Breakdown Report of The Company Google

A company breakdown is a vital document that acts as a pointer to how it is fairing in most sectors. This document could be used for analytical purposes for persons interested in understanding how Google operates. The paper begins by providing a concise introduction of the chronological order upon which Google was formed and grew into a tech giant. It ends with conflicts politics and power, that affect Google during its operations. The ups and downs that have been endured thus far. This paper also highlights the internal and external factors that influence Google in daily life and how it manages demanding situations.

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A. Description of the Organization

Google, Inc is a search engine innovation that was started in 1995 by two computer science graduates from Stanford University. Larry Page and Serge Brin conceptualized the Google idea in a meeting that was held by new Ph. D students of whom they were part and parcel started a collaboration under parent company Alphabet Inc. The headscratcher at the time was to find a standout approach in computing that would help in retrieving relevant information from extensive data in the World Wide Web (WWW). The search engine initiative started as BlackRub, an engine that could analyze "backlinks" that direct to a specific website (Reference for Business, n.d). In the later years, specifically in 1998, Page and Brin set out a new home when they initiated an office in Sergey's room and built a computer housing in Larry's dorm room. After establishing a central location from where the novice company would operate, the founders set out to look for partnerships, especially those who were willing to license their search technology. On reaching out to David Filo, who happens to be the founder of Yahoo and one of their contacts at the time, he appealed to the two to start up a search engine company. However, it took time to lack financial support from the players of the time to make a conclusive decision that they would start seeking financial support for Google, Inc. They began by approaching Andy Bechtolsheim, a friend to their former college faculty member and the founder of Microsystems. Bechtolsheim was impressed by their idea and decided to support them with a check amounting to $100,000. After that, the company opened its headquarters in the garage of Menlo Park, a friend in California (Reference for Business, n.d). Craig Silverstein was hired as the first employee before becoming Google's director of technology, answering 10000 queries daily at the time as a trial version known as beta test status. Apart from specializing in keyword searches, Google also launched advertising programs, and in 2002, it introduced the google search appliance. In 2001, the company rose to prominence after receiving a patent for its PageRank technology. It was during this instance that Larry Page was listed as the inventor of the organization. The company then underwent a period of rapid growth while introducing a variety of products such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Chrome, and Google Voice (Reference for Business, n.d) (for more products see fig 1). It later acquired video streaming innovations such as YouTube and Blogger.com. Recently, the company has also delved into other ventures such as smartphones, smart speakers, gaming, laptops, self-driving cars, and mobile computer hardware, to mention a few. The most recent development in Google company entails restructuring that took place in 2015 under Alphabet, where Sergey Brin was granted the presidency of the organization. Larry Page was named the CEO, and Sundar Pichai was elevated to the position that was previously occupied by Brin

Major Issues Facing Google, Inc.

One could be tempted to think that Google, Inc. is a giant company engrossed in a free-flowing business, but that is not the case. The institution also faces various challenges, just like any other tech company. Some of the companies' issues include rising regulatory risks, skeptical employees, and a cultural issue that adversely affects operating efficiency and customer none-attractive (Nieva, 2018). Pertinent to increasing regulatory risks, the company has so far suffered record fines concerning the antitrust violation. The company has seen the European Commission and EU's antitrust regulatory body launch investigations on the company. Google is presumed to intervene during searching, favoring some websites such as eBay, to the detriment of smaller businesses. Such issues could potentially draw investigators towards them.

Skeptical workers also don't bond well with Google's progress and ambitions. There have been some incidences where employees have complained about some internal activities such as Claims that the institution conspired with China, where they built a censored search engine for them (MIT Technology Review, 2019). A shareholding meeting was once interrupted by agitated employees who were protesting against the mishandling of sexual harassment cases (Nieva, 2018). After that incident, the company resulted in sacking two employees purportedly because of internal activism. Recently, employees are claimed to have protested over a military project that entailed analyzing drone footage. The issue with "Aberrant geniuses" in the company is a cultural issue that has caused some criticisms towards it. Some employees have been claimed to walk scot-free after engaging in sexual harassment scandals, but nothing was done against them because the company believed in 'Aberrant geniuses' (Nieva, 2018). Such favors could potentially reduce some potential customer's morale. Thus, it might be scaring away customers, especially those that believe in fairness. Cost reduction has also been a trending topic in the organization more so since 2016. The company proposed to embark on a cost reduction strategy that entailed minimizing benefit packages given to employees and bonuses. Other cost reduction strategies that have existed in the institution included a reduction in research and development funding.

