3. Listing of alternative courses of action that could be taken for the next year.

1. Stay the course

1. Google is a very well known and established search engine, they have a strong
brand name and many prefer Google
1. “Amid search engines like Yahoo and Bing, Google has remained at the
top of the food chain, today holding nearly 80% of global search engine
market share.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/06/05/how-
google-came-to-dominate-search-and-what-the-future-holds/?
sh=6ff083d03872
ii. They have seen great success and would be on a great path if they continue to
do what they are doing such as:
iii. Continue focusing on innovation
1. Platforms such as Nest, Waze, Fitbit etc 
2. “Every year Alphabet spends billions on Research and development. This
year the brand increased its R&D spending from 14 Billion dollars last
year to 16.6 Billion dollars. Its R&D expenses are around 15% of its entire
revenue which makes it one of the leading spenders on R&D in the entire
industry.” https://notesmatic.com/2018/09/alphabet-strategic-analysis/
ii. Continue acquiring smaller companies
1. “The company recently acquired fitness technology company Fitbit.
Acquiring smaller companies often eliminates emerging rivals, thus
reducing competition for Alphabet”
https://www.investopedia.com/investing/companies-owned-by-google/

2. Change target audience

 Google is one of the biggest online search engines
o Google has branched off of only being a search engine; including Google Drive
and Google+
 One aspect of Google+ is “Google Hangouts”
o Similar to Zoom, Google Hangouts allows consumers to hold videoconferences 
 During COVID, Zoom and Microsoft Teams have been heavily used by companies,
schools, friends, and family. 
o Microsoft Teams → 115 million users oct 2020
https://tomtalks.blog/2020/12/microsoft-teams-statistics/
o Zoom→ 300 million users april 2020
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/zoom-statistics/
 Google is getting rid of hangouts by the end of 2021 https://www.xda-
developers.com/google-hangouts-replace-free-google-chat-2021/
 Google could continue on the path to end Google Hangouts this year, but they could
introduce a new version of what Hangouts used to be. Creating a new platform that is all
around better than hangouts can target places that are currently and plan on continuing
to do e-learning, working from home, or catching up with friends and family via video
calling.
o Hangouts was pushed via gmail, so it was not widely known. Google also has
google classroom, but those meetings are only available if schools use
 gmail/google chromebooks. In order to move past those issues, Google’s new
platform can be offered to anyone, just like Zoom. 
o Zoom has had many complaints throughout the year of usage, but has not
seemed to do anything about them. Google can see what those complaints are
and make an all around better platform that is easy to use. 
o Google Hangouts was hardly advertised to consumers. In order for Google’s new
platform to succeed, it needs to be heavily advertised. This will allow consumers
to be informed of what Google is doing. 
3.  Data Mining/User Transparency
 Since Google is the largest search engine people know that they have to be storing their
data and using their searches for profit. 
o “Google collected a trove of students’ personal information, including data on
their physical locations, websites they visited, YouTube videos they watched and
their voice recordings, Hector Balderas, New Mexico’s attorney general, said in a
federal lawsuit.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/technology/new-mexico-google-lawsuit.html
 People are becoming increasingly more scared of the internet tracking their data
o “Automated profiling of groups and individuals is a common practice in our
information society. The increasing possibilities of data mining significantly
enhance the abilities to carry out such profiling. Depending on its application,
profiling and data mining may cause particular risks such as discrimination, de-
individualisation and information asymmetries.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0267364910001767
 The algorithm for ad pop ups is not transparent and can lead to users feeling
uncomfortable
4.  Overseas Expansion
 Google relies on word-of-mouth advertising and viral marketing to increase viewership,
but this does not always reach overseas
o “We're living in the age of 'always on'. Today, billions of consumers across the
globe are connected to the internet whenever and wherever they go. This poses
a huge opportunity for businesses that embrace the internet to reach and engage
potential customers in overseas markets.”
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/future-of-marketing/digital-
transformation/new-opportunities-in-the-connected-world/
 Emphasize on the opportunity to connect people through languages 
“In May 2000, Google launched the first foreign language versions starting with 10 European
languages. By September of that year, it expanded to include Chinese, Korean and Japanese.”
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/googles-global-expansion-strategies