Category: Google

BAE Business Report on Google: Critical Analysis

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the ethical and financial performance of Google for an investor to make a decision on whether this company should be invested. This report will discuss Google’s ethical issues about monopoly and Google’s share price from 2015 to 2019. According to THOMSON REUTERS WESTLAW report in 2019, its client was not satisfied with the solution because of Google’s virtual monopoly position in the search arena. In terms of the share price, the overall trend is upward. In a comprehensive consideration, it is not recommended to ethical invest in Google. The limitations of the report are that this report only shows partly the share price history and ethical issues of Google.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this report is to make recommendations on Google’s ethical and financial performance for an ethical investor. Ethical investment can be defined as ‘an activity in that investors use their own ethical principles as the main filter for selecting companies to invest (Kenton 2018)’.Ethical company behavior can be described as Microsoft. This means companies that practice fairness, honesty, and environmental sustainability nurture society and the planet in such a way that attracts ethical people and ethical investment. For example, Microsoft devotes itself to empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both Ph.D. students at Stanford University in Stanford, California. Google indexes billions of web pages to allow users to search for the information they desire through the use of keywords and operators. Internationally, Google has over 78 offices in more than 50 countries. except for Google’s core search engine (Google Search)， it also offers services designed for work and productivity, email, scheduling and time management, cloud storage, instant messaging and video chat, language translation, mapping, and navigation.

2. Outline

This report will provide three parts of information for ethical investing clients, including ethical performance, financial performance, and recommendations. Firstly, in the ethical performance part, this report will show the description and evaluation of ethical issues. Also, it will involve a court case which is ‘Dreamstime.com, LLC v.Google, LLC’ (THOMSON REUTERS WEATLAW 2019). Secondly, financial performance will contain the description and evaluation of a particular financial indicator and data of share price from 2015 to 2019. Finally, according to the evaluation of the ethical and financial performance, this report will provide recommendations about whether to invest in Google or not.

3. Evaluation of financial performance

Business ethics not only are virtue, integrity, or character, but also it involves one’s understanding of morally right and truthful when it is in an ethical struggle (Lewis 1985). Further, ethical behavior in business can be defined as a behavior, which happens in a business sector, and it involves business ethics (Lewis 1985). There is a general ethical issue that affects Google, which is the internet monopoly.

3a. Ethical performance

For years, Dreamstime had been near the top of every search engine’s search results. Starting in approximately 2015, however, Dreamstime’s ranking significantly dropped on Google’s search engine. This drop coincided with a licensing agreement Google had entered into with Dreamstime’s main competitor. Subsequent efforts by Dreamstime to return to the top of Google’s search results did not succeed and Dreamstime remains practically irrelevant on Google. Dreamstime’s competitor, by contrast, remains at the top of Google’s search results.

When Dreamstime increased its advertising on Google to help compensate for its lost search ranking, Google obstructed Dreamstime’s efforts. For example, Google purportedly canceled Dreamstime’s most successful advertising campaigns without notice or explanation, suspended Dreamstime’s account based on unfounded accusations of policy violations, and prevented Dreamstime from running its advertisements altogether (while simultaneously allowing the exact same advertisements to be placed by Dreamstime’s competitor). Dreamstime’s mobile applications faced similar conduct. Google allegedly removed Dreamstime’s mobile application because it featured lingerie photographs. By contrast, Dreamstime’s competitor remained active despite featuring explicitly nude photographs.

3b. Company responses

Google even conceded that online search results can form the basis of legal action. Specifically, Google admitted that if Google “had promised to rank Dreamstime in a certain way, and then broke that promise, that conduct theoretically could state a claim for breach of contract or promissory estoppel” (Dkt. No. 79 at 9). The basis of the breach of contract claim remains that Google broke its contractual promise to Dreamstime. It makes no difference that Google did not make any specific promises related to search results.

Google argues that Dreamstime must aver more than a mere subjective belief that it should rank higher. Yet, an issue of material fact exists as to the reason Dreamstime had formerly been highly ranked on Google, remains highly ranked on other search engines, and has become practically non-existent on Google despite engaging in a mishmash of attempted fixes. Perhaps the reason is that Google torpedoed Dreamstime’s organic search ranking to boost advertising revenue. Perhaps it is not. Discovery will tease out what occurred here.

4. Financial performance

For investors, the share price history can reflect directly whether this company has the ability to make profits or not. Also, it is an important factor to evaluate whether the company is appropriate to be invested. Figure 1 shows the share price of Google between 2015 and 2020. The x-axis indicates the year and the y-axis represents the share price in dollars of Google. In Figure 1, the overall trend is upward.

Figure 1: share price for Google from 2015 to 2019 (Yahoo! financial report, 2020)

It can be seen that the share price was not only raised between 2015 and 2016, but also between 2017 and 2018. These increases which are quickly than its from 2015 to 2016 may because of the global share market downturn. There was a volatility increase between 2018 and 2020, reaching around $ 1368.68 in 2020. Overall, this Figure shows that Google’s share price trend was upward yearly, which means that it had a sound financial position and it can be invested in the long term.

5. Recommendation

An issue of material fact exists as to the reason Dreamstime had formerly been highly ranked on Google, remains highly ranked on other search engines, and has become practically non-existent on Google despite engaging in a mishmash of attempted fixes.What Google did in those cases were not ethical. Although their share price trend is upward yearly from 2015 to 2020 and the share price may rise constantly in the future, this report focuses on the ethical performance of Macquarie Bank. Therefore, according to its ethical performance, it is not a wise choice to invest in Google. The limitations of the report are that it only shows partly the share price history and some ethical issues of Google.

Case Study Report: Google SWOT Analysis and Analysis of Strategy

Introduction

A search engine is used to carry out search on World Wide Web. The search result is mostly a mixture of articles, audio, video, visual presentation and research papers. The search engine uses algorithm which is usually maintained by real-time information which is also known as web crawler. Search engines were basically invented in 1990 by Alan Emtage who was the student at McGill University located in Canada. Google is arguably the widest used search engine around the world. Google was launched on 4 September 1998. It was found by Sergey Brin and Larry Page who were the student of Stanford University located in California. Google carried the idea of search engine from a little company called goto.com. This idea changed the fortune of Google from struggling to one of the most profitable company in the world. Google also provides services like mobile manufacturing, operating system, advertisement. Google works on a basic but creative business strategy and generate handsome income. The report will portray Google’s working strategy, market strategy, how business strategy aids organization, advertisement and working of search engine

Company overview

Google begin as a search engine but later launched different new technologies. Google vision is always changing and they launch new technology every year. Gmail was brought by Google in 2004, while Google map and YouTube were bought in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Now each product has extraordinary market value and millions of users are using these technologies each day. Google just did not stop there. In 2008, they bought Android to get involve in operating system and later launched Google Chrome.

Google works in designated way. They have consistently released new technology each year since the last five years’ period. Yahoo is facing tough time dealing with Gmail and Google utilizes android to challenge other working framework such as IOS and Windows. Even in operating system, Chrome is way ahead in comparison to other browser. Google tried their luck in 2011 on social media platform with Google+ trying to catch Instagram, Facebook and other platforms market share, but failed to do so.

Over the years, Google has collaborated and partnered with different mass producers such as Motorola. In technological world, Google see itself as a worldwide leader and focuses on upgrading its technology. Motorola obtaining by Google in 2011 may have been misjudged for Google’s aspiration in mobile production. To maintain excessive market share, Google provides free items for advertising incomes. In certain occasion, Google also earnings from multiple sources, for example, mobile production but Google primarily focuses on its center business

Google has several advertising tools. AdWords does the work of target marketing while organization that are third party to Google, they use the service of AdSense. Google Play was launched in 2011. Google play is same like Apple’s App Store where a person can find different kinds of app from music, food, sports, technology, every area is covered. Google Play consist more than 700,000 apps. Google Play is a great example that shows how Google work and exhibit its presence in all environment. Google Play is available in every android mobile and it is always a go to area for users. But still after this, Google core source of income is advertisement marketing.

Discussion

Alphabet Inc.

It is a multinational company whose headquarter is situated in Mount View, California, America. Alphabet Inc. came into being because of Google’s corporate reconstructing in October 2015. Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were the two founder to Google now held the role of CEO and President respectively. Alphabet reside on 4th number on the list of largest technology company. Sergey Brin and Larry Page resigned from their position on December 2019 which paved the way for Sundar Pichai to become the CEO of both Alphabet Inc. and Google. Larry Page and Sergey Brin continued to be co-founder and shareholder in Alphabet Inc.

a. Why Creating Alphabet and how it’s a Good Move

Alphabet is basically of combination of companies. The largest companies among them all is Google. The Alphabet was created to manage things with more efficiency and independently. A major reason Alphabet Inc. acquire Google was to please investors. Wall street in particular didn’t like Google funding on “moonshot” that doesn’t provide good result. Most of Google’s income come from ad search because of which former CEO Page was heavily criticized.

