Google Environmental Analysis and Business Development Plan

I. Market Domain: Search Engine Industry
The search engine industry covers firms operating search-based internet sites and search engines displaying ads. Their services are normally offered free of cost and their income comes from ads (i.e., " paid click.& quot; when users click ad links). Search engines rely on numerous free services like news, e-mail, entertainment and social networking for attracting internet users (Clyde, 2000).
A. Historical Significance: Analyze historically significant pivot points or factors that led to dramatic changes and innovation in the business environment of your selected market domain.
The memory extension and hypertext concept was introduced in July 1945, with the publishing of As We May Think by Vannevar Bush in The Atlantic Monthly (Seymour, Frantsvog & Kumar, 2011). Bush insisted that scientists collaborate to develop a knowledge pool to aid all of humanity. This was followed by Gerard Salton (considered the founder of the modern search technology) and coworkers at Cornell and Harvard coming up with Salton’s Magic Automatic Retriever of Text (SMART), which encompassed key concepts such as Term Frequency (TF), vector space model, relevancy feedback mechanisms, Inverse Document Frequency, and term discrimination values (Seymour Frantsvog & Kumar, 2011). His work ‘A Theory of Indexing’ describes numerous tests conducted by him, which continue to form the basis of modern search engines (Seymour Frantsvog & Kumar, 2011).
Ted Nelson:
In the year 1960, Ted Nelson came up with the Project Xanadu aimed at creating a computer network using a simple user interface which resolved the issue of attribution and similar social issues. Three years later, he coined the word ‘hypertext’ (Aaron Wall, 2017). Whilst Nelson was working on broken links, complex markup code, and several other issues linked to conventional HTML (hypertext markup language) on the World Wide Web, Ted's work actually inspired the World Wide Web (Aaron Wall, 2017). However, the precise reasons for Project Xanadu’s failure remain a debated subject.
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANet):
The year 1993 witnessed the launch of the earliest few hundred websites, most of which were based in college campuses. However, long before these came into existence, the world’s foremost search engine, Archie (short for archives), was developed by McGill University student, Alan Emtage, in the year 1990 (Aaron Wall, 2017). The engine effectively resolved the data scatter issue through combining a regular expression matcher and script-based data gatherer to retrieve file names that matched user queries (Aaron Wall, 2017). Basically, it can be envisaged as a web filename database; the filenames would be matched with user queries. ARPANet ultimately resulted in the creation of the internet.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP):
Tim Burners-Lee was a household name in the industry prior to the World Wide Web, when people largely shared data through FTP (Aaron Wall, 2017). File-sharing required the establishment of an FTP server. An individual interested in data retrieval had to use FTP clients (Aaron Wall, 2017). Though the process was effective with small groups, fragmentation increased with increase in data quantities.
The foremost website - http://info.cern.ch/ - went online on 6th August, 1991 (Barrel, 2007). The site described the World Wide Web concept, guided individuals in setting up web servers, and provided browser ownership-related information (Barrel, 2007). Further, it was the earliest Web directory in the world, as Berners-Lee retained a website list (Barrel, 2007). Additionally, he developed a Virtual Library, the earliest web catalogue and authored a book ‘Weaving the Web’ on the World Wide Web’s creation. The year 1994 saw the institution of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (Levene, 2013).
Google Inc.
Google Inc. was founded by Stanford students, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, in the year 1998. Their goal was marketing Google Search, the world’s most popular internet-based search engine (Aaron Wall, 2017). The two came up with the "BackRub" search algorithm a couple of years prior to the company’s establishment (Gilbert, 2009). The Google search engine enjoyed swift success, with the growing firm moving a number of times prior to ultimately establishing headquarters at Mountain View, California, in the year 2003 (Sutherland, 2012). After this came a period of swift progress for the company; the very next year, it made its first public offering and soon became one among the biggest media corporations worldwide. It launched its Google News service in the year 2002, Gmail (email service) in the year 2004, Maps in the year 2005, the Google Chrome web browser in the year 2008, and, finally its social network, Google+ in the year 2011 (Aaron Wall, 2017). It became Alphabet Inc.’s chief subsidiary in the year 2015 (Aaron Wall, 2017).
