Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Effective Strategic planning is one of the most important steps a company needs to take in order to have a competitive advantage in today's marketplace. Google has been and continues to be the most dominant search tool on the web. Google serves three primary market segments: end users, advertisers and partner websites. Google does not charge users for searches, Google collects a fee on an advertiser when ever a user clicks on an advertisement. The Google search engine has continued to grow at a fast rate since its initial launch in 1998. Out of all the Google products, Google's search engine is the dominant business of the company. Google's long-term objectives are to deliver new advertising technology, enable users to search a larger base of information, and to develop tracking mechanisms.The employees at Google work 70% of their time on the core business, 10% for creativity and innovation freedom, and 20% on adjacent areas like Gmail and Google search desktop.

Creating a well thought strategic plan starts with a vision, since the day that Google started Larry Page and Sergey Brin have surely turned their vision into a cause. Think Google has reached their destination.