The articles here are addressing the future plans that Google has in venturing into new markets where it would be able to compete with other companies that are taking the internet and digital technology by storm. Apple Inc. for instance is expanding very fast having launched the iphone, iTunes and lately the iPod. The firms seem to be dominating the music business on the internet since it was the highest selling company for music on the internet. Google also plans to venture into travel business where it would be able to offer information concerning flights of certain traveling companies and the costs so that customers can be able to make comparisons on the internet and seeking firms to use for their services in addition to buying tickets on-line. Google Internet TV, though mentioned earlier in the goggles plans, has not been fully implemented. The company states that Google TV would be up soon. On the other hand, the news highlights some of the clashes that Google has had with other competing companies as it seeks its way to the top again. It has been implicated in some anticompetitive adverts on the internet. For instance, Navx was taken out of the Google sites without consent.
How are the two Articles linked?
The articles are linked in that they all address the strategies, challenges and other issues that have been affecting goggle as it struggles to take over the internet business. Google has been very dominant for so long and currently, other companies like yahoo, Apple Inc among others have been making tremendous improvements into areas that Google had not ventured (Efrati & Chon para. 4). Currently, Google is planning to get into music business on the internet; this is a strategy to counter the iTunes, a product from Apple Inc which is doing very well in the American market. The objective of Google to expand has brought about a lot of issues on the internet market causing conflicts of browsers, problems in advert placement, anticompetitive accusations. Additionally, it has led to the introduction of new venture like Internet TV, travel business and the internet music business. These ventures are all instigated by the fact that Google is struggling to keep up with competition.
Googles Strategy
Google probably lacks a defined strategy of implementing its plan. This could be the reason why its been involved in conflicts with other companies over issues like browser wars, anticompetitive adverts and other conflicts. Google has been seeking firms to collaborate with in order to bring music into the internet market. The Google music store is bound to cause tension with software giant; Apple Inc. In order to challenge Apples iphone, Google launched the Android software. However, Apple being very inventive, it hit back by re-inventing the iphone and introducing new gadgets such as the iPad.
Googles tactic is to try and offer alternative services and products as those being offered by its competitors. This is why the company wants to launch iLike which will become a music store like iTunes from Apple Inc. The company is also venturing into the travel market. It plans to beat its competitors by allowing customers to book their tickets directly form the internet. This is not offered by other service providers like Expedis, Priceline and Orbitz. Google will make travel booking very easy. This is a direct response based on Microsofts Bing. Google has been under pressure from Bing to innovate a travel search engine. However, having stated that it has no plans of getting into this business of selling tickets to customers, Google is thought to have betrayed its customers.
Reactions from other Players
Others companies, clients and government regulatory agents have noted that Google may not be engaged in fair competition or fair business deals because Microsoft has been dominating the desktop software industry while Apple Inc. has been dominating the music and other gadgets. However, Google has been the major internet search engine. In the recent past, it has introduced office processors like word, spreadsheets and other applications in an attempt to beat Microsoft. It has also introduced Google chrome which is set to compete with Mozillas Firefox on internet services. There are plans of launching iLike for music so that iTunes is no longer dominant on the internet music business.
Though Google has some firms that it partners with as it seeks to expand, like Sony and Intel Corp, it has been very controversial in some cases. The French regulatory agents have accused the company of being discriminatory. For instance, Google removed Navx from its ads section without warning. Navx is a firm that offers information on where to find traffic speed cameras and other products such as cheap petrol prices and so on (Colchester para. 3).
Google is also facing charges of anticompetitive behavior against three large competitors. Considering that Google still dominates as the giant search engine and therefore search adverts, it has abused these opportunity. According to Mr. Alumnia of the EU, Google is still being investigated over these allegations. He warned that though Google may has a larger market share, it was not to be termed as being dominant because customers could switch to other service providers (Colchester para. 3). Therefore, Google has to be careful in maintaining its rapport.
Effects of the Conflict in Future
Necessities being the core of innovativeness, other competing companies are on the verge of gaining their own independence and fighting down Googles dominance on the internet service industry. Since the internet is a very crucial tool when it comes to marketing, other service providers may form alliances against Google so that they are not oppressed by one company which wants to control the market. This can already be seen as many service providers are coming up very strongly like Yahoo and Bing.
Works Cited
Colchester, Max. French Regulator Rules against Google in Ad Case. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 2010.
Efrati, Amir and Chon, Gina. Googles Empire Expand to Travel. Dow Jones & Company, 2010.
Tech companies around the world try to outdo one another in coming up with new technologies. For that reason, these companies set aside a large share of their revenue for research and development (R&D). Startups and established organizations also get financial support from governments and NGOs, which helps in advancing recent technologies in various fields. Google is one such tech companies at the forefront of R&D and innovations. According to Googles official website, its mission statement is organizing the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful. In contrast, the vision statement reads, to provide access to the worlds information in one click. In line with the mission and vision statements, Alphabet, Googles parent company, spent over $26 billion in R&D (Statista, 2020) that aims to develop new technologies aimed at making the worlds information accessible. Such investment has helped Google develop some of the most interesting innovations that are helping people across the globe. For instance, Googles search engine is the most popular and is widely used all over the world. This paper aims to describe some of these innovations from Google and examine how they impact people.
Self-Driving Automobile
The first automobile invention fully relied on humans for control and driving tasks. However, over the years, companies began manufacturing vehicles with automated driving tasks, such as the shifting of gears, starting the engine, and opening/closing doors and windows. Later on, companies like Google developed a fully self-driving automobile. According to Memon et al. (2016), Google began developing self-driving cars in the year 2009. This innovation incorporated various devices, including multiple sensors, global positioning systems (GPS), lasers, and radars, that help with navigation. This type of self-driving car was ready for road testing by 2012, and it required the driver to be present and would take control of the vehicle whenever possible. In 2014, Google introduced a driverless car, which was fully automated and did not include steering wheels or pedals (Memon et al., 2016). In 2015, the car was tested on roads and had been used in various areas around the world.
A driverless car is an advancing technology that involves many risks. Like other automated machines, a fully autonomous vehicle can hang, leading to disastrous accidents. However, a study by Teoh and Kidd (2017) revealed that Googles self-driving cars made fewer accidents compared to humans. Nonetheless, there are notable challenges experienced when using auto-pilot vehicles. For instance, in some autonomous cars, the drivers are advised to monitor the environment when the vehicle is self-driving, which would allow humans to take control to avoid an accident should the machine fail (Teoh & Kidd, 2017). The problem is that humans might become over-reliant on technology, thus failing to recognize when to take control of the vehicle. This problem might be addressed by making the automobile fully autonomous. That is, the cars should take over all the driving tasks and remove the need for human control, which would eliminate the confusion.
The second challenge affecting the implementation of these vehicles is the cost. Currently, the cost of manufacturing a single car goes over tens of thousands because the technology and components used are expensive (Lari, Douma, & Onyiah, 2015). The company can invest in the in-house development of some components or outsource to others at a cheaper rate. However, as technology grows, the cost of implementation will decline with higher production. Finally, autonomous vehicles raise some legal and policy issues, especially concerning privacy, liability, and insurance rules (Lari et al., 2015). Federal and local states should make laws that address this problem. In doing so, the government should involve all the relevant stakeholders, including people, to ensure the policies created are comprehensive. Addressing these issues will help the smooth adoption of self-driving cars on roads.
The introduction of the self-driving automobile will reduce car accidents. According to Bailey (2014), more than 90% of accidents are caused by human-related errors. These accidents could be caused by driving under the influence, drowsiness, and slow reaction speed. Therefore, I believe that the introduction of autonomous vehicles will reduce accidents, as shown by Laro et al. (2015) and Teoh and Kidds (2017) studies. The auto-brake/stop functions will help brake the car in case of an obstacle at a faster rate than humans. Additionally, I believe that the multiple sensors and radars on these vehicles will help identify barriers from a distance, enabling the car to react normally to avoid accidents, something that a tired human might not be able to control. Therefore, I believe that it is safer to replace human-drivers with computer-drivers.
Project Wing
The growth in online shopping created the need for safe, fast, and convenient delivery services all over the world. As a result, Google identified the market gap and ventured into the project wing. According to Heath (2018), Google publicly announced project wing in 2014, whose primary purpose is building delivery drones. The drones are autonomous aircraft that are used to transport a wide range of products from hardware to emergency medicines. This project was first tested in California and Australia. The project works this way; a fleet of drones is designated in an area where they collect packages from specific businesses and transports it to the clients homes. These unmanned vehicles use the GPS, and they lower the packages on the designated spots like at the backyard or doorstep.
The drones are expensive to construct and are complex to manage. The article by Heath (2018) revealed that these drones carry a maximum load of 1.5 kilograms due to the weight of redundant components. The load carried by drones and the amount of money it takes to construct and run might lead to enormous losses for the company. The solution to this problem could include researching on ways to make the drones lighter for them to carry bigger loads. Additionally, there are potential legal and policy problems associated with the use of delivery drones. For instance, the FAA Part 107 that covers Drone Regulations prohibit air carrier transportation (Ruppercht Law, 2020). As a result, drones might not be allowed to carry products from one state to another or operate within air transportation/aviation paths. This problem can be addressed by having a drone compliance team where only companies that meet the design standards are allowed to deploy.
