Google’s greatest threat is…
November 21st, 2008 | by emontero |…the world’s economic woes? The road from $700 a share to roughly $260 is fraught with uncertainty. We’re talking about a massive value loss! Yahoo! anyone?
Google has a very comfortable, not to say completely dominant, position in the Internet’s search and advertising market. Nevertheless, the threats that could ultimately steal the lion’s share from California’s tech giant abound. For instance, international competitors have begun to emerge in ascendant Internet markets. Baidu (China) and Yandex (Russia) are notable examples. Furthermore, a little bit closer to home, firms like Expedia (travel), Zillow (real state) and iMedix (health care) are hoping to capitalize on web search’s vertical markets. Also, advertisers have started to pay close attention to social networks, as more and more people flock to sites like Facebook and MySpace. So, basically, we are not talking about a single threat to Google’s supremacy. Rather, it’s a huge amalgamation of different competitors and factors.
Source: SEOmoz
Whether we are talking about external threats (e.g. international competitors, vertical markets, social networks, et cetera) or internal (e.g. attrition, policy changes, et cetera), the reality is a sound strategy must be in place in order to secure Google’s supremacy. What can the company do then? Do the words change, fail and adapt ring any bells?
Companies must be nimbler than the competition if they are to retain a desirable competitive advantage and increase their market share. Internet companies are no exception. As a matter of fact, given the Internet’s perennial state of flux, companies focusing on technology and using the web as the de facto business medium should be, generally, receptive to constant change and innovation more so than other organizations.
If Google is able to produce and establish another technology-based product in the market, reaping the financial benefits of this new venture greatly along the way, then the prospect of expanding and investing heavily in the company’s core competencies would be easier to attain. Thus, Google could, with relative ease, take on more new products and keep spawning revenue. The company has tried to do this for a while now. Products such as Orkut (a pseudo social network of sorts) and Knol (a Wikipedia-like knowledge repository) are among the organization’s many attempts to expand into other online markets. However, success has proven to be elusive. Google must be more assertive and focus on diversifying its core businesses now, before another player disrupts Internet’s search and advertising market for good.
The fact that Google decided to shut down Lively is symptomatic of tough times ahead.
