Strategic Plan, Part 3: Strategic Evaluation

Write a 1,050-word minimum strategic evaluation in which you include the following: 

• Evaluate potential business level strategies for the organization.
• Assess potential corporate level strategies for the organization.
• Assess potential global strategies for the organization.
• Recommend a strategy or combination of strategies the organization should implement, and include a rationale for that recommendation. 

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

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Strategic Plan, Part 3: Strategic Evaluation and Recommendation

Grading Guide

Purpose of Assignment

Students explore a variety of strategies. They then make their recommendations for strategies or a combination of strategies for the organization.

Resources Required

Strategic Plan: Part 1, Strategic Plan: Part 2

Grading Guide

Content		Met		Partially Met		Not Met		Comments:
The paper uses the organization selected in Week 1.
The paper includes an evaluation of the potential business-level strategies for the organization.
The paper includes an assessment of the potential corporate-level strategies for the organization.
The paper includes the assessment of the potential global strategies for the organization.
The paper includes a recommendation of a strategy or combination of strategies the organization should implement and includes a rationale for that recommendation.
The paper is a minimum of 1,050 words in length.
	Total Available		Total Earned
7	#/7

Met

Partially Met

Not Met

Comments:

Total Available

Total Earned

Writing Guidelines
Organization
The tone is appropriate to the content and assignment.
The introduction provides a sufficient background on the topic and previews major points.
Paragraph transitions are present, logical, and maintain the flow throughout the paper.
The conclusion is logical, flows from the body of the paper, and reviews the major points.
Mechanics
The paper—including tables and graphs, headings, title page, and reference page—is consistent with APA formatting guidelines and meets course-level requirements.
Intellectual property is recognized with in-text citations and a reference page.
Sentences are complete, clear, and concise.
Rules of grammar and usage are followed including spelling and punctuation.
	3	#/3

Assignment Total	#	10	#/10
Additional comments:

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Running Head: ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

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Running Head: ENVIROMENTAL ANALYSIS

Environmental Analysis

John Mbiti

STR/581

02/03/2017

Carlos Pinda

University of Phoenix

Organization: Google Inc.

Google is a business organization that basically operates in the internet technology industry. One of its major services is the provision of internet searching services. It is the largest search engine that enables internet users to look for different information about different topics on the internet. It is easy-to-use thereby a preference of many. In addition to this, Google also has various other services such as Google documents, Google maps, and the Google drive. These provide a wide variety of services to its users enabling them to perform different tasks. Another major service of Google is their Gmail. Users are able to create email accounts that enable them to send and receive emails.

Over the years, the company has been dominant due to its ability to meet and exceed the expectations of its customers. The success of the company is attributed to its customer service as well as the consideration of the welfare of its employees. It is important to realize that the customers and employees play a significant part in the survival of a business in any industry. This is a consideration that the management and ownership of Google have taken into account and this has enabled it to stay successful and competent despite growing competition from other businesses.

Internal Environment Assessment

The internal environment of an organization basically refers to the environment that is found within the organization (Craig, 2012). This is a small organizational environment that can be manipulated or affected by the strategies of an organization. The ability of an organization to perform in the market depends on its internal environment. From within the company, Google does not pay attention to maximizing profits. Rather, the company focuses its efforts on meeting the needs of the customers. It has a competent team of employees as well as sufficient resources that can enable it to meet and exceed the expectations of their customers.

The employees are part of the company’s internal environment because it can decide who to hire, fire, or retain. As aforementioned, the internal environment of an organization significantly contributes to its performance in the market. Google ensures that it hires committed and competent employees. It provides training services to them to make sure that they improve their skills. In addition to this, the company uses its resources to create a friendly working environment to make sure that the employees do their best. The manipulation of the internal environment determines the future of the organization (Steiner, 2010).

The most important strengths and weaknesses and resource assessment

Strengths and weaknesses are part of the internal environment of an organization because they can be manipulated internally. The most important strengths of Google is the fact that it is the market leader with respect to search engines. Over time, the company has managed to improve its services connection that it provides the best for its clients. For this reason, Google has built a strong brand and is the leader of the respect to internet search engines. This has enabled it to maintain the position of a market leader.

One of the major weaknesses of Google is over-dependence on advertisements. As at now, more than 85% of Google’s revenues come from advertisements. This implies that true that be a reduction in advertisements, then the company will greatly suffer. If businesses prefer advertising the products to other platforms Google will feel a great negative impact on its revenues. Despite this weakness, the company has sufficient resources that can enable it to invest in other businesses or projects. It has an able workforce as well as financial and material resources that can guarantee it a bright future.