Nonetheless, there are moral and ethical concerns associated with delivery drones. People are afraid that hacking on a drone would lead to more accidents, especially when it crashes. Furthermore, hacking would reveal the people or residents where products are being delivered, which can lead to targeted theft or attacks. Also linked with security breaches, the drones could be fitted with cameras that spy on an area, and such data might be used to manipulate or attack people. These problems can be addressed with ways such as ensuring that footage recorded during the delivery of a product is well encrypted and should only be stored for a maximum of seven days.
The introduction of drones could lead to positive environmental impacts. According to OConnell-Domenech (2018), medium and heavy-duty delivery trucks release about 415 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The reason is that these trucks are mainly powered by oil. On the other hand, drones use a varied source of energy, mainly lithium batteries, which would reduce the harmful environmental impacts. Additionally, these impacts could further be reduced should delivery companies adopt energy-efficient programs, like solar-powered drones. Despite the above-highlighted challenges, the delivery drones are faster, covering a distance of 6 miles in six minutes ( Wing, n.d.), making them a fast and convenient way to supply products, especially in case of an emergency. I believe that, when the privacy concerns are adequately addressed, delivery drones would be the better technology for supplying products. This is because drones can reduce harmful environmental effects, thus addressing global warming issues.
Home Automation and Smart Thermostats
Many computing devices for personal and home use are smart. These devices are essential in doing simpler home tasks, which can offset time for an individual to perform other duties. However, these devices need to be managed for them to function efficiently. Therefore, Google has developed a wide variety of smart and automated devices that simplify your life. Home automation devices developed by Google range from smart cameras, thermostats, alarm systems, doorbells, lock, as well as smoke and monoxide detection ( Nest, n.d.). These devices are designed to adapt to the users needs, especially the smart thermostat. According to Grano (2020), a smart thermostat can within a week, learn how warm you like the room and warm. It then regulates the temperature of the house when you are in the house and lowers when you step out, subsequently saving energy. The smart cameras are equipped with facial recognition features that help in scaring off intruders, communicating with family members at home, and stores videos history in the cloud for 30 days (Grano, 2020). As a result, you can review the videos, obtain evidence when needed, or create clips and share entertaining clips.
Smart devices are Internet-based, which exposes homes to common attacks targeting networks. Zeng, Mare, and Roesner (2017) noted that privacy risks and unreliable devices are the main issues affecting the implementation of smart homes. These intelligent devices monitor your every move within the house, including when you wake up, who visits you and when, the food you like, which can easily gather personal information such as the location, users presence, and behavior. Such invasion of privacy is harmful, mainly because these systems can be hacked, thus leaking personally identifiable information. Further, smart systems make it easier for attackers to eavesdrop and obtain video footage of peoples homes that can be sold in black-markets or used to blackmail people. For instance, the recent Mirai malware targeted smart devices and turned them into botnets, causing distributed denial of services attacks (Zeng et al., 2017). Some mitigation strategies can help improve the implementation of these devices. They include advising users to separate the smart home devices from the main network, blocking certain networks and traffic from accessing the network, encrypting all data collected, and using firewall or intrusion detection systems. Further, Google should make the users fully aware of how and what data is collected and stored, as well as to who and under what circumstances the information is shared.
Smart home devices are essential in performing a wide range of activities. One, I believe that home automation devices will increase physical safety in residents and offices. These devices include smart door locks that use unique ID or biometric features, security systems that detect and scare off intruders, as well as smoke detectors. Secondly, they can improve productivity by automating small tasks such as adjusting the lights, air quality, water and room temperature in the house. Additionally, someone can make a distress call in case of an emergency by yelling a specific phrase, thus boosting safety at home. These devices can also clean the house. In summary, I believe that smart home automation devices are useful, but the privacy risks involved are many. Therefore, I think it should only be adopted under special circumstances, like monitoring babies, the elderly, and sick patients that need special care.
Renewable Energy and Sustainable Solutions
There are widespread calls for energy conservation and sustainable environment policies. Google is one of the companies that consume a lot of energy used to power the data centers storing and processing large data volumes (Hölzle, n.d.). Such energy is necessary to power YouTube and Google search engine, among other products supplied by the company. As a result, finding sustainable ways to obtain energy is one big step forward towards the elimination of pollution. Therefore, from 2010, Hölzle (n.d.) noted that the company began with a purchase of 114-megawatt wind farm in Iowa. That helped in powering offices and data centers in the area. In 2017, Google became the first company of its size to match the entire annual electricity consumption with renewable energy (Pichai, 2019). In doing so, the company became the most significant corporate buyer of renewable energy worldwide and achieved its carbon-neutral policy.
The process involved in generating renewable energy is expensive, which is why many people use non-renewable sources. Kochtcheeva (2016) noted that renewable energy only accounts for about 20% of the final global consumption. Therefore, despite the great efforts, Google is making on renewable energy, most people using crude energy largely contribute to environmental pollution. Perhaps, since Google has the technology and capability, it can supply the excess power generated from solar and wind energy to people within their vicinity. Additionally, the company understands the process required to create renewable energy, which can be applied in developing technical components and technology to be supplied in different parts of the world like Africa, where many people live off-grid. Google can make a big difference for not only creating renewable energy for their consumption but also supplying excess in other consumers at subsidized rates.
Renewable energy and sustainable solutions by Google have several benefits. This form of energy replaces natural gas and fossil-fuels, which negatively harms the environment through the emission of carbon dioxide that causes global warming. With the growing investigation on ways to reduce pollution, many conservationists are encouraging organizations to invest in renewable energy sources. Therefore, Google has performed its duty of creating a sustainable business environment by adopting 100% energy sources in all its plants and offices. As a result, it has helped reduce air and water pollution that would otherwise be emitted by coal or natural gas used in creating electricity. For instance, UCS (2017) noted that pollution costs public health $74.6 billion annually. It can also create jobs for people working in manufacturing, construction, operations and maintenance, and other consulting services in renewable energy generating plants. UCS (2017) noted that the renewable energy sector employs around 100,000 full-time employees. Therefore, to conclude, I fully support this move by Google to adopt renewable energy and sustainable solutions. It has multiple benefits on the environment as opposed to non-renewable energy. The company is also raising awareness on renewable energy consumption as other organizations try to emulate Google in going 100% on renewable energy. Finally, there are no ethical or moral issues associated with this project.
Smart Contact Lenses
Technology in the health sector has led to the development of many wearable devices and software products that help doctors, caregivers, and individuals monitor health and fitness. Google has contributed to this field through the creation of a health metrics system that tracks sleep and exercise. In 2014, Google, in collaboration with Novartis, built smart contact lenses to help diabetic patients (Birch, 2018). The lenses aimed to measure the glucose levels and correct eye problems by utilizing sensors that could track sugar levels collected non-invasively on tears. Park et al. (2018) noted that an ultra-slim microchip is embedded on thin concave sides that collects data about glucose measurements and transmitted using a tiny antenna for analysis. The users would receive data on sugar levels on their smartphones. The developers had considered an LED that would warn users when glucose levels dropped severely, but it was dropped as it proved dangerous on humans.
The two companies encountered some challenges that forced them to drop the smart contact lenses. According to BBC (2018), experts dismissed the technology because tears were proved as infeasible and unreliable in measuring the glucose levels in humans. It has been noted in various research facilities that tears, saliva, and sweat are cannot produce glucose readings because they are easily contaminated by external factors such as humidity and temperature. Another possible problem with this problem is the integration of opaque ultra-thin chips, circuits, and antennas would block users vision. The solution to this would be the application of transparent nanomaterials, which would not obstruct users views. Additionally, people would still be resistant to adopting contact lenses with antennas and chips. For this reason, Google would have to target a specific population that would benefit from the technology.
The technology offered many promising results had Google finished produced the smart contact lenses. The main benefit included helping the diabetic patient monitor their sugar levels and seeking medical attention when low or high. Additionally, it was offering a non-invasive way of measuring glucose levels as opposed to drawing of blood. Therefore, the two companies should find a way out of making the technology work. Correcting the users eyesight is another advantage of this technology. Because it was linked with a smartphone, Google should integrate it to produce augmented reality images for entertainment purposes. However, the technology could have introduced privacy issues and security risks concerning the collection and storage of personal information. The data collected from smart lenses were to be transmitted to servers and results sent on a smartphone. In the case of a security breach, the data could be manipulated, thus giving the users false results that could be fatal in the instance patient inject the wrong dosage of insulin. Finally, the information released by the company did not reveal how the contact lenses would be powered or controlled from overheating. Therefore, in conclusion, I would encourage people to adopt this technology if it worked, especially people living with diabetes. However, I would recommend that they ensure their smartphones are secure as the data collected on their smartphones would be sent there, and access from an outsider would be a violation of privacy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google, as a leading innovator, has made strides in producing technology that simplifies peoples lives. Such technology is made possible by the financial abilities the company has and experienced scientists. All the technologies discussed in this paper are essential and convenient because they offer services that were otherwise harmful to the environment or expensive. For instance, the renewable energy solution has helped in curbing the rise of global warming that has led to droughts and floods in different areas of the world. The technologies also boost security and standard of life for many. However, there are many privacy and security-related issues that would affect the adoption of technology. Google has to find ways of assuring data security to its users for people to enjoy the technology fully.
