Case Study 2: Google: The Quest to Balance Privacy with Profits

Nguyen Khanh Linh

ID: 30115113
 Case Study 2: Google: The Quest to Balance Privacy with Profits

Google LLC (Limited Liability Company) is an American multinational technology

company established in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Bergen, 2017). The company

specializes in Internet-related services and products including online advertising technologies,

search, cloud computing, and software. Most of its profits come from the online advertising

service called AdWords.

The stakeholders' action follows their interest, and their power is used to influence the

development of the product in the direction they want. The initial work in building project’s

strategic aim and brief is to determine the stakeholders. Although the project’s team is able to

manage the project within time, budget and quality, the project will not be considered as a

successful one without the first task. In project management, effective managers demand

analytical and intuitive skills to the identification of stakeholders and understanding the

expectations and influence of stakeholders.

1. How can google use its power to improve the lives of its stakeholders?

Google has to take the responsibility in order to manage the operations for the benefit of

its stakeholders which include the shareholders of Google's stocks, employees, customers,

suppliers, trade associations, and community. The company decisions might be influenced by

many factors such as the government or the press, all who have their own agendas and

responsibilities to the people they serve. Every stakeholder has the relationship with Google

which the source of the stakeholder’s power in order to have the influence on Google’s making-

decisions process. Google ensures that no stakeholder has a level of influence that could

independently make a difference about the direction of the company by the distributed business
model. However, the company’s objectives could be influenced by the way that the mass of web

users, media, and governments clarify their action.

In addition, ensuring the survival of the company and the stakeholders' long-term benefits

is Google’s management’s job. Litigation and politics often have an impact on both the short-

term and long-term results. That is the reason why it is vital to be cautious of the outside

environment. Moreover, some stakeholders have contradictory claims. For example, the user’s

right and the government’s responsibility for the protection of information, and therefore, the

user’s right to privacy and the government’s right to access records. Management's tasks are to

consider the seriousness of every claim and make the decision which outcome will best benefit

the great number of the company's stakeholders.

For improving the lives of the stakeholders, the firm should find the ways in order to

protect the users' private information, so that getting publicly spread the information or being

abused for wrong purposes will not happen. To be more detail, with their power, a number of

secure files of information it has collected should be formed, and then it should also create the

policy for the safety. Furthermore, the company has declared that any identifying information of

users must have the agreement to be published or shared with the external. Additionally, it is also

stated that the gathered information by the system is shared with other partners, however, it

cannot be recognizable. From all of the above, in my point of view, it can be seen that Google

can use all of the resources to set up files for the users’ private information and place those into

diverse locked and protected folders.

 References

Bergen, M. (2017, September 1). Alphabet Finishes Reorganization With New XXVI Company.

Retrieved from Bloomberg Technology: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-

09-01/alphabet-wraps-up-reorganization-with-a-new-company-called-xxvi

Fereell, O. C., Fraedrick, J., Ferrell, L. (2013). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making &

Cases 10th Edition. CENGAGE Learning.

Google. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from Google Official Website:

https://www.google.com/intl/en/about/our-company/