Alphabet combining with Google won’t change much for a Google user. There won’t be any new Alphabet search engine or new Alphabet OS. Alphabet provides safe place to companies which allows them to conduct experiment. This will turn Google into conglomerate and separating its advertisement and search. The newly Google can now narrow down its scope and focus more on its several businesses such as Android, Maps, online and mobile. Each different companies can look into their respective scope without getting blend with Google.

Google SWOT analysis

Strength

• Search Engine
• Ad services

Weakness

• Social Media presence
• Privacy Issues

Opportunities

• AI growth
• New features in search Engine

Threats

• Competition
• Censorship

Methodology

Discovering knowledge though internet may seem nothing special but it takes a lot at the back to search through the internet and get the desire information. To get the useful piece of information from countless website is a gigantic task. Such huge task is done with search engine with the help of complex algorithm. Search engine other than algorithm consist of mathematical calculation that directs PC how to finish allocated task.

1. Google Search Algorithm

Google as search engine as arguably most widely used on the internet. With the help of keywords that user enters, Google algorithm does the search and gives the desired result. Then it allocates the page rank based on number of times a keyword has appeared. Pages with elevated ranks are seen at the top in Googles search engine result page, implying that the best link with user search question are the initial ones on Google records. For a website to be placed at the top page of Google is a big uplift. The search engine of Google works just like any other web search engine upfront. Google’s catchphrase search work is like other web crawlers. Computerized programs called crawlers or spiders venture to every part of the Web, moving from connection of link to link and working up a list page that contains several keywords. When a user enters a query then Google reference the page index. An indexation is done by Google when a user enters a query. The web then lists the pages that contain similar keywords that were used in the users search query. There is further advancement in Google’s spider, for example, having the option to decide the contrast between Web pages with genuine content and that diverts to different webpage also known as clickbait.

Positioning of keyword has an impact on how Google discover web pages. Google searches for keyword located each Web page, yet a few areas are a higher priority than others. It is a good idea to put in keyword in the title of Website. Additionally, Google scans heading for keywords. There are different sizes of heading and bigger headings with keywords have much more chances of appear on page before short heading. Another valuable thing is keyword dispersal. More than enough usage of keywords should be avoided by webmaster, however numerous people encourage them to consistently use all through a page. There are multiple search engines that are still active and some of are not from the early 1990s

1993

• W3Catalog
• Web Crawler
• JumpStation
• Running
• Running
• Deactivated

1995

• SAPO
• Daum
• Magellan
• Running
• Running
• Deactivated

1998

• Google
• MSN Search (Now Bing)
• AlltheWeb
• Running
• Running
• Deactivated

2003

• Info.com
• Running

2005

• SearchMe
• Deactivated

2. AdSense

AdSense started by Google in 2003 and as now is one of the most mainstream advertisement program on internet. It gives decent chance to website admin and site owner to devise their traffic. Each year, publishers receive around $10B dollars from Google. Reliable security, protection for both distributors and advertisers is an additional component of AdSense. Google behave as a mediator between the different sides and makes entire procedure being straightforward and clear for everybody. In Google Analytics Account, all the fundamental measurement can be followed. There are multiple ad templates in AdSense. A user can run ads with HTML code, pictures, plain text of different sizes, videos and a lot more. Being a publisher, a person can run various advertisement template and make some research about which template generate more revenue according to target audience

3. AdWords

It is PPC – Pay Per Click advertisement. AdWords perform advertisement in two ways, from Google Display and from Google Search. The Google Search Network permits you to demonstrate your promotions to clients who are effectively looking for the keywords that you’ve chosen. The Google Display Network works unlike Google Search. Rather than demonstrating advertisements to clients who are effectively looking for an item, ‘banner advertisement’ and ‘display advertisement’ are put on the site. AdWords is not the only PPC ad available. There are different PPC ad such as Facebook Ad, Pinterest Ad, Twitter Ad. Among all competitors, AdWords is as yet perhaps the most ideal approaches to target audience

Strategy

The company’s strategy is pretty simple. It provides high-level technological solution along with innovation that is encouraged in working environment. Google produces state-of-the-art networks, applications that makes it easier for flow of information in every part of organization

1. How is Google’s mission statement related to its business strategy?

Google has a definite expression “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. As seen in the case study, Google allow its employee along the tools and strategies to be in the driving seat of the assignment. Due to such flexibility, many new features have been showing up on Google platform. Google is famous for taking risk that takes off and this assist the strategy because it keeps on extending the advancements and applications at Google, which at that point further help their statement of purpose.

2. How does Google’s information systems strategy support its business strategy?

Google releases its source code encouraging the utilization of open source code software and support tools that are build inside the company to carry out creativity and collaboration. Google has a policy that allows its employees to select application of their own choosing. Employees then pick up applications that suit their liking and business needs. Google additionally executes organizational level security that permits clients to keep up liberty of communication

3. How does Google’s organizational strategy support its business strategy?

Google has made structure that supports advanced creative thinking rather than inflexible corporate framework. Representatives are urged to take a day from seven days to examine their thoughts. Google implement projects that have clear goals and deadlines to guarantee responsibility and execution. Google organizational strategy doesn’t concentrate on cost control but focuses on practical application

4. Which of Porter’s three generic strategies does Google appear to be using based on this case? Provide a rationale for your response.

In my opinion with Porter’s three generic strategies, online advertisement has stayed as the ideal objective for Google’s product. Google has applied the idea of differentiation in its Android product to be unique from its rivals. Google has consistently kept up its status as a powerhouse by concentrating on online advertisement, search engine and mobile manufacturing

5. Analyze Google’s strategy and the type of market disruption it has created using a dynamic environment perspective.

On different structure Google has used a blue sea technique in which whole industry is transformed. Google has included different new products that gives value to its customer (AdWords, AdSense). It consistently searches out new information through its innovation style and making investment in project with risk because such projects have great capability of high-return. Google continually innovates by setting constraint on to what extent it will take to make changes to its service and product. With such innovative method, it can remain on the forefront of technology and head the industry market of the IT world. Google leads the market discovering new and finer approaches to serve its users and it has also changed the market dynamics with its economical marketing and services like AdWords and AdSense

Conclusion

In conclusion, we previously talked about how strategy of Google is developed and what impacts of their strategy results in market. It also includes Google mission and strategy supported by system. In the end, there is no doubt that Google is a successful company providing efficient services to its customers with AdWords and AdSense and making everyday life easier for users through search engine. Google has also worked to increase knowledge and skills of their employees. It has excellent working environment that gives enough free hand to their employees to work on the project of their own chosen. Such initiatives promote friendly environment, talented employees and greater work production.

Reference

1. JONATHAN STRICKLAND (2019) Why is the Google algorithm so important? Available at: https://computer.howstuffworks.com/google-algorithm.htm (Accessed 25/3/2020)
2. Case Study (2015) Strategic Planning and Google Available at: https://acasestudy.com/strategic-planning-and-google/ (Accessed 25/3/2020)
3. david Goldman (2015) Google will become Alphabet today Available at: https://money.cnn.com/2015/10/02/technology/google-alphabet/ (Accessed 25/3/2020)
4. Julia Olennikova (2019) What is Google AdSense and How to Make Money With It Available at: https://www.semrush.com/blog/what-is-google-adsense-and-how-to-make-money-with-it/ (Accessed 25/3/2020)
5. Disruptive Advertising (2018) What is Google AdWords and Why Do I Need It? Available at: https://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/adwords/what-is-google-adwords/ (Accessed 25/3/2020)

Comparing Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel: Analytical Essay

Both the apps be it Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, both of these serve the same purpose i.e. they both work on the concept of Spread Sheets.

Microsoft Excel is a part of the Microsoft Office Suite which enables its users to work in spreadsheets on their dedicated systems. Google Sheets on the other hand is a tool which helps us use spreadsheet in a web browser.

Both have their own features and complexities from which users can choose from and make an apt choice for themselves.

In this article, we would compare the two apps for you to help you make a better choice as per your requirements.

Use Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. Which is better?

With new advancements in technology, using and working on apps now is totally different from using them a few years ago. There are a number of apps available for us in order to accomplish our requirements.

For working on spreadsheets, two most common apps are Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Despite similarity between these, there are a few differences between the two. Let’s find out how the two differ from each other.

