MKTG446 Case 10-2
MKTG446 Case 10-2
201900211
2. Apply the new-product continuum (Figure 10-4) to Google’s Moonshot Factory. Which
category of products and services is most evident in that organization’s work?
Google’s Moonshot Factory is majorly concerned with the provision of internet connectivity and
access to about one-third of the total population segment that fails to access the internet. The
plan is to utilize balloons powered by solar energy for landing internet access at the established
workstations. As per the new-product continuum, the Moonshot Factory is categorized as
discontinued innovation since technology like this has never been witnessed before. Therefore,
Google will need new inventions for proceeding with this course of action. Google is required to
consider the wind positions while making the landing of balloons as the wind may affect the
entire functioning of the Moonshot Factory. This being a new technology, requires a lot of time
and investment in order to succeed as a new idea.
3. Assess the prospects for driverless cars. Once the technology is perfected, which obstacles will
Waymo have to overcome before autonomous mobility becomes widely adopted?
Firstly, Cost can be considered a pretty big problem in the development and operation of Google in this
campaign, because they are a technology company, so they do not have the infrastructure or expertise
necessary to build and sell their own fleet of vehicles. To solve that problem, Waymo has partnered with
Honda, which leads to financial problems that they need to face when putting the product into
operation. Such as car prices will increase compared to competitors, costs to operate the company and
solve outstanding problems before and after going into operation. Secondly, impact from laws and
regulations from different cultures can impact the operation of autonomous cars. The National
Governors Association (NGA) has noted that state governments have a role with respect to vehicle and
pedestrian safety, privacy, cybersecurity, and linkage with advanced communications networks. That has
raised questions about the safety of the car and concerns when the government will have to approve
the responsibility when putting the automatic model into operation. Waymo will need to take the time
to convince legislators that their vision of vehicle autonomy is valid. Thirdly, people are too familiar
with self-driving cars and many of them are still too vague about how autonomous cars work, how it
avoids and minimizes accidents according to the developers. Or is it just their way of reassurance to sell
the product and make a profit? For example, Uber's accident in March in Tempe, Arizona that resulted in
the death of Elaine Herzberg stemmed in large part from the failure of Uber's autonomous driving
system to accurately predict her path. Prediction is a hard and critical problem. Or in the other case,
Amir Efrati from The Information reports on a surprising crash involving an autonomous safety driver.
"The driver fell asleep and accidentally turned off the self-driving car software by touching the gas pedal,
and was then unable to steer." The car switches back to manual mode, but the safety driver is still
asleep. The car ended up hitting the median of the highway. When compared to the technological
challenge of computer vision or motion planning, this type of human factor engineering problem may
appear trivial at first. However, remember that Uber ATG's self-driving cars have been in the works for
six months, owing to driver distraction. Moreover, by using electronics to control the driving system,
having vulnerabilities for hackers is still a concern. They can abuse this completely new system on
humans and cause serious consequences that will certainly take a long time to find and fix. Which will be
difficult to be able to immediately neutralize those vulnerabilities, which, if lucky, will also leave
significant costs. According to that, everyone needs proof and the most honest survey numbers from a
certain area have put driverless cars into operation for a long time to prove that driverless cars are ready
to open widely. Lastly, Waymo also needs to analyze and present their strengths compared to
competitors to strengthen brand identity. There is heavy competition from the likes of Uber, which is
testing its own autonomous car service, and nuTonomy, a similar company already operating in
Singapore. These companies have also achieved certain achievements in the auto industry.
5
its own autonomous car service,
and nuTonomy, a similar
company already operating in
Singapore. These companies
have also achieved certain
achievements in the auto
industry.
4. One goal for Alphabet’s X division is to create a new money making business that rivals
Google in size and profitability but does not involve search functions. What do you think that
will be?
5. In contrast to Google,
Alphabet's other subsidiaries
all reported "bets" with
overall losses of
6. $3 billion, while earnings
totaled $448 million.
Alphabet is considered the
biggest company
7. in the world not because of
how much money it makes
today, but how much it can
make in
8. the future. Alphabet's X
division is like a secret R&D
lab to create breakthrough
technologies
9. to overcome the world's
problems by taking crazy
ideas seriously. And it also
eases the
10. burden, helping other
subsidiaries to focus more on
their core functions. More
than that, X
11. plays a role in ensuring
that Google will be able to
create the next Google but in
a different
12. function, maybe even
surpass it in terms of growth
and profitability
13. In contrast to Google,
Alphabet's other subsidiaries
all reported "bets" with
overall losses of
14. $3 billion, while earnings
totaled $448 million.
Alphabet is considered the
biggest company
15. in the world not because of
how much money it makes
today, but how much it can
make in
16. the future. Alphabet's X
division is like a secret R&D
lab to create breakthrough
technologies
17. to overcome the world's
problems by taking crazy
ideas seriously. And it also
eases the
18. burden, helping other
subsidiaries to focus more on
their core functions. More
than that, X
19. plays a role in ensuring
that Google will be able to
create the next Google but in
a different
20. function, maybe even
surpass it in terms of growth
and profitability
In contrast to Google, Alphabet's other subsidiaries all reported "bets" with overall losses of $3 billion,
while earnings totaled $448 million. Alphabet is considered the biggest company in the world not
because of how much money it makes today, but how much it can make in the future. Alphabet's X
division is like a secret R&D lab to create breakthrough technologies to overcome the world's problems
by taking crazy ideas seriously. And it also eases the burden, helping other subsidiaries to focus more on
their core functions. More than that, X plays a role in ensuring that Google will be able to create the
next Google but in a different function, maybe even surpass it in terms of growth and profitability. In my
opinion, the most desirable project of X to be able to compete with Google in terms of scale and
profitability is Verily. Verily believes that the future of medicine is very similar to the future of
technology, inventing new technologies and services to help people lead healthier lives. One of the most
exciting things about the intersection of technology, experimental science, and medicine is early disease
detection. X's original goal was to develop smart, compact, non-invasive devices inside the body. Then in
2014, the company made headlines when it unveiled smart contact lenses for tracking and measuring
biomarkers in human eyes and permanently eliminating the invasive blood test for patients with
diabetes. A few months later, the company also unveiled a smart spoon: to help people with Parkinson's
eat. The short-term goal of X is to use “chimera” modeling to identify deviations much earlier than they
can be detected, and ultimately identify problems like heart disease and cancer when they can be
prevented early rather than cured.