Enhancing Market Competitiveness: A Google Case Study Essay.

In this competitive business environment, every business entity irrespective of its size has been struggling hard to keep its market competitiveness and growth. Thus, the adjacent section aims to provide a brief evaluation of the way an organisation stabilises its market position and enhances its competitiveness across domestic and international markets. This study is going to consider global renowned company Google to analyse the way the company has been enhancing its market growth and flourishing its business competitiveness across the global market.

1. Organisational History

The history of Google, an American-based global renowned organisation was initiated during the year 1995 by the partnership of Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Initially, they built a specific Search Engine that utilised link for determining the significance of the individual pages over the World Wide Web (WWW). At first, the developed Search Engine was named as Backrub, and then it was renamed to Google (Phew). The name was found to play on mathematical expression for “number 1 followed by 100 zeros” and competently reflects the mission of Larry and Sergey “ to categorise the information of the world as well as make it useful and accessible universally” (Google, 2022). In August of 1998, Andy Bechtolsheim, the co-founder of Sun wrote a check for $100,000, to Sergey and Larry, and officially, Google Inc was formed.

Initially, the primary operations of Google were to create algorithms that help people to sort quickly by the growing volume of the content put online. On the other hand, by utilisation of the “scoring approach” the company has been able to offer data accuracy as compared to the other existing or available search engines (Beattie, 2020). From simple search engines to go-to search engines, Adwords, Google Maps, and others, Google has transformed its business model and operational activities according to the change in market trends.

The company is found to provide a wide range of products and services such as Google Chrome, Google Search Engine, Gmail, Android, Adsense, Google Maps, and others. Despite these products and services, Google is always focused on introducing attractive and new products (Quiles, 2020). The company is found to be working on the projects such as Loon Project, Google Fiber, and there in order to become powerful service hubs across the globe.  

1. a) Inter-Organisational linkage Mechanisms

Google is found to acquire about 222 companies along with 29 companies over the last few years. In addition to this, 13 acquisitions are found to be established with private equity organisations to manage their resources strategically. For example, a news report published in 2020 highlights, Google has made an acquisition with Fitbit, a wearable brand. In 2005, Google made an acquisition with Android OS for an amount of $50 million followed by acquisition with YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, DoubleClick in 2007 for $3.1 billion, ITA in 2011 for $700 million, and others (Gadgets Now, 2020). Along with this, Google has also made a strategic alliance with AES for accelerating its adoption to clean energy. This strategic alliance is found to be a long-term contract that will help Google to become an efficient service provider for energy solutions (Randolph, 2019). 

A. Description of the Organisation

Figure 1: Acquisition of Google

(Source: Saurel, 2019)

Resource dependence theory reflects on the specific principle that a business needs to engage in transactions with other organisations and actors within its respective environment for acquiring resources. This theoretical concept helps to determine organisational market competitors, their dependency on specific resources or companies, and the diverseness of the existing business practices accurately (Zhang et al., 2019) (Refer to appendix 1). In the context of Google, it can be mentioned that by managing its interdependencies through merger, acquisition, and strategic alliance, they are able to thrive in their growth and accelerate their business success. This type of interdependence also allows Google to accomplish its business goals and increase its efficiency to lead the global market.

Considering the linkage mechanism of Google, it can be mentioned that the company has selected appropriate and effective mechanisms that positively drive business success and market competitiveness. On the other hand, the identified mechanism also serves as beneficial for the aforementioned company to expand their business network and strengthen their operations across the global market by introducing diversified products and services.

It is seen that Google has developed a new corporate structure in order to form new parent organisations “Alphabet”. Alphabet is found to be a massive corporation that is being associated with different business aspects starting from internet-streaming hot air balloons, to Google Cloud, to Self-Driving cars respectively (Hartmans, 2019). Major divisions under the umbrella of Alphabet include Other Bets, Google Cloud, and Google Services. Other Bets segments are further included sales of television and internet services, research, licensing, and development services respectively. On the other hand, Google Services includes hardware, Androids, Search, Google Plays, and others. Along with this, Google Cloud includes services such as Google Workspace and Google Cloud Platform respectively. This wide major division helps the aforementioned company to accomplish its organisational goals and improve market competitiveness. 

