Organizational Capabilities and Strategic Management of Google - Essay Example

Organizational capabilities and strategic management of Google Google is a multinational corporation that was founded in the year 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were PhD. Students at Stanford University. It is a search engine that provides various internet services such as advertising technologies; cloud computing, internet search and software. It links various Webpages allowing sharing and accessibility of information. Brin and Larry note that its mission is organizing world information and making it accessible and useful to everyone (10). It offers tools that enable one to do a fast search such as Google chrome and Android. It also focuses on the success of various businesses in the online world and offline too. It does this by focusing on products such as media and sales ads. For the web, Google has built various products with the intention of making the web and the experiences of the users better. Organizational capabilities Google has proved to have a wide range of organizational capabilities that enable it to stay ahead of the market competition. Scott states that one of the capabilities that Google has is innovativeness in terms of its products and even how they offer the services (122). This can be clearly seen from its motto of continuous innovation. Google usually invests some of its money and time towards innovation growth by encouraging its employees to come up with new products and ideas. An example is where it recommends 20% of the technical employees’ time to be spent on their own activities while 80% of their time spent on advertising and core research. This investment has accounted for half of new features and products that have been created by Google. Every employee is given freedom of thought and ability to make changes to projects or even create their own projects. This in effect continuously encourages the employees to concentrate on coming up with new ideas that will add value to the company. The ideas are presented in an open environment which enhances its image. Dornefest and Calishain note that another capability that Google has is its strong organizational culture (133). It uses every opportunity in motivating employees by regular recognition of best performers. It has an open culture where every employee contributes to the running of the organization by accepting ideas from everyone. This in turn makes people to be comfortable in raising their ideas without intimidation which leads to its success. When hiring, goggle has a culture of hiring people based on the capabilities and not their experiences and it hires smart and determined workforce which contributes to higher capabilities. Another culture that the company has is that of holding weekly all- hands meeting where people raise ideas and issues directly to the management. This culture is effective because it leads to quality production and quick decision making as well as problem solving. Another capability is that Google provides the best working environment for its workers. This has been evident from the many awards that Google has received as ‘the best place to work’ which has in turn led to employee satisfaction. This capability is of great importance for it attracts a lot of professionals to the company. This in turn has seen the company to comprise of a lot of people who have great potential making the company to stand in a better chance of expanding and developing new ideas. Information technology is another capability that Google has which makes it to be more competitive. This is from the ability to link various pages and come up with other products and search tools (Brin 95).Having vast technology has enabled Google to connect various web pages, advertise and even sell. With enough resources that Google as i.e. a good capital base, it has been able to purchase tools that add to its efficiency. An example is where Google bought You Tube which has led to its efficiency in terms of its market share. This has been from the fact that a lot of people love watching live videos as well as downloading them. Its good capital base has also enabled it to hire efficient employees who are effective in their work. This has in turn increased productivity and innovativeness hence making it able to beat tight competition that is emerging in the market. Strategic management Strategic management is concerned with heterogeneity and it comprises of the initiatives taken by the management in managing various resources and ensuring that goals are met. The strategic management process used by Google can be described to be effective on general terms. For its management, Google has adopted a flat management structure. This is where there is horizontal sharing of ideas and decision-making. According to Vise and mark, this structure discourages bureaucracy and hierarchies when it comes to communication (45). This structure is effective in that it allows fast flow of information across the organization which in turn leads to fast achievement of the organizational goals. This structure has also helped in maintaining teamwork and coordination across various functional groups. Another strategic management of Google is understanding the market competition and their place in the market. They do this by carrying out market research which then led to the development of a business model to counter competition and make its product be unique. To stay ahead of competition, Google focuses on the benefits the end user gets from using their products. As a management strategy, they first focus on the customer before they focus on their goals. Working on this strategy has enabled Google to create a good customer base by providing quality services to the consumers. The end result is that customer gets satisfaction. Google also has a non- corporate principle of practicing democracy on the web in a rightful manner (Calishain 225).This attracts views and sharing from various people hence making it aware of areas where it needs to improve. It makes its vision, mission and objectives clear to its workforce through effective communication channels. Through training, it builds talents and skills among its employees which lead to efficiency. This has also been made possible through creation of middle managers that will oversee making and implementation of its plans. This can be made possible through delegation. The company also conducts an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses and comes with an action plan to counter its weaknesses and be more successful. Conclusion Organizational capabilities act as a drive for strategy formulation and execution. They are however difficult to measure because most of them are intangible too. Through capabilities arise effective management strategies which are seen from the case of Google. On general terms, Google has been efficient in strategic management though there are minimal areas where improvement needs to be done. Using a hands-on-approach has enabled it to gain a competitive advantage over other companies and it may rise to greater heights if it maintains its principles. Works Cited Brin, Sergey, and Larry Page. Google. Mountain View, CA: Google, 1998. Print. Calishain, Tara, and Rael Dornfest. Google hacks: 100 industrial-strength tips & tools. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2003. Print. Scott, Virginia A.. Google. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print. Vise, David A., and Mark Malseed. The Google story. New York: Delacorte Press, 2005. Print. Read More