Cost

The first thing which comes to one’s mind when searching for any software is its cost. As we would know that to get a copy of Ms Excel, the cost would depend on how we purchase it.

If we purchase it as a part of Office Suite, it would cost about 70 dollars for a year. If we need a standalone app, then we would have to spend up to 100 dollars.

On the other hand, Google Sheets is for free. But, for competing with Google Sheets, Ms. Excel is being added to a free cloud based program too.

Customizable

Ms. Excel provides us with various options in order to customize it according to our needs. It provides us with a customizable Quick Access Toolbar on which we can pin those options or functions which we most often use. This makes it very handy for us as we do not need to open the menu again and again.

On the other hand, Google Sheets does not provide us with any such customizable functions. It provides us with many features which are in the form of menus. Each time we have to use a function, we need to access it by going through the menus itself or we can use them by keyboard shortcuts which are predefined by Google. Hence, no customization is possible in Google Sheets.

Revision History

If you are working as a team and you are sharing files amongst the team members one basic approach we follow is versioning of the files so as to avoid overriding.

Ms. Excel in itself does not provide us with any such feature which enables versioning. Users need to save files with an appended file name and share it amongst themselves. One demerit of such an approach would be overlaps leading to someone from the team missing an important update to the file.

On the contrary, Google Sheets acts as a timeline. It has an in built revision history which give us all the details of all the changes made to the document/file. It even displays the data related to who amongst the team members made those changes.

In case of any overriding, we even have an option to restore the changes made to the document from any given point of time. This enables us to keep track of the changes made in the file without versioning it manually.

Collaborating Worldwide

When using Ms Excel we save our files on our local system i.e. our personal computer (unless we are using the cloud version of Ms. Excel). This makes sharing of common files between many persons difficult at a single point of time.

Any changes made to the file need to be sent to all persons concerned with a different name so as to avoid any kind of confusion. Repeatedly doing such a job becomes tedious.

On the other hand, Google Sheets helps share documents amongst a group of persons (who might be at various locations across the globe) at the same point of time too.

We can see who all are working on the same file simultaneously. In case of any need, we can even open a chat window and discuss about the concerned matter. This would give us a feeling as if we are not far away from each other.

Unlimited Storage

With Ms. Excel, you can store unlimited amount of data without any problems. As Ms. Excel is saving all its data on the hard drive of one’s own system, there is no need to worry about the amount of data being stored.

Whereas, with Google Sheets, as the data is being stored on the cloud it becomes a limitation when the amount of data on the cloud increases which leads to storage problems.

Formulas

Both Ms. Excel and Google Sheets provide us with all the formulae’s that we would need for most of our work we do in them.

But in addition to these, Google Sheets provides us with one more formula/function which will help us pick the stock market prices. This function is GOOGLE FINANCE.

No such feature is present in Ms. Excel which would help us pick any kind of data of the stock market.

Responsive

Ms. Excel is an apt choice when we talk about handling large amounts of data efficiently. It remains fast and responsive even when loads of data has been put in the spreadsheet.

But, Google Sheets seems to become slow as the amount of data being added to it increases. As a result, this leads to delayed responses.

AutoSave Feature

As with Ms. Excel, if we are working on files which are locally saved on our system, we will have to save the file manually each time by clicking on the save button or by pressing Ctrl + S.

On the contrary, Google Sheets will save all the data automatically for you.

Charts and Pivot Tables

If you have been using Ms. Excel then you would be familiar that Ms. Excel gives its users various different types of charts to choose from. These range from line charts to bar graphs or even pie charts. Ms. Excel even helps us create pivot tables for better understanding of our data.

Whereas, Google Sheets as of now only gives us one option of charts i.e. of scatterplot chart. It does not have support for any other kind of charts or pivot tables for better representation of all the numeric data stored in it.

Learn while using Formulas

Both Ms. Excel and Google Sheets provide us with many functions to make our job easier. Yet Google Sheets provides its users with a good learning experience as they use the formulas. This is so because it gives details of various parameters used in the formula so a user can have a better understanding of it.

Whereas, Ms. Excel does not provide its users with this kind of help. Users need to have proper knowledge of the formulas and the parameters to be used before they use them in their spreadsheet.

Internet Connection

Yet another very simple difference between the two is the requirement of an internet connection.

Ms. Excel’s standalone version does not require any internet connection in order to work properly. So, it is of great help even when your internet connection is down.

On the contrary, Google Sheets requires a proper internet connection in order to work properly. It will not work if one’s internet connection is down. But, we could still opt for the offline mode beforehand and need to sync our files time to time.

The Final Verdict

Both these apps have their own features and complexities to choose from. Both of these serve the same basic purpose.

Google Sheets has many features like Ms. Excel and in addition, a few add-on features which work good in a browser but still it cannot be seen as a replacement for Ms. Excel.

Ms. Excel in itself is still a very widely used spreadsheet app, which can handle massive amounts of data pretty easily. But, users can choose from the two of these as per their requirements.

Comparing Google Docs and Microsoft Word: Analytical Essay

For people who love writing, be it letters, books, stories, and so on, Microsoft Word is indeed like a friend and a guide for them. From the day Ms Word came into existence, it surely has help everyone a lot.

With loads of features, it has overcome Notepad and has become a hot favourite of many. But, with more and more competition, many new apps have come up with different word processing capabilities. One such competitor is Google Docs.

In this article, we would compare Google Docs and Ms. Word for you and would bring to light the differences between the two.

Use Google Docs or Microsoft Word? Which is better?

Both Ms. Word and Google Docs have been by far the top competitors for becoming the best word processor. Ms. Words has been widely used form schools to colleges to various institutions.

But with advancement in technology and change in interests of people, Google Docs has started making its place with many users shifting their interest from Ms. Word to Google Docs.

Besides both, these look similar but there are many differences between the two. In this article, we will point out the differences between the two options so as to choose the best option for you.

Let’s have a look at the differences between the two to find out which one is better.

Cost

The first and foremost thing which comes to one’s mind is the cost i.e. how much money he would have to shell out for the word processor?

A very easy answer to this question is that Google Docs does not cost you anything. It is absolutely FREE to use. All a person will need is a Google account.

Ms. Word however is a part of the Office Suite. The cost of the suite will depend on how you will subscribe for it. It will either be a monthly or yearly subscription.

Need of Internet Connection

Another very simple difference between the two is the requirement of an internet connection.

Ms. Word’s standalone version does not require an internet connection for its proper working. So, it is of great help even when your internet connection is down or not even working.

On the contrary, Google Docs will not work if one’s internet connection is down. It requires a proper internet connection in order to work properly. But, we could still opt for the offline mode but we need to sync our files from time to time.

Collaboration

For people who work on files/documents in groups need to share them amongst themselves.

With Ms. Word, users can collaborate with each other in Office 365. However, to make collaboration possible, all users who require the file will have to have their own copies of Office installed at their respective places.

However, everyone has a web browser installed in their systems and Google Docs need only a browser to work in. This is why Google Docs has an edge on Ms. Word here. Users only need to open the browser, then open Google Docs, and then simply access the shared files.

Security

As the documents in Google Docs are stored on the cloud, many users do not find it much secure. Many users do not intend to keep their important documents on the cloud as they feel the data might be accessed by unwanted persons too.

But, with Ms. Word all data is locally stored, leading to much secure data.

Auto Saving Data

Google Docs has this amazing feature of auto saving your data continuously as you are working on it. Hence, a user need not worry to save his data every few minutes by pressing any buttons.

In addition to auto saving, Google also backs up your work in Google Drive so you get double protection for the data you have in Google Docs.

Ms. Word does not provide this feature. Users need to save their data by pressing the Save button of Ctrl + S again and again in order to save their data.

But, Ms. Word has a data recovery system where it saves date automatically after certain number of minutes specified in the settings. Hence, enabling auto save to a certain extent only because most of the time users tend to lose their data if any problem surfaces in between the time gap of auto save here.

Functionality

Google Docs provides you with the very basic word processing features. So if a user wants very basic document then he/she would be content with Google Docs.

But, if a user needs more of the word processing capabilities, then he would rather opt for Ms. Word as it has always been the master of all word processors undoubtedly.

Personalized Templates

Ms. Word allows us to choose from the various templates present in it. But, in addition to the preinstalled templates, users can even create templates of their own.

On the contrary, in Google Docs users can choose from different templates it provides. But, users will require GSuite in order to get the ability to make and save their own templates.

Interface Friendliness

Ms. Word offers a lot of features in its ribbons as well as its toolbars. But if the user does not have much knowledge of these features then it would be difficult for him to efficiently make use of these functions.

