Executive summary
Founded as a small company in 2008, Google has grown to be a major technology company operating in almost all countries around the globe. Like many global companies, Google management and major operations are based in Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View California.
Google is the leading world technology firm that aims at improving people’s information and attachment. The company’s aspiration is to improve the lives of multitude number of world inhabitants. To categorize information and make it helpful and easily reached in the globe is the mission of the company.
The company’s website is the most acknowledged in the whole world. This is because of innovations in the advertisement and web search. Furthermore, the company conveys relevant cost-effective online advertisement to generate income.
It also provides other businesses with its Ad Words program to promote their products and services. Additionally, Google network uses Ad Sense program to provide relevant ads to improve user experience and to breed profits. It engages in public offering initially completed in August the year two thousand and four.
The company overview
The foundation of this company was long back in the year nineteen ninety-eight. The company is a major internet services provider both in United States and all over the world.
It is based in Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View California. In the fiscal nineteen ninety-eight the company was fully incorporation in accordance to the California state company laws and regulations (Google, 2010).
Another subsidiary of the company established later established in August the year two thousand was incorporated in the in the state of Delaware. Currently the company is found in many countries around the world.
Google is a hi-tech company that upholds online website index contents for providers, advertisers, and users. It provides program advertisement based on auction known as Ad Words and Ad Sense. This enables liberation of ads through Google network websites.
Programs like Google Display and Ad Word advertisers include interactive ads, images, texts, and videos. The company has Exchange Double Click Ad that is concurrent to public sale for trade of display ad space (Google, 2010). Furthermore, You Tube provides use to advertisers for ad formats, interactive, and videos.
The company’s Google Mobile has optimized Google mobile phone application. These devices allow the advertiser to sprint campaign on ad search, download, and browse. Additionally, it has Google local to deliver information locally on the web.
The company offers an open mobile source software platform and operating system that is Android and Google Chrome OS. It enables different individuals share a variety of ideas online using Google+, Web browsers, and Google Chrome.
The company has also provided a podium for customers to exploit internet and TV on a solitary screen. Google Books employed by the company exhibits a place for consumption, searching, and discovering books printed online (Google, 2010).
Moreover, the company supplies Google Applications such as Google site, Google translate, Google Calendars, Google Doc, and Gmail for device collaboration and computerizing obscured messages set.
The company governance
The company s committed to maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance and business conduct according to the corporate governance guidelines (Google, 2011).
The company also believes that these guidelines are essential in running the business in an efficient manner and in serving its stakeholders as well as maintaining the integrity in the market place.
Board of Directors currently manages this company (Google, 2011). Eric Schmidt is the Principal Executive Officer. He is the chairperson of the board of directors and chief executive officer. Patrick Pichette is the senior vice-president and chief finance officer (Principal Accounts and Finance Officer).
Mr. Sergey Brin holds the position of director and president of technology. Subsequently, Larry Page is the director and president of products. Finally, Shirley Tilghman, Ram Shriram, Paul Otellini, John Hennessy, and John Doerr all serve as Directors. The directors’ responsibility is to oversee the day-to-day operations of the company.
The directors run the company with the help of various committees including executive compensation committee (Google, 2011). In addition, shareholders make the company major decisions. The company shareholders are composed of the individual shareholders, institutional shareholders and the mutual fund owners.
The company governance efficiency is evident in growth rewards. For instance, the company has experienced a substantial growth of major users, advertisers, and consumers reallocating to online from offline (Dwivedi, 2008). In addition, the company is experiencing rapid improvements in search technology.
As a result, speedy deliverance of relevant search outcome and comprehensive index has expanded. Furthermore, speedy innovations have enabled the company to develop products including Place Search, Instant Previews, and Google Instant.
Besides, aggressive venture into new businesses such as enterprise, cell phone, and display has led to faster growth of the company. A strategic investment in decisive products like Chrome OS, Chrome, and Android is evident in the past years.
This has followed the company’s philosophy of open platforms and infrastructure for the achievement of web users. Investment in technologies, services, products reflects the management focus on efficiency and customer satisfaction (Dwivedi, 2008).
Ethics and Social responsibility
Google has broad defined values that are shared by all the stakeholders particularly the employees and management. The central values are geared towards providing users with dispassionate access to information (Chaffey, 2007).
