Memorandum About the SWOT Analysis of Google and Yahoo (Research Paper Sample)

Memorandum about the SWOT analysis of Google and Yahoo
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Introduction
Globalization coupled with advanced in technology has considerably changed the face of many international corporations in the contemporary world. The analysis of a business organization’s internal and external environment is undoubtedly crucial for surviving in the every changing competitive environment. Today, managers have developed strategic management tools, which have proved essential in giving a clear insight of their businesses' environments. SWOT is one of the most widely used tools for scanning modern business environments. The tool has been found be useful in assessing an organization’s strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats. This essay primary provides a comprehensive review of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Yahoo and Google.
SWOT analysis
Google
Google is an American based international organization founded by in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Nehls, 2011). The company is specialized in the provision of internet-related products and services such as search, cloud computing, software, and online advertising technologies. The company's profits are mostly derived from Adwords.
1. Strengths
One of the key strengths of Google can be attributed to its market leadership. Today, Google occupies approximately 66% of market share in the desktop search engine. This position has proved crucial in cementing the company's revenue from advertisements. Google has also benefited from fast mover advantages. Its massive investment in R&D has resulted in the introduction of a wide range of innovative products in new markets, which have yielded massive revenues from sales to early adopters. In addition, the company has an attractive organizational culture that has encouraged the effective integration of play with work.
2. Weaknesses
In spite of its strengths, Google has been criticized for being dependent on one source of income: advertisement. In fact, approximately 90% of the company’s revenue is sourced from advertisements (Goel & Khani, 2014). Besides, there have been concerns that most of Google’s products and services add not profitable. This has significantly contributed to a reduction in its profitability level. Over the past few years, the company has faced numerous litigations from third parties for breach of patents. Such actions have arguably not only wasted the company’s time and resources but also trimmed down its reputation in the industry.
3. Opportunities
The industry provides Google with an array of opportunities, which can be exploited. First, with the increased use of internet users worldwide, Google has a great spot to become the best internet search tool and social network if it strategically combines all its services. Moreover, the tablet market provides a large potential customer base for consumer electronics, which the company can take advantage. To expand its business into new markets globally, Google can acquire or partner with related business, most of which have expressed open willingness.
Threats
Threats in global search engine industry are inevitable. For instance, Google's tendency to share confidential information could prove costly in future, since rival firms may use such information to develop competing products and services. Legal suits against the company are also increasingly becoming frequent. Such events are likely to cause massive financial losses to the company. Moreover, competition is gradually becoming a reality as new companies continue to flood the industry.
Yahoo
Yahoo Inc. is an American multinational company in the technology industry founded in 1995 by David Filo and Jerry Yang (Kumar, 2012). The company's headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. Yahoo! Is globally recognized for its products such as video sharing, Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Finance and Online Mapping, among other. Today, research shows that about 700 million users visit Yahoo sites every month.
Strengths
Although characterized by a relatively lower market share than Google, Yahoo has the largest number of mail users, which results in significant income from its mail section. In addition, the company has been recognized for having the largest number of ad network and expansive properties such as Flickr, My Yahoo!, Yahoo Search, and Yahoo! Mail (Su & Baker, 2012). The company has also many patents, copyrights, and trademarks that help to boosts its annual revenue figure. Moreover, today, Yahoo has some of the most valuable partnerships arrangements in the world, which comprise of affiliates such as Cars.com, eBay, and Forbes.com.
Weaknesses
One of the greatest weaknesses of yahoo can be attributed of its low market share. The company lags behind its key rivals such as Google, Baidu, and Bing. In addition, there have been concerns that most of the company's services are not known even to general people such as Yahoo Pipe. The company's financial figures are also not that attractive compared to those of Google and other key competitors. As such, many investors tend to shy away from investing in the company. Likewise, the company has ...