Internal Environmental Factors

One of the most important internal environmental factors is the corporate culture. This basically refers to the overall behavior that has been developed within the organization and affects the performance of employees. Google has a strong corporate culture that enables its employees to display the best talents in different places. The company assigns different duties and possibilities to its employees in an attempt to bring the best out of. This has enabled Google to create employees that are accountable and responsible. The corporate culture has greatly contributed towards the success of the company in the external business environment.

Technological capabilities have also assisted Google to stand out in the external environment. As aforementioned, this technology giant has resources that enable it to achieve different goals and objectives. It is noted that the utilization of the internal factors of an organization affects its performance in the external environment. Google realizes this and has utilized its internal abilities to create a favorable external outcome. The external analysis of a business environment creates a result that is caused by the internal environment. Therefore, whether or not a business is profitable in the external environment depends on how the internal factors are manipulated.

Competitor Analysis

A competitor analysis simply refers to the identification of competitors as well as the strategies that they utilize to achieve their goals (Fleisher, 2015). This enables a business to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of other industry players. It is important to understand competitors because the knowledge provides details on how to adjust strategies to be more competitive. One of the biggest competitors of Google is Microsoft. This company is considered a competitor because it provides similar services to Googles. The two companies have the same market to a large extent. For example, Microsoft also has an email service (outlook). In addition to this, it provides cloud computing or storage, maps, and document management software such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Microsoft has a strong brand name which makes it trusted and preferred by many users. It has managed to stand the test of time through overcoming challenges even under the most threatening financial crisis. It also has a competent team of employees as well as sufficient resources that can enable it to invest in other projects. This makes it a strong competitor because it is equipped with resources and has a large customer base.

The Structure of the Organization

An organizational structure shows the allocation of different duties and responsibilities between different levels of management (Alvesson, 2012). A typical organization has three levels of management, the lower level management, mid-level management, at the upper or executive level of management. An organizational structure shows how these different levels of management engage and relate with respect to duties and responsibilities. Google uses matrix organizational structure in the sense that it employs different tactics. Generally, the company makes use of the function-based organizational structure. This is an organizational structure whereby employees are grouped depending on their functions, for example, engineering and design, sales and marketing, and product management among others.

The nature of the structure of the organization has a significant impact on its performance (Simerson, 2011). Taking this into account, it is necessary for the management teams of different organizations to come up with effective organizational structures that will enable them to achieve their targets. The function-based organizational structure used to buy Google comes along with a positive impact on performance. It boosts the relationship between different employees and also enables them to focus on the goals and objectives assigned to them. In addition to this, it has led to the decentralization of duties and responsibilities thereby reducing the workload and reducing the time within which tasks are achieved.

The Organization’s Competitive Position and the Possibilities

As stated earlier, Google is the market leader with respect to search engines. With respect to this, the company is the most competitive because it is ahead of the rest of its competitors in the market. As a means to boost its competitive position in the market, Google has added on it services by providing additional services to its users such as email services, document management, maps, online storage, among others. This diversification has boosted the company’s competitiveness. For the purpose of sustaining the competitive position, it is important for businesses to diversify the products and services for the purpose of attracting more customers.

This competitive position of Google comes along with various possibilities. First of all, the company has managed to strongly build its brand name and this enables it to attract and retain more customers thereby achieving sustainability in the future. In addition to this, the company will enjoy the partnership of other businesses that will be pleased to be associated with it. Businesses need to focus on achieving competitiveness as this opens new opportunities for them.

References

Alvesson, A. (2012). Understanding Organizational Culture. London: SAGE.

Craig, T. (2012). Organizations and the Business Environment. Burlington, MA: Elsevier.

Fleisher, S. (2015). Business and Competitive Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Simerson, B. (2011). Strategic Planning. Santa Barbara: Praeger.

Steiner, G. (2010). Strategic Planning. New York: The Free Press.

Running Head: ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING
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Environmental Scanning

John Mbiti

STR/581

01/29/2017

Carlos Pinda

University Of Phoenix

Current: Google Inc.

Recent: Microsoft Inc.

Google Inc. is an American multinational company that operates in the internet technology industry. The company offers a platform that is user-friendly and helps users to search and find information from the world wide web. The use of the services attracts a worldwide customer base that has contributed to Google’s revenues over the years.

Environmental Scanning

Environmental Scanning is a process which surveys and systematically interprets relevant data to determine the threats and opportunities in a systematic way (Babatunde & Adebisi, 2012). The company is expected to gather information about itself, the competitors and the external environment. Through the environment scanning Google Inc. can determine the models to create value and sustain competitive advantage.

