Google at a crossroad

Google's mission statement is and always has been "organize the world’s information". It has also understood how technology evolves, introducing and leading changes in the market. For example, by launching Android, Google proved it’s deep understanding of the market's migration from static towards mobile Internet connection. It has expanded way beyond "searching" to provide organized solutions with products like Google docs, Google Maps and Google Calendar. It has grown from organizing online queries to providing all kinds of online organization solutions for people.

Today, Google is at a crossroads facing several challenges to become a better and more competitive growing business. What should Google do to sustain its leading position and keep its fast-growing pace? 

On one hand, there is a pressing competitor that could take it out of business. Should Google focus on tackling Facebook? Secondly, there is China: a "new" market that is growing at a light-speed yet very difficult to enter due to various factors - i.e political.  Third, Google needs to be weary of anti trust lawsuits in Europe and other parts of the world. And fourth, Google's workforce is currently being poached by important tech start ups due to the lack of strong company culture and organization.  

Google can work on these and many other challenges at the same time, but it may need to prioritize its overall strategy. I think that the company should focus on it's social network strategy and optimizing it's organization. Google's social focus will deal once and for all with Facebook and Twitter by proving to be a worthy competitor. It is easier to tackle this problem first and then, if successful, expand it to other markets. 

From an organization point of view Google is very horizontal and employees sometime have no way to move up the corporate ladder. Rather than being the "it" company to work for, Google should work harder at implementing values and beliefs to make the company's purpose more palpable. It shouldn't be all about money, or trends. It should be about the future, and making technology easier and more accessible to people. So it's not only about the best performing employees, it's also about the ones who are more loyal.  

Dealing with many problems at the same time is a common symptom of big and diverse companies. Prioritizing while managing all of them is what helps them overcome these issues. In Google's case, it not only needs to prioritize, but also compete in different fronts at the same time. The problem is: will the choice it makes be the right one? And if not, will it have time to react?