The Google Force - Will there be a Google killer?
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Google came at a perfect time for itself. Search was viewed as a loss maker and none of the giants were interested. When Google was improving algorithms, AOL and MSN were focusing on email and portal features. When search's importance became apparent, Google already had a solution. It was prepared, and seized one of the biggest Internet opportunities, establishing itself as the father of search.
Google is too well entrenched in search to be "killed," just as Microsoft is too well entrenched in the OS market to be killed. They both dominate their spaces, have immense supplies of cash to buy threats and counteraction if needed. I do not think Google will be killed, but it likely will be challenged by a strong contender, just as Google itself is challenging Microsoft today.
Microsoft had no real competition for a while, and Google is now challenging it on many fronts, including the new browser war, with Firefox and Chrome on its side.
We may see a similar pattern with Google. A strong contender may show up, in a different vertical, reliant on a different cash flow, and compete with Google in search, just as Google is doing to Microsoft on the software giant's core fronts. I personally think Google is gearing up for an OS war, but that's another story.
Structure That Permits Innovation
Big companies are SLOW. By the time a project makes it through the stages required for approval, it can be too late for it to make an impact. I think this is the problem with Microsoft. It's too centralized.
In the article The Google Hive Mind, Danny explains that Big G is sort of decentralized in the decision-making process.
Rather than follow a rigid top-down master plan, the company's direction and success has been shaped by decisions often taken independently of how they'll benefit the company as a whole.
There is, of course, the CORE, but many decisions go through that sometimes do not fit with the master plan. The company then expands or finds a way to fit it into the master plan.
From this we can learn to let our employees be more creative and allow them more freedom to make important decisions, even if they are small scale in comparison to Google. After all, you can't make someone bring you brilliance if he feels like he isn't there by choice.
Good luck.
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