Google can use environment scanning in creating value. Google has stayed ahead of Yahoo through its element of newness, development of its brand status, reduction of risk, customization, and reduction of risk. The ideas around the creation of value developed after the management analyzed the information about the competitors and its internal capacity.

The company has developed a user-friendly environment which connects the users to the desired outcome hence enhancing the experience. The strategy enhances the experience of the customers who are interested in Google free services and promoting an environment for the business. An example of Google customization is Picasa which provides families with an environment whereby they can share with friend and families. They share videos and photos with one another based on this platform.

The risk reduction value creation is provided through the secure Google mail. The environment scan has indicated that the industry has a niche regarding having a mail that is secure for the users. The Google Mail is a secure e-mail account by Google (Rowland, 2017). The subscription with Google gives the customers access to the platform where they can stay in contact with employers, families, and friends.

Evaluate the Company’s External Environment

The analysis of the external factors provides the management with an understanding of the opportunities that are available and how to mitigate the threats in the market. Based on the PESTEL analysis below it is important for Google to focus its efforts on technological and economic factors.

The business of Google is subject to several economic changes. Using the PESTEL model, the external economic factors can alter the opportunities in the market that are present in the business (Chaneta, 2011). The most significant economic factors that Google is expected to deal with include economic stability its major markets, and rapid expansion of the markets in developing countries. The external economic factors above creates opportunities for Google Inc. The company is expected to exploit economic stability in major markets and the fast growth in developing markets. The external opportunities can help the company expand its business around the globe.

Google’s business is technology based which means that the technological aspect of the external environment is very critical for its existence. The changes in the technological environment are potential makers or breakers of Google’s business (Rowland, 2017). The technological environment factors that are important for Google Inc. business are highlighted below.

The opportunity exists for Google due to growing access to the internet in the developing world. At the same time, there is rapid adoption of the use of mobile devices in the international market. The company is faced with significant opportunities from the external technological factors. The company will gain through the increased advertising revenues as the developing markets become connected to the online environment. Google is also expected to improve the nature of online friendliness of its products which can exploit the mobile trends (Rowland, 2017).

The General Environment

Assessment of the general environment involves determining significance and timing of the trends and changes in the strategic management of Google Inc. The assessment under this section is done using Porter’s Five Forces.

The potential threat of new entrants in the industry that Google Inc. operates is low due to the high barrier to entry. At the moment the competitors to the company have several servers that are deployed across the world and have been gathered over the years. When a new entrant comes into the market, it is critical that they offer search results that are fast to compete with establishing companies. The market is mature meaning that new entrant threat is relatively low.

The threat of suppliers is low and will remain as such as long as the company manages to maintain its dominance in the market (Chaneta, 2011). The ad system managed by the company is an important source of income since the ad-maker, and the ad-receivers are part of the customer portfolio of the company. The ability of the company to maintain customer and seller collaboration is critical to reducing the cost of revenue as a percentage of sales.

The customer bargaining power of the company is low since no individual customer has a controlling interest. The situation exists as it is because no individual customer covers more than 3% of the net revenue of the company. The threat of potential substitute for Google services is low. The internet has developed into the single mode that is used to search and retrieve information from the internet. Google is the only platform that is available for the creation of search services.

The existing competition is relatively high even though Google is the main player in the industry. The main competitors that the company has had to deal with over the years include Microsoft and Google. The two companies operate under Live Search and MSN respectively. The amount of income that is made in the income is high, and Google Inc. holds a larger share of the income.

Industry Operating Environment

The operating environment of the company is the external industry environment (Gupta, 2013). The company is affected by the political, economic, social, technological and environmental elements. The legal aspect of the business has come to light due to the international nature of the business. Google has been accused of giving its services an added advantage regarding search results in its platform. The company has denied such practices which have threatened its business model up to date. The management is expected to always take into consideration the legal and social elements in its operation to avoid clashing with its environment.

References

Babatunde, B. O., & Adebisi, A. O. (2012). Strategic Environmental Scanning and Organization Performance in a Competitive Business Environment. Economic Insights-Trends & Challenges, 64(1).

Chaneta, I. (2011). Strategic management process.

Gupta, A. (2013). Environmental and pest analysis: An approach to external business environment. Merit Research Journal of Art, Social Science and Humanities, 1(2), 13-17.

Rowland, C. (2017). Google PESTEL/PESTLE Analysis & Recommendations. Panmore Institute