References
Bailey, R. (2014). The moral case for self-driving cars. Web.
Lari, A., Douma, F., & Onyiah, I. (2015). Self-driving vehicles and policy implications: Current status of autonomous vehicle development and Minnesota policy implications. Minn. JL Sci. & Tech., 16, 735.
Memon, Q., Ahmed, M., Ali, S., Memon, A. R., & Shah, W. (2016). Self-driving and driver relaxing vehicle. In 2016 2nd International Conference on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (ICRAI) (pp. 170-174).
Park, J., Kim, J., Kim, S. Y., Cheong, W. H., Jang, J., Park, Y. G.,& & Lee, J. H. (2018). Soft, smart contact lenses with integrations of wireless circuits, glucose sensors, and displays. Science Advances, 4(1).
Zeng, E., Mare, S., & Roesner, F. (2017). End user security and privacy concerns with smart homes. In Thirteenth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security ({SOUPS} 2017) (pp. 65-80). Web.
One of Carrs main points is that by using the Internet as the source of knowledge, humanity might forget printed books and the importance of intellectual vibrations triggered by words in our minds (63). In other words, deep reading, a part of deep thinking, can be lost, and it is one of the threats of using technologies.
Carr appeals to previous experiences, including the invention of the printing press, which decreased the role of religion, or Richard Foremans saying about the importance of complex inner density that might be substituted by a new culture with low attention to such details (63). These arguments and sources are used because of the similarity of the processes described by them. The emergence of available books changed the world, and nowadays, the Internet makes the same. This process cannot but impact the culture and precondition the emergence of critical changes in mentalities, which means that something vital can be lost. Additionally, Foreman speaks about the heritage of the West as one of the things that are endangered by technologies as they threaten the traditional lifestyle.
In such a way, the choice of these sources and arguments to prove the point seems reasonable. Carr makes his assumptions sound more persuasive because of real-life examples and similar ideas offered by other thinkers. He warns readers that he might be a worrywart and his statements are not necessarily true; however, this point triggers cogitations about the future of books and their role in our lives (Carr 63). Print sources have always been a part of our culture, but today the Internet offers more opportunities to acquire information. It means that Carrs idea about losing a part of our culture can be relevant.
Reference
Carr, Nicholas. Is Google Making Us Stupid? The Atlantic, 2008, pp. 56-63.
With the development of technology and all the new means it brought, writing has changed. The mere process of leaving ink on the paper altered little, although the pixels replaced the paper, and the keyboard substituted the pens. More importantly, the very reason why people continue to write has changed. Ong emphasizes that recognizing writing as an artificial process is praising it since writing is essential for the realization of fuller, interior, human potentials (Ong 59). This paper aims to discuss how modern technologies have become an integral part of everyday life.
Remarkably, Ong says that technologies can be used to transform the mind. The author is sure that writing heightens consciousness, and technology can bring uplifting transformations to the soul through writing. This is because both writing and technology allow for leaving the natural milieu and obtaining a more distant perspective necessary for consciousness (Ong 60). He believes that technologies are natural to humans who tend to create artificial objects and use them to make lives easier and more productive.
These thoughts are particularly interesting if applied to one of the most widespread computer programs Google search. Some critics say that Google makes people stupid, although this is not true. Google allows 24/7 free access to information, and relaying information seems to be the initial purpose of its invention (Carr 89). No less intriguing, with the development of free social relations on the web, browsing power became a new normal. Searching for almost anything online at the most basic level became a quest for power. This form of consuming information was historically considered taboo and seen as detrimental to the reading process (Carr 90). However, now it has become a natural approach to web surfing.
The very concept of power browsing stands out among other related terms and sounds rather convincing. Carr says, In Googles view, information is a kind of commodity, a utilitarian resource that can be mined and processed with industrial efficiency (91). This idea can serve as a case for Google, and, importantly, it brings no critical implications. Prior to reading the article, one could expect to learn new biases against Google and, by extension, against any information acquired through digital means. But the author chose to approach this subject in a fair manner and provide insight into explaining why Google exists.
Additionally, the author has related writing to death by alluding that it is an artificial creation that is invaluable. With the development and advancement of technology, slowly writing is becoming outdated and being replaced by the use of machines. Further, the author alludes that writing fulfills the human consciousness and consequently it is essential for human life, meaning that without life, writing is equally dead since it plays a substantial role in human life the alienation from a natural milieu. Relating writing to death implies that there are increased technological inventions that outperform writing. Writing, therefore, has no future since everything that is currently communicated through writing may be captured and delivered in other ways due to the new technologies.
Thus, it was discussed how modern technologies have become an integral part of everyday life. Writing and searching for information using Google and other digital technologies have become natural. Technology enhances our striving for a better perspective and allows us to uplift our souls. Although sometimes people see Google as a tool for power browsing, this concept should rather be understood as empowerment of nature by artificial inventions rather than domination over it.
Works Cited
Carr, Nicholas. Is Google making us stupid? Teachers College Record 110.14 (2008): 89-94.
Ong, Walter. Writing restructures consciousness. Communication in History. Routledge, 2018. 59-64.
Does the Net make people stupid? This question worries a lot of contemporary internet users. The idea of the digital storage of information and easy access to it was inspiring and promising at the beginning of the introduction of the Internet. It remains relevant to believe that the ability to find and use any information makes people powerful because, as the saying goes, knowledge is power. However, in his article Is Google Making Us Stupid, Nicholas Carr makes a research-based argument that in spite of its technological benefits to learning and rationally using the information available online, the concept of Net has a negative impact on human memory, the way of thinking, and, consequently, intelligence.
Constant usage of online search engines negatively effects human ability to concentrate on one thing. Carr utilizes the first-person perspective writing technique to implement his personal experience that leads to the forming of his opinion on the topic. The author states that he found himself unable to be attentive enough while reading long texts or books with the same involvement and excitements as he used to do before Google. It seems like some external factors distract the wayward brain in search of something else to do (Carr). The results of the Internet behavior study made by University College London showed that the majority of users do not stay long on the sites with periodicals published and tend to hop from one source to another without rereading the material (Carr). The author underlines the importance of this research as the proof of the overall tendency of online users to lose the capacity to concentrate and immerse in a cognitive process.
The thinking mechanism becomes depthless and tends to lose the feature of reflection. Media supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought (Carr). According to the authors point of view, Google does not only give the opportunity to access enormous amounts of information in a few clicks. Its system of data layout influences the very way people think of and analyze the facts. Different sources are interconnected in the Net which is a new type of mind work. As in the net, the brain goes from one idea to another without any thoughtful consideration of their meanings. Such a tendency is not a rare occasion. Many reading literate people confessed that they started thinking differently with the emergence of Google (Carr). This idea implies that people become less independent in their thinking.
The features of memory also change rapidly causing the difficulties in memorizing and learning. The author considers the idea that Net is remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory (Carr). According to this thought, Google becomes a place of safety where one can instantly find any information. That is why, in the users opinions, it is useless to memorize it because once one needs a particular piece of knowledge, he or she can go online and find it. However, the memory is an integral part of any intellectual process. Relying only on the Internet, people lose the opportunity to have an independent scope of expertise.
Losing the habit to memorize information and relying on the internet, people diminish their ability to generate their own thoughts and critically access the ideas of others. Carr refers to Maryanne Wolf, a specialist in developmental psychology, who studied the relations between reading and cognitive skills. She stated that deep reading forces the brain to make rich mental connections and retrieve implied senses encoded in the text (Carr). Without constant intellectual practice, the mind loses its flexibility. Consequently, people look for the easy way of retrieving the information becoming dependant on the thoughts of others.
The society of the modern world feels the inevitable impact of the Internet and changes according to its system of work. The author uses emotionally colored language to underline that the crazy quilt of Internet media shapes peoples attitudes to everything that happens around them (Carr). The way people act also adjusts to the way the Web functions. It is observed in the reduced text messages, popular abbreviations, shortened headings of the newspaper articles (Carr). People try to compress the words and time to fit into the fast and changeable informational world. Thus they start becoming machine-like, unable to reason or deeply analyze and only capable of scattering in the net.
Concluding the analysis of Nicholas Carrs article, Google as a web search engine allows users to reach any source of information, thus lowering the level of their thinking, reading, and reflecting skills. The author provides his considerations with research data and historical facts thus contributing to the efficiency of his argument. Carrs argument effectiveness is based on the scope of writing techniques he utilizes. The first-person perspective allows him to influence readers with his personal experience and make them accept the writers point of view. His metaphoric and emotionally colored language also contributes to the appeal to readers and the overall effectiveness of the argument. The power of the human mind is not in the ability to find the information but in the intellectuality that allows analyzing and using it properly. Technology simplifies peoples lives in many ways. However, assuming the argumentation presented by Carr, it also reduces the humans ability to perform such complex mental actions like deep reading, critical thinking, the creation of new ideas, and contemplation. All of these processes make an intelligent human being. Without them, the humanity will become stupid.