Winning the Search War
Shortly after commencing operations, the Google founders received seed funding worth a hundred thousand dollars from Andy Bechtolsheim, followed by twenty-five million dollars from Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital (Sutherland, 2012). AOL and Yahoo! chose Google as their search partners in 1999 and 2000, respectively. The new millennium witnessed the Google Toolbar’s launch (Aaron Wall, 2017). Since then, the company’s share of the search market has increased considerably, annually.
The new millennium also witnessed the re-launch of AdWords, a cost-per-thousand-based ad-selling program (Aaron Wall, 2017). The service was retooled two years later, with ads sold through auction, taking into account click through rate and bid price (Sutherland, 2012). In May 2002 came AOL’s announcement that it would deliver search-related advertisements via Google. This aided Google considerably in its battle against rival, Overture (Aaron Wall, 2017).
AdSense, a program facilitating the company’s expansion of its ad network through selling targeted advertisements on other sites was introduced the following year (Aaron Wall, 2017).
Going Public
The company employed the following strategy when going public: a 2-class stock framework, with stock shares offered through a Netherlands-based auction. Further, it refrained from giving earnings guidance (Aaron Wall, 2017). However, it was criticized immensely for the apparent conceit it expressed within its shareholder manual (Aaron Wall, 2017). A controversial Playboy interview led to the company decreasing its initial public offering range and going public on 19th August, 2004, at 85 dollars/share (Aaron Wall, 2017).
B. Factors: Analyze the factors that contributed to the obsolescence or dissolution of notable companies in your selected market domain in the recent past. Make sure to discuss both inhibiting and enabling factors in your analysis.
Yahoo Company
During the turn of the millennium, Yahoo!’s stock peak was roughly five hundred dollars/share (i.e., only over 108 dollars/share following splitting) (Vaughan, 2016). Currently, however, the company is being purchased by Verizon for a bargain basement rate - 4.83 billion dollars (Vaughan, 2016).
What happened?
Yahoo lacked competitors at the time of its launch in the year 1994 (Vaughan, 2016) and was quick to become the most popular search guide on the internet. Excite and Alta Vista cropped up two years later, though they were hardly any challenging competitors for the company (Vaughan, 2016).
Rapid technological advancement necessitates leveraging of smart acquisitions when undertaking long-term development endeavors. Consider, for instance, Google’s purchase of Youtube, DeepMind, DoubleClick, and Boston Dynamics or Facebook’s purchase of Instagram and Oculus Rift (Desjardins, 2016). Yahoo’s managers haven’t had much success in making forecasts, have made a few erroneous deals, and have overlooked several lucrative deals (Vaughan, 2016), thereby leading to the company’s downfall.
How did Yahoo do it?
Yahoo invested in search engine technology and its web portal (Desjardins, 2016). The earliest investors of the company experienced a 1,339.4% stock growth at the start of the new millennium (Vaughan, 2016). But with the bubble’s enlargement, the company embarked on an ill-fated journey of erroneous acquisitions including Geocities and Broadcast.com, followed by the .com crash (Vaughan, 2016).
Akin to other high-fliers, the company suffered a bad fall but unlike eToys, Pets.com, and Curcat, it didn’t perish. But Google’s launch proved detrimental to Yahoo (Vaughan, 2016). Also, rather than making search engine engineering investments, the company constantly purchased bad companies and ceased to be a growth firm (Vaughan, 2016). Its sole truly successful action during the last decade was its purchase of an Alibaba stake. (Alibaba is Amazon’s Chinese version). It is an irony that during the past few years, Alibaba alone has ensured Yahoo’s survival. Nevertheless, it has witnessed a series of disappointing quarters (Vaughan, 2016).