On comparison, Goggle Docs gives its users all the basic features of a word processor in a very simple and easy-to-use layout. This makes it easier for any novice user too to easily understand and make use of these features. Hence, this makes Google Docs a more user friendly interface to work in.

Customization of Toolbars

Ms Word gives the customization option where users can place most commonly used buttons on the quick access toolbar. With this the users will not have to search for these functions again and again in the ribbons.

But in comparison, Google Docs does not allow customization of its toolbars. But, it places the most frequently used buttons on the easy access toolbar. This enables users to easily use features they often make use of.

File Compatibilities

Both Ms. Word and Google Docs are compatible with most of the file formats.

Ms. Word lets users export documents with extensions docx, pdf, or odt. And Google Docs helps users work with files having extensions like pdf, odt, html, rtf, and epub.

Things to be noted here are the fact that:

• Ms. Word does not open a Google Docs file directly. We need to convert the file first in order to open it in Ms Word.
• Users can open, edit and save PDFs in Ms. Word. But this facility is absent in Google Docs.

Tracking Editing

If you are working as a group on a certain document which you share amongst a group of persons then:

Ms. Word has no ability so as to keep a track of who has made changes to the document or when were the changes to the document made. User has to keep a close watch so as to avoid skipping any changes made to the document.

On the other hand, Google Docs has a facility to share the document amongst the team of persons. It also keeps a record of all the changes made to the document by the users.

It even tells us what changes are made to the document and by whom the changes were made. It also shows us the time at which the changes were made to the document.

We can check all the records and work on the same document at the same time leading to real time editing.

Ease of using on Mobiles

Ms. Word’s mobile app is not Microsoft’s core business. The mobile version of Ms. Word is not as robust as the application is offline. However, users can make use of Office Suite 360 to enhance its functioning online.

While, Google Docs is a web based program, so it can be used on mobile phones easily and users can edit and share documents on the go too. Hence, Google Docs is stronger on the web and mobile as compared to Ms. Word.

The Final Verdict

From the past many years, Microsoft Word has been the hot favourite and a standard for word processors across the globe. But, with new word processors like Google Docs coming to the front, it seems like Ms. Word surely has a tough competition ahead.

Although Google Docs offers many new and interesting features (in addition to being FREE), it still has to go a long way.

Critical Analysis of Google Sustainability Report

Google Sustainability Report

Google Company is a multinational company specializing in the provision of internet-based services and products. Some of the products provided by the company include cloud computing, search engine, software, hardware, and technology used in online advertisements. The company is among the big four multinationals, including Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. In 1998, Larry Page founded Google and is has its headquarters in California, United States. Over the past ten years, Google has experienced tremendous growth after its incorporation.

For instance, Google Company has had multiple acquisitions and partnerships with other organizations. The company’s website is the most visited by users around the globe. The company’s code of conduct guides processes such as the discharge of duties whereby all the employees are required to ensure due diligence in service delivery. The company reported a net income of about $110.8 billion in 2018, thus signifying the continued influence it has on the world’s economy. The company undertakes various sustainability measures as it executes its mandates.

Environmental Efforts Undertaken by the Google Company

The company uses renewable energy to undertake their operations. For instance, Google Company has sustained the use of carbon-neutral energy since 2017. The company has purchased enough renewable energy to maintain its activities for the foreseeable future. The company relies on the core values of operating businesses using approaches that foster environmental sustainability. Moreover, the company remains committed to promoting a better and cleaner environment for future generations.

The use of data centers is critical in promoting sustainability in the company. For instance, in the last decade, the centers have been voted as a global leader in ensuring there are improved environmental performances. The performances by the centers have led to increased demands for having better sustainability measures among other organizations. The attainment of this success occurs through ensuring there is effectiveness in the use of water, energy, and water. Furthermore, the organization strives to reduce the energy used by providing the computing network is efficient. For instance, Google centers use less than 50% energy compared to other data centers (Galpin, Whitttington & Bell, 2015). The availability of energy management system has been critical towards ensuring the company uses energy efficiently. Additionally, the company has better technology which helps in protecting the environment. For instance, through the use of technology, the company can achieve zero wastes. The company meets the goal by ensuring there are minimum wastes generated by undertaking measures such as hardware remanufacturing and refurbishing. Also, the Google Company provides there is better waste disposal through fostering various initiatives such as reselling and recycling.

Key Environmental Challenge

The company is affected by various environmental problems which lead to the loss of working hours and business efficiency. For instance, the issue of pollution is apparent in the business. Employees face exposure to various types of pollution, mainly from gases that arise due to combustion. The problem of proper waste disposal is a significant issue affecting the business. For instance, the company is forced to come up with strategies that foster recycling.

Furthermore, the business has to ensure they abide by the federal government’s regulations relating to waste disposal. Therefore, there is a need for having improved waste disposal mechanism due to the nature of some of the byproducts resulting from the manufacturing process. The company has to work on promoting efficiency, which comes at the expense of pursuing sustainability measures. For instance, it has adopted cost-effectiveness in improving manufacturing since it is cheap; however, in the long term; the measure turns out to be resource-intensive.

Moreover, the problem of climate change is a major environmental issue affecting the company. Typically, climate change leads to high energy demand as the organization works to discharge their duties. For instance, in cases where the climate gets warm, there is high consumption of electricity to help in air conditioning. The use of power means that the business incurs high operational costs. Additionally, it leads to high consumption of natural resources such as water, which may reduce the resources available for the company in the long term.

Sustainability/design Philosophy

The organization’s environmental design borrows from the idea of ensuring that operations are designed utilizing technology and reducing the use of resources. The business achieves the aim through creating data centers and creating a sustainable working environment. Moreover, the company empowers staff on the need for maintaining a clean environment and creates a transition that helps in ensuring the utilization of renewable energy.

How Google uses Big Data to Protect the Environment

The Google Company is using its wealth to help in reducing wastage and carbon footprints. For instance, the company is undertaking initiatives that can help in generating profits in the long term by upholding the environment. The company is undertaking projects that involve analyses and data collection. The measure helps in ensuring that the company comes up with strategies that foster the use of sustainable materials in the operations. Therefore, it helps in reducing the impact of environmental pollution through lowering emissions.

Moreover, the company has heavily invested in both solar and wind energy projects. For instance, the company is willing and ready to invest in renewable energy programs by donating up to $2.5 billion (Hilbert, 2016). The firm plan on investing in energy storage experiments which are relatively new in the country. The measure showcases the commitment that the firm has towards fostering environmental sustainability.

Furthermore, the company uses a decentralized approach in addressing issues relating to sustainability. For instance, there is a team in charge of coming up with initiatives that can help in reducing emissions, wastage, and energy usage. Also, there is a team that undertakes on boosting the business productivity and revenues generated. The sustainability manager has the responsibility of developing strategies that foster the successful implementation of sustainability initiatives. For instance, the sustainability officer identifies the right partnership that can help in dealing the environmental issues. Therefore, the organization ensures there is collective responsibility among the companies operating within a particular market.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Over the years, Google Company remains a perfect example of how businesses should run corporate social responsibility. For instance, the company has various programs and initiatives that help in ensuring there are new applications. The new apps have helped to make business and life easier for people. Some of the notable innovations include Google Drive, Google Maps, and Gmail. The company remains the pioneer search engine for most people around the globe. Therefore, Google products are everywhere, thus making life more comfortable and pushing people to more significant life achievements (Valet, 2019). Also, the company is well recognized and respected due to the promotion of transparency, corporate ethics, and openness.

Moreover, the firm examines the workplace and offers employees better treatment which is characterized by equal opportunities to advance their careers. There are various incentives for employees working within the firm. Therefore, several economic experts view the company as the number one employer in the world. Most job seekers are willing to join the company and enjoy a comfortable working environment (Miceli, 2015). Having this reputation has helped the institution in attracting highly-skilled persons to assist in executing duties. The presence of skilled personnel helps in promoting innovation due to diversity. Eventually, the business gains a competitive advantage, which makes it remain competitive when compared to other firms in the tech industry.

Furthermore, the organization is ambitious in undertaking activities that have environmental impacts. For instance, by 20I7, the company has become carbon neutral and has started the green programs. The primary aim of the program is promoting the use of sustainable energy in business operations (Google and the corporate social responsibility of companies, 2019). The green energy has various creative components such as the presence of Google maps which is critical in directing a car in the right direction. Thus, Google has reduced carbon footprint emissions through the use of efficient vehicles that have better gas mileage and lower emissions.

