Corporate Strategy, Governance, and Ethics: Impact on Google

This report analyzes the impact of social, environmental, ethical, legal, and governance issues on Google's corporate strategy and operations. It examines Google's product and services, its environment, and how the company manages tensions between corporate responsibility and maximizing shareholder value.

Unit 2- Corporate strategy, Governance and
Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Critically analyze Google’s product or services..........................................................................2
Critically determine the organization’s environment..................................................................3
Determining how the organization is related its competencies to its environment....................5
Describing the impact of social, environmental, ethical, legal and governance issues on
organization.................................................................................................................................5
Describing how the organization is currently framing these issues in its strategy and operations
.....................................................................................................................................................5
Presenting how the organization is managing tensions between corporate responsibility and
maximizing the shareholder values.............................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Corporate governance is the combination of rules, process and laws through which a
business is operated and regulated. The term is also presenting all the external and internal
factors that may affect the interest of the company’s shareholder and its customers, management.
In the same way, the current report will help to enhance the knowledge related to corporate
governance and ethics. The chosen firm for this report is Google which is an American
multinational technology company who specialize in the Internet related services to their
customer. Thus, the study will determine the chosen company’s product and services, further,
determine the organization’s environment and then determine how the firm is related to its
competencies. Further, study will determine the impact of external factor upon the organization
and provide the best strategy through which the company is operated. Lastly, it describe the way
through which Google managing the tension between corporate responsibility and maximizing
the shareholder value.
Critically analyze Google’s product or services
Google is top American multinational company who provide best Internet services to
their customers such that online advertising technologies and search engines etc. The company is
founded in 1998 and it is privately held company.
Services: Google offer the wide range of services to their customers such that an Internet
search engine, web email, news aggregator, calendar software, cloud storage for customers as
well as business. Thus, its services are used for personal as well as professional level (Lee,
2020). Thus, it is analyzed that company also keep complying with the advance technologies and
for that it start using Robots assistance , self- driving cars and home video monitoring system for
their users.
Market: From the day of its foundation to the present year, Google occupy around
87.35% of the market share at global level. Thus, it is critically analyzed that it is the top
company which is used by the range of public and businessman in order to get the best output.
Google has dominated the search engines market and secondary results also shows that Google

market share is completely relies upon the advertising. Around more than 50 countries uses the
quoted firm and among all, the highest share of Google is in US i.e. 87.28%.
Division and sub- divisions: Every company have their own division and sub- division
such that its work is completely distributed to all the people in department wise. Such that it has
many department and manager of the company also allotted thee define task as per the
employee’s capabilities. Therefore, the entire working system of Google is divided in different
parts such that IT department, HR department, Finance department, Marketing department and
even there are further sub- division which assist to maintain thee brand image of the company
and provide the best services and products to the customers. Every division of the company
know their own roles and responsibilities and therefore, keep reporting the head of manager with
regards to their work. This will help the business to maintain at brand image at international level
and maintain the overall performance level as well.
Critically determine the organization’s environment
To determine the internal environment of Google, SWOT analysis is used which
determine the company’s strength and weakness. These are as mention below:
Strength:
 Company occupy highest market share and it did not face any competitor till now that
shows the brand image of the company at global level.
 Company produces more than 1.2 billion hits every month and that is why, it has a
biggest traffic generator and gain highest competitive advantages over the competitors.
 It has a strong financial performance and have a string customer base as well.
Weakness:
 Sudden fall in the advertisement rates is consider one of the biggest weakness of the
company, as it is over dependent on its advertising policy.
 Lack of compatibility with the next generation devices is also consider another weakness
of Google.
Opportunities:

