Google Inc. is one of the most successful multinational corporations (MNCs) of the world. The revolution of search engine brought by the Google enabled the internet users to get any information at their fingertip with just a mouse click. The other internet related services from Google include cloud computing, Ad Words, technologies related to advertising and software, etc. Google is one of the most powerful search engines that is highly accepted for its organized information and used by people of all ages all over the world. Being a great success in the field of internet, it would be good to analyze the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of this company.
Strengths
The powerful leadership position of Google among the search engines is undisputed. It has always been a legendary success in generating user traffic. Universally acceptable and useful products and services are offered by Google Inc. The quality and customers experiences of these products are always above par. The financial position of Google is very sound. Google is able to make humungous revenue through advertising and partnering with third party sites. The adoption of latest mobile technologies and Android operating system had added advantage to the company. The product integration of Google products is highly efficient. Intellectual property strength of Google Inc. is great; it is one among the largest patent holders in the business world. It has turned into one of the innovative businesses in the world.
Weakness
The lion’s share of the company’s income come from advertising and it depends too much on the same. But the revenue from ads showed a decline with the economic slowdown. Google relies too much on the secrecy without revealing its search engine algorithms which many customers don’t like. Another concern is that, many of the Google products are not compatible with the next generation devices. Thus some products prove to be futile adding losses to the company. Adding to that, there are many disputes going on the Google patents.
Opportunities
With growing number of mobile internet users on a daily basis, Google doesn’t have a problem to find a platform to showcase its technologies related to mobile. As patents are one of the main keys to success in business, Google can get more of these through acquisition of other companies. By providing Android operating system Google has becomes a direct competitor to the other giants in this field, and this is one of the major opportunities to Google. Google Glasses and Google Play has become a giant initiative utilising nano computing. Cloud computing is another great opportunity. Entering the electronic industry, fibre glass etc are other promising ventures.
Threats
Competition from social media like Facebook Inc., other competitors like Apple Inc., Microsoft Corporation, etc, antitrust laws of European Union and the newer companies entering the mobile computing are the greatest threats faced by Google Inc.
References
Jurevicius, Ovidijus. “SWOT analysis of Google”. strategicmanagementinsight.com,16 Feb 2013. http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/swot-analyses/google-swot-analysis.html 24 Nov. 2014.
“SWOT Analysis of Google”. Managementstudyguide, n.d. http://www.managementstudyguide.com/swot-analysis-of-google.htm 24 Nov. 2014.