B. Interorganizational Linkages & Internal Design Elements

Google, Inc. has previously formed other partnerships and also mergers, a strategy it uses to manage its resources. Over the past decade, the company has successfully taken over former companies, a strategy it uses to expand its territory. Some of the top acquisitions conducted by Google include Motorola Mobility, Nest Labs, Looker, YouTube, DoubleClick, and the HTC-Pixel Smartphone Division (Reynolds, 2017). The company's strategy of taking over other companies sometimes failed. Still, it has proven to be a commendable approach by the tech giant to grow its territory, spreading out to spaces the company believes are futuristic. Presumably, Google has penetrated other spaces using the takeover strategy, case in place being its acquisition of YouTube, DoubleClick, and Nest Labs. At the time when Google was purchasing DoubleClick, its strength in advertising was searching. After purchasing DoubleClick, the company opened other advertising avenues specialized in advertisement display. Staging takeovers is a strategy the company has successfully applied towards flexing its tech muscles, jumping ahead of Facebook in the video streaming category. Expanding the company's territory is well demonstrated by the company's purchase of Waze. Although the mobile application is not yet a boom, Google was able to increase its clients by gaining 50 million users from the app. Google has stretched its business borders through takeovers that have benefited the company in one way or another. It is a strategy that has bonded well with the tech giant.

Google is a highly differentiated organization in which each function is given clear-cut roles to perform. Concerning the structural organization of the institution, Google is classified into three main categories, namely (1) function-based definition, (2) Product-based definition, (3) and flatness (Smithson, 2018). The function-based description is characterized by a grouping of resources and processes based on business function. It is within this function that the company's management approaches are developed and demarcated. Businesses process such as bottom-up or top-bottom communication approaches is also constituted in the function-based definition. Global marketing and finance groups are examples of structures, from which broad strategic decisions and loci are developed for use in the entire organization. Concerning product-based definition, all Google products are developed by product-based groups designed in their cooperate structure. Product-groups are responsible for coming up with competitive products such as Cloud operations and artificial intelligence. The above organizational structure ensures Google caters to its customers' demand in the current and future markets about information technology and electronic products. Under this function, the company has initiated product lines to enhance people's access to information in their online platforms (Smithson, 2018). Last among functions is flatness. Through the flatness function, the organization has provided capacity for its employees to bypass middle management and interact directly with their seniors. The flatness function is used by the company to minimize vertical hierarchical protocols. Meetings among employees and the sharing of information are also encouraged by the management. Thus, enhancing innovations for novel products which diversifies the company's portfolio. It is worth noting that in October of 2015, Google became Alphabet, as its CEO Larry Page proposed making some changes that would allow it to reach out to other businesses. The company has gone a notch higher by forming XXVI Holdings Inc. (Reference for Business, n.d). To complete a collection of ventures under Alphabet. Some of the divisions under the newly formed outfit include Boston Dynamics, Gmail, Loon, Nexus, and Wallet, to mention a few.

Google is a centralized institution that uses Porter's growth strategy and intensive growth strategy, too, based on the nature of competitiveness in its operating space. One would say the company is centralized because the headquarters is responsible for all significant decisions. The management of the company seeks to influence the internal and external competitive aspects of the company. It checks what other advertising platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter are advancing. The company's desire to control both internal and external matters by the top management, confirms that the company is a centralized institution. Google is also a highly differentiated organization based on its variety of products. It prides itself on creating competitiveness through developing or acquiring innovative ideas that form its competitive strengths. As already indicated, Google is categorized in a group structure. These groups operate separately but in tandem with the main direction. From the analytical point of view, there seems to be a connection between the rate of product differentiation and structural functions, existential in the company. The company constitutes various departments, such as engineering, information technology, and Operating HR. These departments are specialized for what they do in their differentiated processes. Although departments are highly differentiated, they are allowed to share information between them for culminating innovation. Sharing of information is one of the vital elements that constitute the company's culture that encourages competition with other technology businesses. Standardization is deemed a dominant characteristic embedded in the company's culture.

The company standardizes its workforce by ensuring they are at par or better than their competit...