One noteworthy low point for the company was the Chief Executive’s 2008 decision to turn down Microsoft's 44.6-billion-dollar buyout offer (Vaughan, 2016). Despite its rejection of Microsoft's buyout, Yahoo dumped its own search engine in July of 2009 for Bing (a Microsoft engine) (Vaughan, 2016). The root of Yahoo’s slow downfall is its prioritization of acquisitions rather than innovation during the dot-com era (Vaughan, 2016). Though Alibaba’s stock purchase certainly proved profitable, no other acquisition did. Its Tumblr and Flickr acquisitions also failed to work (Vaughan, 2016).
Missed Opportunities
Stanford University’s doctoral students, Sergey Brin and Larry Page contacted Yahoo in 1998 and offered to sell their search engine algorithm, PageRank (a rapid website finder), for a million dollars (Desjardins, 2016). The company rejected the offer, believing web users would be taken off of the Yahoo! Website and the site’s advertisement revenues and traffic would decrease (Desjardins, 2016). Even after Google became highly popular, Yahoo’s CEO Semel cringed at the price Sergey and Larry were demanding – now, a billion dollars (Desjardins, 2016). Though he ultimately agreed to it, it was already too late as Google had increased its rate to three billion dollars already (Desjardins, 2016).
About the same time, the company offered to purchase a young Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook for a billion dollars; Zuckerberg refused to sell and Peter Thiel, a Facebook investor, claims this was the company’s key turning point (Desjardins, 2016). According to certain sources, were Yahoo’s heads to quote 1.1 billion dollars, Zuckerberg would have been forced to accept the offer (Ring, 2017). This is not its sole missed opportunity. One mustn’t forget that Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s 2008 takeover offer of 44.6 billion dollars which valued Yahoo for a much bigger rate than its current worth (Desjardins, 2016).
Lesson Learned
According to Warwick Business School’s Strategy and International Business professor, John Colley, seldom do weak alliances aiming at making a single sound competitor prove successful (Vaughan, 2016). Rather, the end result is normally a larger 'weak' player. A firm not enjoying first or second place will suffer if it lacks a robust niche. Yahoo has faced a great struggle with respect to gaining purchase, with recent results proving especially unsatisfactory (Carlson, 2015).
Impact of Factors: Assess the impact of the factors you analyzed on opportunities for change and innovation in the business environment of your selected market domain.
For fresh entrants into the search engine business, the most lucrative opportunities may be found in focusing exclusively on novel search technology apps or the development of novel technologies capable of enhancing current functionality (IBIS World, 2018). Startups that demonstrate the worth or feasibility of their intellectual property or product become cash-rich search engine companies’ leading acquisition targets (IBIS World, 2018). Technologies capable of improving advertising efficacy or opening up novel search verticals prove especially attractive. Consider, for instance, Google’s July 2010 acquisition contract with software company ITA, headquartered in Boston and specializing in the area of airline data, price and ?ight timing organization (IBIS World, 2018). This acquisition accorded the company intellectual property access facilitating novel search options and ?ight comparisons directly from the Google search engine (IBIS World, 2018).
Marketing techniques need to evolve with search engines’ evolution. Current examples include personalized search, smart mashups, and visual search sites (Odden, 2007). What can advertisers and search marketers expect in the future as they face the challenge of matching the improvement speeds established by search engines themselves?
· Mobile search
· Social search – which could reveal an entirely new search result set
· Improved grasp of user intent – An example of such a service is Yahoo Mindset, which incorporates a shopping mode or research mode slider, and based on slider position, skews its search results (Odden, 2007).
Google Inc.’s management practice is perhaps its biggest innovation (Nussbaum, 2011). A critical ten years of growth saw the company headed by a management team which accorded it enormous management and strategic strength. Innovation management is perhaps its most salient, though ignored, lesson to the world (Nussbaum, 2011). After all, the company has pioneered B-I Leadership–Bi-Generation, Gen-X, Gen-Y and Boomer management.
To retain its market position, Google should continue to stand firm in its managerial practice, besides seeking means of increasing its search engine’s user-friendliness. Historically, the company has demonstrated resilience via effective management decision-making even whilst deciding on acquisitions. One must bear in mind that Yahoo, Nokia and Motorola collapsed due to ineffective management practices. Thus, one can safely state that Google’s failure or success will be largely dependent on its capability of sustaining sound management decision-making.
