Strengths
1. In 2008, Google was the worldwide leader in Internet and mobile search advertising because of consumer faith in the search engine (pg 489)
o Internet users’ preference for Google’s search results produced 2007 revenues of nearly $16.5 billion and profits of more than $4.2 billion (pg 490)
o Neither Microsoft’s Live Search nor Yahoo, which were the industry’s second and third most popular search engines, seemed capable of slowing Google’s growth in 2008 (pg 490)
o Google’s ability to sustain its competitive advantage among search companies was a function of its ability to maintain strong relationships with Internet users, advertisers and Web sites (pf 502)
o In 2008, Internet users went to Google to search for information more often than any other site with search capabilities ( Google had 61.6% of all searchers) (pg 502)
2. Google’s strategy to dominate search-based advertising on mobile devices had been very successful
o Google launched its Android operating system for mobile phones in 2008 (pg 490)
o In 2008 Google accounted for 63 percent of searched performed on Internet-enabled phones (pg 501)
3. Google’s highly scalable business model added relatively little additional fixed cost as volume increases, which helped boost the company’s cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities to $14.2 billion at the end of 2007 (pg 490)
4. Google used its vast cash reserves to make strategic acquisitions that might lead to the development of new Internet applications offering advertising opportunities (pg 491)
o Google Earth, Google Maps
o 2006 acquisition of dMark allowed Google advertisers to bid on radio advertising sports as well as search-based ads (pg 493)
o Google’s Web-based document and spreadsheet software resulted from the company’s acquisition of Writely in 2006(pg 493)
o Acquisition of DoubleClick in 2008 allowed the company to generate advertising revenues through banner ad and in-stream video advertising management services...