The internet search industry has experienced a rapid increase since its discovery. Search engines rank the highest among the most visited sites on the internet. The fact that they focus on providing relevant information from the internet to the consumers has significantly contributed to the success of such companies. Due to the high internet traffic that search engines bear, e-commerce businesses have sought to use these sites for advertising their products making these companies gain high-profit margins. The market has numerous search engines but companies such as Google have established their stronghold in this industry, thus, deemed to have created a monopoly in it.
The Search Engine Industry Analysis
As far as technology goes, Google is one of the leading companies around the world. Started as a PageRank system by Larry Page and a web searching tool by Sergey Bin, Google is one of the worlds fastest-growing technology firms. The companys success lies in the wide portfolio of services that it offers. More specifically, Google enables users to search for PD files, PowerPoint presentations, PostScript documents, images, and websites. Since the company is linked to at least one billion messages, 17 million images, and 25 billion websites, it is one of the worlds most reliable web search tools (Tran, 2017). With such a wide range of services offered, Google is able to generate significant revenue. According to Graham (2017), the company has two main advertisement features Google properties and Google Network Members. Google properties are used to host advertisements for Googles own products, such as Gmail, whereas Google Network Members hosts advertisements for third parties through AdSense. Since Google processes most of the web searches, it can advertise to most people around the world and this has enabled it to monopolize the web search industry.
A monopoly is described as a situation where a single supplier exists in the market. Under the conventional economic analysis, monopoly offers imperfect competition acting as an opposite to perfect competition (Pfeffer & Huckenbeck, 2020). Using the demand curve analysis, the monopolist demand curve is downward sloping as they have control of one of the significant factors that affect the market, price. In essence, the demand within a market is only met by a single supplier at the lowest price. If other suppliers or firms seek entry into the market and cause supply, they are either fail or are merged by the monopolist. For this reason, price discrimination arises.
While price discrimination is a rampant practice, it can only exist under a specific set of circumstances. Firstly, price discrimination is only feasible when the firms in question have short-run market power. The other circumstance for price discrimination is when it is possible to directly or indirectly segment consumers. The other condition for price discrimination is when it is infeasible to arbitrage across goods that have been priced differently. With at least one of these conditions in the market, a particular firm may have gained an incentive to adopt a price discrimination model (Lindgren et al., 2020). However, the kind of price discrimination that will occur will be dependent on the availability of segmentation mechanisms, the nature of the market power, and the type of consumer heterogeneity.
The popularity of price discrimination in the modern-day marketplace is influenced by the nature of competition. In addition to the factors that breed it, price discrimination also occurs as a result of imperfect competition. Despite the possibility of many market scenarios, price discrimination and imperfect competition often occur simultaneously. Imperfect competition within a marketplace defies the hypothetically competitive market as companies strive to sell their products and services by determining their prices and fighting for their market shares. Consequently, the market imbalance created by monopoly fosters a good environment for price discrimination.
Google has faced lawsuits in different countries due to its monopoly in the search engine industry. The company has claimed that it lacks great market power as there are competitors in the respective industry. Nonetheless, the organization has been called to question for abusing its dominance in the market in regards to online advertising (Pfeffer & Huckenbeck, 2020). Google has ensured its stability and monopoly in the market by causing price discrimination in the search engine market. The product in this industry is the information that a user acquires from using a search site. In this context, Google offers free site visits, so a user has access to unlimited information from it. Therefore, other competitors Yahoo and Bing have to offer free entry to their sites to maintain a competitive edge.
Google not only employs price discrimination to its users but the businesses that advertise on its platform. The 80 percent of global web search visits that Google has are sold to businesses in the form of an advertising platform. Many businesses across the globe seek to advertise with Google because they are assured that awareness of their product or services will reach at least 90 percent of the people using the site (Morton & Dinielli, 2020). To ensure this market dominance, Google has entered into many exclusionary agreements with distribution channels such as the mobile browser market. Thus, Google has 97 percent mobile search as compared to the 3 percent that its competitors have. In 2018, UKs ad revenue was estimated at £6.4 billion with 90 percent of this generated by Google. Moreover, in the US companies pay Google an average of $40 billion annually to place ads on its search engine results (Morton & Dinielli, 2020). Evidently, Google has power to control consumers experience, the placement of adverts, the frequency in which ads appear to users and the number of ads that appear to users.
One of the ways that can aid the search engine industry is using the third-degree price discrimination concept. Due to anticompetitive practices that Google has enforced in the search industry market, has led the company face numerous antitrust lawsuits in the US and the European Commission. Despite these lawsuits, Google has continued to enter into exclusionary agreements in a bid to mitigate competition in the search engine industry. The third-degree price discrimination concept works where a market is divided into submarkets, hence market segmentation (Shekhar, n.d.). Under market segmentation, Google will only have power over a specific submarket. In these other submarkets, other factors such as quality control and price regulations have to be enacted. The search industry will be allowed to charge consumers so that businesses that can offer competition to Google can have a direct means of profit maximization. Quality control regulations would be enforced to ensure to improve user experiences. Initiating quality control mechanisms in the industry can help reduce the market power that Google has.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the search engine industry faces an imbalanced market power as Google holds the majority of the same ensuring monopoly over the years. Googles monopoly has fostered price discrimination in the market so that potential competitors are unable to survive, thus, end up failing or merging with them. It is only by causing market segmentation that price and quality control can be attained.
References
Graham, R. (2017). Google and advertising: Digital capitalism in the context of post-fordism, the reification of language, and the rise of fake news. Palgrave Communications, 3(1), 1-19. Web.
Lindgren, C., Daunfeldt, S., Rudholm, N., & Yella, S. (2020). Is intertemporal price discrimination the cause of price dispersion in markets with low search costs? Applied Economics Letters, 28(11), 968-971. Web.
Tran, S. K. (2017). GOOGLE: A reflection of culture, leader, and management. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2(1), 1-14. Web.
Having been hugely successful as a web search engine, Google Inc. decided to expand its portfolio by launching a video sharing engine known as Google Video. However, this move was not as successful as they had hoped. The failure resulted from the strategy that the company implemented. Although the launch of the Internet video service allowed users to type the names of TV shows, the presentations did not appear on the screen.
Instead, text bits, information on the next episodes of particular TV shows, and images were displayed. Later after the launch, Google started allowing users to upload videos and dropped the idea of TV shows. Those who submitted user-generated content were free to set its price. The company also introduced features such as Flash video and Google Video store, which allowed users to stream audiovisual content online. Despite these efforts, Google Inc. was only able to amass a small percentage of the market share with YouTube dominating the Internet video market. The strategies used by Google failed because they did not offer better options than the existing ones. The idea of TV shows was not popular because people still got the information offered by Google Video from routine web searches.
Googles Competitive Advantages
Although Google Inc. missed the video opportunity due to the strategies it used, the company had certain competitive advantages when it launched the video service. One of the competitive advantages it had was the amount of capital it had. By the time Google launched the online video service, it was already an established company that was worth billions of dollars. This financial strength gave it a competitive edge over the other companies that were offering online video services. Companies such as YouTube, Met Café, and My Space were startup companies that did not have the amount of capital that Google had.
Another competitive advantage is that Google had an established customer base. Google, through its web search services, had gained the trust of many organizations that advertised through its platform. Unlike its competitors who had to earn the trust of customers as they were relatively new, Google could count on some of its customers to use its online video service to do their advertising and generate revenue.
In addition to an established customer base, Google had an established brand with a good reputation in the market. Its competitors that were new entrants into the industry lacked such advantages as they had to build brand reputations in the market. Google was also already a known technology giant in the Internet industry and, therefore, had other resources such as a skilled workforce and an elaborate technological infrastructure that its competitors lacked. These factors enabled the company to succeed in the web search venture, which could help them succeed with their new online video viewing service.
It is undeniable that Google is one of the leading search engines in the Internet world. Thus, it should have taken the opportunity to make the video processing screen incredible. Online streaming has become an obvious activity amongst the tech-savvy population around the world. Indeed, millions of people stream videos online using their phones, tablets, and computers every minute. Therefore, Google Inc. should have focused on the design and other aspects of the video interface to improve the experience of users. The waiting periods and error states narrowed the opportunity making the company unable to tap a large market as anticipated.
Video Supply Chain Dynamics
Supply chain refers to the processes and organizations that are involved in the transference of goods and services to the consumer. Supply chain dynamics, therefore, entails the network of individuals and organizations involved in the production of content used in the online video market and how players in the industry keep changing or shifting.
Evolution of the Video Supply Chain
The video supply chain had started before the emergence of popular video search engines like YouTube. Television networks made their television shows and programs available online for their customers to view. Apart from the television networks, there were also news videos, film trailers, and music videos that were made available for online viewing by individuals or news outlets. There were also user-generated contents that could be viewed online.
The user-generated content mainly consisted of home-made clips and clips recorded on webcams. With the entry of major players in the industry such as YouTube and My space, the supply chain underwent rapid changes. Users started producing professional content and making them available for online viewing. Big companies started using internet services to produce videos that advertised their contents.
Organizations such as JOOST, BLIP TV, and HULU also entered the supply chain. The supply has undergone various changes and the currently consists of companies supplying product or service promotional videos, media outlets supplying entertainment and news videos, and individuals uploading amateur videos. The evolution has also resulted in negative results as terrorist organizations have also been using platforms such as YouTube to conduct radicalization and spread messages of hate.
