Introduction
In this age of technology and innovation Google stands at the top tier in terms of utilizing their resources and core competencies to achieve value in their systems and processes and keeping ahead from the competition i.e. Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft etc.
The traditional model for the value chain as stated by Michael Porter in Fig. 1 was in essence the marginal value that was gained by organizations through a series of steps and he coined it as value chain management system.
At Google the business strategy has evolved pertaining to the fact that the product is intangible and in essence a service is provided which is why the value chain is more delicate in terms of the main objective of satisfying the needs and wants of the consumers in a consistent manner.
The core competencies at Google are primarily reliant on the human resource and administration and that is how Google became of the top valuable firms by focusing on people analytics and reinventing HR (Dr. John Sullivan, 2013).
The capability and core competencies at Google is thus attribute to the aforementioned, Google employees productivity results are astounding on an average each employee generates nearly $ 1 million and at Google it is argues that accurate decision making gives life to support function of value chain.
Thus the HR aspect (peoples operation as it is called at Google, has helped in excelling in its core competency of innovation by replacing subjective decision making to data based algorithm, and evidence based decision making (Dr. John Sullivan, 2013).
The unique selling proposition of Google is connectivity and engagement with the consumers and with respect to the technology changing every day it is important that Google also takes into account the operations in terms of infrastructure and developing products which helps in accessing information on a different level and also operations in an effective manner.
The sales and marketing aspect of the value chain is handled by local teams in order to maximize the profits by selling the advertising, subscribers who use different Google services through a localized plan in order to create an emotive connect.
As discussed Google’s utilizes its value chain by resourcing its core capabilities through Administration and HR and also Innovation in R&D and systems development which has been the key to Google’s success.
The Value chain has helped Google in branching out products and services which has not only kept the momentum but also created a top of the mind presence of Google in consumers mind, starting from the Google Books, Maps, Earth and Gmail, Google has expanded exponentially through the efficient use of its value chain management.
The success can be gauged from the facts mentioned below which in essence proves the utilization of Google’s value chain in a professional and effective manner.
The facts as mentioned in Dr Sullivan (2013) article are:
- “No. 1 in search world wide
- No. 2 in Smartphone operating system sales (Android)
- No. 2 on the Fortune most admired firms list
- No. 3 on Fast Company’s most innovative companies
- No. 3 among the world’s strongest product brands
- Listed in the Business Week top 50 performing firms
- It’s amazing Larry Page was ranked No. 4 among CEOs by glassdoor.com” (Dr John Sullivan, 2013)
On a concluding note Google focus on both Product related and Market related value chain activities and thus creates a synergy which is in tune with the organizations aims and objectives in terms of offering quality to consumers and also creating a competitive edge.
With the advent of People’s analytics Google has once again pioneered a system which gives value to its internal and external operations and help Google achieve the next level in terms of technology on a constant basis.
References
Arthur, V, H. (2012). The Encyclopaedia of Operations Management: Pearson Education, Inc.
Dr. John, S. (2013). How Google Became the #3 Most Valuable Firm by Using People Analytics to Reinvent HR. Ere.Net. Retrieved from http://www.ere.net/2013/02/25/how-google-became-the-3-most-valuable-firm-by-using-people-analytics-to-reinvent-hr/
