Business strategy: Exploring the innovation and strategic decisions behind Google's success

Introduction

Google is an Internet search company founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who met while they were graduate students in computer science at Stanford University. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Google has become widely recognized as the world's largest search engine. Operating in more than 150 countries and 100 languages, Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through its proprietary Page-Rank technology, which ranks WebPages according to their relevance to any given search query, Google allows users to find information online at no charge. As the presence of online content related to religion has increased dramatically over the past decade, with millions of WebPages devoted to religious content, Google enables users around the globe to find sites relevant to their queries.

Searching the Internet is Google's primary utility, but Google offers users free communication and publication services as well, such as Gmail (Google's e-mail service), Blogger (a weblog publishing tool), and Google Book Search (a project to provide access to digitized print material). Thus, Google assists in both the dissemination and collection of religious content online. The easy accessibility of information online can undermine the authority structures of religions, especially those of new religious movements, which lack the deeper plausibility structures of the more established religions. On the other hand, web publishing tools such as Google's Blogger can assist in the proliferation of religious messages and the construction of religious identities. The Internet's international reach also increases the visibility of religions across the globe and can help sustain transnational Diaspora communities (Vise, 2005, Pp. 12-56). This paper explores the innovation and strategic decisions behind Google's success.

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to determine the innovation and strategic decisions behind Google's success.

Aims and objectives

To determine the innovation tactics and strategies used by Google.

To determine the factors associated with the success of Google

To determine the risks and ethical issues associated with Google

Rationale

Google's reach also extends from the virtual world to the real one. In addition to its panoply of information projects, including mail, contacts, scheduling, news and mapping, it has also invested millions in solar energy ventures through its own venture capital fund. Most recently, it shocked everyone by buying Motorola for US$12.5 billion in cash, in the midst of a violent market rout. Never let it be said that this company is boring Google fostered a culture of innovation and made it easy to accelerate home-grown projects that had promise, said Bismark Lepe, CEO of online video distribution company Ooyala. Lepe formed Ooyala after leaving Google, where he worked as senior product manager launching tools to help monetize AdSense. Literature Review

At first sight the business deals and initiatives the company involves itself in seem almost capricious. One month it purchased Motorola's Mobility Smartphone arm for $12.5bn; a few weeks later it bought into online restaurant guide Zagat. Commentators and market watchers went into punditry ...