Positioning in the Video Supply Chain
Market positioning involves the efforts of an organization aimed at influencing the image its customers have about its services or products. To strategically position itself in the market and gain a competitive advantage, an organization must conduct a market analysis to know as much as about its target customers as possible. The thorough knowledge of the customer then helps organizations to employ strategies that will ensure it has as many customers as possible.
In the video supply chain, just like any other market, positioning is a huge part of gaining competitive advantage. The factors video suppliers use to position themselves include age, culture, religion, lifestyle, and occupation. Age is an important factor in the video industry as individuals of different ages like to watch different videos. Young people, for example, are targeted for entertainment content like music videos, sports videos, and many other contents that are popular among the youth.
The older generation is known for their liking of news clips. Some players in the video supply chain also produce culturally or religiously relevant videos that are targeted towards capturing audiences from cultures and religions. Other players in the industry also target people with varying lifestyles and supply video contents such as clothing lines or holiday destinations. By occupation, players in the supply chain target different groups of people such as students, teachers and business professionals from various fields and produce video contents that suit them.
Revenue Models for YouTube
Revenue models refer to the framework of activities that an organization pursues to earn revenue. Revenue models depend on an extensive marketing research that helps in the identification of the needs of customers and their purchasing power so that organizations can decide what products or services to offer and what prices to charge for the services and products offered. During its early stages, the revenue models that were available for YouTube included paid content, advertising, and user subscriptions.
Content marketing involves the use of a platform to make customers aware of your goods and services to build a relationship with them. Because of its ability to allow users to search, and share videos, YouTube had paid content as a revenue model. Organizations like television networks could use YouTube to promote their shows to increase viewership. Organizations such as CBS and MTV entered into contracts with YouTube to promote content and divide the revenue generated. Musicians could also use YouTube to reach their fans and establish relationships with them that could help promote their works in music.
Another possible revenue model for YouTube was advertisements. The main difference between advertising and content promotion is that while advertisements are meant to trigger quick sales, content promotion is aimed at building a long-lasting relationship with customers. Advertisements could be run when users watched videos. The advertisements run in the course of playing videos were charged by the number of views. Other website owners or bloggers could also attach a YouTube Video player to their sites and share revenue earned with YouTube.
Paid subscriptions represented another revenue model that was available to YouTube for revenue generation. Users who used YouTube to share their videos could have channel subscriptions from loyal customers who have to pay upon subscription. The revenue derived from such subscriptions is then divided between the user and YouTube.
Strategic Options for YouTube
Strategic options represent a set of business ideas that a firm uses to get gain a competitive advantage in the market in which it operates. One of the strategic options for YouTube was an offensive strategy. An offensive strategy involves a company identifying a weakness of the competitor or a gap that exists in the market and provides a product or service that fills that gap. YouTube was started because of the difficulty to share videos and the inability of the existing technology companies to address the problem.
YouTube sized the opportunity by making available the technology that allowed users to perform three major activities. These included uploading, watching and sharing videos online. Other industry players including MySpace allowed users to watch videos, but sharing of such audiovisual content was difficult. YouTube went on the offensive and addressed that problem.
Another strategic option available for YouTube was a differentiation strategy. A differentiation strategy involves the creation of a unique product or service that makes an organization different from the competitors. When YouTube was launched, there were already players in the Internet videos on MSN and Yahoo! Video. MSN was only allowing users of Microsoft to utilize their online video services while Yahoo! Video did not allow for a video search service.
This, therefore, presented an opportunity for YouTube to provide a video service that was unique from one of the competitors. The differentiation strategy was used as YouTube allowed all types of users to upload and share videos online and provided a video search engine. This presented a one-stop shop for the Internet video services that were only unique on YouTube.
The Internet Age brought about significant changes in the way people conducted business. New business models emerged to replace traditional business models. Google is among the e-business models that emerged to take advantage of technologies and innovation. The search engine giant needs no introduction. The company derives its success from a highly innovative e-business model that depends on online advertisements for revenues. Google has a complex e-business model. The model relies on smart decisions, a highly innovative team, effective use of technology, marketing strategies, excellent products and services, and functional leadership to execute its business strategies. This model has allowed Google to generate billions in revenues through advertisements. The company uses search, YouTube, browser, maps, e-mail, financial sites, and social site, among others to ensure that it has high-levels of a Web presence for advertisers and Internet users.
Introduction
Today, one can conclude that the Internet has taken over the business with the introduction of e-business several years ago. Scholars have referred to this as the Internet Age or e-business revolution and evolution (Aldrich, 1999; Evans and Wurster, 1999). E-business has experienced hyper-growth facilitated by developments and innovation in Internet technologies. Trading has become simple over the Internet, as various e-business models have emerged to fill gaps. New firms like Amazon, Google, E-Bay, Facebook, SAP, Oracle, and PayPal, among others, have developed because they could effectively conduct their business operations through the Internet. These business models have found new opportunities that were once not possible.
While observers expressed their fascination with the potential of electronic business, critical thinkers were able to develop e-business solutions that could match the demands of modern customers.
A study by Booz-Allen & Hamilton revealed that over 90 per cent of the top managers believed the Internet would have major impacts on the global marketplace by 2001 (Booz Allen and Hamilton, 1999). This study confirmed that the Internet would revolutionize business and introduce new methods of e-commerce. Such studies helped to clear uncertainties that existed about the capabilities of the Internet in the business environment. Today, many scholars and professionals have observed changes that have taken place in the last few years because of the Internet and e-business models. This article explores Google e-business model as one of the most successful e-business models in the Internet Age.
Criteria for determining successful Internet-based business models
There are many criteria for determining a successful business model. These include the following attributes:
Increase in revenues
Growth in profits
Worldwide presence and expansion into new markets
Successful acquisitions and alliances
Differentiation abilities
Specifically, e-business models have unique features that differentiate them from mortar-and-brick business models. These features include:
Customized Web sites with user-friendly features
Rare and unique products and services
Massive investments in technologies
Constant research and development of new technologies and innovative strategies
User-friendly transactions
Result-oriented marketing strategies
Successful e-business models have focused on customer satisfaction and unique experiences because of stiff competition as new e-business models emerge every day. Such high-levels of competition make customers look for businesses that offer solutions to their specific needs. E-businesses have thrived on new technologies as ways of delivering services and products to their customers and audience. E-business models strive to computerize their business processes and maintain and promote personal interaction with customers simultaneously. Successful e-businesses have exploited conventional principles in technology implementation and maintenance. According to Applegate, Internet-based business models have developed in various areas, which include customer services, direct marketing and banners, information and content sales, product sales, and subscription services (Applegate, 2001).
Overall, one must recognize that unique e-business models have relied on several related but different models of e-business together. These strategies allow e-business models to move beyond simple categorization to create diversified products and services for revenue generation and promotion of hybrid models that are cost-effective. Weill and Vitale focused on eight areas of e-business models, which included direct customer, full-service provider, intermediary, the whole of enterprise, shared infrastructure, virtual community, value net integrator, and content provider (Weill and Vitale, 2001). These authors based their classification of e-business models on a thorough review of past studies. These scholars reviewed each model to identify competitive strategies, revenue generation strategies, and competitive abilities, among other core factors.
Google e-Business Model
Google Inc., the e-business model, relies on simple algorithms. Today, Google has created a business model that is unique and new to the world. It has grown to be the best search engine in the world. Moreover, Google has several successful applications such as Google Earth, Google Video, Google Maps, and Gmail among others (Vertygo Team, 2010), which have continued to attract many users and customers. Google emerged as a new company to take over the market against its main rivals like Excite, Yahoo!, AOL, and AltaVista, among others. Hence, Google had to review its needs and values about what it could offer the market under such circumstances (Weill and Ross, 2009).
In the year 2007, Google became the fifth largest firm in the US based on its market capitalization. At the same time, the company shares price went up beyond $700. Today, its stock market capitalization is over $880.
In 2011, the company had over $37.9 billion in terms of revenues. Google derives most of its revenues from the finance and insurance industry, as shown in the below table (Miller, 2012).
Table 1: Some of the major revenue streams for Google, 2011
Industry
Revenues
Finance & Insurance
$4.0 billion
Retailers & General Merchandise
$2.8 billion
Travel & Tourism
$2.4 billion
Jobs & Education
$2.2 billion
Home & Garden
$2.1 billion
These industries spent most of their advertising dollars on Google Ad in 2011. Top ten industries spend more than 60 per cent of their advertisement budget on Google. These multiple sources of revenue highlight one major characteristic of successful e-business models.
Figure 1: Google Business Model
Why the Google e-Business Model is successful?
It is imperative to understand the e-business model of Google to understand why it is a successful model that has resulted from Internet technologies, innovation, and creativity.
Search engine
Spencer observes that the current pre-dominant business model for commercial search engines is advertising (Spencer, n.d). According to Alexa ranking, Google search engine is the most popular search engine today. This shows that the company leads to search engine applications and usages. Google has become synonymous with Web browsing (Google it as many users refer to whatever they would like to search on the Web). It is no longer search for information among users, but rather Google it .
