CASE STUDY

Introduction:
The following makes the analysis of the case study of the Google company and gives certain
recommendations so that it helps in the maintenance of the competitive advantage for the
company. The value chain and the way it matches the drivers in the industry is also assessed.
This assignment also addresses the strategic and also the operational challenges that are faced
by the company.

The qualitative and the quantitative decision which support the

recommendation is also provided. The additional action that is required is also explained.
The financial and the other resources which are required are also mentioned.
The priorities for the implementation of the recommendations and the way they are done is
also explained. The study makes analysis of how the Google works with their Google
Prediction Markets (GPM) and how far they are successful in that. The company launched
this with the aim of prediction of the general stock markets and also the events like the who
will be the next American President. The launch was successful with participants, especially
the Googlers (employees call themselves like that). The company had the huge market data
and this they want to convert it into the more predictive and the informative ones.
They got a group of the active traders but they were very small in a group. The company
identifies the best traders so that they reward them with the T- shirts and they also feel very
social. The biggest challenge that they face is that they have more people to participate in the
markets. They want the GPM to be very much fun and curious and for this the Googlers are
thinking for a way out so that they increase the number of the participants and prevent the
competitive advantage that they have.
Literature review:
The analysis can be done with many kinds of the tools and the one of the most popular ones
is the SWOT analysis and the PESTEL analysis which helps in making the micro and also the
macro environment analysis. The following shows how the analysis is made and the results
that could be obtained from that. (Belohlavek, 2008)

SWOT analysis:
The analysis is made on the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and also the Threats.
Strength: This shows the strength of the company or the positives that they have within the
organisation. This can be the first mover advantage, the differential strategy that is followed
by the company so that its difficult for the competitors to copy, etc.
Weakness: This will bring about the weakness of the organisation that they face with internal
side. They can be the lack of the infrastructure, the investment and the inability of the
company to meet with the challenges due to the lack of the technology. They will also lack
the ability of prediction (Cant, 2009)
Opportunities: The opportunities refer to the external opportunities that the company has.
The opportunities could be the new markets, the new products, the chances for the increase in
the sales and the opportunity that is given by the external market is mentioned here. These are
the opportunities that need to be grabbed so that it helps in the growth of the company.
Threats: The threats refer to the perils that the company is subjected to face from the
external side. It can be increase in the taxation rate, the problem with the governments, the
change in the political and the economic conditions, the increase in the competition are some
of the threats that the company is subjected to face in future. (Dewan, 2010)
PESTEL Analysis:
The PESTEL analysis is the macro environmental analysis of the business so that it helps the
company to make better analysis and predictions.
Political: This refers to the challenges in the form of the political where the company is
subjected to face the challenges of the change in the government, the taxation rate and a
different scenario when they do business in the international environment.
Economical: This refers to the economical condition of the country in which the company is
doing their business. If the company is doing their business in the environment where there
is good growth then they will have lot of opportunities. If the economy is stagnating this will
not give much sales and market for the company.

Social: The social refers to the society where the culture of the society is taken into the
consideration. Example: the usage of the Calvein Klien advertisement is considered as
awkward in the country like Saudi Arabia where the society and their culture must be taken
into consideration. (Kotler, 2012)
Technological: This refers to technological improvements in the company. If the company is
working in an environment where high technology is required they will be subjected to face
the quick changes and have a market which is highly unpredictable. The technology and the
significance in the company are discussed here.
Environmental: This refers to the liability of the company to maintain the safe environment.
If the company is engaged in the business where they give out excessive pollution they need
to adhere to the safety and the environmental rules of the country where they work.
Legal: This refers to the legal rules which the company is subjected to in the country where
they work and where they sell their products. Irrespective of whether the company is into the
manufacturing or the service industry they must follow this. The benefits and the drawbacks
in this will influence the profits of company. (Kotler, 2012)
Critical analysis of the case:
The critical analysis of the case study needs to be done in order to have the understanding of
the working of the GPM and how to make it even more successful. There is also an inbuilt
objective to increase number of the traders and have more competitive advantage.
The SWOT analysis and the PESTEL analysis are done to bring out the potential of the GPM.
(coles, 2007)

SWOT Analysis

Strength
Collective intelligence and the wisdom of the

crowds
Discussion of the prediction markets
The introduction of the artificial money

called Gooble
Cash prize of $1000 to each winning ticket

holder
Certificates and special T shirts for the top

performers
The large diverse customer base will act as

the barriers to entry

The t- shirts was a big hit among the traders

Weakness
Page
rank
cannot

be

considered as the only way to

harness

the

collective

intelligence
The cash prize of $10,000
was not much worth for the

customer
The quick change in the
technology makes them to get
updated with the new servers

and include many technicians

The expansion of the business
as per the requirement of the
customers must be made more
faster

