Google doing too much?
Posted by mobile phone:
Today I received a reminder of the breadth of Google’s ambitions. I met two very different companies who both see Google playing an important role in their markets. One was an exchange for offline media and the other was a mobile handset manufacturer.
Ambitions in these two areas go alongside the huge number of other initiatives Google has - including OpenSocial, Google Earth, virtual worlds, Google Gadgets, etc etc
I am all for ambition, but for me it needs to be combined with focus. I love Google, and use a number of their products every day - but the strategy consultant inside me will be amazed if they can execute well on so many fronts. Just look at Yahoo! Over the last 5 years.
IMHO focus is always best. I would always make difficult choices and focus on only the most promising couple of initiatives.
Espescially in a start up.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Nic, I think the point of the Google projects is to “let it all percolate” and open initiatives out internally to the forces of evolution as quickly as possible. I’d say Umair has some pretty good insights into the reasoning here….
December 14th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Nick:
I have danced inside many of the Fortune 500 as a strategic consultant. The #1 problem many face is trying to do too much without qualified, united resources. Many comapnies react to market opportunities by chasing too many initiatives thinking they can and the egos of the leaders refuse to hear why they can’t.
Evidence abounds on these matters and time will show who knows how to focus and who doesn’t.
Well said post regarding Google.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Funny you should say this Nic, I’ve just been complaining (to myself) about the increased load time of the Google home page which I use as the default start up page in my browsers. At one time it was almost instantaneous, which was one reason I used it. Now, given that I use Gmail and Google documents, it auto-signs me in (even though I don’t ask it to) and this is slow. Slow enough to be annoying, and I might switch away. Which would reinforce your point.