 Cloud computing is one of the high key opportunity for Google because it is already
working on this and that is why, put more efforts on this will help the company to
enhance the brand image.
 The introduction of Google glass and Google play is a biggest game changer for quoted
firm because it is a bets opportunity which the company get after its exploitation (Bakhtar
and et.al.,2020).
 Having a strong financial performance, company may also diversity to non- advertising
business model that assist tomeet the define aim and sustain the brand image at global
level.
Threats:
 Mobile computing is considering one of the biggest threat for the company because it
divert the mind of customers and they collect the information from this only.
 Further, the advent of social media has also seriously threatened the Google dominance in
the Internet and that is why, it is consider another threat for the firm.
To determine the external environment, there are different factors which must be considered by
the company and these are as mention below:
Competitor: Google keep innovating its new product and services and that is why it did
not face any competition from the market. But on the other side, it is completely relies upon the
advertising and that is why, it only face issue from Facebook because it may pull an ace to deal
with an increasing features that attract many customers towards it.
Political factor: Sudden instability of the political factor may also affect the overall
performance of the company in opposite manner. While on the other side, wider free trade
agreement is consider the opportunity for a firm while increasing online business is consider a
threat for a firm.
Technology factor: Google is one of the leading technological brand that is having the
best technologies in the world. Everyone is aware that the Google provides the most efficient
technology to its users. However the innovations of new technologies are also developing that

might cause the company to consider those factors for providing the customers with all their
requirements.
Suppliers: Being a IT company Google is not required to have big supplies from outside
like the other production organizations. It develops the technology with high security with its
own resources. There are not external suppliers to the company in terms of software or other
applications. Therefore it does not have the threats of supplier management for its business.
Determining how the organization is related its competencies to its environment.
Google is the most widely used and popular search engine around the world. It has
emerged as the fastest growing multinational company in the world. Biggest competitive
advantage of the Google is that it is recognized as the best search engine by the users of internet.
Several millions of customers are using it worldwide. There are other competitors also but it has
developed a significant presence in the market. Major competitors of Google are yahoo and bing
and they compete significantly with company.
Core competencies are the managerial or technical process which integrates the diverse
technology, resources, processes and the knowhow for creating unique offering for customers
and gaining competitive advantage for the organization. Core competencies help in developing
core products with wide variety of the competitive products (Rugman and Verbeke, 2017). They
also help in developing end products by the core products and crating competitive advantage for
the company on long term and short term basis.
Core competencies of Google are in software engineering in the content indexing &
marinating the scalable hardware infrastructures. It has a culture of continuous innovation and
that could be highlighted as the core competency of the company. Core products of Google are
PageRanka, C indexing technology, Google Ads and Google Mapping platform. On the basis of
theses products it has developed variety of end products.
These core competencies have helped the Google in entering into large number of
markets. Today almost every business requires the information from before the planning stage to
the end of the business. Information is needed at each and every stage of the business and Google
provides the most trusted platform where all the information are available and could be used by

the experts and business for making wide variety of business decisions analyzing the similar
circumstances and situations of other businesses.
The core competencies have helped the Google in achieving various long term and short
term profits. Google ads have helped the company to earn large amount of revenues. It was the
new concept innovated by the company that proved to be beneficial for both company and its
customers. Using these customers have achieved new growth levels expanding their business to
new horizons (Hernandez and Menon, 2019). Competencies of the business are related with the
business environment and this is helping the organization to achieve the organizational goals and
objectives.
The strategic management of the company has enabled the company to deal effectively
with the external business environment. It has effective strategies that are focused over giving
the customers with the best quality of services and products. The quality services have helped the
company in achieving the competitive advantage for the company. Competencies has helped the
organization to achieve considerable growth and in becoming one of the most recognized
company of the world that is known for the search engine.
These competencies to the business have the essential features for the corporate survival
over both long term and short term survival of the company. They have created a unique identity
around the world with which it is continuously growing in the market. It is the mix of skills and
resources that result in the end products that help the company in running competitively in the
business environment.
Describing the impact of social, environmental, ethical, legal and governance issues on
organization
Every business is required to face the challenges framed by dynamic business
environment. Google is also face number of challenges due to the external factors. These factors
are not within the control of every organizations and they are required to face these issues in the
best possible manner so that it does not affect the growth and success of organization. For
identifying the impact of external factors PESTLE analysis is conducted
Political factors