II. Competitive Readiness: In this section, you will select a company within your market domain and then evaluate internal and external factors pertaining to the company’s competitive readiness. Specifically, you should include the following:
1. Internal Factors

1. SWOT Analysis: Complete a SWOT analysis on the internal factors that affect the company’s readiness to compete. What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by the company relative to the competitive market?
Google Inc. SWOT Analysis
Strengths
1. Global dominance of the search engine
Google holds a considerable share of the search engine market in spite of rivals’ efforts. Constant upgrades of its search engine technology left rivals with no chance, and left them behind in the popularity domain (Google SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
· Android’s success constitutes a mobile market growth driver
Google’s Android acquisition resulted in their break in the mobile OS (operating system) field. Of late, a massive growth has been witnessed in cellphone utilization that has offered Android a superb platform. Android exploited this opportunity, seizing the mobile segment and outdoing competitors like Apple, BlackBerry, and Microsoft to rule over the mobile OS area. With more than a billion Android active users and its 83% market share, Google’s supremacy is indisputable (Google SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
Android, the foremost Open Handset Alliance operating system, runs on several flagship cellphones from Samsung, HTC and other leading cellphone manufacturers to economically-priced ones. Android is accessible to the privileged as well as underprivileged, according it an edge over Apple and similar high-end companies whose operating system runs only on Apple phones which are costly and unaffordable by low-income buyers (Google SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
Weaknesses
· Significant reliance on advertising
Advertisements make up roughly ninety percent of Google’s annual profit. Corporations’ ad expenses rely on numerous factors including the economic situation, corporate budget and buying patterns. Any economy-impacting element may adversely influence ad demands, successively influencing the company’s revenue generation (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
· Google+’s limited success
Despite the company’s position as world leader in the search engine market, its social networks haven’t enjoyed success. Google stepped foot into the social networking domain in the year 2003, but has been trounced by Facebook and other big players. Google+, its latest attempt, was launched in the year 2011 (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
Opportunities
· Emphasis of core operations on exhaustive structural reorganization
In 2015, Alphabet became Google’s fundamental improvement approach. For focusing Google’s core activities, the company decided to become an Alphabet subsidiary like Calico, Life Sciences, etc. (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
· Positive smartphone and tablet market outlook
Tablets and smartphones are anticipated to enjoy increased demand in the near future (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.). Estimates reveal that smartphone shipments for this year will go up to around 1.7 billion.
Threats
· In-app search risks
Of late, the focus of internet users has been moving to specific search apps which will prove threatening to the general internet search platform of the company. Google’s traffic may reduce, with potential advertisers likely to opt for the more popular new sites (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
· Administrative proceedings may affect the company’s brand image
The company has been accused of abusing power; one of the many accusations against Google has come from the EC (European Commission), which claims Google lowers outstanding competitive outcome ranking (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
· Fierce competition
The company has to be constantly vigilant to keep pace with the fierce market competition in all areas including advertising, search engines and social networking. Its market demands continuous introduction of novel products and services (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.).

2. Prioritized List: Based on the SWOT analysis, create a prioritized list of strengths to exploit and weaknesses to mitigate. Each item in your list should have supporting rationale.
Strengths to exploit
1. Global dominance of the search engine
Google Search dominates the global search engine market; its mobile market share is 95.37 percent, while that in the desktop market is 80.49 percent. This dominance is particularly pronounced in the European market, where Google enjoys over 90 percent of the mobile and desktop market shares.
2. Android’s success constitutes a mobile market growth driver
Google’s key assets are: Google Search which processes almost 70 percent of queries worldwide, and Android, which is the operating system 80 percent of smartphone users across the globe have. Thus, unsurprisingly, the company is the biggest global internet advertising firm based on annual returns.
The projected smartphone market growth may be taken advantage of. The company can work to increase its mobile apps’ user-friendliness with the aim of drawing more users to its offerings.
Weaknesses to mitigate
1. Internet Dependence
Google expands online advertising and other operations within developing economies only after internet coverage improves in these economies. Further, it is a largely internet-based business, and lacks the substantial physical presence enjoyed by Apple and other firms.
