Case Analysis
Layne Pfliiger
Dr. Mehmet Koseoglu
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management TTH 2-3:15 pm
September 24, 2014
Case Analysis #1: p. 148, 1-7
1. The biggest problem facing Google in 2009 was how to maintain their culture of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation in the face of flat net profits from 2007 to 2008. In addition, they also had a decrease in advertising revenue, had to fire several employees for the first time ever, they eliminated products that made no money, and employees left the company for a variety of reasons.
2. Some of the implications Google faced in 2009 included: rapid growth, a desire to provide a work environment that would stimulate innovativeness in employees, and poor employee resources. Opportunities included: reassessments of employees to hire ones that would fit with the company, rethinking the way segments of the company are run (i.e. advertising) in order to gain back revenue, and receiving/implementing employee feedback in order to better serve the current and future employees of Google. Threats included: competition, their location, housing expenses, and the company’s rapid growth. In 2012 the implications, opportunities and threats will be better resolved depending on how the company is growing and if they are being more profitable. I am sure that Google took great care to take advantage of the opportunities the recession gave them and improved their employee culture.
3. The strategic inflection point for Google was when they introduced Google Desktop, Google Book Search, Google Scholar and Google Chrome. I chose this point because these introductions to their company is what helped Google get back on track. After they introduced these products they also purchased Keyhole (which became Google Earth), Writely (which became Google Docs), YouTube, and Android. The installation of Google Desktop, Google Book Search, Google Scholar and Google chrome was a stepping stone to get Google back where they needed to be and back to
Dr. Mehmet Koseoglu
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management TTH 2-3:15 pm
September 24, 2014
Case Analysis #1: p. 148, 1-7
1. The biggest problem facing Google in 2009 was how to maintain their culture of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation in the face of flat net profits from 2007 to 2008. In addition, they also had a decrease in advertising revenue, had to fire several employees for the first time ever, they eliminated products that made no money, and employees left the company for a variety of reasons.
2. Some of the implications Google faced in 2009 included: rapid growth, a desire to provide a work environment that would stimulate innovativeness in employees, and poor employee resources. Opportunities included: reassessments of employees to hire ones that would fit with the company, rethinking the way segments of the company are run (i.e. advertising) in order to gain back revenue, and receiving/implementing employee feedback in order to better serve the current and future employees of Google. Threats included: competition, their location, housing expenses, and the company’s rapid growth. In 2012 the implications, opportunities and threats will be better resolved depending on how the company is growing and if they are being more profitable. I am sure that Google took great care to take advantage of the opportunities the recession gave them and improved their employee culture.
3. The strategic inflection point for Google was when they introduced Google Desktop, Google Book Search, Google Scholar and Google Chrome. I chose this point because these introductions to their company is what helped Google get back on track. After they introduced these products they also purchased Keyhole (which became Google Earth), Writely (which became Google Docs), YouTube, and Android. The installation of Google Desktop, Google Book Search, Google Scholar and Google chrome was a stepping stone to get Google back where they needed to be and back to