Introduction
Every company or any institution has certain objectives for a fixed period to retain its competitive edge in the market. In order to attain those objectives, there must be some planning on how it is going to operate. This planning does not come handy unless and until it is built on a sound managerial decision. The decision-making process is quite complex in big companies as there is always a chance of a conflict of interest.
Nevertheless, the decision arrived, at last, is in greater favor of the company considering the firm in the global lenses. A typical example of such big companies is Google, which rules over the world of the internet as the most used search engine in the world. Bringing the company to its status was not a walk in the park; a lot of planning and managerial decisions were involved. This paper discusses the current challenges that Google faces in planning and management.
Google: A case of a growing giant
Google’s main technology was a search tool tailored by its creators. Its major basis of income was through commercials to be found on its websites. The company witnessed tremendous market and financial success and began to focus more on a global strategy. Although it was in a safe financial position, the going public had augmented its public scrutiny as the company continued to face competition from other companies like Microsoft and Yahoo.
After the merger of Google and Motorola mobility by $1.2 billion, the giant company grew bigger. Undoubtedly, this move meant a slow pace in decision-making, a phenomenon occasioned by an increase in employees, yet the market capitalization of the company remained constant.
The underlying idea behind acquiring the Motorola mobility, in spite of being aware of a looming staff shortage, was for Google to give a stiff competition to its counterpart, Apple, whose iPhone and a were a huge success. After acquiring Motorola, Google will have lordship of over 17000 patents, previously owned by Motorola.
Another reason behind acquisition is that; people now will prefer to get web services on mobile devices. Hence, Google will remain the central player as the best search engine for the time being.
Challenges facing Google: Recession
In today’s world, hardly any company makes slow, good decisions. The companies that exist in the world market today are good, fast decision-makers since time are the most important factor for companies. Google usually follows a strategic management system in decision making by a social approach where behavior satisfaction, bounded responsibility are considered before making decisions.
HR planning helps in increasing productivity as each aspect is considered in staff recruitment hence maintaining high quality in work culture. However, since the recession menace is here to stay, it poses a challenge to HR planning.
This has forced Google to undertake job cuts and salary cuts. As such, it should wisely consider its merger with Motorola as it is bound to pose a problem in the planning section. The workers or employee shortage will definitely pose a challenge for the management, as it is not easy to maintain its huge databases with a limited workforce.
Censorship agreement in China
Another challenge that is faced by Google in recent times is the acceptance of the censorship agreement in China. Google pioneered the Chinese market in the first years of the new millennium. Its strategy was to preserve a Chinese-language version of Google.com based in the U.S. but could hold search requests in China.
In this way, the technology was not prone to Chinese restriction laws since the faculties were not within China’s physical precincts. As such, Google did not need authorization from the Chinese government in its undertakings.
Nevertheless, all major players who want to play in the Chinese ground must sign a censorship agreement where they cannot give access to certain information to the people which the Chinese government considers sensitive. Such information includes details on Taiwanese independence struggle. Google was having a stiff competition in China posed by a local search engine named baidu.com.
However, after several attempts, Google accepted the censorship strategy. This implies that it will definitely lose grounds in China. Nevertheless, it has no choice either. The planning and development section of Google must see these developments as cultural differences and may hamper the growth of the already flourishing MNC.
The decision-making department must realize that due to their hesitation in signing the agreement, they have lost much to Yahoo, which signed the agreement three years earlier and hence, enjoys a greater share in the internet market of China.
Going by the recent strategy by Google, it is evident that the company is expanding its business in new different areas to maintain its top spot as stiff competitions are there. Its plan to buy YouTube, as well as the Hulu TV content rights, will help in making Google+ a great social networking site like Facebook. It has already made some acquisitions from Youtube.
These have helped the users of Google+ to linger around the YouTube videos. If it succeeds in acquiring the content rights of Hulu TV, it will have a giant video library database that it can use to increase its market share. This will enable users at any time anywhere to watch an episode of any TV series just by hangouts or sharing.
Huge databases
The above are some of the positive repercussions of the acquisition strategy that Google is planning to unleash. However, analysts have been skeptical of the idea given its dark side. This includes staff shortage. The strategy will see Google face a major challenge on how it is going to administer its huge databases in the future if at all, the movie is going to be successful.
Another factor that it has to think twice before taking the big leap is whether it is going to maintain the quality of its services. In addition, speculations are there regarding the non-biased view of the videos on Youtube.
From the current trends, it is getting clear that while buying a company, Google is trying to get the patents and all other relevant information on it in order to set a monopoly all over the world. This may not augur well with other companies that provide similar services.
Conclusion
As the old adage goes, heavy is the head that wears the crown. It is evident from the proceeding discussions that Google’s problems are far from being external. They are internal. As Larry Page, the company’s co-founder and current CEO notes, companies slow down in decision-making when they grow bigger. This has been the case with Google.
The challenge of staff shortage has also been inherent, and so is the conflict of cultures, as exemplified in the censorship case in China. Whether Google will be equal to the challenge and ensure his company maintains its current position is a wait-and-see scenario.