Regulations that impact Google Company

Google Company has been dramatically affected by the rules relating to technology. The company views there are biases and calls for proper dialogue to mitigate the issues raised. For instance, the business calls for collaboration among the various government urgencies’ responsibility in the implementation of the regulations. Having proper dialogue would help the company in having a joint roadmap before they undertake on implementing the rules. The fragmented approach adopted by the various governments in regulation technology from taxation and privacy needs streamlining(Pollman & Barry, 2016). There is a need for convergence among all the parties involved in critical decision making. The measure is likely to have a massive impact on the company since it has experienced growth over the years without having any form of control from the government.

The company’s activities are also affected by employment regulations. For instance, the company has to ensure them employee people at the right age blanket. It is forbidden for any company to employ children since it amount ton infringement of fundamental rights. Moreover, the law makes it illegal for the company to hire any immigrants knowingly. The government has the right to impose sanctions on the company through designating penalties when they are found guilty of committing the offense (Pollman & Barry, 2016). Therefore, Google has the ability to conducting due diligence before making decisions on the people they hire. For instance, the firm should ensure they have proof that a person has then valid documents to show they are permanent residents in the country. However, failure to observe the rules would have detrimental effects that can tarnish the business reputation.

Moreover, the age and discrimination Act regulated the firm’s activities. The Act forbids any form of discrimination for a person under the age of 40 years when it comes to various employment aspects. Some of the elements include fringe benefits, promotions, layoff, training, job assignments, hiring, and firing. The law makes it illegal for the organization to harass any persons due to their age primarily through making offensive remarks. Therefore, the company has to ensure they respect the employment laws or risk having sanctions imposed. The violation of the rules would significantly affect business operations and undermine any future progress.

Cost Savings Realized by Google Company since Implementing Sustainability Initiatives

The company has accrued various cost-savings benefits due to the implementation of sustainability initiatives. For instance, the company is in a position to attract a pool of talented individuals. The availability of skilled personnel presents the business with a unique opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. The firm does not have to undertake expensive measures when looking for people with the right skills. Also, they have creative persons drawn from the pool of highly talented people. The company, therefore, uses fewer resources in promoting innovative initiatives. For instance, through innovations, the company has come up with various applications such as Google apps and search engines. The applications have been critical towards fostering the company towards success.

The implementation of sustainable initiatives helps in boosting the company’s image. For instance, the company is recognized globally as the number one advocate for promoting sustainable practices. Therefore, most of the customers like having a close association with the company due to its impeccable reputation (Galpin, Whitttington & Bell, 2015). It provides the organization with a perfect opportunity to prize their products based on their reputable brand. Moreover, the company has significantly saved on the advertisement cost since most people are aware of the products they offer. Therefore, the business uses the advertisement cost to run other critical services that are integral to better operations.

Moreover, through implementing sustainability initiatives, Google firm has gained multiple partnerships with other businesses. The connection is tailored towards the improvement of service delivery by the company. The organization helps the firm in sharing the cost, thus reducing the cost associated with starting an investment in certain areas.

The strategy helps in ensuring the firm penetrates in other ventures and market bases. The move provides the business with a competitive advantage and makes ita leading tech giant.

Sustainability Partnership between Google and other Urgencies

Google Company enters into various partnerships with other firms to promote sustainability. For instance, in 2016, Google and the United Nations announced a collaboration that was aimed towards improving awareness of how human activities affect the environment. The partnership showcases that both Google and the UN have shared vision which is tailored towards improving the environment(Biermann, Kanie & Kim, 2017). Also, the collaboration enables countries with equal access to technology access critical information relating to sustainable development and climate change. Also, cooperation between the two organizations has demonstrated the importance of collective efforts towards improving sustainability. For instance, the two people view the two entities as credible enough to foster change within society. Therefore, they serve as a leading example for other companies to follow suit.

Water-Energy-Materials Requirements

The specific measures for the reduction of waste on water, energy, and materials concerning enterprise operation in product manufacturing and service provision are under the business orientation of going green and lean. In order to reduce the wastage of water n enterprise operation, one needs to identify the affected section in the production line. The best remedy in the reduction of water that the company wastes in the production process and other complementary uses is the use of technologies that support adequate water consumption (Szymańska-Brałkowska&Malinowska, 2017). Wastes in energy consumption are universal in the production process and running of administrative affairs.

The best remedy to curb the challenge of energy wastage in enterprises includes energy management programs such as enrolling employees in educational programs and investing in current energy-efficient equipment as well as using green energy and renewable sources of energy. The wastage of materials is common during the production process of products (Szymańska-Brałkowska&Malinowska, 2017). The improvement of material usage in enterprises is the introduction of a recycling program which is an innovative method for reusing materials. The redesigning of product packaging to be ecofriendly is another method of curbing material wastage which eases the process of recycling and reusing of the materials in question.

LCA Conducted by Google Company

Google Company conducts Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for its products and services in order to identify the preferable options that are beneficial. There is a great challenge from the presence of numerous indicators of LCA in products and services. To manage the challenge presented, practitioners of LCAs apply external normalization in identifying the most appropriate indicator (Prado, Wender&Seager, 2017). Normalized references or comparative performance of alternatives typically determines the types of data collected. The selection of standardized benchmarks also comes from the benefits it renders Google Company in the long run.

Changes made in Google Company’s Supply Chain Networks

Alphabet has been in charge of the running of Google’s supply chain program alongside the company’s hardware systems. Google operates with more than 400 hardware manufacturing suppliers across the globe for the purposes of manufacturing devices, hardware parts, and relevant products. Consumer devices like Google Home, phones, and thermostats are some of the standard devices that the suppliers are in charge of producing.

The supplier base is continuously growing with the expansion of services the company provides, which as well supports the company’s data centers. The supply chain undertakes several manufacturing models that vary from licensing software to the direct contracting of manufacturing companies that build and design the desired products. The significant distinction in the joint venture with suppliers of Google in comparison to other companies in the singular alignment of operations towards fulfilling the company’s values and standards. The responsibility in the supply chain program involves the Google workers and employees of suppliers over the subcontracted companies in more than 20 countries abroad

References

1. Biermann, F., Kanie, N., & Kim, R. E. (2017). Global governance by goal-setting: the novel approach of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26, 26-31.
2. Galpin, T., Whitttington, J. L., & Bell, G. (2015). Is your sustainability strategy sustainable? Creating a culture of sustainability. Corporate Governance, 15(1), 1-17.
3. Google and the corporate social responsibility of companies – 602 Communications. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019, from http://602communications.com/google-corporate-social-responsibility-of-companies/
4. Hilbert, M. (2016). Big data for development: A review of promises and challenges. Development Policy Review, 34(1), 135-174.
5. Miceli, M. (2015). Google tops reputation rankings for corporate responsibility. U. S News.
6. Pollman, E., & Barry, J. M. (2016). Regulatory entrepreneurship. S. Cal. L. Rev., 90, 383.
7. Prado, V., Wender, B. A., &Seager, T. P. (2017). Interpretation of comparative LCAs: external normalization and a method of mutual differences. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 22(12), 2018-2029.
8. Szymańska-Brałkowska, M., &Malinowska, E. (2017).The improvement of the company’s environmental performance through the application of Green Lean/Lean and Green approach.
9. Valet, V. (2019). The World’s Most Reputable Companies For Corporate Responsibility 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2018/10/11/the-worlds-most-reputable-companies-for-corporate-responsibility-2018/#7f9c3db3371e

Internal and External Communication Google’s Strategies

Google needs no introduction, nowadays, billions of people are using internet and searching information and share thoughts via one of the leading search engines, Google across the world.

Google is an American multinational technology company founded in 1998. Google started as small search engine, developed rapidly correlating with the fast development of internet. Today, Google is not only a search engine, Google has wide array of products such as Google Glass, Google fiber internet, Gmail, social networking and even operating software services and lots of services.

Identity and Reputation

Google is a leading technology organization, google kept its brand image by using complicated search algorithm, giving the accurate search results, connecting queries and provide excellent services, all of that at zero cost. Not to mention, providing competitive products and recruiting best talents and following ethical business guidelines has boosted its credibility.

To add more, Google promotes itself as a desired employer, It’s also well known how Google takes care of its employee by providing excellent workspace and tremendous benefits like free food, health and dental care, free haircuts, dry cleaning, subsidized massages, gyms, and even nap pods.

It also builds trust with its stakeholders, keep them informed and involved. Nevertheless, philanthropic activities, charity programs, promoting innovation by grans and funds has increased its popularity.

Internal Communication Strategy

For internal communication Google made an excellent example of best practices for more productive workplace to meet the core values of its vision.

Internal communication is all about sharing information between individuals inside of an organization. But for google it goes beyond the emails and newsletters, ect. Google approach is toto provide the environment for understating between management and the staff that enables engagement and collaboration, and therefore is consistently ranked as a top place to work each year.