In addition, the central values are designed in such a way that it helps the company to focus on the needs of customers and provide the best services or products. In essence, the company values are meant to abide by the legal requirements, industrial regulations and respect to the competitors (Chaffey, 2007).
These common values form the basis in which the company formulated its code of conduct. The approach of the company is to have a code of conduct that fosters highest standards of ethical business (Mahaney, 2005).
The belief is that high ethical business standards help the company employ great individuals, build great products and services that attract loyal users.
The company beliefs are coined in its mission statement that emphasizes mutual respect and trust among employees and users. The company believes that trust and mutual respect are the basis for its success.
The company code of conduct is geared towards serving their users. For instance, the company upholds integrity, privacy in addition to freedom of expression while serving users. Moreover, the code of conduct encourages respect among the stakeholders as well as avoiding conflict of interest.
Most important is the preservation of confidentiality and protection of the company assets. These include the intellectual property, the confidential information, and the company equipments (Reuters, 2009). Further, the code of conduct promotes financial integrity and responsibility as well as abiding by the legal requirements.
Besides setting up the ethical standards, the company engages in corporate social responsibility (CRS) activities. These include creating awareness in various fronts such as the climate change, education, public health, and sanitation (Chaffey, 2007).
However, these activities are connected in some way to the company long-term revenue generation. Google Foundation is an institution created by the company to implement its corporate social responsibility programs.
It has undertaken various initiatives including developing renewable or green energy, predict, identify, prevent, and enable rapid response to various risks associated with climate change and infectious diseases. It is equally intended to improve public services through public awareness and empowerment.
Google foundation also promotes the development of small and medium sized enterprises through capitalization and risk management.
In its commitment to provide appropriate services to its users and to act responsibly with communities where it operates the company has been fraught with problems. For almost all its operating period, there have been concerns whether the company products infringes the privacy of users as well as others (Chaffey, 2007).
Concerns about the company practices regarding the collection, use disclosure as well as the security of personal information or any other privacy related matters have resulted in the damage of the company reputation. However, most of these concerns have been unfounded.
While the company thrives to comply with its code of ethical regulations, any perceived failure has resulted in court actions by other entities and that have potential adverse effect on the company reputations and the brand image.
Compliance with both local and international regulations has also posed a great challenge to the company. For instance, the difficulties experienced by the company operations in China and compliance with the Chinese regulations resulted in its censorship by not only the Chinese government but also various governments (Reuters, 2009).
These censorships portrayed the company as antisocial and undemocratic. This hugely negated the company reputation. As a result, the company loses much of its market share especially in highly government controlled economies.
As regards to social responsibility, the company commitment to green energy program has become under scrutiny. The environmental protection agency (EPA) tends to follow the alleged release of a refrigerant in one of the company’s data facilities. The EPA also follows and scrutinizes other issues relating to environment protection.
The investigations could have resulted in administrative actions, criminal or civil penalties or fines (Google, 2010). However, these allegations have been proved unfounded as the EPA as most of the documents investigated were justified by the energy regulations.
Organization
Board of directors is the highest decision making organ by the company. Though the company tends to minimize the bureaucratic structures, the board of directors makes all decisions. The bureaucratic structures are minimized through various committees as well as encouraging teamwork in almost all operations of the company.
The company culture of enhancing equality of employees, teamwork as well as encouraging individual talent growth is critical in structural organization. In addition, the freedom in individual and team decisions enhances effectiveness and efficiency in the operations of the company (Google, 2011).
The short vertical structure and the encouragement of horizontal integration have been essential in enhancing creativity among the employees, which in effect create better products for customers. The company adopts the modern management practices and organization structure that enhances free decision-making, encourages teamwork and creativity.
The company takes great pride in its culture that is based on creativity and collaboration (Mahaney, 2005). The company culture of collaboration promotes the iteration of ideas used as solutions to complex challenges. The company also encourages transparency and open dialogue among its employees.
In essence, the company embraces a culture of transparency, dialogue, collaboration, and creativity. In addition, the company encourages the culture of diversity. Employees of the company have the freedom to act on individual ideas despite the company responsibilities (Mahaney, 2005).
The employees are also employed based on their diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspective. The company provides a favorable environment where such work diversities are effectively nurtured, and thrives.
