Introduction
Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The name Google was a play on the word “googo1”, the mathematical term for 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name reflects the immense volume of information that exists. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. The company deals with a number activities e.g. advertising as well as the sale of enterprise hardware and products. It is however important to note that the company’s main source of revenue is through the provision of online advertising services. The Company uses about 100 languages to sell its products and services globally.
Google Corp’s future performance predictions
Google’s performance has been nothing short of exemplary since it was founded with revenues growing by an average of 28% a year for the past three years with last year the revenue coming in at 50 billion dollars. Presently, Google commands more than half of internet searches in the United States. Due to the large market share that the company has, the company has been able to collect information from its customers and this has enabled it to improve the quality of the results it generates for its users at a rate that is quicker than that of its competitors. This has improved the opinion that most people have concerning the company. Yahoo and Microsoft lag behind in market shares. The competitive rivalry in this industry is strong because large amounts of advertising dollars flow to the website that has captured the largest volume of searches.
Google and the Media
In the next five years, Google will cement itself as one of the key players in media. With the increased lawsuits in the entertainment industry, there is worry that sites like YouTube (which was acquired by Google), Netflix and Hulu among others will contribute to a reduction in television views. YouTube, which was founded in 2005 already, commands a large presence in America with the presence expected to grow immensely not only in the US but worldwide. This increase in views also serves as opportunities for advertisement for different brands and companies. YouTube is created in such a way a person watches want they want to see unlike traditional television where it does or distinguish the different tastes that someone has. With revenues of $3.6 billion dollars brought in last year, minimal costs and risks and a huge drop in newspaper advertising and television viewership, YouTube through Google is on the right course of becoming a media giant.
Google and the Mobile Industry
- Smartphones and Operating Systems
Google’s entry into the Smartphone market in 2008 has seen Apple’s monopoly drop significantly from 100 percent in 2007 to 43.5 percent of the U.S Smartphone market today. While Apple creates a closed-software environment for users, Google uses the Microsoft approach of an open-source software environment which has seen its control more than half of the US Smartphone market. This will place gear Google towards controlling a bigger chunk of the Smartphone market, though not necessarily higher than what Apple controls.
- Preference of Mobile Queries and Growth of Mobile Commerce
Mobile search queries and mobile commerce platforms have increased rapidly over the past few years. This growth has also been coupled by an increase in the number of avenues through which people can use to access search engines. It is this rapid growth that has influenced Google’s choice of product mix, including a significant increase in mobile search queries and a deceleration in the growth of desktop queries. Google’s revenue growth rate will continue to be affected negatively by evolving consumer preferences. Moreover, the changes in advertising trends, has increased the receptiveness that people have in regards to google’s products.
Google and Social Media
This is one of the fiercest battles that Google is waging, mostly with the giant social site, Facebook. Facebook has and is continuing to satisfy people’s craving of connection and interaction. With more than 1.2 billion users and twice as many page views as Google, the social media battle might be too big for Google to win in the next five years. Despite its Google+ product, Facebook is miles ahead in the social media market due to its personal touch among other features that give it an advantage over Google+.
Google and Advertising
Advertising transactions continue to shift from offline, to online in accordance to the changes that have been occurring in the digital economy. This has increased the of the Google brand since its inception, resulting in substantially increased revenues, and it is expected that its business will continue to grow. This is because Google has developed its advertising feature, Google Ad Sense in search a manner that it connects many people in the world by offering them the opportunity to advertise on their sites for a fee. As a result of the large internet traffic on Google’s site, the revenue from advertising will continue to increase.
Google and International Markets
There is bound to be a continuation of investments from Google in international markets. The results may, however, not result in an increase in international revenues as a percentage of total revenues in the future due to the uncertainty of money markets both in the US and internationally as a result of unstable markets and poor performance.
Google and Regulations
Google is subject to increased regulatory scrutiny that may negatively impact its business.
The growth of the company can be witnessed by the manner in which it has expanded its operations to a wide variety of fields. This expansion has subjected the company to increased regulatory scrutiny. Increased regulations, subjection to claims, suits and government investigations and other proceedings involving competition and antitrust, intellectual property, privacy among other related issues will have an adverse impact on Google because of legal costs and diversion of management resources. This can cause reputational harm and affect business. This can be seen from the case between Google and the Chinese Government, where the latter has been persistent in preventing the former from launching its services in China.
Google and Market Share
Google will expand its market share despite threats from upcoming companies like China’s Baidu. This is because its demographic position will work in its favor because of its relatively young user base. Also, it will gain more market share because internet search is applicable across all cultures. This coupled with its spread out locations both in the US and worldwide and a personalized search engine will act in its favor.
Google and Overall Growth Rate
The increased use of google’s search engine may, however, decline in the next few years due to some of the factors affecting the online industry. Such factors include changes in the dynamics of competition as well as changes in the product mix required by customers. Moreover, the significant increase in mobile search queries will also play a major role in influencing google’s industry.
Conclusion
Even though revenue might not be as high as the levels seen in previous periods, in the next five years due to intense competition, Google’s strategy, which is built on a strong foundation of broad differentiation of complementary products, will be its saving grace. With the search engine being the most powerful marketing tool that has ever been developed, and Google being the top search engine, it means that the likelihood of everyone interacting with Google in one way or another is not far fetched which means five years from now, Google will still be on our lips and fingertips.
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