It is mainly internet based business, and this does not prevent from the political forces
that could influence its business. The political issues could have deep impact over the working
and operations of the business. For instance drive of EU against technological giants. The US
based technology firms are the target of EU mainly the Google & Amazon by its rules and
regulations (Johnson, 2016). Google is facing serious criticism for the ant trust issues faced by it.
It has led the company to suffer the fines of 3 billion Euros. Political environment is different in
every market, some may be beneficial while the other might be problematic. The government of
different countries introduces their own rules for the protection of their society. Google for
operating successfully in those regions are required to comply with these regulations that are
very difficult for the company.
Economic factors
Economic forces have direct impact over the profit levels and business of company.
Growth of every organization depends over the economic state of the country in which it is
operating. Google serves in various markets that have weaker economy that affects the sales of
company. It is a internet based services. The rise in prices of internet by imposing taxes could
directly influence the profit margins and the business of Google. Economy refers to the
purchasing power of consumers to make purchases of the products and services. It may not get
enough advertisements if the businesses of the slow economy are not getting the required level of
earnings. Foreign exchange rates, changing rates of interest and many other factors are related
with the economic factors influencing the business.
Social Factors
Social factors are related with the society at large and they can highly influence the
business of the company. Changing demographic pattern and new social trends can have
favorable or unfavorable impact over the business. The increased use of social media platforms
has proved to be very beneficial for the competitors such as Facebook. It has developed as big
competitor in the ads. With the increased use of the mobile devices it is bringing both negative
and positive implications for the business (Feldman, 2020). Trust issues had impact over the
business as the large number of people and businesses store their confidential information saved
on cloud Google platforms

Technological Factors
It is technology giant that is serving market from years adopting every change
successfully that could impact its business. It is serving the innovative sector where companies
are required to continuously innovate and invent for remaining competitive and surviving in the
market. Company is developing different technological products for its customer giving them
new experience and maintaining the market share.
Legal Factors
Like any other organization is also required to comply with the rules and regulations of
the statutory authorities. Google is serving in large number of countries are required to comply
with the laws and legislations of every country in which it is operating. It causes serious issues
over Google to comply with the rules and regulations of countries. These concerns are mainly
related with the security of intellectual property rights and the privacy of the users. Policies
related to the data and privacy is framed before the data is collected of users (Puranam and
Vanneste, 2016). Company is also planning to enter into new sector of providing financial
services that requires further compliance with laws and legislations causing additional trouble for
the company.
Environmental factors
Sustainability is an essential factor the Google like other business giants. Investments in
sustainability are essential for reducing the operational cost for the Google and will also be
improving the image and brand recognition of the enterprise. Company has developed products
and services that have helped the businesses in proceeding successfully. CSR practices are
required to be followed by most of the organizations that are doing business. Companies not
taking active participation in the CSR practices are losing public confidence that will be
impacting the business and profit levels.

Describing how the organization is currently framing these issues in its strategy and operations
Google is operating successfully in the market by overcoming all the challenges of the
external business environment successfully. These issues are successfully dealt by company
through its strategic and operational management.
Google maintains the level of profits by dealing with these challenges effectively.
Company gives the market with new products and increase the advancement of the products and
its features which creates the popularity in the customer base. This helps company in maintaining
its profits margins by increasing their sales. It complies with all the rules and regulations of
different countries in which it operates. Compliance of political and legal factors enables the
company to reduce its costs and to maintain the profit levels. Company is successfully managing
these issues by framing the policies for meeting all these issues in positive manner.
Strategic management refers to the process of framing strategies that help the
organization in achieving its goals and objectives. Strategies are framed such as the negative and
positive impact of the increased use of internet. Strategies are framed that increases the use of
Google by expanding the business over new horizons . Increased use will allow the company to
level of profits along with the competition. Google with effective management of the strategies
and its operations is achieving the required level of growth and success.
It has been analyzed that Google is facing issues related to various external factors such
as political, environmental, and technological and many others. The company has been involved
in framings strategies by considering the issues. Google is been working towards reducing
environmental issues by implementing the techniques related to reduction of carbon emission.
This has assisted in lay better impression and increasing the goodwill in front of public.
Currently Goggle has also launched strategies related to changes in climate. Companies CSR
efforts are influencing firm in making strategic decisions. This has assisted firm in achieving
their goals and objectives. Google also have their top priority stakeholders and issues are been
solved by taking in consideration of all the stakeholders. It has also been analyzed that in order to
overcome the technological issues and making use of advance technology, firm has been
engaged in providing adequate training to workers. This has assisted them in improvising on
company’s capabilities.