To start with, people analytics, by actively listing to team members plus dedicating research teams for gathering data, they eventually used this date to draw proper incentive to each employee and optimize both happiness and performance.

For example, Google research team found that there is enough space to facilitate meeting peers in the office and then they recommended lunch tables for employees to meet their peers during mealtime. Not only that, it looks after the physical health and life quality, since googles were gaining weight after long hours of working food choices by color code, green being most healthy while red is the opposite, plus making salad and healthy choice more easily to reach than the unhealthy ones.

When comes to creativity, Google created physical spaces to enable creativity and encourage innovation like Nap pods and using diner booths for brainstorming.

Another interesting approach was implanted by Google, what came just after the results of research project called ‘Aristotle Project’ to analysis what Google top performers have in common. It was building psychological safe workplace, which make it easier to inspire and deliver a consistent message through internal communication.

External Communication Strategy

Google has To enhance its image as technology leader like televisions, websites and social media, not to forget the recruiting campaigns, universities career centers and career fairs along with universities activity sponsoring.

Google is a multinational organization that deal with Stakeholders across the world, who can affect the Google’s policies and influence its strategies. Stakeholders can be investors, employee, governments, directors, eg.

Google identify and prioritize stakeholders, address the interests of its stakeholders through appropriate corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies based on international standards and expectations. It is important to serve every stakeholder as this determine the popularity of the organization and define its business value.

For example, Google provide spectacular care for its employee which are which are the major stakeholder, salaries, long term job developments, different perks, ideal workplace, rewards and compensating, safety measures and health insurance.

Moreover, investors are to be serve at their best interest by Google, they are assured that the profit of the company is growing, provide shared price growth as well. Plus that, investor get to have financial asses whenever needed.

Major consumers are also one of the major stakeholders, where large portion of Google’s revenue depend on them. So, it provides reliable products/serves quality with availability of 24 hours customer services. For example, online advertisement, google tries ensure satisfaction by maximizing effectiveness, increasing online campaigns reach and promote the products by different strategies.

Recommedation

1. I recommend evaluating the external communication through communications audit including randomly selected groups and apply questionnaires to internet users.
2. Also, media monitoring, the tone of voice (positive, negative or neutral) will be crucial and it will enhance the company popularity.
3. Several issues related to privacy violation has pop up recently, and has raised a serious concern by storing users personal information and use access to connect the interest, needs and intents to relate to their search queries and create a database for their use later or to do its own research. This has shaken Google’s image, since because user assume secrecy. I recommend reviewing the privacy policy of the company.

Vision, Goals, Objectives, Strengths and Weaknesses of Google

Google came into existence more than 20 years ago on the 4th of September 1998. Google was created by two friends named Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They found Google when they were completing their Ph.D. at the Stanford University in California. The headquarters of Google is located in California, United States. Google was actually known as Backrub when it was initially founded. Together Larry Page and Sergey Brin own 14% of Google’s shares. Sundar Pichai is the current CEO of Google. In 2013, the company won ‘Overall Brand of the Year’ and ‘Ad of the Year’ awards for their success from a television and video analytics firm called Ace Metrix. This company was built around the idea that work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. The main aim of this company was to provide the best possible information about what a person searched for. In 2001, Google made its first international office in Tokyo. Google Images was also launched in 2001. There are over 150 million Internet searches that Google handles per day. The company has increased the number of language versions to 15. In 2004, Google launched Gmail and bought a digital mapping firm named Keyhole which later became Google Earth. The famous browser Google Chrome was launched 2008. Mobile games became a trend in 2012 and so Google launched its own Google Play from which games could be downloaded on phones and iPads. At one point Google’s parent company known as Alphabet was the most profitable company in the world making $4.9 billion in the last 3 months of 2015. Nowadays it is the 9th most profitable company in the world making almost $78 billion this annual year.

Vision

Google’s main objective or vision statement is to organize all of the data in the world and make it accessible for everyone in a useful way. Google also has an unofficial motto which is to avoid being evil. The company focuses on quick search for people looking to find out information on any sort of topic. It also has a chatting function in its email service called Gmail. The site Google+ is part of Google’s vision for social media that is available in phones and other devices. Google’s idea of Android phones gives its user’s free access to Google Maps which provides navigation. Google is also involved in other fields as well, such as the Google cars that operate on their own. This is part of Google’s vision for the future where cars drive themselves and people sitting in the car can focus on more productive activities. The Google Chrome web browser is part of the company’s vision of having their own browser which gives people access to features online. The company has even begun a new project called ‘Calico’, that is focused on creating a healthier future for all of humanity.

Goals and Objectives

One of Google’s main goals is to organize the world’s information and make it available and helpful to all people around the world. Every day thousands of users search for information that can be useful for them on one web browser. Google owns more than 70% of America’s online search market. Another objective of Google is to produce the best possible solutions to your questions. Whether you are looking for answers or products, the first place you think to look at would be Google. Nowadays people even look for directions to a certain place on Google. It is amazing that what you are looking for is available on Google and you can get that information in only a few seconds. This is possible because of all the algorithms that search through a huge database containing billions of websites, links, publications etc. One of Google’s goals is to constantly update its algorithms to have information on the new day to day events happening around the world. Google’s reputation is based on the great quality of information it gives. To maintain this reputation it does not rank a website that it doesn’t trust. When it doesn’t rank a website, the website does not appear when searched about that particular information. Google does not care who makes the website or whether the person/business making the website profits or not. It only cares about promoting the websites it trusts.

SWOT Analysis

1. Strengths. They have got a strong brand image and it is well known by most people around the world. They have a large and diversified business as they have been around for more than 20 years.
2. Weaknesses. They depend too much on the Internet and not all countries have access to the Internet. They have got very little physical presence since they are an online based business. They haven’t made enough products people want.
3. Opportunities. They can exploit the current trend of increased mobile usage by offering mobile-friendly products.
4. Threats. They have got some tough competition. Other firms can copy Google’s products.

This shows that Google has got important strengths that most companies around the world wish they had. To address its weaknesses, the company must improve its physical presence through promotions and opening more physical stores. The company has opened stores in UK but now the need to go worldwide. Based on this SWOT analysis, the company must make efforts against the threats of competition and copying of their work. Google can expect better performance when they address the issues mentioned in this SWOT analysis.

Google’s Main Management Functions

Google Company were officially launched in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as the founders of Google. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were the student at Stanford University in California and it is founded by both of them at September 4, 1998 in Menlo Park, California, United State. The first search algorithm that had been developed in 1996 is known as ‘BackRub’. After that, in 2003 the search engine were soon proved successful and finally settling in Mountain View, California, United States. The company making its initial public offering in 2004 because of the market rapid growth. Next, in 2002, the company launched Google News and Google Maps in 2005. It is continue with Google Chrome in 2008 and the social network were known as Google+ in 2011 but it had been shut down in April 2019.

The Google become the main subsidiary of holding company such as Alphabet Inc. the search result started to be personalized in 2005 as the search engine had went thorugh numerous updates in attempts to combat search engine optimize abuse, provide dynamic updating result and make the indexing system rapid and flexible. For this any years, Google has engaged in partnership in many company such as NASA, AOL, Sun Microsystems, News Corporation, Sky UK and many other company. Google.org has set up in 2005 as a charitable offshoot and in 2006, the Google has involved in a legal dispute in US over a court order to disclose the URLs and search strings. With that, the company has been subject of tax avoidance investigations in the UK.

The ‘Google’ name were originated from the misspelling of ‘googol’, which is the ‘googol’ refers to the numbers that represented by a 1 and followed by one-hundred zeros. Larry Page and Sergey Brin choose that name because it fits with their goal that they want to build a very large-scale search engines. The full name of Google is Global Organization of Oriented Group Language of Earth. There is a lot of confusion about if Google has a full form or it is just a word created by the founder of Google. After all these years, the tittle chief executive officer (CEO) has been hold by a man that called Pichai Sundararajan. He is an Indian American business executive and an engineer. Pichai’s current role which is Product Chief of Google was announced on August 10, 2015. As the restructuring process that he made to Alphabet Inc. in get it into Google’s parent company, he assumed the position of chief executive officer on October 2, 2015.

Google LLC is an American multinational technology company and it is specialize were in internet related services and products, that include online advertising technologies, cloud computing, search engines, software, and hardware. Google LLC is considered as one of the Big Four technology companies, alongside with the Apple, Amazon and Facebook. YouTube is one of the subsidiaries in Google and with it, there is Google.org, DoubleClick, Google AdMob, Google Nest, FeedBurner and many more.