Google also relies on a highly innovative team to drive its e-business model. One can easily observe this on the number of products and services that Google offers to its clients. The company uses a simple, lean user interface to make its search engine easy and fast to load. This is what search engine pioneers failed to observe in their technologies. Search engines have evolved, but developers like Yahoo! created slow search engines due to several links and banner ads, which made them exceptionally slow for users.
Google understood what customers wanted in their search engine. This is what many pioneers did not include in their models. Users wanted to get a search engine rather than banner ads that contributed to users challenges. Google created a user-friendly search engine that was reliable and fast. The company avoided a general portal search engine that dominated previous versions of search engines. Google understood this concept and delivered it to users.
Advertising
Google offers some free services to Internet users. However, the company generates most of its revenues from advertisers who want to appeal to online customers. In this context, Google has assisted such advertisers in relaying their messages to Internet users through Google AdWords. This is a unique idea that Google introduced to sell advertisements to online customers. The company used the Cost-per-click concept to calculate what advertisers would pay for the service. In other words, advertisers will only pay Google when visitors click on the displayed advertisement (Chau and Crawford, 2013).
According to Levy, AdWords could be the most successful business idea in history (Levy, 2009). AdWords can analyze Google search to demonstrate the most popular advertisement words used in sponsored links. He notes that AdWords is the worlds biggest, fastest auction, a never-ending, automated, and self-service advertisement concept (Levy, 2009). It is the most profitable e-business model for Google, as Levy notes that AdWords generated $21 billion in 2008 (Levy, 2009).
Academics note that Google based its online advertisement model on economic concepts. This explains why the Google search engine has dominated the market by capturing over 60 per cent of it (Levy, 2009). Also, Google relies on auction theory to analyze its operations. All these concepts exploited a simple algorithm.
Google also has Google AdSense program. This platform allows advertisers to reach Google Network members. Members receive a given amount of revenue from Google because of the displayed advertisement banners on their Web sites. The company also offers Display Advertising services based on the technology of the DoubleClick. This form of advertising service has video, images, text, and other components of multimedia to create interactive advertisements. These advertisements are common in specialized Google pages like finance, YouTube, and Google Network member Web sites.
Based on such success, it is important to understand technologies and innovation, which have worked for Google.
Technology and Innovation
Google uses algorithms for its search engine technology. This helps the company to determine its PageRank and Hypertext-Matching. PageRank technology indicates how each page is important in the ranking, and Google considers 500 million variables and 2 billion terms to determine how a page will rank in the search engine (Google Inc, n.d). Hypertext-Matching Analysis helps in the analysis of pages and their contents to provide accurate results based on the users search query.
According to Weber, Google must rely on such algorithm technologies to ensure that it has scale, speed, and efficiency to serve its rapidly growing number of users (Weber, 2008).
Google advertisement model is unique. The pay per click concept revolutionized Web-based advertisement. This was a risky and innovative e-business model, which has generated billions of revenues for Google. AdWords has remained a significant source of Googles revenue.
Innovative strategies have allowed Google to create some unique Web applications. The company offers most of these services at no cost to users. Some great new applications consist of the Android operating system, Google Maps, Google Scholar, Gmail, and Google Earth, among others.
Technology has been the driving force behind these innovative services and products. The company is among the leading technology giants in the world. The search engine has made Google the most preferred search tool, among other search tools. Users can get fast responses to the information they need. The company has kept various forms of data on Web sites. This allows Internet users to get information in forms of texts, images, audio, videos, and others.
Google created Android for mobile devices. Android is a free software application for mobile technologies. Handset manufacturers can download and install various versions of Android in their devices, while software developers can develop new applications for Android. This has attracted growth as several mobile devices run on Android today. The company also developed Google Chrome, which is a Web browser for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Developers can install these software applications, or users can download, install, and update at no cost.
Today, Google works with several OEMs to ensure that many computers run on Google Chrome operating system. The company has developed several applications to serve corporate and individual clients. These are mainly Google applications, such as Google Doc, Google Sites, Google Calendar, and Google Scholar, among others. These are freely available applications.
Google has a global sales network across the globe. The company sales and support teams focus on its key products and services that include mobile, display, and search. In most cases, customers rely on self-serve strategies, which allow customers to customize and handle their processes with minimal companys assistance. The company has a support team throughout the world. These teams of technicians assist customers in deriving value from Google applications. Also, the sales team focuses on relationship building with major firms across the world.
Focus on Costs and R&D
The companys business models focus on four critical areas for growth. These include Research and Development (R&D), sales and marketing, Traffic acquisition, and data centre. Google has massive investments in R&D. This allows the companys engineers to develop new products and enhance the usability of the available ones. The company has millions of servers that handle billions of requests daily. Google has invested and maintained its data centres despite high costs. The company also incurs expenses by compensating its Google Member Web sites, which run the AdSense advertisement scheme. Google must also compensate others who help it to distribute Google Toolbar to users. These are critical applications, which help the company to drive large traffics to its servers. The company must also maintain its global sales and marketing department.
Over 95 per cent of Googles revenues originate from advertisement activities. Although the company has focused on applications for mobile devices, such attempts, and OS for mobile devices have not generated major incomes for Google. In fact, in 2010, experts questioned Googles ability to generate revenues from its Nexus One phone business model because it based the business model on a vision that was not possible in the US phone market at the time (Gohring, 2010).
Industry observers believe that Googles main source of revenues will continue to grow from its new applications and investments. These include Google Glass and entry into the mobile phone business. Moreover, the company may get success from wearable computer products and several recent acquisitions. Google has an effective e-business model that relies on strategies (McKeen and Smith, 2011).
What makes Google e-Business Model Unique?
Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Google has more than 60 per cent of the search market shares. The company has enough servers to handle over a billion requests each day. The company has maintained its data centres through massive investments. This strategy has created economies of scale and scope for sustainable competitive advantages. In other words, new entrants in search engines cannot match such large investments.
Also, Google has a robust R&D department, which leads the market through innovative products. Hence, this model has worked well because no competitor can match Google in sustainable competitive advantage.
Porter and Barney presented the most significant concepts in business strategies (Porter, 1991; Barney, 1991). Porter notes that the low-cost and differentiation advantages that firms enjoy on the product market ultimately stem from initial conditions and managerial choices (Porter, 1991). Porter observes that executives decisions have critical effects on drivers of the business, which are usually resources that employers must work on in order to create low costs and establish differentiation among competitors. Eisenhardt and Sull note that it is simple to identify such business advantages in a companys position on the product market, in its resource base or in the key processes all of which could be referred to as components of a business model (Eisenhardt and Sull, 2001).
Unique network presence
The Google search engine serves any user. Advertisers have been able to gain competitive advantages from Google because of millions of users who rely on the Google search engine. Also, the focus on Android application will allow Google to create a larger base of users for its advertisement customers. The companys focus is on mobile advertisement as consumers switch to mobile devices.
Google relies on words that Internet users enter in the search engine to generate traffic. The company ensures that its computers monitor the activities of users. It then uses the keywords people use to generate traffic for the advertiser.
Revenue predictability
Google created a self-serve system for customers to generate maximum revenues with minimal investments. However, it is not simple for competitors to understand possible revenues that Google may generate in subsequent years because the company has managed to keep such information as private and has never disclosed such data. From them. Moreover, it is equally difficult to determine the growth of Googles customer base. As businesses move online, one can be sure that Googles e-business model will continue to generate huge revenues, and the company will benefit significantly.
Customer retention strategy
Google has a simple way of keeping its customers. The company aims to create lifetime value from its customers. In other words, Google has locked-in its users by providing all applications, which can serve their various needs while on the Internet. For instance, the company has more than 350 million users of its e-mail application. Google has created other applications, such as photos, video, and image sharing platforms, blogs, and document hosting to keep these users. Customers, including corporate customers, have noted that it is simple to use Google applications in their Web activities. This is a form of locking and retaining customers.
However, one must observe that Google sources of revenue are mainly its advertisement clients. This is like a single source of revenue. However, Google created a system in which its customers can only accept the imposed rate of advertisement without bargaining because it is a form of self-auction service.
In addition, Google does not depend on a single industry for revenue generation. It focuses on several industries. This helps the company to avoid risks associated with a high dependency on a few revenue streams.
The Google e-business model runs strategic partnerships through Google Network members. These companies can reach millions of users through Google platforms (AdSense). In turn, the company has to share incomes with its affiliates. These are members, which would find it impossible to conduct any business without Google AdSense. At the same time, the company has strong grips on traffic acquisition partners. These partners are responsible for driving Internet traffics to Google Web sites. They are major sources of revenue for the company.
However, it is important to note that Google has created win-win situations for all its partners and affiliates. Moreover, the company does not rely on them to generate its revenues. In other words, these partners need Google to be in business.
The company culture insists on innovation. Google has excellent leadership that fosters creativity, which leads to the development of new products and services. The company leadership has focused on new approaches to profit generation and in situations where leadership encourages developments of new business models with interests (Austin, Nolan, and ODonnell, 2009). Johnson notes that in built-to-transforms companies, managers recognize that becoming is a part of being and that the road to the next big thing can be traveled only by those with open minds (Johnson, 2010).
Conclusion
Google has used a solid e-business model to create innovative solutions, which have captured a significant share of the Internet advertisement business. The company has used AdWords and AdSense models and a search engine that analyses what users enter in their browsers. In turn, Google delivers what advertisers want their clients to see.
