Which are Google’s three main threats?
When thinking about Google challenges I think about the mid and long term sustainability of their business model.
In my opinion, main Google’s threats come from its detractors and the business disruptions that those might generate.
On one hand, Google is increasingly being perceived as more and more
intrusive by the users of their applications. We can read in the news about lawsuits and issues regarding the confidentiality and data privacy of Google’s policies. There is also an increasing perception of being monopolistic. New regulations about data privacy might be issued by governments, which would prevent an efficient segmentation of user’s information and would jeopardize the financial sustainability of Google based on advertising. Also, an “anti-monopoly” trend might gain supporters across the network. Do not forget that Google was born with the “Don’t be evil” motto, leveraging some of the trends against the established system. It will be interesting to see the final position that Google takes with the Chinese government regarding the contents censorship. Will Google keep consistent and persistent with their strategy so far?
When thinking about Google challenges I think about the mid and long term sustainability of their business model.
In my opinion, main Google’s threats come from its detractors and the business disruptions that those might generate.
On one hand, Google is increasingly being perceived as more and more
intrusive by the users of their applications. We can read in the news about lawsuits and issues regarding the confidentiality and data privacy of Google’s policies. There is also an increasing perception of being monopolistic. New regulations about data privacy might be issued by governments, which would prevent an efficient segmentation of user’s information and would jeopardize the financial sustainability of Google based on advertising. Also, an “anti-monopoly” trend might gain supporters across the network. Do not forget that Google was born with the “Don’t be evil” motto, leveraging some of the trends against the established system. It will be interesting to see the final position that Google takes with the Chinese government regarding the contents censorship. Will Google keep consistent and persistent with their strategy so far?On the other hand, we have the Google’s detractors in the advertising industry
, where we find a wide range: advertising agency competitors, market players that see as their business models collapse as a result of Google offering their products and services for free, and the telco and Internet operators, that are not able to capture any of the Google’s value chain while arguing that they are providing the platform that allows Google’s business transactions.
, where we find a wide range: advertising agency competitors, market players that see as their business models collapse as a result of Google offering their products and services for free, and the telco and Internet operators, that are not able to capture any of the Google’s value chain while arguing that they are providing the platform that allows Google’s business transactions.Finally, I think that Google faces a structural strategic challenge regarding their diversification strategy: maintaining
a persistent, consistent and differentiated product, leadership in its segment, in the middle of a highly changing and evolving industry, where every day we see new technology trends and new and innovative business dimensions.The future will reveal the result of all those uncertainties; in the meantime I have to say that I keep using Google applications, email, docs, maps, AdWords, …