Planning

Larry Page plans to invent wild ideas that help humanity and at the same time invent something that get themselves to adopt by the users at the very early stage when Google first come out to the world. He used the corporate structure to gain profit and keep inventing new things which were what he was looking for from his invention. He kept on to improve Google by continuing to create more new ideas and new features in order to reach his goal. One of the best things about him is he always improves and improvises every time along with the workers. That is why he became one of the famous persons in the world with his creation. The way that Larry Page use to continuously improve Google is working faster. He collaborates with the executives to make quick choices on something.

Organizing

After google starting to introduce to the world, Larry Page put his effort in organizing Google to make it better. Larry Page took on many projects at a time and managed to sharing his focus equally on each project. For example, Google digitization of books actually took him 6 years to complete it. He focuses on the things he works on because he believes that focusing on the right things can helps to bigger see the picture, create outstanding ideas and find different ways to expand and improve them. Larry Page unsatisfied toward some big companies who only do one thing continuously. That is because he thinks that with more people and resources we have, the more we are able to do, to solve, and to achieve. Larry Page puts Google’s key executives to in charge in different individual product team’s which function to have them report to him later on. These are the trusted executives because they are able to make decisions to make sure they bring benefit to Google.

Leading

Larry Page has is a unique and democratic leader when it comes to leading, which make him a leader that value his employee’s opinions and ideas. He always encourages young employees to think and come out with crazier and adventurous ideas because he believes that these crazy ideas could end up involve into something even amazing or better, he believes those are the ideas that could really change the world. He inspires and values his employees by giving what is the best thing what he can gave to them and he also pay attention or care the health of his employees. This is because he believes that if people are happier, they are going to be more productive. Larry Page avoids to be an autocratic leader, he builds his team to gather more insight and ideas to help Google grow bigger. Besides, Larry Page not just insists on being involved in hiring and interviewing new employees, but he also continuously to seek thousands of brilliant and excellent graduates to join Google’s team.

Controlling

Google Inc. is a famous search engine in the current era. One of the management functions used by Google is controlling its employees. Controlling can be defined as the process of comparing the actual performance against the standards and taking corrective action when necessary (Williams & McWilliams, 2010, page. 319). Google Inc. uses three basic control methods in a combination which is feedback control, concurrent control and feed forward control to take corrective actions.

Larry Page took over as the Chief Executive Officer of Google only for a couple years but manage to make Google evolve quicker, more disciplined and bolder. He focuses on things that will bring big impact and effect. Not just that, he also focuses on and invests in his employee’s creative ideas instead of repeatedly doing the same thing continuously like some of the big companies. Larry always pay attention and put in effort onto his employee’s first and constantly inspire and encourage them to think big, create ideas that are out of the box, so he can improve Google’ services. That is the reason why Larry Page is a manager that succeed not only in business wise, but also as a excellent leader in the business world.

Establishing accurate standard of performance is the first step in the process of controlling. This is the most important step in controlling as it sets a direction for the team and allows them to take an action which will help them to achieve the goal. The goals created must to be realistic, achievable, detailed and include the duration of the plan. This is because it will give a clear of direction to the employees. Beside, every goals created should be given a deadline so that the employees will be more committed into achieving the goals. In Google, the main goal of the company is always focusing on innovation. Therefore in Google, there is a rule called ‘20% time’, where the employees are allowed to spend one day in a week to do their side project. Google will be able to collect innovative ideas from their employees and allow them to pursue their idea. In this way, Google will be an investor company where they develop more advanced technology that show how innovative Google is.

The next step after setting goals for the company is to measure performance and take necessary corrective action. This step will able to ensure that everything goes smoothly at all time. By measuring the performance of a company, manager is able to know where the company stands. By using this information, manager will be able to plan out a corrective action needed for the employees to achieve the standards. In this way, manager is able to get the best output from the employees or at least meet the standard given. In Google, employees will be given survey about their manager frequently to differentiate who is the best manager and the worst manager. The worst manager will be subjected intense coaching which will help them to improve. Therefore, Google will be able to control the quality of their manager.

Google have performed that their controlling is not control their employees in a very strict mode as they are promoting innovation to their employees. In fact, the employees are given 20% of their working hour to do their side project indicate that the employees are granted freedom and space to express their creativity and innovative. Therefore, it can be concluded that Google is a non-hierarchy corporation.

Detailed Google’s Business Overview

Google is a multinational technology company which specializes in Internet-related products and services, which include search engine, software and hardware, cloud computing and online commercials. It is one of Big Four technology companies. Google has dominated the search engine market, maintaining at least 80 percent market for many years.

For sure Google can provide the best searching experience for customers, so that they don’t have strong competitors. Google also expanded its services to mail in the past years. The result is Gmail is now the most widely used email around the world. Besides, Google also holds the world’s largest video websites YouTube and the most popular system of mobile phones. However, the main profit the company makes is from the advertisement.

SWOT Analysis

On the one hand, the strengths of this company are very obvious. First it is a market leader in search engines. Second, it has the ability to generate user traffic. Third, it has a good revenue from advertising. Fourth, it holds the most popular operating system Android. Fifth, Google is probably the best-known company for pioneering the search engine revolution in the world. On the other hand, some people complain about weaknesses such as falling ad rates, lack of compatibility with next generation devices, excessive reliance on secrecy, privacy disclosure or overdependence on advertising. Furthermore, there are some opportunities for Google, it can have a great development on Android operating system, cloud computing, Google play software market, pixel phones and other diversified non-ads business model. Also, the company are facing some threats from mobile phone manufactories like Apple or Huawei, advising provider like Facebook or other social media, other search engines like Bing or some in-app search engines, video website like Netflix or online shopping website like Amazon.

Planning Tools

Google are using strategic plan which means high-level managers will design and execute strategic plans to paint a picture of the future and long-term goals for the company. That is to say, strategic plans look ahead to where the organization wants to be in three, five, even ten years. They use a strategy for organizing and coordinating technology management across the entire enterprise. It is a set of management practices, tools, organizational structures and technology governance designed to ensure that the use of technology is optimized across the enterprise with the overarching aim of satisfying customer needs and expectations. They understand that they need to challenge not only their competitors but also themselves in order to constantly improve their customers view and their ability to meet market demand.

Policy & Procedures

Google ‘s purpose is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Its creed is ‘Don’t be evil’. To keep things under control, Google makes sure they have control environment, because the control environment is the foundation for the other internal control components and sets the overall tone of the organization. Then they need to do risk assessment, which should be performed at a high level of the organization as a whole, as well as at each individual division and department. An internal control evaluation could also unveil fraudulent activity or misappropriation of income or assets that is occurring within your organization. Finally you should do some control activities to reduce the risk.

Some useful tools that can be used are calendar management and communication. They write down everything that they have to do so that they won’t forget or miss. In addition, communicating with others can absolutely improve productivity.

Organization Structure

Google has a cross-functional organizational structure, which means a matrix corporate structure with a considerable degree of flatness. It is a structural feature that supports the company’s competitiveness. Google’s corporate structure uses function for grouping employees. For instance, the company has a Sales Operations group, an Engineering & Design group, and a Product Management group, and so on. The business also uses products for grouping employees. Another example is the company groups employees for developing Pixel devices. In addition, the company’s corporate structure has considerable flatness. A flat organizational structure shows that Google’s employees, teams or groups can pass by low management and communicate directly with higher management. Based on the flatness of the corporate structure, staffs can meet and share information across teams.

Application Process

The Google Hiring Process can be divided into 5 steps, the application, the interviews, the review, the background check, employee onboarding. Google has turned its hiring process into a machine – no surprise for a company that built the ultimate search engine. The process presents a general rubric business can use to establish their own hiring, screening, and onboarding processes. While Google is much bigger than the average employer, the benefits of the company’s strategies – from its multi-faceted background check to its nurturing onboarding process – can be applied at virtually any level.

Leadership

Larry Page is a democratic leader. He urges employees to believe in crazy ideas that seem to be impossible when people first hear. He also strives to work quickly and encourages decisions to be made. Besides, he is an introvert, which means he is always willing to hear creative ideas from others. Furthermore, Larry tries to avoid an autocratic way of leading by building his team to gather more insight and ideas to help Google grow. He uses a transformational leadership theory. He tries to change something in his business and he often encourage people to have crazy ideas. He does’t want to follow the old way to manage his employees. The advantages about his behaviors are staff in Google can feel respectful and contribute more ideas to their company. On the other hand, too much meetings or discussion may waste a lot of time.