Google offered free services to Internet users to develop traffic from them. Advertisers soon realized the value that Google created for them. From Googles innovative approach to an online advertisement, one can conclude that technological strategies and innovations are tools that can transform any form of a business model.
The company understood how to capture and retain customers, create sustainable competitive advantages, exploit emerging technologies, acquire a stake in potential partners, and not to rely on several affiliations it has with other companies. Hence, Google has learned to generate its revenues from multiple industries. Analysts believe that Google will explore other revenue opportunities as many businesses migrate to online platforms.
Reference List
Aldrich, D 1999, Mastering the Digital Marketplace: Practical Strategies for Competitiveness in the New Economy, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York.
Applegate, M 2001, Emerging e-business models: lessons from the field, Harvard Business School, Boston.
Austin, R, Nolan, R and ODonnell, S 2009, Adventures of an IT Leader, Harvard Business Press, Cambridge.
Barney, J 1991, Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of Management, vol. 19, pp. 99120.
Booz Allen and Hamilton 1999, Competing in the Digital Age: How the Internet will Transform Global Business, EIU, New York.
Chau, L and Crawford, A 2013, Why Googles Business Model Works. Web.
Eisenhardt, M and Sull, N 2001, Strategy as simple rules, Harvard Business Review, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 107116.
Evans, P and Wurster, T 1999, Getting Real About Virtual Commerce, Harvard Business Review, vol. 77, pp. 8498.
Any organizational changes in firms of various sizes require preparation and appropriate planning aimed at analyzing the progress and potential outcomes of interventions. In order to implement the necessary programs, leaders, as a rule, resort to relevant strategic decisions associated with the phased reorganization of specific areas of activity. In conditions of these changes, it is essential to not only use available resources and utilize proper innovations but also interact with the staff to prepare employees and achieve their understanding of the tasks set. In this regard, reorganization activities in companies should take place after special training courses and the assessment of subordinates readiness to work under a new strategy.
Preparation, in turn, influences organizational behavior and is one of the prerequisites for continued productivity. By using the example of the Google corporation and other firms, the characteristics and implications of training will be examined, including the significance of the changes and their impact on the success of the company. Both general and specific outcomes of interventions will be considered. Effective training procedures in organizations are the key to successful production outcomes and create a reliable background for productive activities.
Significance of Training
The modern business sphere is dynamic and actively developing, which are the conditions for organizations to introduce the necessary changes in their work process to withstand competition and make a profit. Globalization, as a trend of modern entrepreneurial activities, leads to the fact that companies aspiring to high positions have to create demanded offers for different market segments and implement different marketing strategies.
According to Al-Khaled, due to technological changes in the business industry, organizations should train their employees effectively in order to prepare them to adjust and adapt, and also to achieve positive performance enhancements (1). Therefore, the development and implementation of the necessary strategies for staff training is of high importance for companies production successes.
The advantages of implementing change programs involving preliminary staff training are as follows:
An opportunity to convey all the necessary tasks to each employee.
The creation of detailed programs aimed at the education of subordinates.
The test implementation of an updated strategy for its faster subsequent implementation.
The establishment contact among employees due to a constant exchange of experience and knowledge.
The value of such training is high both for company leaders who can ensure the reliable implementation of new strategies and employees who receive comprehensive data on the necessary obligations and goals and can cope with immediate responsibilities successfully. Knaak et al. note the importance of a cultural approach to the introduction of such projects and analyze the outcomes of projects by using the example of Canadian police organizations (32S).
According to the authors, in order for change projects not to be straightforward and too complicated, it is essential for team leaders to promote a cultural strategy to the use of new work regimes, thereby gaining subordinates authority and helping them to understand the required tasks better (Knaak et al. 32S). Polo et al., in turn, note that training at three levels individual, group and organizational is an additional driver of success (162). Thus, the importance of the necessary preparatory procedures is manifested for various stakeholders and carries numerous positive implications.
Strategic Process of Training
Setting goals that require adaptation to upcoming changes in an organization can take place in a strategic mode, which simplifies control and contributes to realizing all the tasks as efficiently as possible. Sitzmann and Weinhardt mention macro and micro levels of employee training and offer a special theory of engagement based on the separation of work stages and involving individual criteria (734). As these aspects, the authors cite strategic initiatives that correlate with relevant motivational drivers, for instance, a reward system, punishment sanctions, and other influences (Sitzmann and Weinhardt 735). According to the theory, training target plans include the following stages (see fig. 1):
Establishment.
Prioritization.
Persistence.
Fig. 1. Training engagement theory (Sitzmann and Weinhardt 735).
This engagement mechanism works stably if managers approach the implementation of a training program responsibly and develop the necessary algorithm for interaction with subordinates, appointing responsible persons and taking part in monitoring the intermediate results. In addition to such an algorithm, individual training tools can be applied. Knaak et al. suggest paying attention to working with team leaders as a separate stage of preparation (34S).
By using police organizations as an example, the authors emphasize that comprehensive efforts to promote the necessary change strategies are to involve the interaction of managers with leaders and may include such aspects as mental health education, motivating imitativeness, and other procedures (Knaak et al. 34S). Depending on the profile of a company, these training courses usually vary, but a general emphasis on individual training is helpful. All these activities organized in a strategic sequence can help implement any change program successfully and quickly without the need to correct employees errors and suffer losses due to subordinates incompetent work.
Strategic Training: Google Example
As one of the organizations where periodic changes occur, which are aimed at optimizing performance and improving productivity, the Google corporation may be cited. The case statement of the company was amended in 2018 because the management decided to reorganize some of the working aspects and made a number of adjustments to internal policies, including recruiting principles and technological innovation (Google Mission and Vision Statement Analysis). Today, as its official missions, Google promotes the following initiatives:
Access to services globally.
Supporting knowledge sharing.
Organizational Acceleration.
The vision statement of Google remains unchained and includes tow basic aspects:
Fast access.
Free access.
One of the main success factors of the corporation is a special mechanism of personnel training. As Schneider notes, Googles management often engages outside resources to help subordinates adapt to specific working conditions and prove themselves better. Investing in continuing education courses opens up career prospects for employees, and for the heads of the company, this is a guarantee of high productivity and, consequently, stable income.
Gutierrez remarks that continuing education in Google is natural and gives a scheme that the corporations management promotes as an algorithm for staff training (see fig. 2). As a result, the organizations employees do everything possible to realize their potential, thereby creating a profit for their company and increasing its credibility in the world market.
Fig. 2. Continuous learning in Google (Gutierrez).
Based on the results of this companys work, one can note that encouraging ongoing training has a positive effect on interventions and enables Google to maintain one of the highest positions in the field of information technology. Constant innovations, the policy of acquisitions, and other evidence of an active business position confirm that the management of this corporation does everything possible to create the conditions for subordinates training and stimulate their creativity. This, in turn, influences the ultimate goals and brings profit to the organization by forming its specific model of behavior in the market.
Relationships Between Training and Organization Behavior
In case employees receive the necessary qualifications at the stage of higher education and stop any learning activities in the process of further work, this affects professionalism negatively. Over time, a person forgets the acquired knowledge and skills and, in addition, is not ready to expand his or her attainments through the acquisition of new capabilities. As Yáñez-Araque et al. argue, experience or performance in a learning task can influence and improve performance in a subsequent learning task (1532).
In other words, professional development is the key to improving skills, which is often necessary in working conditions in a dynamic and rapidly changing business environment. In this regard, there is a direct correlation between the frequency and quality of employee training and organizational behavior that is observed in a particular company.
If the staff has a low level of professional training or cannot realize its potential as much as possible due to additional training, this impedes the implementation of valuable changes that may be needed. At the same time, one cannot argue that training is indispensable for success and market recognition. According to Yáñez-Araque et al., during the planning phase of reorganization procedures and from the beginning to the end of all interventions, a chain of intermediate variables should be taken into account to achieve high outcomes (1532).
Nevertheless, creating conditions for learning and gaining experience is the background for all further changes that managers plan as strategic development plans. Therefore, the promotion of training is an important aspect of success and productivity and, in many respects, determines the specifics of the organizations behavior, including relations with other companies and potential consumers of goods or services.
When analyzing the need for training, one can resort to theoretical proof of the importance of training employees in the context of increasing overall work performance and achieving productive organizational behavior. For this purpose, a special learning curve concept may be applied to describe this correlation (see fig. 3). This graph shows a clear interaction between attempts that an employee makes in the process of work and productivity that grows with experience. Increasing the number of training procedures is directly proportional to higher productivity. This proves the need to implement a training strategy in case anticipated changes in the work process are significant since the probability of errors decreases, and the quality of the work performed, conversely, grows.
Fig. 3. Learning curve (Learning Curve Theory).
Googles Training Methods for Implementing Changes
Promoting training in Google is a crucial measure since the dynamics of the companys development are high, and constant updates in operating modes and the emergence of new opportunities require careful staff training. For this purpose, a special G2G program is implemented in the corporation, which stands for Googler-to-Googler (7 Things You Should Know). The essence of this technique and its goals are the following features:
Employees share experience with one another, including those working in different fields.
The right of every worker to train is unshakable.
