Strategic Recommendations for Google's Operations in China: A Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Google's operations in China, focusing on the strategic challenges posed by increasing internet and email regulations. The introduction highlights the importance of the internet and the impact of regulations on multinational technology companies like Google. The main body delves into Google's business model, vision, mission, and competitive environment, including the company's internal and external factors. It examines strategic management concepts, alternative competitive strategies, ethical principles, and the key elements needed to execute a recommended strategic plan. The report assesses the impact of the Chinese government's regulations on Google's operations, considering the company's global presence and international aspects. It explores potential competitive strategies, ethical considerations, and proposes an action plan for management, ultimately recommending whether Google should continue its operations in China. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and recommendations based on the analysis of the company's strategic position, market dynamics, and ethical considerations.

Business

Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
Research the company, industry, operating environment...............................................................3
Vision, mission, goals or objectives, and business model of the organization, and how these
relate to the scenario............................................................................................................................4
Strategic management concepts and the internal and external environment, including
international aspects of the organization...........................................................................................5
Alternative competitive strategies that could be taken to address the scenario...........................7
Ethical principles and socially responsible management values that are relevant to the given
scenario..................................................................................................................................................8
Key elements necessary to execute the recommended strategic plan.........................................9
Key issues in the scenario.................................................................................................................10
Action plan for the management.......................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The Internet has become an important part of the day to day activities for both
individuals as well as organizations. Using the Internet effectively can help an organization to
enhance its overall performance as well as promote growth. This is because it is one of the
fastest growing technologies with a vast number of users increasing each year. Companies are
implementing latest technologies that operate with the help of the internet (Bell, Bryman and
Harley, 2018). In order to improve the overall communication among employees within a
company, emails are used. In the given scenario, there is are increasing regulations of the
Internet as well as email by the Chinese Government. This report is based on the organization,
Google which is a multinational technology company. The report provides a brief description of
the company and its operating environment along with its vision, mission and business model.
An evaluation of the internal as well as external environment of the company are also included
in the report. A list of alternative competitive strategies and the key elements that are necessary
to execute the strategic plan are also included. There are recommendations if the company
should continue its operations in China or not.
MAIN BODY
Research the company, industry, operating environment
Google is one of the leading technological companies that provides Internet-related
products and services. These include technologies for online advertising, google assistant,
cloud computing, search engine, hardware and software. The company was founded in the year
1988 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, with headquarters in California. Google began its
operations as an online search firm, but today offers a wide range of Internet products as well
as services. Offering a wide range of products has led the company to become one of the most
influential company in the technological industry (Bloom and et. al., 2018). When it comes to
offering online services, Google ensures that its employees are aware of the same. The
company even seeks suggestions and opinions from its employees while making any important
decisions. Google operates in a highly competitive and dynamic environment but the level of
engagement on it is highest as compared to other search engines.
The respective company operates within the Internet Cloud Computing and Advertising
industry. The largest segment of the cloud computing is offering Software as a Service (SaaS)
and Google is one of the companies operating in the same. The company also offers various
products as well as services that are based on artificial intelligence. The operating environment

of a company is referred to as the forces as well as other organizations that surround an
organization and can affect its overall performance, resources and operations. The various
factors that can influence the performance of an organization can include competition,
advancements in technology and implementation etc. Being a multinational company, Google
provides services to a lot of countries across the world. If a country has a greater number of
Internet users, it is likely that the demand for products and services of Google will be high
(Bocken, Boons and Baldassarre, 2019). The competitors of Google like Yahoo, Microsoft
Corporation, Inflow are also customer oriented like the company.
There are various factors both internal as well as external that can have an impact on
the overall performance as well as business operations of the company. The cloud computing
industry, wherein the respective company operates, has seen a lot of growth over the years.
There are many benefits for companies operating within this industry and this is because they
save a lot of money on IT costs, more efficient collaboration, access to updates automatically
etc. Strong financial results of the company indicate a rapid growth in its popularity across the
world. Google has grown to be one of the largest tech-companies in the world that has a large
base of customers who are loyal to it. This is also because the company has always focused on
providing the best possible services to them.
Vision, mission, goals or objectives, and business model of the organization, and how these
relate to the scenario
A vision is a statement that the founder of the company intends the people to experience
by the people of the organization. The vision of Google is to provide the customers an access to
information of the world in one click (Boone, Kurtz and Berston, 2019). On the other hand, a
mission statement describes as to why an organization exists, its overall goal, the kind of
products and services offered by it. Mission statements are very important that can help a
company to grow and understand its goals and achieve them in an effective way. The mission
statement of Google is to organize the world’s information and make it accessible to people all
over the world. Ever since the company was established, it has primarily focused on organizing
the information online as well as maximize its overall effectiveness.
A business model describes the thinking behind how an organization creates and
delivers value to its customers. Having an effective business model can help an organization to
understand any problems that it is facing, how can it create customer value as well as how can
it stay competitive in a better way. Google makes use of an advertising business model wherein
various organizations are a part of an ad network referred to as AdWords. The complete

