market place (Manyika 2008).

One of the greatest challenges that Google Company is faced with is, the exploitation of the intellectual resources in terms of knowledge. The knowledge resources have the potential to influence the operations of the company in establishing a competitive position at the market place. When the knowledge resources are encompassed in the production activities of the company, the company will be at a good position of establishing clear distribution channels for its products and services. Thus meet the needs and expectations of the customers, that are essential in the sustaining customer loyalty (Kim and Colantone 2006, p40-54).

On the other hand, the company is likely to face threats that arise from concentrated competition at the market place. Whereby the upcoming companies are establishing strong brand position in the search engine industry. In order for Google to deal with this threat, it needs to establish a strong competitive position, which will take into consideration the globalization issues in the provision of its products and services (Manyika 2008).

The other threat that the company faces is the application of the copyright laws, that are regulate on the contents that are supposed to be within a given piece of material sources over the internet. There are huge penalties, which are imposed for lack of compliance to the laws. The possible solution to this problem involves Google regulating its contents of information by using the rules, which apply to each country. Given that each country has a different set of rules, that regard to the content of the information to be contained in the search engine, the company faces a challenge in trying to understand the different rules and regulations and making the necessary changes which demands the total commitment of the resources of the organization which is not easy to achieve. Given that the given legal requirements have become complicated, the company just like other multinational corporations needs to have a strong legal consultancy on various legal issues so as to ensure compliance to those laws (Nicholas 2008).

The company is also experiencing the negative effects of the changes in the economic cycles, which have led to the company laying-off a majority of its workers. This is likely to have an effect on the general performance of the company in the business environment. In addition to that, the company has also experienced cut offs in the compensation packages for its employees which is also likely to affect the morale of the employees of the company in carrying out the business activities of the company (Vascellaro, 2009). Finally there are emerging competition forces, which are likely to take a majority of the market share of Google. Such competition has been experienced in the production of TV online services and other ad-selling platforms, that seek to threaten the existence of Google services like You tube and Google TV (Vascellaro, 2009).

Conclusion

Google Company has managed to maintain its competitive advantage in the market as an innovative company, which has undergone through various stages in its development. The company has managed to utilize on its supply chain management activities, to create value for its customers by providing a range of relevant search results, and also offering friendly approaches to the various search activities. This has enabled the company to achieve a tremendous growth potential in market share. In order to sustain its competitive position in the market place, Google Company has continued to carry out numerous products and services that meet the needs and expectations of customers in the business environment. In addition to that, the company has tried to carry out collaboration activities with other small firms, which have helped it to build a strong customer base.

Google Company receives a large percentage of its revenues in the market place through the advertisement services, which comprises of a set of unique online display services, which gives relevant contents to the specific web pages. Besides basing its business activities on the revenue, the company also offers free services like electronic mail services, mobile phone services and web maps among others. These services are centered at attracting the various users of the search engine, as this is the foundation of creating advertising revenue. The future operations of Google company like for any other business entity is faced with a number of challenges in the business environment that involves the numerous changes in the technology, which demands that the company carries out effective strategic planning programs. Strategic planning will enable the company to take into consideration changes in its operations in the business environment, which will enable it to face the dynamic business environment.

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References

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Cavinato J. What’s your supply chain type? Supply chain management review, 2002. P60-66.

Cohen S, Roussel J, 2004. Strategic supply chain management: the five disciplines for top performance. McGraw-Hill professional publishers.

Fusaro R. None of our business? Harvard business review. 2004, vol 82(12), p33-38.

Kim D, Calantone R. Information system innovations and supply chain management: channel relationship and firm performance. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 2006, vol. 34(1), p40-54.

Larry G, Robert H, Sacha J, Yoon T, Susan, B. A decade of SCM literature: past, present and future implications. Journal of supply chain management. 2008.

Manyika J. Google’s overview on the future of business. How the internet will change the nature of competition, innovation and company operations. Business technology office. September 2008.

Nicholas V. Google(TM) great staff practices= strategic decision making. Accountancy SA. February 1, 2008.

Sabbaghi A. effectiveness and efficiency of RFID technology in supply chain management: strategic values and challenges. Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research. 2008, vol 3(2), p71-81.

Vascellaro J. Google aims to connect Ads for TV, YouTube: the internet giant also plans to pare200 sales and marketing jobs after years of rapid hiring. The Wall Street journal, P, B7, march 27th, 2009.

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Frost & Sullivan Australia kicks off its 2007 research program. PR Newswire. 7th march, 2007.

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