Instructions: Read the case Google Energy and respond to the questions .

Question 1 : Present the SWOT Analysis for the Google

Question 2:

Sub question 2A- Was releasing energy consumption and emissions data a strategically optimal decision? Why or why not? Sub Question 2B- How should a large company approach movement into a new sector?

Question 3:

Sub question 3A- Present PESTEL Analysis for google in the UAE

Sub question 3B- Assume one of the local NGO from the UAE has made the allegations on google, how the situation would be different? How should google have responded?

Sub question 3C- Would the failure of a company that Google has invested in hurt its brand? Would Google's investments be more likely to succeed if they integrated companies and placed them under the Google name?

Sub question 3D- If the google decide to invest in and operate a renewable energy company with "Google brand" as an experiment, what would be the appropriate strategy to start with. Assume you are a CEO of the company and present your strategy.

Note: please make sure to provide the answer for each question as long as possible

M FREDERICK A. & BARBARA M. ERB INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN WDI PUBLISHING case W9 2C26 April 3, 2012 Google Energy's Shift into Renewables Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one. -Co-founder Larry Page, before Google's IPO in 2004 With the green light from co-founder and CEO Larry Page to expand, the team from Google Energy, a recently created subsidiary, sat down to discuss the company's renewable energy investment strategy. ' Google Energy's recent efforts to respond to criticisms of its data center energy use had gone well. The team must now formulate their expansion strategy. If successful, the expansion would likely strengthen Google's image as an industry leader in energy procurement, provide a strong financial return, and possibly create a lucrative new market. However, this initiative had high risks. What did Page's challenge to be "unconventional" mean when it came to energy management? Were these efforts enough, or were they just the baseline of what they could be doing? How far should Google go to act as a leader to address the environmental impacts of these operations? Page wanted answers to these questions before the shareholder meeting that would take place in two weeks. Industry Overview The multi-billion-dollar Internet technology industry was one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and yet did not look to be near maturation. The businesses in this space included search engines, social networking websites, computer software companies, e-commerce sites, and online retailers. In addition to the search giant Google, big players included Twitter's and Facebook's social networking; Microsoft's software, search engine, and hardware businesses; creative manufacturers Apple, Cisco, and IBM; the online retailer Amazon, and others such as Yahoo and Mozilla. Most were publicly owned companies. By 2011, Google had achieved a dominant share in the US web-search market with 66%, while Yahoo and Microsoft were each at 15%%. In addition, Google's Android smartphone operating system grew to command 53% of the US smartphone market in 2011, while Apple's share was 29%%.3 Published by WDI Publishing, a division of the William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan. @2012 Andy Hoffman. This case was written by graduate students Benjamin Bunker, Jennifer Foster, Jason Levine, Rodrigo Sanchez, Gaurang Sethi, and George Tan, under the supervision of Andrew Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.Google Energy's Shift into Renewables W92C26 Google's History In 1996, Stanford University PhD computer science students Larry Page and Sergey Brin collaborated to build a search engine called "BackRub" that used links to determine the importance of individual web pages. This search engine operated on the Stanford University server for one year, until the university stopped it for using too much bandwidth. After brainstorming a new name for the project, they decided on Google - a misspelling of the word "googol," a mathematical term for a number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Page's and Brin's mission was simple but ambitious: to organize the world's information efficiently and make it universally accessible. Google's founders set up a workspace in a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California in September 1998. Shortly after that, the company filed for incorporation and opened a bank account with an initial deposit of $100,000 in funding from Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim. In June 1999, the company successfully raised $25 million in venture funding from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, two of the most prominent Menlo Park-based venture capital firms. With tremendous growth every year, Google achieved an initial public offering in August 2004. six years later, Google had revenues of $29.3 billion and net income of $8.5 billion (see Exhibits 1 and 2). ' By the second quarter of 2011, the company had 28, 768 full-time employees globally while still maintaining a strong entrepreneurial culture. Google's unofficial company motto, "Don't be evil," drove its core principles and initiatives.' Google Product Diversification By mid-2011, the company had expanded into many technology segments, including operating systems, desktop applications, and numerous mobile and web applications. Its flagship operating system was Android, which ran on smartphones and tablets. Google's desktop applications included Earth, a virtual three- dimensional globe that used satellite imagery, aerial