Management: The Google Weakness?
March 24, 2010
I was surprised at the coverage of Google’s decision to change its approach to China. I think that Google may face more scrutiny from shareholders than from the “Sergey and Larry eat pizza” type of coverage that this subject is receiving. My newsreader is stuffed full of comments about this and that about Google’s most recent management decision. A good example of this type of analysis appears in “Google’s China move: A compromise?”
Would other public companies have followed the same trajectory? Made the same decisions? Taken the same squabble to seats of legal and political power? I don’t know, but I recall reading that Microsoft suggested that it would follow the rules that China set forth. Microsoft, regardless of what one thinks about the company’s products and services, is obviously looking out for its shareholders. The name of the game is to generate revenue for pension funds and others with a stake in seeing assets grow.
And China is a big market. I visited for 17 days in 2007, and I understood why the Chinese say the “crane” is the new symbol of China. The country is the market for the 21st century, and stakeholders have a right to expect publicly traded companies to figure out a way to tap into that revenue stream in my opinion.
Of the many management decisions that I monitored in the search sector, the Google – China decision has been remarkable. It reminded me of how some students and teachers interact in Eastern Europe. The professor lectures. Small groups get drilled by assistants. Students do exactly what’s in the curriculum. That works for some things, but I don’t think that’s how publicly traded companies should deal with countries that could, when managed correctly, generate big upsides for stakeholders.
Then I noticed a string of stories and comments about a Valleywag story called “Exclusive: How Google’s Eric Schmidt Lost HIs Mistress, His Partner and Steve Jobs.” I find the Valleywag writing entertaining, certainly more clever than what the addled goose presents in this Web log. What struck me is that this type of story is another management-centric issue. I don’t know anything about the accuracy of the story, but it is obvious that Google’s management are public figures.
The implications to me are:
- Google is a publicly traded company and the senior managers need to focus on business tactics that maximize shareholder value. I am not confident that this public profile is going to translate into payoffs for stakeholders. I may be wrong, but this type of visibility may make it tough to work the type of moves required in today’s business climate.
- The trajectory of Google’s management decisions over the last few months has been interesting. I think that a number of business school case studies will be generated to explore such topics as Google Buzz, the China deal, and the oddities of the Google Viacom legal matter. Lost emails? Fascinating.
- I know that when I am distracted, I have a tough time making events flow. Whether I am writing another of my dense, obscure monographs based on patent document analysis or just trying to remember where my lunch meeting is, I need to focus. Google’s executives are much smarter than I am, but I wonder if the distractions from the massive media attention is distracting.
In short, the question I want to consider, “Is Google’s management the key weakness at Google?” Since patent documents don’t address management issues, I have no answer. But that is a pretty good question for the pundits, poobahs, mavens, and “real” journalists to explore in the days and weeks ahead. Has the National Enquirer type of analysis merged with the world of high technology? And what about replacing that China revenue? What is it? 1.3 billion people and 400 million Internet users? That’s a lot of potential revenue.
Stephen E Arnold, March 24, 2010
Nope, a freebie. I will report my questioning approach to the National Intelligence Center, where questioning is an art form. I just do the questioning without compensation. Sigh.
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