HRM1101 – #4 Corporate Analysis Assignment
Company Studied
Name of company studied
Google
url of the company website
https://www.google.com/
Articles you read about each
company (online or print) –
you must list at least 5
citations (article title, author,
publication, date or if the
article is online, the URL). If
you read more, list more.
1. Miller, Claire C. "Google's Biggest Threat Is Google.” The New
York Times, 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 03 Sept. 2014.
<http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/googles-biggestthreat-is-google/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0>.
2. Singer, Hal. “Who Competes With Google Search? Just Amazon,
Apple And Facebook.” Forbes, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/halsinger/2012/09/18/whocompetes-with-google-in-search-just-amazon-apple-andfacebook/>
3. Levy, Ari. “Coming soon to a kindergarten near you: Google.”
CNBC, 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2014
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101990391#.
4. Clancy, Heather. “Google’s $145 Million Clean Energy
Investment Puts Solar Atop Old Oil Field.” Forbes, 13 Sept. 2014.
Web. 14 Sept. 2013.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherclancy/2014/09/13/googles145-million-clean-energy-investment-puts-solar-atop-old-oilfield/>
5. Pringle, Max. “Amazon vs. Google: the battle for supremacy.”
Deutsche Welle, 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2014
<http://dw.de/p/1D9Jo>
more: Harris, Mike. “How Google’s Autonomous Car Passed the
First U.S. State Self-Driving Test.” IEEE Spectrum, 10 Sept. 2014.
Web. 14 Sept. 2014
<http://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/advanced-cars/howgoogles-autonomous-car-passed-the-first-us-state-selfdrivingtest>
Conner-Simons, Adam. “CSAIL’s Nick Roy helms Google’s deliverydrone project.” MIT News, 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2014
<http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/csail-nick-roy-google-deliverydrone>
Headquarters location
Mountain View, California
Number of employees
Google has [about] 52,070 employees.
Gross Revenue in most
recent year available
Google’s gross revenue in fiscal year 2013 was 33.91 billion.
Chairman of the Board and
CEO
Eric Schmidt took the position of Google’s Executive Chairman of
their board of directors, after being their CEO. Larry Page is
Google’s current CEO.
Are there any interesting
people on the company board
of directors? If yes, who do
you think is interesting and
why?
None of the people on Google’s board of directors are unexpected.
They are all extremely smart people with degrees from Ivy League
schools, or other prestigious universities. Every person on the
board has a background linked to at least one of Google’s projects.
Many people on Google’s board served on another large technology
company’s board. They are all interesting people who are
extremely successful and have significant accomplishments. The
member who peaked my interest the most was Shirley Tilghman.
Tilghman received her doctorate degree from Temple University.
It’s awesome that someone from Temple ended up in such a high
position at one of the best companies in the world.
How is the company
leadership described? Are
they competent, admired,
respected, etc.?
Google’s leadership is extremely well-respected. Google’s
management serves as a model for many other companies.
Google is constantly working on the development of their
employees, innovation, and is extremely successful. Google is
ranked highly on Forbes’ list of most admired companies, and is
consistently listed as one of the best companies to work for.
Key Products/Services
Google is most widely known as a search engine. However, Google
also provides email services, social networking, mobile
applications, media, business tools, maps, advertising services,
and is working on numerous other products-both physical and
digital. Some of Google’s most-known products include Blogger,
Google Translate, Google Docs, advertising, Chrome, YouTube,
Android, Google Maps, Gmail, and of course Google Search.
Three adjectives that
describe the company in the
marketplace – why did you
choose these three particular
adjectives?
Google is innovative, successful, and quirky. I chose innovative
because Google never stops trying to develop the next big thing.
They are always on the cutting edge of just about everything. I
chose successful because the numbers do not lie- Google makes a
huge amount of money. They are also a major household name,
and have won numerous awards and landed themselves on
countless “top” and “best” lists, including the Global 2000 (#52),
World’s Most Valuable Brands (#5), and Innovative Companies
(#47), among others.
Describe the company’s
culture
Google calls themselves a “start-up” culture. They are a very
hands-on company, innovative, open to new ideas, and love
interactions and conversation among different levels of employees.
Collaboration is key at Google. “Googlers” talk directly to talk level
executives, and their offices are designed to foster these kinds of
interactions. Google’s culture seems to be very comfortable, fun
and exciting.
Describe the company’s
values
Google’s list of “Ten things we know to be true” describes their
values in detail. Google believes in focusing on the customer,
doing what they do very well, providing service fast, practicing
democracy, to be mobile, to conduct business with excellent ethics,
to never stop innovating, to extend knowledge across borders, to
have fun, and to always get better. Google’s “Ten things we know
to be true” is pretty basic, and should be the standard for all
businesses. In short, Google wants to be an excellent and
innovative company that is loved by everyone.
From what you’ve read, does
the company live its values?
Google definitely lives its values. It is rated one of the best places
to work consistently, it is the most used web browser in the United
States, they have projects scattered across the globe, and from
pictures their offices look like a blast. Google rarely receives bad
press for anything.
Biggest internal challenge –
what makes this company
difficult to lead or manage?
CEO Larry Page reported that Google’s biggest threat is Google.
Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt added that, “The problems at a
company at Google’s scale are always internal at some level.”1
Google faces a myriad of challenges within itself daily- from
communication issues, to “brain-block” issues, to just trying to
keep up with the everyday hustle and bustle. Managing a
company of Google’s size would be a daunting task for anyone.
Biggest external challenge –
what about the market or
business landscape is making
it difficult for this company to
compete?
Google’s biggest external challenge is other companies that make
similar products. Google has so many competitors, and in order to
remain on top, they have to beat all of them. The technology
industry is huge and global. Google must be on top of not only
domestic competitors, but the countless global ones that can often
produce similar products at a lower cost.
Internet presence – is it
effective? Please describe.
Google’s internet presence is extremely effective- it is everywhere.
Google Search is one of the most widely used search engines, and
Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers. Google
is just about everywhere on the internet.
Advertising in other media –
is it effective? Please
describe.
Google does not do much, if any, advertising offline. They
frequently receive new stories and articles written about them that
may be published in print. Google has recently started rolling out
billboards in certain cities, but because they are so new, their
effectiveness is not yet able to be measured. Regardless, Google
is a household name across the nation.
Target customer
demographics
Google’s target demographic is extremely diverse. Many of their
users are from outside the United States, and there is a pretty
even split of gender. Google is more popular with the younger
generation (34 and under), but Google is constantly trying to
widen their user demographics. Google would ideally like everyone
in every country, of every age, of every race, of every education
level, to use Google.
Describe the company’s
reputation
Google has a stellar reputation. They are known for their
innovation, creativity, and unconventionality. Google is extremely
ethical and well-liked. They are typically granted flattering
compliments like “unstoppable” and “genius”.
Are there any scandals
associated with the
company?
Google’s only scandals were about privacy. Google has had many
privacy “scandals”. Despite their frequent breaches in privacy,
Google still remains widely well-respected and well-liked. Google
has also been accused of being a monopoly.
Who are their major
competitors?
Google’s major competitors include Facebook, MSN, Yahoo!, AOL,
Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.
Would you like to work for this I would absolutely love to work for Google. A job at Google has
been my dream since I first started hearing about the company. It
company? Why or why not?
is ranked as one of the best companies to work for, and many of
their beliefs and values are in line with mine. The culture is
awesome, and I love the workplace style. The benefits are also
amazing. While I may find that Google is not for me once I am
there, I have strong intuitions that Google is the kind of setting
that I would love. If it is not, it still would be a life-changing
experience (and a great resume builder, if nothing else).