As advertising accounts for more than 90 percent of Google’s income, the company is susceptible to ad demand fluctuation. Its most important figures include ads’ CPC (cost-per-click), which is a measure of the price advertisers are ready to pay to enjoy traffic (Sun, 2015). During 2014’s first quarter, the company experienced a seven percent annual CPC drop, which became three percent during the last quarter.
1. Small physical presence
Physical presence proves crucial to companies. Google ought to concentrate on product diversification and venture into non-web-dependent fields like its recent launch, the self-driving automobile, and Android which is another service not reliant on the web and having a majority of smartphone manufacturers favoring it. In fact, it needs to actually start physical stores across the globe like the Apple stores, to enhance customer interactions and bolster user confidence.
3. Readiness: Based on internal factors, evaluate the company’s readiness to compete in the business environment of the market domain. Support your evaluation with information from your market domain evaluation and SWOT analysis.
Google leads the global search engine market by holding a 65% overall market share (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.1). For sustaining its competitive edge, it has created an infrastructure guaranteeing an efficient, swift search engine, besides venturing into other areas (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.1). Though its expenditure is high (several billion dollars go to maintenance and development), its competitive approach erects a forbidding wall for Bing, Yahoo and other search engines (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.1).
Advanced infrastructure development costs constitute an investment which guarantees the company’s query conducting expenses decrease continuously (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.1). Its greatest asset is its speed which draws users constantly. Search results might vary; however, its remarkable speed allows users to search other key phrases through minimal sacrifice, thereby decreasing their likelihood to move over to a rival search engine (Google Inc. SWOT Analysis, n.d.1).
In addition to providing speedy search, Google has developed a number of interesting and useful services and tools like Google Earth, Google News, Google toolbar, and Google Maps. The toolbar, in particular, helps users search the web without having to navigate away from their homepages (Sun, 2015). Moreover, it simplifies the navigation process through recounting users’ most-searched webpages (Gilbert, 2009).
Further, the company has ventured into the smartphone market with Android that delivers Google features and services as mobile apps (Google SWOT Analysis, n.d.). Such approaches help the company increase reach and develop a competitive edge. Hence, the company’s competitive edge lies in its remarkably speedy search and relevant tools for supporting it. Bing, Yahoo and other competitors would need to invest heavily in infrastructure development for matching Google’s comprehensiveness and speed.
A. External Factors

1. PEST Analysis: Complete a PEST analysis on the external factors that affect the company’s readiness to compete. What are the political, economic, social, and technological factors that affect the company?
· Political Factors
External political factors impacting the company include governmental activities and other factors such as:
1. Globalization (opportunity)
1. State-sponsored web-based firms (threat)
1. Political stability in a majority of key markets (opportunity)
Google’s external political factors are largely opportunities to capitalize on (Pratap, 2017). For instance, globalization enhances online advertising demands while political stability minimizes barriers to entry. But state-sponsored web-based firms threaten the company (e.g., China, whose government controls large corporations) (Rowland, 2017).
· Economic Factors
Organizations are also influenced by changes in economic conditions as these may alter the company’s market opportunities (Pratap, 2017). For Google, the economic factors listed below are most significant:
1. Developing nations’ swift growth (opportunity)
1. Economic stability in a majority of key markets (opportunity)
Both the above factors pose opportunities for the company as they create fresh momentum for the company to capitalize on. Google may make the most of the above opportunities to expand into more international markets (Rowland, 2017).
· Social/Sociocultural Factors
These factors impact customer response to the company’s products. For Google, the economic factors listed below are most significant (Pratap, 2017):
1. Increased social networking website usage (threat)
1. Increasing user diversity (opportunity)
Increased social networking website usage threatens Google, as it strengthens Facebook and other social media firms that also provide online ad services. Growth in user diversity constitutes an opportunity to capitalize on; the company can improve services and match individual user preferences (Rowland, 2017).
