Case Study: An Analysis of Google Inc essay

What were the key factors behind Google’s early success?
Constant refinement for there search engine was one of the key factor behind Google’s success. With there PageRank algorithm, Sergey Brin and Larry Page were able minimize “spam” in there search results. This was achievable by counting inbound links to weight the relevance of the page, while other search engines was counting key words.
Google’s statement of philosophy is also important, “focus on the user and all else will follow”. They provided the best experience for the user, with a simple design and search results that are relevant and loads immediately, that at the time surpasses the competitions product.

Successfully monetizing there paid search was a factor that made Google economically successful in the business. This was possible in 1999 by selling on a “cost per impression”, where they still generated revenue despite of people clicked on the ad or not. However, in 2002 Google change to the “cost per click” basis, which was made popular by Overture. This insure that users could see relevant ads that are related to what they are searching for, by measuring the ratio of the actual CPC and the CTR (click through rate), this method also maximized revenue.
Describe the ‘culture’ of Google (including some of their values). What makes their corporate governance unique?
One of the first corporate values of Google is “Don’t be evil”, where they pride on the on the integrity of there organic search results. It is clarified in this statement: “We never manipulate rankings to put our [advertising or content] partners higher in our search results. No one can buy [a] better PageRank. Our users trust Google’s objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust.” This statement makes them unique, because not a lot of companies will forgo revenue or profits, for the the sake of abiding to ethical standards.
Secondly, the allocation of time of Google employes is unique, where they used the 70/20/10 rule. Engineers are encourage to spend 70% of there time improving Google’s core business, and 20% of there time is allocated to an extension of Google’s core business, which to the employees choosing. And lastly 10% is focused on solely on new businesses. This method of working is very unique and encourages flexibility and innovation, within the Google corporate structure.
Do you view Google’s distinctive governance structure, corporate culture and organizational processes as strengths or potential limitations?
As mention in the previous question, abiding by Google’s corporate governance has a several strengths and weakness. For example, by maintaining the integrity of there search results Google has forgone potential revenues, that could be gained from breaking this rule. However, in the long term following this value will in turn create a better product and increase consumer trust in the search results.
The strengths of the 70/20/10 rule is that it encourages innovation within a large organization. This system gives employees the flexibility to pursue a business of there own interest, which could improve employee job satisfaction. There are also limitations to this strategy, this allocation of time method should work under the assumption that all employees are able to manage there successfully. However, by giving flexibility to employees there would be variability in how each individual employee manages there time.
What are some of the new Google businesses? Which ones do you think will be successful? Which ones do you think Google should deprioritize? Explain.
Google New Business:
Youtube, Google Books, Gmail, Google Hangouts, Google+, Google Docs, Google Photos, Google Calendar, Chrome web browser, Chrome OS, Google Checkout.
The two most successful new business products is Google Docs and Chrome web browser. The success of the Google Docs stems on the collaboration feature that the product provides, which is essential in the work environment. Where the program is entirely cloud based and updates and saves documents automatically. Google was able to capitalize on this, because collaboration is difficult while using Microsoft Word. Furthermore, the Chrome web browser is very fast compared to the rest of the competition (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari), which is the reason that it will continue to gain marketshare.
I believe Google should deprioritize there plans to introduce there own operating system, the Google Chrome OS. I’m sure that the operating system will be simple and fast, however the product is too specific to capture the general market, by supporting only cloud- based applications. While the market is already saturated with Windows and Apples OS. Furthermore, this low cost alternative strategy, is dominated by the tablet market, for customers looking for a cheaper solution.
Android recently surpasses Apple with number of smartphones in the market. What does Google need to do in the mobile industry to remain competitive?
Reduce Customization
Although Android prides it self in customization, where you could tinker your phone to your own liking, this could be a complicated experience. Reducing customization and providing a more intuitive product, limited settings for future products would be the way to go.
Increase Fluidity of the Android platform
Like most of Android products, overtime when memory starting to get full. You will experience that your phone will suffer from delay. This is problem rarely happens in the iOS platform.