These strategic planning has supported Google in achieving their goals and objectives. It
has also helped them in improvising their operational efficiency and managerial performance.
The quality services have helped the company in achieving the competitive advantage for the
company. Competencies has helped the organization to achieve considerable growth and in
becoming one of the most recognized companies of the world that is known for the search
engine. It has also been analyzed that Google is also been engaged in making use of various laws
and policies in order to enhance their brand value.
Presenting how the organization is managing tensions between corporate responsibility and
maximizing the shareholder values
Every organization in the present time is required to comply with the corporate social
responsibility. A business has to along with undertaking the corporate responsibilities have to
maximize the wealth of the shareholders wealth.
CSR activities are creating shareholder value for increasing the future cash flows and
reducing the risks associated with the cash flows. CSR activities directly improve the financial
performance of the enterprise by reducing the costs and increasing the revenues.
Google for minimizing the tensions between the tensions between the tensions of
corporate responsibility and maximizing the wealth of shareholders. Company has adopted to
comply with the CSR practices that increasing the brand recognition. Companies adopting these
strategies are gaining increased market confidence and that creates positive image of the firm in
the society. This increases the sales of products and services that help in increasing the profit
levels of the enterprise (Porto, Passos and Figueiredo, 2017). Strong market performance of the
company adds value to business increasing the wealth of the business. Google by performing
well in the market and increasing the profitability is maximizing the wealth of the shareholders
by increasing the present worth of business.
It has been analyzed that Google is been involved in managing all the tension arising
between performing corporate social responsibility and the stakeholders. They have been
involved in making sure that all employees working with them are provided with equal
opportunities so that better relationship and bond can be made. This has assisted Google in

achieving their goals and objectives. It has also helped them in increasing their market share as
well as profitability. Google has also been involved in developing more women leaders. They
have become the first company who is engaged in providing wider platform to women and
females. This has assisted firm in making better bond with the employees and it has also
supported them in enhancing their brand value as well as reputation. Google's CSR efforts
include charity programs through Google.org, which has already provided more than $100
million in grants and investments. The company is also been aiming at reducing the carbon
emission. All these tasks which have been performed by firm has assisted them in managing the
relationship and reducing the tension between stakeholders. This has assisted Google in building
a better relationship with their stakeholders. They have also been able to increase the trust level
of employees and other stakeholders which is really necessary for growth of firm. Google has
also aimed to reduce the global poverty. They are been involved in providing employment
opportunities to all talented and skilled workers. They are also working towards doing charitable
activities to lay good impression on public.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it could be concluded that the corporate strategy, governance and
ethics play vital role in the success of the organization. Google is one of the leading
multinational technological company that is serving its customers successfully from years. It has
also achieved the growth and success by having effective governance procedures in the
organization and implementation of corporate strategies for adequately facing all the challenges
of the dynamic business environment. it follows in its business by giving the maximum security
and ensuring the safety of its users.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Lee, J., 2020. The Google-DoubleClick Merger: Lessons From the Federal Trade Commission's
Limitations on Protecting Privacy. Communication Law and Policy. 25(1). pp.77-103.
Bakhtari, A.R. and et.al.,2020, March. Assessing Industry 4.0 Features Using SWOT
Analysis.In Asian Conference on Intelligent Information and Database Systems (pp. 216-
225).Springer, Singapore.
Rugman, A.M. and Verbeke, A., 2017. Global corporate strategy and trade policy (Vol. 12).
Routledge.
Hernandez, E. and Menon, A., 2019. Corporate Strategy and Network Change. Academy of
Management Review. (ja).
Johnson, G., 2016. Exploring strategy: text and cases. Pearson Education.
Feldman, E.R., 2020. Corporate strategy: Past, present, and future. Strategic Management
Review. 1(1). pp.179-206.
Puranam, P. and Vanneste, B., 2016. Corporate strategy: Tools for analysis and decision-
making. Cambridge University Press.
Porto, U.C.M., Passos, F.U. and Figueiredo, P.S., 2017. Are competencies and corporate strategy
aligned? An exploratory study in Brazilian steel mills. Revista Ibero Americana de
Estratégia.16(4).pp.117-132.