· Technological Factors
As Google’s offerings are technology-based, external technological factors significantly influence the company (Pratap, 2017). For Google, the economic factors listed below are most significant:
1. Swift mobile device adoption within the international market (opportunity)
1. Increased web accessibility within developing nations (opportunity)
Both the above factors pose significant opportunities for Google. Its advertising revenues may improve with increased web accessibility within developing nations. Further, the company can improve its web-based offerings’ mobile-friendliness to take advantage of the smartphone trend (Rowland, 2017).


2. Prioritized List: Based on the PEST analysis, create a prioritized list of strengths to exploit and weaknesses to mitigate. Each item in your list should have supporting rationale.
Strengths to Exploit
1. Globalization (opportunity)
Globalization increases connections between individuals and Google represents a popular tool individuals and companies use to interact with others.
2. Political stability in a majority of key markets (opportunity)
Political stability improves individual and organizational empowerment. In this way, individuals will readily increase investments in the web-based resources Google is known to offer.
3. Economic stability in a majority of key markets (opportunity)
There is a close link between economic and political stability. Corporations will perform better within a stable economy. Google has made major infrastructure investments in both developing and industrialized markets. Further, stability helps the company leverage increased returns.
4. Developing nations’ swift growth (opportunity)
Countries are growing exponentially, which increases their import-export capacity. As e-commerce and online shopping are generally reliant on Google’s search engine and platforms, increased internet traffic will increase the company’s revenues.
5. Increasing user diversity (opportunity)
User diversity enables the company to gather more information. This growth in information resources attracts users. This implies increased extent of interactions with the Google platform.
6. Increased web accessibility within developing nations (opportunity)
Emergent economies are making huge internet infrastructure investments to steer the growth of their economies. This accords Google wider organizational and regional coverage.
7. Swift mobile device adoption within the international market (opportunity)
The smartphone market has skyrocketed, and as Google’s Android dominates mobile platforms, the company can take advantage of its ever-increasing market.
The aforementioned opportunities may be enhanced further through improved user interactions with the company’s web platforms. The aim should be increasing user confidence and, ultimately, making Google a dominant force unmatchable by other search engine firms.
Weaknesses to mitigate
1. State-sponsored web-based firms (threat)
China, North Korea and other such restrictive economies carefully control their users’ internet platforms. The company may devise tailored products to comply with these nations’ demands, thereby improving market penetration within these markets.
1. Increased social networking website usage (threat)
Social networks draw more users away from search engines potentially threatening their revenues. For minimizing its impact, Google may refurbish its own social networking site, Google+, in order to enhance its user-friendliness, or acquire an established social platform.
3. Readiness: Based on external factors, evaluate the company’s readiness to compete in the business environment of the market domain. Support your evaluation with information from your market domain evaluation and PEST analysis.
Google’s PEST and SWOT analyses clearly reveal that the firm has superior financial and infrastructural capabilities. The company is widely known and accepted by individuals hailing from various backgrounds. The company derives competitive advantage from its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, alliances with governmental agencies aimed at improving peoples’ livelihood, and environmental conservation drives (Miceli, 2015). Further, the company has enjoyed considerable airtime from global media houses, according it passive media presence. Thus, the company need not make any major investments in advertising like other search engines.
III. Opportunities and Trends: In this section, you will assess intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial opportunities in the company you selected. You will then evaluate trends in the global business environment for their impact on the opportunities you identified. Specifically, you should include the following:
A. Intrapreneurial Opportunities: Develop a list of intrapreneurial opportunities within your selected company. Each opportunity in your list should have supporting rationale based on your market domain evaluation and SWOT analysis.
· Google Innovation Time Off (ITO) intrapreneurship program
Google ITO intrapreneurship initiative is a unique, innovative and successful bottom-up initiative, without any bottle necks or bureaucracy. A staff member with a new technical idea need not report it to a superior but can simply present it before peers. The initiative enables rapid dissemination of innovative ideas, promotes constructive input and promotes collaboration. Google’s distinctive product development technique also serves to minimize marketing, technical, and product positioning errors.
