SWOT Analysis of GoogleHave you ever wondered about how Google has maintained its powerful

position, throughout? We all know about its pseudo-monopoly in Search-Engine. I mean, nowadays
everyone jumps to Google for every piffling query that we get! But is that the only reason of its success?
Google has a sundry of apps/products under it. Are all of them successfully leading the charts?

SURABHI BHUYAN MAY 24, 2021 8 MIN READ

Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Serge Brin in California, USA. This power-duo formed
Google- technology company as a research project, while at Stanford University. Since then, the
company has grown in leaps and bounds and became a tech giant in the mainstream media.

Can you believe in just some 20 odd years, Google has become a concrete part of people’s lives, across
the entire globe! And now led by Mr. Sundar Pichai, as the CEO of Alphabet Inc.

And to analyze how Google rapidly grows, while addressing the competition from FAANG, I will be
discussing the SWOT Analysis of Google.

(FYI: FAANG = Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, and Google)

Now what is SWOT Analysis? What can an MBA learn from it? Let’s see.

Quick Navigation

What is SWOT Analysis?

How is it important for MBAs?

SWOT Analysis of Tech-Giant: Google

Strengths of Google

Pseudo-Monopoly

Brand Valuation

Rapid Growth & Adaptibility

Weaknesses of Google

Dubious Privacy Policies

Over-dependence on Google Ads

Failed Social media Entry

Opportunities for Google

Expansion in emerging markets

Google in India

Google Glasses and Other Innovations

Cloud Computing

Threats for Google

FAANG Competition

Tussle with China

Regional Search Engine Leaders

Web Search Trend Transformation

Conclusion

What is SWOT Analysis?

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal to your company—things that you have some control over and
can change. For example, your product design, your security policy, patents, etc.

Opportunities and threats are external—things that are going on outside your company, in the larger
market. You can take advantage of opportunities and protect against threats, but you can’t change
them. Examples include competitors, prices of raw materials, and customer shopping trends.

How is it important for MBAs?

 SWOT analysis is an important tool, especially for leaders and top-management. This arms you with a
solid strategy for prioritizing your actions, for an aimed growth.

You might think that you know all about your company. But SWOT pushes you to review it from new
angles and analyze new aspects.

But as a top-management, this will not be solely on you. You would have a team of people having varied
perspectives. Starting from marketing to research to finance team, everyone can be there to share their
perspectives.

Many companies even hire third-parties for own internal ranks, when they perform a SWOT analysis.
This helps in getting input from customers, and adds their unique voice to the mix.

Now, we know why this analysis is important. It’s time to narrow our discussion to SWOT Analysis of
Google.

SWOT Analysis of Tech-Giant: Google

One of the most coveted summer internships for B-school students is that of Google’s. And it’s an open
secret that they tend to ask you about your view of their products. For example, which product is your
favourite, which is least favourite? And why?

SWOT Analysis of Google can give you an uber-level idea about how their products contribute to Google.
Even how they function and where does their pain-point lies.
Source: List of Google Products

If you are someone who wants to nail these questions, this article is for you! A thorough idea of their
plethora of products and strategies, will definitely give you an edge.

And SWOT analysis of Google is your way to start!

Let’s jump into our SWOT analysis of Google. Let’s go over each of the four aspects: Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Here is the SWOT analysis of Google at a glance.

Now let’s analyze in a little bit more detail.

Strengths of Google

Google’s continuous growth over the years is attributable to numerous internal factors. These factors
form the strengths of Google, and here I will be taking you through what are the strengths of Google
briefly:
Pseudo-Monopoly

When it comes to searching something on internet, we have become used to clicking Google. It can be
said that for most of us Google is synonym to internet!

Google processes more than 40,000 search queries per second on average, which is equivalent to
about 3.5 billion searches per day!

Now some might argue that Google has used this pseudo-monopoly situation in its favour. And hence
does not let anyone enter this search- engine market. But time and again, Google has said that for them
people searching the internet are not Google's true customers.

We're its product. Advertisers are its real customers.

And if you see the graph below, you can see why is it difficult for any new/old player to compete with
Google.

Source: Statistica- Worldwide desktop market share of leading search engines

And to add to this, its dominance has hardly ever bothered its users. The company has
historically ranked high in surveys of user trust.

Though recent growing public sensitivity about the loss of digital privacy and President Donald Trump's
repeated and unfounded claims of tech industry bias, have left some dents in its reputation.
To know more about this, read: Economics Times: If Google's a monopoly, who is harmed by its market
power?

Brand Valuation

It is one of the most valued-brand. According to Forbes, in“the world’s most valuable brand list,” Google
is ranked at # 2 position after Apple.

 Google’s parent Alphabet’s market value currently sits at $1 trillion. And could go higher as Wall
Street bets that the company will report another quarter of strong advertising sales.

 As for Google, it has a huge revenue of $161.86 Billion (2019). And Google has garnered this
through advertisement, ensuring its growth along.

 For detailed Google revenue/ growth statistics: Google Search Statistics

Rapid Growth & Adaptibility

Taking about its growth, Google is one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. In 2001, the
company had fewer than 300 employees; then it increased 10-fold to 3000 in 2004, it grew 10-fold again
to 32,470 in 2011.

And by 2019, its employee- body was of 118,899.

Not just it terms of its employee, Google keeps adding new ideas/ apps to its list. Few of my favourites
being ChromeCast, Google Analytics, Art and Culture, Google Earth, etc.

And few others which have become super-essential nowadays. For example, GPay, Chrome, Gmail,
Maps, Google meet etc.