Figure 2: Major Divisions of Google

(Source: Reuters, 2022)

Decentralisation can be considered as one of the most admirable and effective traits of Google that helps them to work and accomplish their business goals independently. For example, different product groups from mobile Android to online search help the company to strengthen its overall organisational performance (Google, 2022). It is identified that authority decentralisation at Google is found to be high, as employees are obtained freedom or opportunity to present their thoughts, ideas and make their respective decisions that develop suitable workplace culture. In addition to this, the company supports employees to track their respective progress and support employees towards their specific standards.

Google is found to be highly differentiated and the company has been utilising integrated mechanisms that are strategically aligned between internal and external influences. Both the differentiation and integration mechanisms strategy utilised by Google helps them to accomplish their strategic business goals and flourish their overall business profitability margin. For example, the company introduces modernised and diverse products and services that meet the demands and expectations of every individual across the globe.

Formalisation and standardisation of an organisation are considered as the extent to which an organisation's procedure, policies, rules, and job descriptions are being written and articulated explicitly. In the context of Google, it is identified that the company is found to comply with all the appropriate laws such as money laundering, human trafficking laws, export control, and sanctions. The company was also found to have intellectual property and privacy rights that help them to keep their business efficient and stabilise in the global market.

Google Corporation can be considered as one of the efficient examples of organic business structure. The key reason behind this statement is that employees at Google are found to be motivated and encouraged to utilise creative and innovative thinking skills that accelerate towards introducing new products (FAQ, 2022). Along with this, organic structure helps the company to maintain an effective flow of operations and maintain performance consistency across the domestic and global markets.

Considering the following figure, it can be mentioned that Google is found to employ 156,500 full-time employees during the fiscal year 2021 (Johnson, 2022).

Figure 3: Number of people Google Employed

(Source: Johnson, 2022)

Following a flat organisational structure, Google is found to have three levels of hierarchy such as Administrator Google Company Level, Executive Google Company Level, and Operational Google Company Level respectively (Hierarchy Structure, 2022).

Figure 4: Level of hierarchy at Google

(Source: Hierarchy Structure, 2022)

On the other hand, Google is found to have a “wide span of control” where a single supervisor is found to oversee about 10 subordinates, as employees at Google require minimal supervision. The mentioned span of control by the CEO at Google is effective as it helps them to improve their overall business efficiency and growth.

The primary mission of Google is to organise the world's information and make it accessible and useful universally. The company is found to show its concern towards creating helpful and efficient Google for every individual.  It is identified that the company follows a diversity strategy approach to accomplish its goals. The annual report highlights existing diversity strategy, direct engagements with the leadership, and interaction with communities that supports Google to thrive in their business success. “Next billion user’s strategy” also serves as beneficial for the aforementioned company to enhance their growth. In addition to this, it is identified that the company incorporated a competitive differentiation strategy by introducing diversified product ranges that influence positively business growth (Google, 2022). However, the mentioned organisations need to change their pricing strategy in order to maximise their sales growth and profitability margin. The key reason behind this statement is that Google has been utilising “freemium pricing strategy that emphasises upon selling highly add-on-features or premium products. This hinders the chance for Google to gain attention from price-sensitive customers. Thus, the company can utilise a competitive pricing strategy to bring advantages of their services and products in relation to the market related to the competition.

Google is found to measure its performance by using formal mid-point check-in with the respective employees before the actual annual performance review. This allows the organisations, management along with employees to analyse whether they are on the predefined track to accomplish their strategic organisational goals.

In the context of profitability aspects, Google is found to be the dominant player across the global market. A news report published in 2022 highlights, Google increased its revenue value by 32% reaching to the amount of $75.3bn with a profitability amount of $20.6bn as compared to the fiscal year 2021 (Rushe, 2022). Advertising revenue of the company also increased $61.2bn in 2022 from $46.2bn in 2021 respectively.