In addition, the company embraces a culture that promotes and defends important talent. These policies include, effective communication, data drive decisions, stopping being evil, striving to reach consensus, encouraged creativity, making coordination easy, packing projects in, catering for employees needs, and hiring through commission (Mahaney, 2005).
Moreover, the company encourages employment practices that attract and retaining the best talents and skills. Further, the company practice employment procedure that is fair and based on standards to facilitate greater personality appointment by the company.
The company is offering an extreme package of typical remuneration as well as good working environment to retain the best talent (Mahaney, 2005). Additionally it provides hard working engineers with commuter buses, parched cleaners, car washing, haircuts, kneading and laundry room, gymnasium, and dining facilities.
Planning
According to Olsen (2006), all businesses small or big require strategic plans to attain their goals particularly in situations where the business is fast growing. In strategic planning, the business must able to analyze trends that determine the future of the business.
The company must also set measurable and realistic goals that can be attained (Olsen, 2006). Moreover, for the organization to succeed in its growth and development, it must make strategic planning continuous practice of the organization.
In addition, the company must prioritize various strategies that must be implemented simultaneously. The company should also set defining vision for the company that guides all planning and strategies (Olsen, 2006).
In the case of Google, all strategic planning is under the head of strategy and planning and operations. The company’s operations consist of a global team that ensures the business complex activities are efficiently managed (Mahaney, 2005).
The department comprises of experts that are consistent, systematic, and pragmatic in their implementation of the company plans. This department come up with revenue plans, develops high-level goals, and instigates activity programs that speed up organizational development and improve output.
In essence, the department is responsible for developing main activity areas in line with the organizational strategy, forecasting, and analytics. The department manager personally oversees the implementation of key strategies as well as operations projects (Chaffey, 2007).
Therefore, the department is responsible for the delivery of yearly programming and reporting. The company general business planning efficiency is observed in its ability in perpendicular and aggressive analysis, business analytics, as well as the production of business intelligence to the management (Chaffey, 2007).
Leadership
Google leadership policy has always been laissez-faire. The company has been engaging in employing highly skilled engineers and supporting the most brilliant rich the higher leadership positions. Once in leadership, they make their own decisions and plans on how to achieve the required goals and objectives (Dwivedi, 2008).
However, this has not been the case as time changes. New leadership qualities have to be incorporated apart from the technical skills that the company has been emphasizing. Some managers could no attain the outcome given the changing environment.
Therefore, leadership qualities such as good coaching, team and micro-management, interpersonal skills, sensitive towards results and productivity, good communication, strategist and career development were highly encouraged (Dwivedi, 2008). Technical skills have not been highly emphasized since all employees have almost similar qualification in this area.
These competencies are important for the company since they are the focus towards increasing returns. The reason why the company has been emphasizing these qualities is that they require little changes in personality. In addition, there is the likelihood for augmented advancement (Dwivedi, 2008). Most importantly, these leadership qualities are important in the Google culture.
The company top management has adopted various leadership styles to develop a cordial relationship with the employees. For instance, the management has been emphasizing on the clear vision and strategy for its team of technical employees (Google, 2011).
Moreover, the company has been putting a lot of interest on the employee’s personal development. The employees career development. Lastly, Google leadership helps their clients and employees to think through issues that may arise.
According to Armstrong and Kotler (2009), there are leadership assessment tools that organizations utilize to provide feedback on leadership styles. In the case of Google, leaders have incorporated six important strategies in their leadership styles.
These include visionary strategy, affiliative strategy, participative strategy, and coaching strategy. In the visionary strategy the company leadership creates, sell, and are held accountable for the delivery of the company vision (Mahaney, 2005). The affiliative strategy recognizes the individual contribution to the company and his needs.
The leadership adopts participative strategy to create teamwork that is essential in generating ideas as well as offering solutions to any unanticipated problems (Mahaney, 2005).
Controlling
The operational conduct and regulation of systems, apparatus, or machines means control. Institutions regulating its business processes apply this. Such processes include financing, distribution, and production. In fact, control help businesses avoid and trim down the increase of bottlenecks and mistakes (Armstrong & Kotler, 2009).
In the traditional context, control is an aspect of management ground rules. These aspects are, coordinating, planning, and organizing. Hence, it is the most important apparatus used by managers to persuade the staff members to work and attain the set goals.