business model of the company is about one concept, i.e., relevance. It has also been seen that
the company’s business model is based on a hidden pattern. In this type of business model, the
users do not pay for the service. The company uses an advertising business model, this means
creating content that is engaging and people would want to read and watch the same. The
major source of revenue is the sale of advertisements, customer subscriptions etc.
In the given scenario, there has been an increase in the regulations of the Internet as
well as emails by the Government of China. This can affect the operations of the company
within the country because China is one of the most technologically advanced companies
(Dierksmeier and Seele, 2018). Increasing regulations on the Internet as well as email means
that the company will have to adhere to them. This would involve a considerable amount of
money and the rate of commercial communication among people. Also, this will inhibit the free
flow of information among the people living in China. Therefore, it can be said that there is a
requirement that any kind of unnecessary regulations on Internet should be kept minimum. The
business model of the company will also be impacted and the overall goals and objectives as
well. Therefore, this is how all these aspects relate to the scenario provided as there can be
various challenges for the company.
Strategic management concepts and the internal and external environment, including
international aspects of the organization
Strategic Management can be defined as a set of managerial actions as well as
decisions that determine the performance of a company in the long run. It includes analyzing
both internal as well as external environment, formulating effective strategies, implementing,
evaluating and controlling them. Effective strategic management provides the company by
assisting it in developing plans and policies so as to gain a competitive advantage over other
companies. Both internal as well as external environment of the company are explained below.
Internal Environment
The internal environment of a company comprises of various elements like
organizational culture, structure, work processes, employees, management etc. Google has a
cross-functional organizational structure, wherein different employees across various
departments have different responsibilities (Draper, 2017). They have expertise in various fields
and this has helped Google in becoming one of the leading companies in the world. Google has
a corporate culture wherein the employees are motivated to share information with each other.
The company conducts various training and development sessions for its employees in order to

help them acquire new skills and enhance their existing knowledge. As a result, the employees
of Google are highly skilled and loyal to the company. The managers ensure that the employees
across different departments are comfortable in working with each other and are committed to
achieving a common goal.
External Environment
PEST is a model that can be used in order to identify the various macro environmental
factors as well as their impact on the company. The political environment of the company is
stable and it has a presence across various countries across the world (Evans and et. al.,
2017). China is an economically stable but any changes in the inflation rate, exchange rates can
affect the company. Google has customers all over the world who belong to different
backgrounds, age and gender. Also, China is a high-tech country and increasing regulations on
the Internet as well as email can restrict communication and free flow of information.
International aspects of Google
The respective company aims to build a community by bringing people from all over the
world together. Its mission is to make world’s information accessible to all the people across
different geographic locations. Google is a multinational company that offers various
technological products as well as services. The company still a has a variety of opportunities to
expand its business operations across various dimensions. They can help it in entering new and
emerging markets thereby attracting a greater level of engagement among different people. In
order to be successful across the further, the company should develop and implement effective
strategies. There can be various factors that can affect its operations across different countries
like language spoken by people, different technological requirements, tax legislations etc.
The company will have to undertake an extensive research in order to understand the
trends of the international market effectively. There is also a need to enhance communication
with the customers and make them aware of any new products or services that it may launch.
Outbound marketing can play an important role for the company at the international level and
lead to an increase in the revenues as well as decrease in competition (Foss and Saebi, 2018).
People from across the globe will have access to a large content that is useful as well as
engaging at the same time. Therefore, being a multinational company still holds a lot of growth
opportunities for the company to expand at an international level. This is because it will not only
help in building a large community, but also making useful information available to people all
over the world.

