Report on the Competitive Strategies of Google and Netflix Companies

This report provides a detailed analysis of the competitive strategies employed by Google and Netflix. It examines Google's success factors, including continuous innovation, employee-friendly practices, strategic acquisitions, and a simple, user-friendly platform. The report also explores Netflix's competitive advantages, such as its innovative culture, strong relationships with content providers, data-driven customer analysis, and timely adaptation to technological advancements. The analysis highlights how both companies have achieved market leadership through distinct yet effective approaches to innovation, market positioning, and employee management. The report utilizes various sources to support its findings, offering valuable insights into the strategies that drive success in the technology and entertainment industries.

Running head: Competitive strategy 0
Competitive Strategy
Google and Netflix

Competitive strategy 1
Google
Google was founded by Larry page and Sergey Brin in the year 1998. The company deals in products
such internet services, computer software and hardware. The company serves the worldwide
market. Sunder Pichai is the current CEO of the company. The company’s mission and vision
statements are focused on collecting world’s information and presenting them on a universally
accessible platform. Google began its story in a garage today the company’s headquarters are in
California, USA known as Googleplex. Googleplex is big office campus spread over an area of 3.5
million square feet (Google, 2017). Today Google is the market leader in its respective industry.
Major products of the company are Google maps. Google chrome, Google play store, YouTube etc.
The credit for Google’s current success can be credited to continuous innovation and employee
friendly practices, acquisitions and clarity & simplicity in structure. Innovation is key factor driving
the success for the organisation. The company spends huge amount on research and development.
It also empowers its employees to be creative and innovative. The company always implements
innovative ideas to create better product the competitors. For company financial requirements are
never an issue it has enough capital to spend in implementing innovative ideas. The company works
according to three ideas first step is implementing innovative ideas, the next is getting the real user
data and the third is monetizing (Beattie, 2015). The next key feature that is responsible for current
market position of the company are its employee friendly practices the company takes a really good
care of its employees. It offers facilities such as on site laundry, Wi-Fi, food, doctors, fun activities in
the office, free haircuts, paid maternity leaves and lot more. The company believes that that happy
workforce can only turn to productive workforce. The company always welcomes the ideas and
opinions of employees. This created a committed workforce (Dhar 2015). The company’s success is
also credited to its acquisitions. Till now Google has bought over 180 companies. Its largest
acquisition was the phone making brand Motorola. Other major acquisitions of the firm were net
labs and you tube. The Google strategically plans its acquisitions to be ahead of the competitors
(Hooker, 2016). The Google has clarity in its structures. The employees are clear about the task that
they are expected to perform. The organisational structure is also not a formal kind therefore less
complex. Also the reason for such a large market share is simple user platform. Google provides
simple platform to its customers which is easy to use. It not only provides simplified products or
services it also provides quality products to its customers. The market tactic that proves most fruitful
for the company is worldwide open access. Google provide its various products free of cost. Google
also earns a sustainable amount of revenue from Google ads. This facility of Google has helped
advertisers, bloggers, customers and the company itself. Out of all the above stated reasons
Employee empowerment and innovation are two major contributors of success. Company is known
for its innovative products and employee empowerment practices across the world.

Competitive strategy 2
sNetflix
Netflix was established in the year 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. It is an American
entertainment company. The company’s current headquarters are in Los Gatos, California. Today
Netflix is the leading television of the world. The company is divided into three basic segments
domestic streaming, international streaming and domestic streaming. It is spread over 190 countries
with around 104 million networks. The company provides 24/7 access to TV shows and movies
including documentaries, feature films and original series. It provides members the facility to enjoy
watching without any commercials and commitments. Netflix is a leading player in entertainment
industry (Netflix, 2017).
Today Netflix serves 190 countries. Reaching to this level is not an easy task. There are many factors
that contribute to the success of Netflix. Netflix has a culture guide for its employees it is a kind of
constitution. Netflix tries to a work culture that promotes innovation and creativity it the
organisation. Employees in Netflix are always encouraged and given required freedom for good
work. One of the major innovations of the company is replacement of static poster images with the
custom-created preview videos. As the user scrolls over the title card these videos are automatically
played (Bigspeak, 2017). Another major reason for the company’s success is good relation with the
content providers. The company aims to build up long term and profitable relationships with the
service providers. For companies in same industry as Netflix it is very essential to maintain good skills
with the employees. Netflix have mastered this skill (Fast company, 2017). Another major factor
responsible for impressive growth of the company is analysing customer wants by doing research.
The company focused on determining what its customers actually needs. Netflix aimed to maintain a
well-researched brand position. It was the key step to be ahead of the competitors. Before taking
any decision the executives always though t whether this will make consumer experience happy or
not. The research always helped to enhance market share and get the strategic guidance (Bariso,
2015). Another major factor responsible for success was timely grasping of opportunity. When the
company was established in 2000 it was not possible to steam movies over 56 k connections. So
during that phase company went for DVD distribution and planned for household connection of 14
mb per second by 2012. Timely improvements in the technology have helped the company to grasp
market opportunities. The firms pricing strategy was also a competent factor which helped it to gain
more. The firm always went to value based pricing. The company believed that customers will only
come back if they find value for company’s product. The company always tried to make the products
and services an easy buy for the customer. The company always believed that on changing the
strategy to the profitable one. Netflix believes that adopting a strategy that you find is working well
may not be able to provide long term direction but will be able to provide short term competitive
advantage. All the above stated factors were responsible for the current market standing of the firm.

Competitive strategy 3
References
Bariso, J., 2017. What Your Business Can Learn From Netflix, viewed on 22 August 2017 from
https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/the-secrets-behind-the-extraordinary-success-of-netflix.html
Beattie, A., 2015. The Story Behind Google's Success, viewed on 22 August 2017 from
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/042415/story-behind-googles-success.asp
Bigspeak, 2017. Netflix: A Success Story – Words of Entrepreneurial Wisdom from the Founding Team
Members, viewed on 22 August 2017 from https://www.bigspeak.com/netflix-a-success-story/
Dhar, N., 2013. Top 10 Secrets Behind The Success of Google , viewed on 22 August 2017 from
http://topyaps.com/top-10-secrets-behind-the-success-of-google
Fast company, 2017. Why Netflix is one of the most innovative companies of 2017, viewed on 22
August 2017 from https://www.fastcompany.com/3067462/why-netflix-is-one-of-the-most-
innovative-companies-of-2017
Google, 2017. From the garage to the Googleplex, viewed on 22 August 2017 from
https://www.google.co.in/about/our-story/
Hooker, L., 2016. How did Google become the world's most valuable company?, viewed on 22 August
2017 from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35460398
Netflix, 2017. About Netflix, viewed on 22 August 2017 from https://media.netflix.com/en/about-
netflix