The possibility of training directly at the workplace, which reduces time and costs.
Motivating subordinates to realize their professional potential and learn from one another contributes to productive teamwork.
This principle of training is a standard practice in Google and allows uniting employees while giving them an opportunity to help one another and participate in change projects together. According to the available information, in the corporation, about 80% of all preparatory procedures take place in the G2G mode (7 Things You Should Know).
As a result, when taking into account the size of the company and its sphere of influence, one can argue that this preparation mechanism is an effective methodology that helps all employees without exception to receive the necessary information about upcoming changes in a way that is understandable to them. In addition, organization behavior also changes for the better, and corporate policy is reinforced by this engagement practice. Thus, the exchange of information directly among employees has its positive results and may be promoted as a convenient training system.
For the companys business, such a program carries only positive aspects. In addition to uniting the team, the management has a chance to create a special training environment within the corporation and not to attract additional external resources, thereby saving valuable assets. Due to the fact that there are many posts in Google, responsible employees can be involved in these useful activities. Corporate leaders cannot control the work of all the departments carefully, which is an additional incentive to build small groups in which the necessary knowledge and skills are acquired. This strategy is also acceptable in other organizations with a complex structure and diverse positions.
Training Leaders: Basic Features
One of the important strategic objectives in any company is the training of leaders with a focus on those specialists who can coordinate colleagues work. According to Beer et al., many HR specialists spend unnecessary resources on the implementation of complex assessment programs and support tools, while for productive organizational changes, it is necessary to create an effective training system (53). The authors also note that no training projects will contribute to qualitative changes unless the objectives and goals of the reorganization procedures are clearly explained to employees (Beer et al. 54).
In particular, leaders cannot control the work of the team and provide the necessary support if a company does not have a planned strategy in the context of the transition to a new regime. In order to train professional and highly qualified specialists who are able to help top management to move towards innovation and other growth ways, particular attention should be paid to the training mechanism of individual responsible persons. Such a measure can help eliminate misunderstanding and make the process of maintaining all the changes more sustainable and faster.
Conclusion
Productive changes in organizations can be implemented if appropriate training is used to create optimal conditions for the transition to an updated regime and provide comprehensive support to employees. The case of the Google corporation proves that encouraging the sharing of experiences among workers and promoting an environment for continuous learning contribute to significant growth and market recognition. The correlation between training and organization behavior is direct, and such a tool as a learning curve is evidence of this interaction. Leader training is a separate aspect of work that needs to be promoted in order to create a sustainable system for coordinating all the planned changes.
Al-Khaled, Akram Abdulraqeb Sultan. The Significance of Training in Organizations on the Performance and Capabilities of Employees. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, vol. 19, no. 15, 2019, pp. 1-7.
Beer, Michael, et al. Why Leadership Training Fails And What to Do About It. Harvard Business Review, vol. 94, no. 10, 2016, pp. 50-57.
Google Mission and Vision Statement Analysis. Mission Statement Academy. Web.
Gutierrez, Karla. Continuous Learning in Google. Shift. 2016. Web.
Knaak, Stephanie, et al. Implementation, Uptake, and Culture change: Results of a Key Informant Study of a Workplace Mental Health Training Program in Police Organizations in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 64, no. 1, 2019, pp. 30S-38S.
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Polo, Federica, et al. Training Culture: A New Conceptualization to Capture Values and Meanings of Training in Organizations. Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 30, no. 3, 2018, pp. 162-173.
Sitzmann, Traci, and Justin M. Weinhardt. Training Engagement Theory: A Multilevel Perspective on the Effectiveness of Work-Related Training. Journal of Management, vol. 44, no. 2, 2018, pp. 732-756.
Yáñez-Araque, Benito, et al. From Training to Organizational Behavior: A Mediation Model Through Absorptive and Innovative Capacities. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 8, 2017, p. 1532.
Google is one of the most well-known technology companies in the world. The span of Googles services encompasses a variety of Internet-related services, including a search engine, online advertising technologies, software, and hardware. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company in 1998 (OConnell). As of 2020, Sundar Pichai is Googles chief executive officer (OConnell). Due to its rapid growth, the enterprise has developed a chain of innovative products beyond a search engine. Google Ads, Gmail, Google Slides, Google Meets, Youtube, Waze, and Google Maps are among the digital products that Google oversees (OConnell). In short, the companys services range from language translation and podcast hosting to navigation and video sharing. Although Google has a highly diversified target audience, the search engine has restricted access in some areas, including Cuba, Crimea, Iran, North Korea, etc. (Bhattacharya). Almost 60% of total Internet searches are facilitated by Google, which means that the companys marketing strategy is not bound to a specific demographic (Bhattacharya). Therefore, the target audience for Googles products and services is broad.
As for the specifics, there are certain characteristics that help to differentiate Google users. Firstly, the most engaged users of the companys services are men under the age of 35 (Bhattacharya). The majority of Googles customers are from an upper-middle-class background (Bhattacharya). According to the data about the companys target audience, Google users value customization and online privacy (Bhattacharya). Identifying the estimated demographic and psychographic of the business customer base is crucial in order to generate the most effective marketing strategies.
In addition to identifying the target audience, it is important to determine Googles strengths to gain an in-depth understanding of the companys marketing and pricing techniques. The biggest advantage Google has is its market share in online searches and Android software. It was previously mentioned that more than 60% of Internet users find information through Google. Due to this monopoly in the highly prosperous digital industry, Google enjoys rapid growth and has an ability to further diversify its products, attracting even more customers. Another strength of the company is the culture of innovation fostered around its engineers and managers. As a result, Googles organizational structure is highly adaptable, while its R&D departments remain dynamic enough to create original and profitable products.
Lastly, Google has one of the most valuable brands in the world. According to USA Today, it should not be surprising since the worlds biggest video platform, YouTube, the worlds most widely adopted smartphone software, Android, and one of the worlds largest distributors of advertising, DoubleClick, are all owned by Google (Fronlich and Sauter). Brand recognition allows the company to spend less on advertising and promotion and focus on meeting loyal users expectations instead.
Despite being one of the most recognizable and influential companies worldwide, Google still has a number of strong competitors. Googles top rivals include Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Yahoo. Mark Zucherberg founded Facebook in his university dorm room. As of 2020, the site is the biggest social media platform in the world, which means that it is a huge competitor of Google in regards to digital advertising (Fronlich and Sauter). Microsoft includes an integrated search engine called Bing, which remains a direct rival to Google. Bing is now the second most used search engine in the world (Frohlich and Sauter). Amazon is also one of the threats to Googles dominance since it is often used as a search engine. Moreover, Amazon has made impressive progress in cloud computing and artificial intelligence integration (Frohlich and Sauter). Yahoo competes with Google as a search engine, an email host, and a news media. In addition, Google has numerous lesser-known competitors, including Verizon (a telecommunications enterprise), Alibaba (a Chinese e-commerce giant), and AOL (one of the pioneers of Internet searching). All of these companies pose a threat to Googles growth and global expansion.
The analysis of the competition shows it is crucial for the company to generate effective strategies in order to stand out on the market and attract its target customers. The first strategy that is essential for understanding Googles marketing is open access. Google is free for all, so it does not cost anything for a consumer to give the search engine a try (Pratap). The company offers a variety of user-friendly, innovative, and engaging services for free, which attracts billions of users worldwide. The next strategy is the culture of conversation created by the Google team. The company fosters an interactive, communicative environment through SEO and SEM frameworks (Pratap). Google has given itself a human face by introducing Googlers, including John Mueller and Gary Illyes. This way, the company taps into a specific aspect of human existence by allowing Internet users to feel a sense of community and belonging.
Another strategy used by Google is capitalizing on the high quality of its products/services. Creating a high-quality product has been a priority for Page and Brin from the beginning (Pratap). As a result, by focusing on the highest possible quality, they secured Googles place as the most prominent authority figure on the market. In turn, the company became a trendsetter within the digital industry by making authoritative statements regarding new features or addressing possible improvements (Pratap). Even though this marketing technique requires some long-term planning, the results are impressive since customers themselves recognize Googles authority and easily put their trust in its products.
Another important factor to consider is Googles treatment of its employees. Workers are the best spokespersons for the company and its ethics. That is why Google executives invest a lot of time and money to ensure that the internal stakeholders of the company (its workers) are satisfied and have the most positive impressions about their work (Pratap). Although it is not necessarily a marketing technique, Google has generated a lot of media promotion due to its excellent HR policies and an employee-friendly working environment.
Based on all the information provided above, it is easy to form a conclusion regarding Googles marketing mix. The company creates a wide array of products (P), including web-based services, desktop and mobile applications, and operating software. The following BCG matrix demonstrates market share levels and market growth levels of Googles products. According to this model, Youtube, Android OS, Gmail, and Gmail have the highest market share and growth.
As for the place (P), since Googles products are so diverse, the company uses both online and offline promotional channels. When it comes to the price (P), Google utilizes freemium, market-based, value0based, and penetration pricing techniques. Googles brand recognition allows it to spend little on promotion (P). However, the company occasionally promotes its new services using a mix of online ads, TV commercials, and offline PR-events.
Works Cited
Bhattacharya, Madhushree. Find Target Market of Google Inc. Management Learning, 2016, pp. 1-9, Web.
