Fluent Essays

Critical Thinking: Corporate Strategy and Diversification  Corporate diversification strategies raise a wide range of strategic management issues. For this week’s critical thinking assignment, read the case study found in your textbook (Case 19): Google Is Now Alphabet—But What’s the Corporate Strategy? Remember, a case study is a puzzle to be solved, so before reading and answering the specific case and study questions, develop your proposed solution by following these five steps: Read the case study to identify the key issues and underlying issues. These issues are the principles and concepts of the course area which apply to the situation described in the case study. Record the facts from the case study which are relevant to the principles and concepts of the course area issues. The case may have extraneous information not relevant to the current course area. Your ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information is an important aspect of case analysis, as it will inform the focus of your answers. Describe in some detail the actions that would address or correct the situation. Consider how you would support your solution with examples from experience or current real-life examples or cases from textbooks. Complete this initial analysis and then read the discussion questions. Typically, you will already have the answers to the questions but with a broader consideration. At this point, you can add the details and/or analytical tools required to solve the case. Case Study Questions: What is Google’s corporate strategy? Does Google have a clear vision of what it wants to become? Use Porter’s Essentials Test (Chapter 12) to determine if this strategy creates competitive advantage. If so, how? If not, why not? Look beyond the conventional sources of synergy and consider complementarities, bargaining power, and rivals. What threats does Google face? Does Google need to refocus? How should Google delineate its corporate boundaries and which businesses, or products would you recommend abandoning or divesting, if any? Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements: 6 pages in length, which does not include the title page or required reference page, which are never a part of the content minimum requirements. Use Saudi Electronic University academic writing standards and APA style guidelines. Support your submission with course material concepts, principles, and theories from the textbook and at least (5) scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles unless the assignment calls for more.Case 19 Google Is Now Alphabet—But What’s the Corporate Strategy? On August 10, 2015, Google’s CEO, Larry Page, announced that Google Inc. would become Alphabet Inc., a holding company of which Google (comprising the compa- ny’s search and Internet businesses) would be the biggest operating company. Extracts of the announcement are reproduced in Exhibit  1. The organizational structure of Alphabet is shown in Figure 1. The creation of Alphabet was widely viewed as Google’s top management finally conceding to investors’ demands for greater transparency by separating Google’s pri- mary source of profits, its search business, from Google’s other businesses. It was also a confirmation by Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, that their company was no longer simply a search company. The announcement was a reaffirmation of the company’s commitment to developing and commercialization of revolutionary tech- nologies. This quest had already led Google beyond search, beyond the provision of information, and beyond software into mobile devices, home appliances, life sciences, self-driving cars, broadband services, digital eyewear, and a host of other ventures. Soon after its founding, Google had proclaimed “Ten Things We Know To Be True”— a set of business principles that would guide the company’s development. Second on the list was, “It’s best to do one thing really, really well,” to which the response was: “We do search.”1 Google—now Alphabet—was no longer a search company. But what was it? Founders Brin and Page had consistently emphasized that the essence of their company was applying technology to improving the lives of people. Page had declared, “The societal goal is our primary goal,” the challenge being to: “... use all these resources ... and have a much more positive impact on the world?”2 If Alphabet was to be described by technology—then which technologies? From the beginning Google/Alphabet has been about algorithms. Initially, its PageRank algorithm, but increasingly artificial intelligence algorithms that model the functioning of the human brain. By combining machine learning and artificial intelligence, Alphabet is identifying areas where machine intelligence can be superior to human intelligence. The scope of these applications—from autonomous driving to medical diagnosis, to facial recognition, to education—seems limitless. The diversity of Alphabet’s business and technological initiatives also fueled suspi- cions about the motivations of the founders, Brin and Page. Despite their proclama- tions to pursue the good of society and to “do no evil,” it seemed to some that Google was locked in battle with Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft for the control of cyberspace. This case was prepared by Robert M. Grant. ©2019 Robert M. Grant. 588 CASES TO ACCOMPANY CONTEMPORARY STRATEGY ANALYSIS Alphabet Inc. Google Waymo Calico VerilyAccess CapitalG GV XNest* * Nest was transferred to become part o