Google always keeps innovating and investing in new ideas. And probably this is why it even can
compete with Apple’s products. We have always seen a good tussle between Apple vs Android!

Weaknesses of Google

Google has been a target for slams in the recent times especially. This is where I will show you why it
gets slammed!

Dubious Privacy Policies

Google has been slammed by many experts for its excessive reliance on privacy, especially when it
comes to hiding information about algorithms. The company has since taken steps to address the
allegations.

But it doesn’t just end here.

Recently, Google was fined for breaching EU’s online privacy laws. It was one of the biggest fine imposed
for such a breach. This case was not about the need for consent for personalised advertising, but about
how exactly it should be obtained.

Over-dependence on Google Ads

Advertisement space is highly competitive, and rely heavily on macroeconomic conditions. Hence its
risky to have it as a major source of income. Almost 84% of the revenue comes from this.

But I believe Google is aware of it, and is slowly transitioning into an healthy balance of revenue income.

Source: Statista

Failed Social media Entry

Before the emergence of social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, most people relied on Google to
access the latest news digitally.

But now, you can access the latest news via other social media platforms. Unfortunately even Google
News isn’t used for that purpose now!

To get in the game, Google has attempted to launch several social media platforms too. But Google Plus
and Shoelace failed to gain traction and forced the company to shut it down.

Opportunities for Google

Some of the areas which can be opportunities for Google, are here:

Expansion in emerging markets

Because of this COVID, most of us have shifted to “WFH” aka work from home situation.

With Microsoft and Zoom making billions from its video calling services. Google is already making moves
to exploit the demand for remote work solutions and recently added video-calling features and other
collaboration tools in Gmail.

Same stance it took about online-payments, with GPay. Giving a good competition to other payment
platforms like PayTM, PhonePe, WhatsApp. The scratch card offers was one of the clever tactics used by
them, at the start of their entry.

Not just that. Google is taking up a notch its cloud-storage division.

They introduced a new digital store, which offers cloud-based softwares. Along with this, the company
collaborated with MobileIron, Inc., to integrate its cloud Orbitera commerce platform with MobileIron’s
app distribution, security, and analytics capabilities.

Google in India

Yes! You read it right. Google has identified India as its opportunity ground. Google will invest ₹75,000
crore, or approximately $10 billion, into India over the next 5–7 years.

It will be done through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and
ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of their confidence in the future of India and its digital
economy.

Do read Finshots: Why Google committed $10 Billion to India's Digital Future, to know more

Google Glasses and Other Innovations

The introduction of Google Glasses and Google Play promises to be a game changer for Google and this
is a significant opportunity that the company can exploit.
“A hands-free device for smarter and faster hands-on work”

Indeed, this very aspect can make the company take the next evolutionary leap into the emerging world
of nano-computing and operations.

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing remains a key opportunity for Google as it is already experienced in providing storage
and cloud solutions. Indeed, if not anything, it can move into the enterprise market using the cloud-
computing paradigm.

And lastly, I am here to tell you about the threats for Google.

Threats for Google

If I ask you which company gives Google the toughest fight? Or is a threat for Google?

Most likely your answer would be Microsoft Bing, Yahoo?

But that’s not the way Google sees it!

FAANG Competition

Biggest search competitor for Google is -Amazon. The main area of competition for these two
companies is product searches.

Forrester Research found that a third of online users started their product searches on Amazon,
compared to 13 percent who started their search from a traditional search site.

ComScore found that product searches on Amazon have grown 73 percent over the last year, while
shopping searches on Google have been flat.
Source: Amazon vs Google

Tussle with China

Google's first foray into Chinese markets was a short-lived experiment.

Google China’s search engine was launched in 2006 and abruptly pulled from mainland China in 2010
amid a major hack of the company and disputes over censorship of search results.

To re-enter the world’s biggest market, Google has to face a dilemma.

Will it compromise its principles and censor search the way China wants?

Another brilliant read on this topic: Google took on China- and lost.

So, did you see? Even a tech-giant like Google goes through continuous ups and downs. SWOT analysis
of Google helps us to be aware of these.

Apart from these, some other factors are there too. Now, these might not be Google-killers, but may
bring a balance to the search engine market!
Regional Search Engine Leaders

A search competitor like Baidu or Yandex (the market winners in China and Russia, respectively) might
be dangerous for Google as their markets become more important players in the world economy.

They already have a huge population as their audience. With a combination of top-level tech-geeks and
support from mainstream media, they might expand anytime. Defeating Google’s monopoly all at once.

Another threat is from us, the search engine users. I will tell you how!

Web Search Trend Transformation

As the web becomes increasingly large and complex, it's very possible that web surfing and web
searching habits will evolve.

Brands like Expedia, Zillow, and iMedix are all competing in the arenas of vertical search, hoping that
when web users think travel, real estate, or health care, they won't turn to Google, but instead will go
directly to their favorite vertical engine.

For example, few years ago when you wanted to buy anything, you search Google/Amazon. But now
suppose if I want to buy some cosmetics, I will go to Nykaa.

Amazon might be having the same product, but I choose Nykaa. Why is that so?

Because Nykaa solely belongs to the cosmetics and skin-care category (or vertical).

Conclusion

To conclude, I aimed at telling you a little about the importance of SWOT Analysis framework, at the
start. And a little about the company too (Well, you must definitely Google that one on your own!)

Then we moved forward to discuss Google’s SWOT analysis in depth. Keeping its products, their
contribution, its investments and plan for growth, in focus.

Hopefully, now you know a bit more about Google. And to find more SWOT of leading companies
(especially Google’s competitors!), follow the links!