Communication Tools

Social intranet software can be one of the communication tools. Each organization goes through or transition where it becomes clear its internal communications are failing. Too often with your department, the approach is to press forward with technology without asking why it’s being done. However, after looking out for a few symptoms within your organization, you may have a pretty good idea about what you need to do. Private, group messaging, and chat tools can be also considered. Staffs and project teams need collaboration tools to help them work together more efficiently. Without a platform to collaborate, it becomes difficult for members to share ideas and keep tabs on group progress. Emails often get lost, unread, or threads become frustratingly long. Providing an easy way for your teams to communicate brings members together and helps them be more productive.

Conflict Resolution Techniques

We can always solve problems through following steps, Listen, then speak out, gather the group, being impartial, do not postpone conflict resolution, promote teamwork and broadcast praise. Using conflict resolution strategies in the workplace will help maintain a healthy work environment. Conflict resolution requires specific leadership skills, problem solving abilities and decision making skills.

Compensation Tools

Labor market analysis is a good compensation tool. The results of market survey analysis, recruitment and retention indicators, availability of funds, and internal equity/alignment issues are all considered in establishing or adjusting salary ranges. These factors are of equal importance when used by managers in making pay adjustments. In response to proposals to improve our classification and pay systems, refinement of our survey methods, identification of appropriate labor markets and market trends, and solicitation of feedback from managers will be an on-going process at the University of California, Merced.

Financial Analysis

As of 2018, Google is expanding its core business and has several ambitious projects in the works. Potential future business segments for the company include smart devices, human longevity research and urban infrastructure. These projects, however, remain in various phases of research and development and do not generate significant revenue. Financial ratios represent an effective method for analyzing a company’s core business. The following financial ratios indicate how Google’s core business is performing as of Q2 2018. (this paragraph is copied) So basically, we can say that Google is a potential company.

Advanced Computing Models: Comparative Analysis of Google and Microsoft

Introduction

For the final paper and some discussion with Professor Ivanov, I have decided on writing a comparison piece of Microsoft and Google cloud services. Throughout the semester, we have covered many topics related to cloud computing. Many of which were strange and foreign land to me and I worked hard to navigate through the terminology to make connections. For the remainder of this paper, I will do my best to compare Microsoft and Google, I will also try to focus on the differences between the two. That is a crucial component when deciding which company to choose.

Productivity

In chapter 16 of the “Cloud Computing Bible”, it talks of productivity software. According to the text, “office productivity software is one of the most important categories of applications in use today. A vast majority of desktop computers have the applications that comprise office suites installed on their systems. Word processors, spreadsheets, presentation programs, and other programs that are typically bundled together by vendors such as Apple, Microsoft, Corel, IBM Lotus, Oracle/Sun, and others in their office suites are the most heavily used applications, with the exception perhaps of your system’s browser” (Sosinsky, 2011).

For this purposes of this course as well as this assignment, we are talking about cloud based services and applications. The above programs are locally installed software on the user’s computer. What about versions of productivity software that is cloud based? Two major online productivity software packages are from Microsoft and Google. Microsoft offers Microsoft Office 365. Office 365 is a line of subscription services offered by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft Office product line. The brand allows use of the Microsoft Office software suite over the life of the subscription, as well as cloud based software as a service products for business environments. All Office 365 plans include automatic updates to their respective software at no additional charge, as opposed to conventional licenses for these programs, where new versions require purchase of a new license.

Google offers a similar package to users. G Suite is a brand of cloud computing, productivity, and collaboration tools, software, and products developed by Google. G Suite comprises Gmail, Hangouts (video chat), Calendar, Drive for storage, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Sites for collaboration; and, depending on the plan, an Admin panel and Vault for managing users and the services. It also includes the digital interactive whiteboard Jamboard and the app development platform App Maker. Google’s G Suite offers similar functionality to Microsoft Office. Many use G Suite today as their preferred productivity software because of the cost savings along with the ease of use.

Each vendor has a unique slant on the capabilities that it is providing and what its vision of office software in the cloud will be (Sosinsky, 2011). Personally, I work for a school district and we use G Suite for Education. Both students and staff use it daily. Because G Suite is cloud based, this has allowed us to almost completely replace our inventory of Windows machines with Chromebooks. This has come as a huge cost savings to the district and allows for a lot of flexibility of use both inside and outside of the classroom.

Email

Email services are among the most popular services today with major services having hundreds of millions of user accounts. Email services were some of the earliest forms of emerging technology and I think are very vital! I personally have four email accounts between home, work, and school. Many email services are free, and the rest are generally modestly priced. Browser based email is one of the great success stories of the internet. It is the prototypical Software as a Service (SaaS) application (Sosinsky, 2011).

There are two major email services that I would like to talk about. The first is Gmail. Gmail is a free web-based email service currently being offered from Google. At the time of its initial offering, Gmail allowed up to 1GB of free storage when competitors would allow for their free customers to have only a few megabytes of storage for their accounts (Sosinsky, 2011). Today Gmail’s free accounts come with up to 7.48GB of free storage (Sosinsky, 2011). At my work, we use Gmail as our email service as we use G Suite for Education. It allows for students and staff to access their school email from virtually anywhere with an internet connections through any of Google’s means to access Gmail. For example, many of us access our Gmail through the app on our phones when we are not in school.

Microsoft has there own email service which is called Outlook. Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. Although often used mainly as an email application, it also includes a calendar, task manager, contact manager, note taking, journal, and web browsing. It can be used as a stand-alone application or can work with Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SharePoint Server for multiple users in an organization, such as shared mailboxes and calendars, Exchange public folders, SharePoint lists, and meeting schedules. Microsoft has also released mobile applications for most mobile platforms, including iOS and Android.

Differences

There are some major differences in Microsoft and Google that are often overlooked when considering which to choose. They both seem to offer great services. Sometimes it’s the underlying operations of each company that prove to be the big difference. Let’s talk about that more in depth. Microsoft is a software company. There goal is simple, Microsoft’s policy is to use your data for just what you pay us for, to maintain and provide Microsoft Online Services. We make it our policy to not use it for other purposes. Our business services are designed and operated completely separate from Microsoft’s consumer services. While some data may be stored or processed on systems used both for consumer and business services, business services data is not shared with systems used for advertising.

Google is quite different. They are in essence an advertising company. In order to use Microsoft, a purchase is required. Google offers their services for free. To that aim, ultimately their incentive is to collect as much of your data – emails, documents, files, calendar entries, and conversations – as they can to learn more about you, making their advertising more effective. And you just have to look at Google’s Terms of Service to see this in action. “When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations, or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights that you grant in this licence are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This licence continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing that you have added to Google Maps)”.

Business and Education Applications

Google has so many amazing tools that teachers use every single day! The most used is Gmail of course!! We also use Docs, Sheets, Drive, Slides, and Hangouts almost everyday. A lot of these tools are similar to Microsoft Office but offer a chance to share a collaborate within these web based programs. Within the last few years, Google has really made advances in creating education based online tools. Our staff is just getting started in using Google classroom as an everyday tool! There are many other online applications that users can access and use to their advantage. The biggest take away is a couple things. Data is automatically saved. You don’t have to worry about losing any of your work! Google services are all we based so you can access your work from anywhere! Finally, you can share and collaborate with other people in live time. This makes projects and assignments much faster! Collaboration is key for schools and businesses. The fact that all of Google’s services are bundled and work seamlessly together make them very marketable to these institutions. Let’s not forget the services are free!

With Office 365, organizations get to continue using the same software they’ve been using for years – Outlook, Word, Excel, etc. The key difference is Microsoft manages it all, which removes the burden of that off the organization. Being that Office 365 is in the cloud like Google, accessing necessary information has never been easier. All you need is a computer or other mobile device with an Internet connection to get what you need when you need it. Any changes to documents or other resources are saved and backed up automatically, and collaborating on a document or project in real time is a breeze. Since Microsoft products are so popular and most people have experience using them. Switching to and navigating Office 365 is seamless!

References:

1. Gmail – Free Storage and Email from Google. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/gmail/about/
2. https://gsuite.google.com/
3. K12 Solutions for Classrooms of Every Size and Budget | Google for Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://edu.google.com/k-12-solutions/?modal_active=none
4. Microsoft 365 Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/buy-license/microsoft365
5. NIST.gov. https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-cloud-computing-program-nccp#
6. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en-US
7. Sosinsky, B. (2011). Cloud computing bible. Indianapolis: Wiley.
8. The Biggest Difference Between Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365. (2015, May 03). Retrieved from https://www.evantage-technology.com/the-biggest-difference-between-google-apps-and-microsoft-office-365/
9. What is Microsoft Office 365 for business | FAQs. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://products.office.com/en-us/business/microsoft-office-365-frequently-asked-questions