Alternative competitive strategies that could be taken to address the scenario
A competitive strategy can be defined as a plan of action of an organization for long-term
that a company develops in order to achieve a competitive advantage. Implementing effective
competitive strategies can help in attracting more customers, gaining their loyalty as well
attaining goals and objectives (Geissdoerfer and et. al., 2018). There are different types of
competitive strategies that can be taken in order to address the given scenario. There are three
basic types of competitive strategies, namely- cost leadership, focus and differentiation. The
same are explained below in context of the scenario.
Cost Leadership – In this strategy, a company aims to become the low-cost producer in
the industry of its operation. If the company fails to produce products and services at a lower
cost, it will lose its profit margin. Google is one of the largest and most trusted technology
companies in the world and since China is imposing increasing relation on the Internet and
email, this can affect the operations of the company. The company will have to pay an increase
amount of taxes and adhere to all the regulations. There will be an increase in uncertainties at a
global level, so Google should limit its products and services in the Chinese market and analyze
its existing operations in order to eliminate any unnecessary costs.
Differentiation – In a differentiation strategy, an organization looks out to be unique in
its industry by differentiating itself as well as its products and services from competitors. It
selects either one or two attributes that the customers find to be useful and then position itself
very uniquely (Ghauri, Grønhaug and Strange, 2020). Google continuously keeps introducing
new products as well as services to customers through both offline as well as online channels.
In context to the given scenario, the respective company should differentiate its various
products as well as services that are in adherence to the regulations imposed by the Chinese
government, although that would be a little difficult. Research will play an important role while
implementing this strategy.
Focus Strategy – This competitive strategy is of two types, cost focus and
differentiation focus strategies. In a cost focus strategy, the company seeks a cost advantage in
the segment that it targets, whereas in a differentiation focus strategy, the firm focuses on
differentiating itself from competitors (Porter's Generic Competitive Strategies (ways of
competing), 2016). In the given scenario, if Google wants to continue its operations in China,
despite of increasing relations on the Internet as well as email, it should focus on both reducing
the unnecessary costs as well as differentiating its products from the competitors. It should
differentiate its services in such a way that there is still flow of information among people and

the regulations are also followed. Therefore, these are the strategies that can be applied to the
given scenario.
Ethical principles and socially responsible management values that are relevant to the given
scenario
Ethics in business can be referred to as a set of moral principles that govern how a
particular process is conducted. They are important as they serve as the guidelines and help
businesses in carrying out their operations in an effective manner (Hair Jr, Page and Brunsveld,
2019). There are various principles of ethics that are relevant to the given scenario. The same
are explained below –
Integrity – By maintaining integrity, Google will be able to continue its operations in
China, despite the country’s government increasing regulations of Internet and email. The
company will also be able to make sure that people have access to the world’s information and
there is effective commercial communication.
Law Abiding – This is another ethical principle that Google will have to adhere to in
order to continue its operations in China. This is because the government of China is increasing
regulations on the internet as well as email. Complying by these regulations will make it easy for
the company to conduct its business operations effectively.
Morale and Reputation – Google has a strong reputation in the world along with a
strong base of customers that are loyal to it. Also, the morale of the employees is high and they
are committed to their respective jobs (Holloway and Humphreys, 2019). China, being one of
the most technologically advanced countries, has access to all the latest technologies. The
Internet is growing and has become an important medium through which companies conduct
their business operations.
While ethical principles are primarily concerned with norms, socially responsible values
are concerned with conducting the business processes in an environmentally as well as socially
sustainable manner. Google is a socially responsible company and its efforts include various
charity programs and other investments. The company’s socially responsible values include
focusing on the users, making more information available to the users across the world etc. The
company on the whole has a responsibility to act in such a way that is in interest of the society
as well as the environment. In context to the given scenario, Google should act responsibly
while adhering to the regulations. If the company fails to do so, it’s business operations in China
would get impacted.

Key elements necessary to execute the recommended strategic plan
A strategic plan can be defined as a document that is basically used to communicate the
organizational goals as well as the actions need to achieve them. The plan helps the
management of an organization to develop strategies and implement them in order to achieve
the right targets. Not only this, an effective strategic plan can also contribute to the firm’s overall
success and help it in making effective decisions (Ibarra, Ganzarain and Igartua, 2018). In order
to execute the strategies described above, there are certain key elements that the company will
have to take into account in order to execute the recommended strategic plan. The key
elements are described below –
Vision, mission and goals – A vision statement defines the desired future position that
the company wants to achieve. It describes the overall purpose of the company and what it
wants to achieve. On the other hand, a mission statement describes the purpose of the
company’s existence and the goals that it wants to accomplish in the future. A strategic plan
should explain the purpose of the company clearly in order to achieve its goals and objectives.
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – A SWOT analysis is also
considered to be one of the key elements that are required to execute a strategic plan
effectively. This is because it can help in identifying various opportunities as well as threats that
can have an impact on the company’s operations. Besides this, an evaluation of the
competitors, the company’s unique selling proposition should also be included in the same. This
will help in developing and implementing efficient strategies.
Core values – A set of values that are designed properly, can contribute to the overall
success of implementing the plan (Linder and Williander, 2017). Respective company should
analyze its current state of operations in China which will help it in making proper decisions.
Core values allow the company to abide by the various rules and act in an ethical manner.
Clearly defined outcomes – Not having goals that clearly defined can affect the
company’s operations in China. Therefore, it is important for it to make sure it has set clear
results that it aims to achieve. This way, it will be able to implement the appropriate strategies
and achieve the same. Also, if there are any challenges, then the company will be able to
address the same effectively. Considering the scenario, increasing regulations on the internet
as well as the email, it is important for Google to take into account all these key elements. This
is because they will allow it to implement the strategies appropriately.