Opportunities
The social rewards is preferred more
The reputation for good traders is expected

more by the customers

Thus the reputational prizes is expected more
There are chances of getting more advertisers
Creation of the Google Decision Markets
Continuous double action is a method

proposed to increase the trade

Additional public honours are the options

that is viable
The market software can allow the people to

set their group of the peer

Market tools must be offered for the

Threats
Possibility in

from Microsoft and HP

The predictions depend on

competition

how many others players play

and involve in that

Confidential trading prevents
the

traders

to

tell

their

accomplishments

employees to share their prediction

PESTEL Analysis:
Political: The Google does not face any kind of the political issues with this since this is the
collective information and given by the opinion of many people. Moreover the issues are not
something where the trading is done with the cash and in the form of the gambling rather they

are done with the artificial currency or point namely gooble. Thus the company does not face
any political issues.
Economical: The economical shows the economical condition in the country and how it is
affecting the company. Though it is the service industry it is not much hit with the recession
and the Euro crisis. The company is continuing with their successful journey of GPM and
their Google Decision Making Process
Social: The analysis of the social factors shows that in the world of the people where there
are many tech savy persons. This is encouraging Google to continue with their prediction
market business so that they try to make an increase in the number of the traders in the
Google so that more the customer base it will be difficult for the competitors to copy and this
makes them to be successful in their markets.
Technological: The high improvement in the technology is very vital and this is mainly
because as the number of the customers increase and the information that they provide also
increase the number of servers that is required for storing of the information and the number
of the people especially the technicians who are involved will also be high. This makes the
high competition for the Google as they need to be really fast in the technology that is
changing.
Environmental: The tech savy company is not causing any harm for the company unlike any
manufacturing company but they do dedicate some part of their profits for their corporate
social responsibility, thus the environmental regulations that is prescribed for the company is
low.
Legal: The company has to abide by the rules that is put forward by the different nations
where they have their operations and hence the plans and the rewards that they provide for
the Google prediction market must be within the stipulated regulations and there must not be
any change in that.

The analysis thus shows that the Google prediction markets is highly successful for the
company but this is due to the belief of the collective intelligence works more than with the
single contribution of the intellect individual. This can be said as more successful only when
there are more people who are involved in the trade and also in the prediction markets. The

traders involve in the same manner as they are in the real world trade and their prediction is
getting right. Once this is compared with the real markets this will give more accurate
predictions. The traders do this just for their satisfaction and they prefer to get their name
noticed.
The importance that the traders are attaching are for the T shirts that is given for the traders
who trade well is given more importance which shows that they are giving more vitality for
the reputation that they get as good traders and not for the cash prizes that they are offering
for the customers. This gives an insight that traders has the concern for the reputation that
they receive while taking part in the trade and they really do not play for the cash prizes.
This makes the Googlers think for a strategy to satisfy the customers and at the same time
increase the traffic for the company. The Democracy in the web works is the new strategy
that they follow so that this gives more insight into the collective information and helps in
providing the more accurate information. This will help them to enter into the market and
give more verifiable answer with the variety of many possible answers.
Conclusion:
The analysis shows that operators in the predictive markets will help in the encouragement of
the participation. The market operators are also focusing more on social rewards and also
include the participation. The main reason is to include the participation of the traders. The
confidentiality is with the views which are to be heard so that the information comes entirely.
The main reason is with the uncertainty and also the complexity that is involved in this. The
cash prizes that are given for the traders are not being considered as important by the traders.
There must be collective intelligence and the wisdom of the crowds which is helpful to make
the discussion more helpful and more reliable. The discussion of the prediction markets is
successful with the vast number of the customer base (traders) and this can be further
improved with the more reputation that they are provided by the company. The introduction
of the artificial money called Gooble is one of the reasons which motivate the traders since
they do not lose their own money.
The Cash prize of $1000 to each winning ticket holder is considered to be not an effective
one since the traders give more preference for the certificates and special T shirts for the top
performers which show the importance that they give for the reputation than for the money.
The large diverse customer base will act as the barriers to entry for the other companies but

this cannot be considered as the advantage since the improvement in the technology can make
the other companies also to provide better options and more interesting online prediction
games which will grab the customers. It is now vital for the company to find the best way to
give more reputation and interesting game so that the customers are always at the Google.
Recommendations:

The maintenance of the competitive advantage for the company is possible with the
reputation that they give for the traders which can be done with the T shirts that
they provide and making the trading less confidential so that the traders can share

their accomplishments.
The competitive advantage must be made by always introducing new factors and
interesting games so that they do not switch to the other production markets of

Microsoft or HP.
The value chain and the way it matches the drivers in the industry is also assessed.
This shows that they hire more technicians and provide a large customer participation

which makes the company to grab more people.

This strategic and also the operational challenges that are faced by the company.
The Googlers say that they had missed to give the cash prize once but in the e- mails
that came there was no particular response for this but the enquiry was more on t
shirts that show that the customers are wanting more for the reputation and hence the

promotion of the company in this aspect is found to be good.

The quantitative decision is made with the cash prize of $10,000 will also not be
considered since if the employee is earning more than that then this will not be a

motivating factor for customers.

The additional action that is required is more addition of the technology and the
services for the GPM. The addition of the more features will make the site more

interesting.
The financial and the other resources which are required can be garnered with the
advertisement that they give in the site. This is possible only when the site is more
successful and the prediction of the customers gets right.

References:

Belohlavek, P. (2008). Unicist Marketing Mix. London: Blue Eagle Group.

Cant, M. C. (2009). Marketing Management. Bangalore: Juta and Company Ltd.

coles, P. A. (2007). Prediction Markets at Google. Harvard Business review , 1 - 21.

Dewan, J. (2010). International Marketing Management. Discovery Publishing

House: New Delhi.

Kotler, P. (2012). Marketing Management. New Delhi: Pearson Education.