The SWOT analysis has been discussed by Wheelen & Hunger (2008) in the scanning the environment section where both internal scanning or organizational analysis would provide information on the organization’s strengths and weaknesses; while the external or environmental scanning would detail opportunities and threats that could impinge on the operations of the firm. To comply with the requirements of this paper, the organization that would be evaluated according to the concepts of SWOT analysis is Google, Inc.
Strengths
Google, Inc. was recently named as the number one organization Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For . As such, its strengths include the following: (1) exemplary brand recognition, awareness and recall; (2) consistently manifesting exemplary ability to hire, maintain, and develop highly skilled people in their workforce; (3) encouraging diversity in culture that contributes to a wide range of innovative and creative concepts; (4) highly competent and qualified management and executive team; (5) a clear and explicit set of corporate values; (6) the ability to provide innovative, creative, continually upgraded products and services that benefit the general public; (7) according exemplary benefits to its personnel who remain highly motivated; and (8) the considerable length of experience in the business that continue to provide consistently high quality of products and services.
Weaknesses
One of the weaknesses noted is Google’s Android security service . According to Chen (2012), a test was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the security service in detecting malware applications and the results revealed that “the feature fails to detect large swaths of malware” (par. 1). Another weakness was noted from Google’s inability to improve and focus on developing an intensified mobile strategy. According to Tode (2012), Ash Kumar, the founder and CEO of TapSense, a corporation in San Francisco clearly noted that: “Google is currently missing out on more than 90 percent of mobile ad strategies that use in-app advertising as their primary mobile advertising approach, it needs to find a way to quickly become app centric” (Tode, 2012, par. 9). The inability to immediately react and respond creates a weakness and was evident in apparent reduction in the net income, as well as cost per click, as noted from the report.
Opportunities
The opportunities in the external environment are as follows: (1) the reported growing mobile advertisement market should be tapped by Google as opportunities in this segment abound; (2) exploiting other markets, specifically in Myanmar ; (3) targeting more Asian countries such as India and North Korea to offer its products and services ; (4) working on cloud computing ; (5) intensifying recruiting efforts specifically engineers with cloud technology competencies (Miller & Hardy, 2013); (6) adding more office space in Washington to accommodate more employees ; (7) “rise of multiscreen consumers and its opportunities to allow marketers to run common campaigns across mobile, video, search and display” (Tode, 2012, par. 16); (8) inexpensive and capable cloud business compared to competitors; (9) prospects for successful financial returns for Google Glass ; and (10) continued innovative researches and technological designs could generate new applications that would be needed by consumers in the near future.
Threats
The threats facing Google are as follows: (1) continued fierce competition ; (2) “skills in cloud computing work at Google’s rivals in Seattle” (Miller & Hardy, 2013, par. 13); (3) declining and volatile market shares; (4) impending price war on cloud computing technology and applications ; (5) apparent threat to privacy of Google Glass ; (6) script execution flaw reported to pose security threat ; (7) continued product research and innovative designs from Samsung ; (8) more players and organizations that become stronger and gain increasing market shares within the global market; (9) need to be more culturally aware of business practices in other international markets; and (10) Google’s experimenting to venture into new markets and business models .
References
Arthur, C. (2013, March 6). Google Glass: is it a threat to our privacy? Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/06/google-glass-threat-to-our-privacy
Barr, A. (2013, March 6). Google tests same-day delivery, raising marketplace speculation. Retrieved from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/06/us-google-delivery-idUSBRE92500020130306
Chen, B. (2012, December 11). Study Finds Weakness in Google’s Android Security Service. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/android-security-study/
CNN Money. (2013). Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. Retrieved from money.cnn.com: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/
Gustin, S. (2013, March 18). Why Samsung’s Challenge to Apple and Google Is Great for Consumers. Retrieved from Time: Business and Money: http://business.time.com/2013/03/18/why-samsungs-challenge-to-apple-and-google-could-be-great-for-consumers/
Kumar, M. (2013, March). Script Execution Flaw in Google Drive Poses Security Threat. Retrieved from The Hacker: http://thehackernews.com/2013/03/script-exceution-flaw-in-google-drive.html
Miller, C., & Hardy, Q. (2013, March 12). Google Elbows Into the Cloud. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/technology/google-takes-on-amazon-and-microsoft-for-cloud-computing-services.html?ref=googleinc
Tode, C. (2012, October 19). Google's mobile strategy shows weakness as net income, CPCs drop. Retrieved from Moblile Marketer: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/14030.html
Tun, A. (2013, March 17). Google Executive to Visit Myanmar. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/technology/google-executive-to-visit-myanmar.html?ref=googleinc&_r=0
Wheelen, T., & Hunger, D. (2008). Concepts: Strategic Management & Business Policy, 11/E. Prentice Hall.
