Google Swot Analysis

SWOT Analysis:

SWOT analysis is used to strategically plan and identify a company's internal strengths and weaknesses and the external environment that creates opportunities and threats. Company's use their external opportunities to reinforce internal strengths and improve internal weaknesses in an attempt to achieve organization goals.
The internal factors of strengths and weaknesses are measured by its impact on the goals and objectives of the organization. A company's strengths are its resources and any other developments that can create a competitive advantage. Some of the internal factors are part of the marketing mix - product, price, plan, and promotion. The non existence of specific strengths may also be categorized as a weakness.
The external factors of opportunities and threats present themselves from the external environment. Some external factors are new technology, change in regulations, and competing products and firms. A matrix is usually used to express the results of the analysis (David).
Strengths
• Simple design and level of ease
• Patent for ranking tool
• Revenue from advertising programs
• 2007 Fortune #1 Best company to work for list
Weaknesses
• Google's tendency to solve engineering problems instead of user problems
• Google's contextual ads continuously targeted by click fraud
• Google's failed efforts offline
Opportunities
• Advertising partnership with Yahoo
• Experimental partnerships with radio and print media
• Acquisitions of businesses (YouTube, DoubleClick)
• Other partnerships (AOL Time Warner, NASA, News. Corp.)
• Increase in online advertising
• Online video increasing
• Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time (one day per week) on projects that interest them
• 1,300 résumés a day
• Froogle.com / Google Product Search

Threats
• Potential Yahoo/Microsoft alliance
• Facebook
• Click fraud
• Copyright disputes stemming from Google Book Search and the digitization of millions of books
• Censorship
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