Managing Technology and Innovation Google Strategy

Question: Discuss about theManaging Technology and Innovationfor Googles Strategy. Answer: Googles Strategy for Technology Acquisition and Development Google has acquired a number of technologies and firms for the development and implementation of the same at a wider scale. The concept of introducing innovation by the process of acquisition is largely seen in a number of projects by Google. The first test that a product or a company must pass through Google for acquisition is the Toothbrush Test which says that the entity must be of such use that it is used by the user at least once or twice on a daily basis along with the concept of amalgamation associated with it. Google also makes sure that the technologies that are acquired are implemented correctly and are provided with the environment that is required for the same (Luckerson, 2015). There have been a number of acquisitions that have been done by Google in the past with majority of them in the category of successful results. Some of the popular and widely accepted company acquisitions include Android, Applied Semantics, DoubleClick, YouTube, Urchin Software and many others. Th ese companies have provided a number of technologies to Google which have provided huge profits and revenues in return. Technologies such as Google Docs spreadsheet, Google Maps and a lot many more have been purchased and acquired from other firms. With the success of the technologies and the reputation of Google in the market, there are a lot many small and medium scale companies and entities that try to come up with an innovation that may be acquired by a giant such as Google (Stringer, 2016). Strengths and Weaknesses There are a number of strengths and weaknesses that are associated with the strategy of innovation through acquisition. The strengths include the following: The overall revenues for the involved parties increase and the element of redundancy is removed The faults and mistakes that may occur during the in-house development of the technology are avoided with the acquisition of the same The existing resources may be utilized for the managerial and operational work which results in a lot cost-savings along with excellent resource utilization as well There are also a certain pitfalls that are associated with this approach and have been listed below. There may be clashes and conflicts between the parties that are involved due to difference in the methods and policies There will be a lot many changes that will be introduced with the acquisition of a technology for the employees which may become difficult to manage and may have an adverse impact on the productivity and efficiency of the employees (Bloch, 2016) External funding of the acquisition may result in debt in case of the failure of the project or lesser profits and revenues in return Innovation in Acquisition There are a lot many methods to innovate and bring out a product in a form that has not been produced in the same manner earlier. Acquisition is one such approach which can be used to innovate. There is often belief that acquisition is not a true form of innovation because the product has already been seen and used by a section of users earlier. However, the belief is not true since the organization or entity that implements and brings forward a technology by acquiring it from another entity makes it available for the users who have not used or accessed it in the same manner earlier. It is rarely a case in which exact replica of the technology that is acquired is forwarded and released for use. There are always certain modifications and amendments that are done before delivering the technology in its final form. For instance, Apple acquired a small scale firm named as Fingerworks that had its expertise in gesture based devices and operations. Apple made use of the technology offered by the company and gave shape to its iPhones and iPads enabled with gesture based operations. Apple did not release the exact technology as developed by Fingerworks, rather, made use of the concept to incorporate the same in its devices. Google has also acquired a lot many technologies and companies and has implemented the same in its products and services (Price, 2016). The approach that has been followed by Google is also the same as it modifies the technology with its own products. Also, the technologies that are made available to the users by giants such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco and many others are the ones that have not been header, seen or used earlier. It is not always the case in which the primary aim behind the acquisition is innovation. However, in the cases in which innovation is aimed, there is a lot of planning and analysis that is done in advance to ascertain that the objectives and goals are achieved successfully (Mandel, 2016). Unsuccessful External Collaboration External collaboration such as acquisition, joint venture, and outsourcing or in any other form is done with the objective of enhanced profits and revenues for all the parties that are involved. However, the collaboration does not result in success all the time and there have been cases which have seen failure with such collaboration. One such case is that is Cisco that acquired a firm named as Pure Digital in the year 2009 for $600 million. Pure Digital has developed a technology that was implemented in the flip video cameras. There were successful results that were seen in the beginning but after a short period of time, market saw some major disruptive innovations. With the entry of camera phones, the demand of users shifted from digital cameras to the cell phones that provided the feature of in-built camera. With the change in the market values and negligible revenues, Cisco decided to discontinue the flip video cameras in the market in the year 2011. The decision of collaboration therefore resulted in a big failure for Cisco and for Pure Digital as well since the estimated profits were not achieved. There are a lot many steps and processes that are essential for any type of business collaboration so that the success is ensured. Planning is one such phase which must be done with perfection. The organizations must plan the collaboration in terms of the technology and features to acquire or the company to acquire along with the risks that may be associated with the same. The planning phase shall include and extensive risk assessment and identification through qualitative and quantitative methods to understand the areas that may go wrong. Technology is something that is changing at a rapid pace and the technology that may be in the trending list at a particular instance may turn as an obsolete technology after a while. Therefore, the technological collaborations must be done with a proper change management and implementation plan in place. There must also be assistance and viewpoints collected from technical experts and consultants. Market analysis and study is also extremely signif icant to understand the user preferences, choices, likes and dislikes associated with the domain in which the collaboration is to be made. The analysis results may help in the creation of the project plan along with the schedule to achieve and complete the same (Kim, 2011). References Bloch, R. (2016). Acquiring Another Company. [online] Thehartford.com. Available at: https://www.thehartford.com/business-playbook/in-depth/business-acquisition-pros-cons [Accessed 30 Oct. 2016]. Kim, R. (2011). Gigaom | The End: Cisco Shuts Down Flip, a $590 Million Mistake. [online] Gigaom.com. Available at: https://gigaom.com/2011/04/12/stick-a-fork-in-flip-smartphones-killed-the-video-star/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2016]. Luckerson, V. (2015). How Google Has Perfected the Silicon Valley Acquisition. [online] TIME.com. Available at: https://time.com/3815612/silicon-valley-acquisition/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2016]. Mandel, M. (2016). Innovation by Acquisition: New Dynamics of High-Tech Competition. [online] Available at: https://progressivepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11.2011-Mandel_Carew-Innovation_by_Acquisition-New_Dynamics_of_Hightech_Competition.pdf [Accessed 30 Oct. 2016]. Price, J. (2016). Why Innovation Through Acquisition Is Such A Darn Good Idea. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/innovation-through-acquisition-2012-10?IR=T [Accessed 30 Oct. 2016]. Stringer, G. (2016). What Do Google's Acquisitions Reveal About the Company's Strategy? | Page 4 of 4 | AllBusiness.com. [online] AllBusiness.com. Available at: https://www.allbusiness.com/what-do-google-acquisitions-reveal-about-strategy-10585-1.html/4 [Accessed 30 Oct. 2016].