Google's "don't be evil" philosophy and corporate social responsibility

International Management Ethics & Values

"Don't be evil:" Corporate responsibility in action at Google

The Google corporate philosophy: Overview

'Don't be evil.' This colloquial phrase, often quoted by company employees and executives, succinctly sums up the Google Corporation's philosophy of social responsibility to the community and its stated commitment to the triple threes of 'planet, people, and profit.' It strives to help its employees become more creative and to enrich their vocational lives, as well as the lives of the consumers the search engine serves as part of its mission ("Company Overview," Google Corporation, 2009) Google's stated purpose is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. It tries to behave in an ecologically-friendly manner as well as make a profit for shareholders. "Google's utility and ease of use have made it one of the world's best-known brands almost entirely through word of mouth from satisfied users. As a business, Google generates revenue by providing advertisers with the opportunity to deliver measurable, cost-effective online advertising that is relevant to the information displayed on any given page" ("Company Overview," Google Corporation, 2009).

Google makes an equal commitment to the people that work for the company as the people that use the search engine itself. Google urges the best job candidates to become a part of the Google team, not just because of the money or benefits they can earn but because of the service its product conveys to the world: "People in every country and every language use our products. As such we think, act, and work globally -- just our little contribution to making the world a better place" ("Jobs," Google Corporation, 2009). Employees are even allowed to do their own research on company equipment and time, in the belief that more creativity on the part of the individual will generate new knowledge and ultimately a new source of profits for Google. Google's message on its corporate informational website is that individuals who work for them can make a financial and personal profit, enjoy themselves creatively, and yet also feel as if they are accomplishing a social good for others. Google offers the best of all worlds to employees and shareholders alike, and improves the world in the process.

Section 2: Planet -- Google's greenness

"In 2004, when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote to prospective shareholders about their vision for the company, they outlined a commitment to contribute significant resources, including 1% of Google's equity and profits in some form, as well as employee time, to address some of the world's most urgent problems" (How Google.org, Google Corporation, 2009). However, although Google is a virtual tool, it admits that it does use carbon-based energy in its day-to-day operations. So it is striving to reduce its energy consumption and drain upon the planet. It has resolved to become carbon neutral and is focusing on working towards a goal of making electricity from renewable sources, including generating plug-in vehicles powered by electricity. To make a better planet, deploying the minds of the best people at and outside the company is always the focus in its approach -- it even solicits contributions on its website to achieve carbon neutrality. "Do you have investment, R&D or project opportunities? If so, please send your contact information and proposals" ("Plug into a greener grid," Google Corporation, 2009).

Section 3: People -- Google's goodness to its people

This solicitous approach to encourage employee brainstorming about going green is keeping with the company's general ethos of honoring human talent. "Google is not a conventional company, and we don't intend to become one. True, we share attributes with the world's most successful organizations -- a focus on innovation and smart business practices comes to mind -- but even as we continue to grow, we're committed to retaining a small-company feel. At Google, we know that every employee has something important to say, and that every employee is integral to our success. We provide individually-tailored compensation packages that can be comprised of competitive salary, bonus, and equity components, along with the opportunity to earn further financial bonuses and rewards" ("Life at Google, Google Corporation, 2009).

Google is generous to its employees, but not simply in conventional ways, such as giving them hefty paychecks, health insurance, and shares in the profitable company -- it is also generous in terms of the respect it shows towards its workers. The company offers free food (it boasts some of the finest workplace cafeterias in America), fitness classes, shuttle service from major transportation hubs, on-site oil changes, car washes, dry cleaning services, massages, a fully-equipped gym with fitness classes, hair stylists -- even a bike repair shop ("Jobs," Google Corporation, 2009). The bike repair and the pooled transportation also make coming to work greener for employees (as well as have the added benefit of ensuring employees do not have an excuse about traffic slowing down their commute)!

Section 4: Profit

Of course, there is a method behind Google's generous madness -- creating 'Camp Google' is designed to encourage employees to want to spend as much time as possible within its confines. Friendships and work relationships are easily combined in such an atmosphere, and makes working at the company almost like an extension of college. At Google, work and play are not mutually exclusive, but because work feels like play, employees stay longer at their jobs. Consumers are also more apt to feel good using its service: "Companies that have invested in creating a strong social responsibility profile get much higher levels of support than other companies. Nearly 70% (65.7%) of the U.S. public would recommend the top 20 socially responsible companies to others, compared to 25.9% recommending the bottom 20. Nearly 30% say they would not recommend companies that are not seen as socially responsible" (Lukovitz 2008). Google consistently ranks in the lists of the most socially responsible companies in the world.

Employees, users, and shareholders believe that by making information accessible through the World Wide Web, Google generates social good, even to those who cannot, for example, afford to buy many books or access real-world libraries. In 2002, Google's Book Search aimed to make every book in the English language accessible and text-searchable to every reader able to get online. "Anyone with an Internet connection could be transformed into an armchair researcher, with the world's library at his or her fingertips" (Gibson 2008)

Section 6: Defenders

Even if Google has some of the characteristics of a de facto monopoly, some might argue, it is a benign monopoly that merely disseminates information, rather than restricts the free flow of information. As one analyst points out: "it owns neither content nor the delivery mechanism. Though a global business, it has no geographical control anywhere in the world. Since nearly all its consumer services are free, it doesn't have the power to raise prices and has no ability to exclude competitors or somehow block access to competing services. It operates in an environment of healthy competition" (Ulanoff 2009). On the other hand, it is difficult to conceive of a company being large enough, at this point in time, to provide the services Google can provide, with such a mammoth scope, and with such ease. By becoming a relative first-mover in the search engine informational technology industry, Google has shut out the ability for others to truly compete with it on the informational marketplace, its critics allege. The fact that its major competitor is clunky behemoth Microsoft tends to belie the image of giant Google crushing innocent, vulnerable competitors. A large company that attracts top-level employees is needed to provide such services, and Google uses its largess to treat its employees and the planet well, and to further research to benefit humanity as well as to generate a profit.

Google simply makes a better product, its defenders say. One professor, with no investment in either company, said that for making a class 'wiki' Google was undeniably superior the comparable Microsoft product: "The greatest advantage of the Google system is simultaneous editing. Up to ten editors can work simultaneously in a Google document, and 50 in a Google spreadsheet. Google spreadsheets even offer instant messaging. By comparison, editors lock out others from Office Live documents until they finish. Version tracking is particularly valuable in the Google system since multiple editors can overwhelm the system resulting in document corruption" (Rienzo & Han 2009).

Section 7: Conclusions

Google has become, like Coke and Xerox, part of that corporate elite of products whose brand name is synonymous with the thing itself, in this case the act of searching the web. You 'Google' rather than search a term. Google is a verb, and although some might decry the influence of the web in modern society, there is no doubt it is here to stay: "the popularity of a website" may not be a validation of its quality, argue critics of Google's way of ranking informational resources, yet no website has arisen with a better model (Harvie 2009). Google's potential for monopolization must be watched and monitored carefully by users, society, and government, but thus far its use of its tremendous resources has made for a better world.