Google and Strategy

This week we are investigating corporate strategy as the first step to deciding where our company fits into a competitive landscape and then (and only then) will we worry about how technology can help. One company that has probably been the most successful in competing in today's e-business, global and ever changing world is Google. Google’s ten strategic principles that drive their technology and decision making can be found at http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html . Here’s how Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 fits with the first three of Google’s guiding principles

Google Says: 1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.


The customer is key to a corporate strategy - We will ask the question “How can we make our customers successful.”    To answer that question we need to know the who, what, when, where , why and how concerning our current and, perhaps more importantly, our future customers.


Google Says: 2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.


Porter’s 5 force model provides a way to identify what is lacking or changing in our competitive environment. We can’t do everything so we first need to identify our competitive advantage.


Google Says : 3. Fast is better than slow.


Business Processes drive the value-added in our value chain. Process must be efficient and effective all the time. But, everything is changing all the time. Companies need flexible process that can be quickly reconfigured to take advantage of opportunities. Flexible processes demand flexible information systems. Remember he who has the best (most flexible) business processes wins.