Google's Organizational Strategy and Culture Analysis

Introduction: Google's Youth as Strategic Asset

Google has a young organizational history, but that youth is part of what shapes its distinctive culture. The Google website was launched in 1999, just 15 years ago. Since that point, the company has done nothing but grow rapidly, and the results have been impressive. Google has come to dominate Internet traffic and advertising to the point where traditional advertising media often struggle. Further, Google has become a leading innovator with large market shares in Chrome and Android, as well as numerous websites. This paper argues that Google's youth is actually a strategic asset within the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, a framework for understanding how organizational inputs align to produce desired outputs.

Strategy and the Nadler-Tushman Model

Under the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, organizational inputs include the external environment, strategy, resources, and culture. Google's youth is a key input because its industry is characterized by a rapid pace of innovation. To lead in this space, Google has adopted a culture and organizational structure different from most other companies. It draws on its brief history of innovation to inspire employees and its success serves to attract the best talent in the world. This aspect of inputs is a strength for Google, even though it is a very young company.

Another critical input under the model is organizational strategy. Google's strategy is heavily focused on data. The company gathers an incredible amount of information about its users, and through this data it is able to produce the most refined advertising targets that exist anywhere. This gives Google a differentiated product—advertising via Google has greater value to companies than advertising elsewhere because the returns are higher. Essentially, Google offers to split the difference with its customers: Google makes money by being the best advertiser in the world, and the customer makes money by getting superior advertising value. The cost is high, but the returns justify it.

Industry Environment and Competitive Pressures

Google faces a challenging environment in which it competes against companies with very high levels of competency. While Google has a high skill level internally, so do its competitors. The pace of innovation is rapid, meaning that Google has little chance to compete if it cannot maintain a high pace of innovation. Companies that lose the innovation race—Blackberry, Yahoo, and others—end up becoming uncompetitive very quickly. The ability to keep pace with rapid rates of innovation is therefore a key success factor for Google and any technology company operating in this space.

Resources and Organizational Culture

In terms of resources, Google draws upon many of the best. The company possesses incredible wealth and has been able to attract top talent from Silicon Valley and around the world. These are both critical resources. The value of talent is self-evident, but the wealth is more powerful than one might initially think. Google can, for example, spend tens of millions to develop Android or Chrome and then never make a direct profit on these products. It does not need to make money on them as long as they drive superior advertising revenue for Google's core advertising service. Very few firms have the ability to develop major market-leading products and then not earn a penny from them—that is an advantage Google possesses.

Culture represents another crucial input. Google's organizational culture drives employees to work harder and push further. This is a company where hard work is ingrained in the culture, which directly assists in fostering innovation. The culture creates an environment where excellence is expected and innovation is rewarded, enabling the company to maintain its competitive edge through continuous improvement and creative problem-solving.