Figure 5: Customer satisfaction rate with Google

(Source: Johnson, 2021)

In the context of the above figure, it is identified that the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) of Google has been increasing in an abrupt manner. For example, in 2015, Google's CSI score was 76, which was increased to 84 in 2016, and in 2021 this score is found to be 79 out of 100 (Johnson, 2021). In this regard, it can be mentioned that by providing attractive and efficient services, Google is able to hold its leading position across the domestic and international markets. Considering these two pieces of evidence, it can be mentioned that Google is found to strengthen its overall operational and performance efficiency through innovation. It can also be mentioned that Google is efficient and effective in terms of meeting the needs and expectations of its target customers across the globe.

Stakeholder mapping is considered as the visual representation that includes all the specific stakeholders of ideas, projects, or products within one map. As mentioned by Ohno et al., (2020), stakeholders mapping supports and helps business entities in terms of determining the people who have the potential to influence business operations or projects. In addition to this, it also underlines the way each of the stakeholders contributes to the execution and accomplishing the organisational strategic goals. In the context of Google, the following figure highlights the stakeholder mapping by underlining the major stakeholders of the aforementioned company.

Figure 6: Stakeholder mapping

(Source: Created by the learner)

Considering the organisational structure of Google, Conflict between managers and suppliers can be expected. The key reason behind this statement is that interest conflict is commonly identified issue between suppliers and managers and this would require to be handled strategically to minimise its undesirable consequences upon ongoing and future business performance.

1. Organisation Domain

Table 1: Organisational Domain

(Source: Created by learner)

Stable-Unstable and Simple-complex are found to be amalgamated into a single framework that helps to determine environmental uncertainty. In the context of Google, it is identified that the environment within which it operates is unpredictable and complex (Refer to appendix 2). The key reason behind this statement is that there are different key players as well as the technology world has been changing at a rapid pace and thus, the company needs to change its operations across the market trends.

Organisational structure plays a significant role for any business entity to maintain effective and efficient operational flow. It is identified that Google is found to utilise a combination of organisational structures such as flat, division, and functional structures that positively influence their business journey (Samuel, 2021).

Figure 7: Organisational structure of Google

(Source: The ORG, 2022)

Google is found to be utilising mixed organisational structures to align its strategic business objectives with organisational goals. In addition to this, a mixed approach helps the company to create a permanent base of buyers and consumers successfully (Samuel, 2021). However, a mixed approach is found to be associated with advantages and disadvantages, which are being underlined in the following sections.

Advantages

• Utilising combined or mixed organisational structure helps to optimise the employee experiences
• Improves the overall workplace communication and maintain work flexibility
• Improve employee morale and their commitments

Disadvantages

• More and effective coordination is required
• Workplace conflict might be generated due to the usage of mixed structure
• Project leader is required to have strong problem-solving skills in mixed structure

It is identified that over the past few years, Google has been witnessing cultural issues that negatively influence upon its internal optional activities. For example, it is identified that the company has been struggling with massive criticism regarding poor diversity persistence in the workplace (Gilbert, 2019). In this regard, despite utilising a mixed structure, Google can consider divisional organisational structure to resolve these issues as the mentioned structure can support the company in terms of taking quick and optimal decisions that minimise the negative consequences of the existing issues upon future growth and prosperity.  

Conclusion

In the context of overall discussion, it can be articulated that organisational theory and design is considered as the suitable framework that reflects upon outlining the ways organisation structures their overall operational and functional activities to gain competitiveness. It is identified that in order to maintain business survivability for a long time, business entities have incorporated or adopted a strategic approach that supports in strengthening their market position and business prosperity. It is identified that, by showing continuous focus on business development and customer’s needs, Google has been able to flourish their growth and established its strong presence internationally. On the other hand, it has been identified that the company is effective in terms of profitability, customer base, and business performance. However, the company is found to witness the identified challenges, which can be resolved by adopting the mentioned structure.

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