Therefore, taking into account all of these key elements is considered to be important for
the respective company. This is because they will enable it to implement the plan successfully
and continue its operations in China. The plan will provide it direction so that it can implement
various strategies and continue operating effectively in the country and abiding by the
regulations at the same time (Massa, Tucci and Afuah, 2017). Other key elements that are
necessary to execute the strategic plan include outlining the approach that the company will
adopt in order to implement the strategies and achieve desired goals. On the other hand, if the
company feels that its strategies are not proving to be effective and affecting its overall business
operations, it should stop continuing its operations in China and should rather focus on other
emerging markets.
Key issues in the scenario
The given scenario is that the government of China is increasing regulations on the
Internet as well as the email. While the Internet has become a vital part of organizations
allowing them to conduct their business operations effectively, email allows effective
communication among the employees of an organization. China has adopted a policy wherein
its government decides on what is acceptable and what is not. It therefore acts as a filter of
information at an international level. This is one of the reasons why the Chinese government is
increasing the regulations over the Internet. As far as the scenario is concerned, the respective
company Google does not have a specific list as to what sites are acceptable as well as the
ones that are not.
Another key issue in the scenario is that the Chinese government is implementing
regulations relating to internet which includes public offers, online trading, access to wider
information to people. Due to this, Google will have to understand that it should implement
strategies so that it can continue to serve China with its products as well as services (Mian, Sufi
and Verner, 2017). China is keen on deciding between the information must-haves as well as
have nots for its people. As per the policy passed by the country, any information that will be
conveyed through the Internet, will be first approved by the security. This would limit the amount
of free flow of information across the country relating to the world. These issues can affect the
way Google conducts its business operations and engages with people in China. As far as email
is concerned, there are regulations pertaining to it as well. There is no communication
technology that has evolved as rapidly as the Internet and posed the governments a challenge.
Within a short duration of time, various policies and regulations have been developed in
relation to the Internet. There are numerous advantages of the Internet for the long run but at

the same time, it is important to adhere to these laws. Google should have revised its strategies
and implemented the ones that it thought would be suitable to address the situation. If the
company felt that its business operations were getting impacted, it should have stopped
continuing its business operations there. Other issues that had been identified included a lack of
proper discussion between the CEO of Google as well as a concerned authority from the
Chinese government. This is because it would have made it easy for the company to continue
its operations while adhering to the regulations. Therefore, these are some of the key issues
that have been observed in the given scenario and should be addressed using effective
strategies.
Action plan for the management
An action plan can be defined as a detailed plan that outlines the different actions that
are needed to achieve desired goals and objectives. In context to the given scenario, the
management of Google is recommended to develop an action plan in order to continue its
business operations in an effective manner (Shanafelt, Goh and Sinsky, 2017). The plan will
guide it and allow it to develop and implement strategies thereby conducting business
operations effectively. In order to do so, it should identify the various resources that will be
required to implement the strategies. Also, it is important to set clear goals and objectives that
comply with various regulations of the internet as well as email that the government of China
has imposed. Setting milestones will allow the company to plan its strategies much more
effectively and therefore, continue its operations in the country.
Once the action plan has been developed, it should be evaluated and revised. If any
mistakes or errors are identified, they can be rectified. It is important to keep updating and
monitoring the plan as this will ensure that the company can continue its operations in China. An
action plan is a very important document and will help the management in knowing what tasks
need to be done or what strategies need to be implemented (Urbinati, Chiaroni and Chiesa,
2017). The progress of the strategies that are implemented can also be tracked in an effective
way. Google will be able to develop strategies that can be implemented in the future. As a
result, both short-term as well as long-term goals will be achieved and a competitive advantage
will be gained.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that the internet has grown to be one of the
most rapidly expanding technologies in the world today. It not only helps businesses in
conducting their operations effectively, but also ensures good communication among people

across different geographic locations. Different organizations have their own vision, mission and
goals that guide different business processes. It has also been observed that various internal as
well as external environment factors can impact a company. Implementing effective competitive
strategies like cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies can help in gaining a
competitive advantage and attracting a greater number of people. This also helps in ensuring a
high level of engagement among users of Internet today. Lastly, various key elements are
required to ensure to execute a strategic plan effectively. These include setting up clear goals
and objectives, defining the outcomes properly, vision and mission of the company, core values,
strengths and weaknesses etc. This is because they ensure that the plan is implemented in the
desired way.

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