Google’s ITO intrapreneurship initiative has an established formal process to monitor individual approved intrapreneurial ventures. Google intrapreneurs are required to prepare and present their project proposal that includes a timeline for articulating their project idea and the method they will adopt for gauging project success. It is a highly interesting and important fact that numerous recent Google offerings like Google News, Gmail, AdSense and Orkut sprang from the company’s ITO intrapreneurship initiative.
· PC Operating systems
Ubuntu and Microsoft are the present operating system market leaders. Akin to its successful smartphone operating system, Android, Google could develop one for PCs by leveraging on its available resources and support.
· Smartphone market
Smartphone makers are, at present, taking giant leaps. As the company already enjoys a clear advantage here – its Android patent, Google can even start manufacturing its own smartphones. This non-web-dependent niche can facilitate the company’s diversification.
B. Intrapreneurial Assessment: Select one intrapreneurial opportunity from your list to assess. How viable is the opportunity? Your response should be supported with evidence from your market domain evaluation and SWOT analysis.
· PC Operating systems
Ubuntu, Microsoft and Apple are the present leaders of the operating system market. Akin to its successful smartphone operating system, Android, Google could develop one for PCs as this market is yet to be fully exploited. Operating systems will improve with increased market competition. Google can capitalize on this opportunity and enjoy great success owing to its popularity, and infrastructural and financial capacity.
C. Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Develop a list of entrepreneurial opportunities outside the confines of the company you selected. Each opportunity in your list should have supporting rationale based on your market domain evaluation and PEST analysis.
· Development of Google Apps
Google’s Play Store features numerous apps from fields as diverse as health, lifestyle, games, and services. App developers may develop and sell their apps to Google, provided they meet established standards.
· Advertising
Entrepreneurs may make the most of global advertising opportunities via Google. This serves to increase their international business presence and develop a sturdier market base.
· Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEOs are a novel means of capitalizing on Google Search through making the platform achieve a more prominent search results spot. The appearance of an e-commerce site in the initial search results will likely enhance visitor viewership, presence, and customer base.
D. Entrepreneurial Assessment: Select one entrepreneurial opportunity from your list to assess. How viable is the opportunity? Your response should be supported with evidence from your market domain evaluation and PEST analysis.
Advertisement: The Company enjoys international presence on account of the increased global internet connectivity levels. More individuals are now smartphone owners. Business enterprise advertising will probably boost Google’s market presence and customer base. Ultimately, this opportunity will facilitate revenue growth.
E. Trends: Evaluate key trends affecting the global business environment of your selected market domain. These could be geographic, political, or societal trends or they could be trends specific to your market domain.
· Societal changes: The Company’s bottom-line has been seriously impacted by the social media trend and the increasing popularity of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
· Mobile Applications: Unlike PC consumers, smartphone users have been increasingly utilizing apps for purchasing clothes and gifts, finding hotels, and so forth on the internet. This has the potential to significantly impact Google’s mobile market penetration capability.
· Slackening Growth: Google will probably continue experiencing the phenomenon of slackening growth. It will need to make major service/product investments to survive. Its sustainability will necessitate superior management capabilities and careful market anticipation.
F. Impact on Opportunities: Determine how these trends will impact the development of your selected intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Google will certainly face fiercer competition Social platforms covet a share of the company’s revenues; already, Twitter and Facebook have stolen a substantial share of Google’s ad revenue.
Mobile apps’ growth might diminish Google Search’s traffic, thereby decreasing its ad revenue. Imminent pressure from mobile application developers and social media sites will probably force the company to resort to other investment platforms.
G. Impact on Sustainability: Determine how these trends will affect the sustainability of your selected company. Which trends could be used to improve sustainable business operations?
Product diversification and CSR are Google’s best options. The company ought to make the most of social trends, adopting an aggressive strategy when competing with social media firms. The acquisition of an attractive social networking platform for itself, search engine user-interface reinvention, development of a sound social media platform, and investing more on infrastructure can aid the company in sustaining its competitive edge. Management practices continue to be Google’s most salient asset against rivals (Nussbaum, 2011). Effective managerial decision-making on investments, strategy and innovation can transform a diminishing enterprise into a growth enterprise. Google has several examples to learn from, including Yahoo, Nokia and Motorola.


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