Another meaning is, to seek out observance with set conformance objectives and significance that is, quality criterion, standards, and arrangements (Armstrong & Kotler, 2009). All these facilitate and confine the organization to assess performance and supervise development.
For Google Company to organize its business management well, it must have a control system. Research has recognized four domestic control gadgets put into practice by the company. Culture, social structures, expertise, and in-house controls are the mechanisms used for implementation (Chaffey, 2007).
Thus, a broad definition of the internal control entails the formula and standards employed by the company to safeguard its materials and goods. The company tends to recruit more workforces to assist in conducting its businesses as it grows.
Conversely, absence of procedure and policy in implementation makes protection of assets impossible. Moreover, it will encourage disagreement between the organization staff.
Google Company has discovered four forms of control tools namely, dialectic of control, civilization, social culture, and individual control (Reuters, 2009). Whereas social culture is the fixed controls amid incentive proposals, career ranking, distinct work explanation, regulations, course of action and guidelines.
Similarly, culture is the employees shared customs and significance that sway attitude, regulate perception, and nature behavior (Chaffey, 2007). Shared beliefs prevent the need for open and wide-ranging decree and processes. It further stops provision of viewpoint curiosity and rules where members can assume unlimited particular statute to outfit unstable condition.
These objective reinforcements are by employees’ internalized socialization and rules. On the other hand, dialectic of control explains the poised category for assistants’ trial power to their superiors.
The knowledge of personnel is the key positive feature in Google Company. This is important in controlling the conduct of workers, bureaucrats, and executives. Corporate governance guidelines are set by a panel of directors to enable the management to function efficiently.
The corporate configuration has also instituted both internal management and suitable financial control. Though this company rapidly expands, it upholds modest company management practices (Mahaney, 2005).
Therefore, hiring the right person ensures control implementation in the company. The hiring policy favors aptitude rather than knowledge and is discrimination free. Hence, a reflection of world audience served by the search engine. Furthermore, the expansion in Google developments has demanded recruits who distribute a compulsive commitment (Chan, 2007).
The recruiting process is one of the control measures put by the company. For first-class control to be established, employees fill up the forms of application in their own inscriptions. The company conducts two to three interview follow-ups to potential employees over other associates.
In the Google Company, the committee does hiring to prospective candidates by soliciting hard-hitting questions to direct incompetent interviewee (Mahaney, 2005). Specialized and responsible panels make the company projects. This makes determination of successful and well-organized job easy through separating responsibilities.
Thus, administration schedule realization is much easier. Specialization helps one become conscious in the intellect of making work execution more resourceful and successful.
The company has also put control measures in financial management. The major controls are in the financial disclosures that must comply with the set of procedures. The company management normally institutes these procedures, and they include the statutory regulations such as the exchange act.
The management must evaluate the financial control and disclosure procedures in pursuant to the regulations provided in the exchange act. The financial disclosure control and procedures must be effective and provide a reasonable assurance that the information provided is reliable (Chan, 2007).
According to the act, the financial information must be processed, recorded, summarized, and reported within the required period. The management require that such information should be communicated more so to the executive officer and chief financial officer before its release to the public.
Moreover, the management must approve such information and must make decisions regarding disclosure (Chan, 2007).
Internal controls include evaluating the effectiveness of the company financial reporting based on the framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Tread way Commission. The framework is known as the Internal Control – Integrated Framework.
However, the assessment results should be reviewed with the audit committee or an independent auditor (Google, 2010). In designing and assessing the disclosure controls and procedures, the management should recognize that any control measures only provides reasonable guarantee of attaining the preferred control aims.
Despite this limitation, the company internal financial controls and procedures reflected the resource constraints. Therefore, the management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs.
References
Armstrong, G & Kotler, P. (2009). Principles of marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Chaffey, D. (2007). Google case study-covering Google business strategy and technology case. Web.
Chan, J. (2007). Google’s acquisition strategy. Web.
Dwivedi, J. (2008). Google’s robust strategy and business model. Web.
Google (2010). 2010 annual report. Web.
Google (2011). 2011 annual stockholders meeting. Web.
Mahaney, M. (2005). GOOG: increased conviction in Google. San Francisco: Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Olsen, E. (2006). Strategic planning for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Reuters (2009). Google drives into navigation market. Web.