photography, and GIS, and the web browser Chrome. Its web applications included Gmail, its email service, and Maps, its mapping and GPS service. Consistent with the company's diversification strategy, Google had acquired over 100 companies as of October 2011. Google's largest acquisition was its July 2011 purchase of Motorola Mobility, a mobile device manufacturing company, for $12.5 billion. Other prominent acquisitions included YouTube, a video sharing website, DoubleClick, an online advertising platform, and Zagat, a prestigious restaurant review website. The funding to acquire these companies came almost entirely from Google Adwords. Google generated roughly 95% of its revenue through advertising. The Adwords advertisers created simple text ads that appeared beside related search results and on thousands of partner sites. In addition, the company utilized display advertising products including the Google Display Network, with over one million partner websites; Google-owned sites including YouTube; and its DoubleClick advertising technology. Google.org Google.org, the charitable arm of Google, focused on a range of activities that addressed global challenges. One of these projects was to develop renewable energy at a price cheaper than using coal. Started in 2007, Google's REGoogle Energy's Shift into Renewables W92C26 Exhibit 2 Google, Inc. Total Revenue to Net Income 30,000.00 25,000.00 20,000.00 USD (m) 15,000.00 Total Revenue 10,000.00 Net Income 5,000.00 0.00 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Source: "Google, Inc., " Alternative Energy eTrack. 2012. Accessed 12 Oct. 2011. . 9W92C26 Google Energy's Shift into Renewables Exhibit 4 The Renewable Energy Share at Google Renewables in Google's total electricity mix 9% of Google's electricity use % renewable electricity already in the grid 96 renewable electricity bought by Google directly *Estimated > 35% 30% 25% 2010 2011* 2012* Source: Google, "Greening our Power," 2012. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . Exhibit 5 Google's Domestic Renewable Energy Investments and Purchases O Spokane North Dakota New Washing Montana Minnesota Brunswick ardand Maine South Dakot Wisconsin Oregon Michigan Toronto daho Wyoming Madison o o o Milwaukee Buffalo New York New Salt Lake lowa Cleveland Hampsh Nebraska Omaha Toledo O Lincoln Pennsylvania Illinois Ohio Massachuset Kansas Philade Nevada Indiana Rhode Island Sacramento Utah Colorado Kansas Missouri O St Louis Virginia Connecticut Stockton co Californie chita Tulsa Kentucky Virginia New Jersey Tennessee North Albuquerque Delaware a Arkansas Carolina Maryland Angeles O o Riverside New Mexico Dallas Mississippi Atlanta Carolina Tijuanao o Phoen Alabama Columbia Ensenada Tucson Cluda Texas Austin Mobile Georgia Juarez Louisiana Jacksonville o Hermosilio C North Chihuahu San Houston Needto Antonio Ocean Ciudad Florida bregon Municipal Matamoros Miami California Culiacan MunichallyMonterrey Gulf of nurannno Mavien - Ciudad Mexico Wind Power PPA Other Clean Energy Investment Source: "Collaboration: Are We Approaching a Green Energy Revolution?" Google. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 10Google Energy's Shift into Renewables W92C26 Endnotes Glanz, James. "Google Details, and Defends, Its Use of Electricity." The New York Times. 08 Sept. 2011. Accessed 07 Feb. 2012. :http://www.nytimes. com/2011/09/09/technology/google-details-and-defends-its-use-of-electricity.html.> 2 Womack, Brian. "Google Increases U.S. Search Market Share as Yahoo Slips, ComScore Says." Bloomberg. 9 Nov. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 3 Sakr, Shafir. "Android Leads US Market Share, iOS may have Stopped Growing, RIM is Still Falling." Engadget. 14 Dec. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . Google. "Company Overview." 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . Google. "Company Overview." 6 Securities and Exchange Commission, Google Inc. Form 10-k, 2010. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 7 Google. "Code of Conduct." 2009. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. 8 Page, Larry. GoogleBlog. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . Google.org. "What is Google.org?" Google. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . Strand, Ginger. "Keyword: Evil." Harper's. 2008. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 1 Clark, Duncan. "Google Discloses Carbon Footprint for the First Time." Guardian.co.uk. 8 Sep. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/08/google-carbon-footprint>. 12 United States Environmental Protection Agency. Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency. 2007. Print. 13 Koomey, Jonathan. "Worldwide Electricity Used in Data Centers." IOPScience. 2008. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 14 EPA report to Congress. 15 Clancy, Heather. "Google Fesses up to Cloud Energy Consumption." ZDNet. 8 Sep. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 16 Clark. 17 Clark. 18 Clark. 19 Clancy. 20 Google. "Better Web. Better for the Environment." 2012. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 21 Google, "Better Web." 22 Hoelzle, U. "Carbon Neutrality by End of 2007." GoogleBlog. 2007. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 23 Google. "Shift Happens: Educational (Technology) Reform." YouTube. 2008. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 24 Wang, U. "Google Discloses Carbon Footprint, Renewable Energy Goals." Renewable Energy World. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 25 Lombardi, Candice. "Google Gets Go-Ahead to Buy, Sell Energy." CNET News. 19 Feb. 2010. . 26 Cleland, Scott. "FERC approves Google Energy-Keep an Eye on this One." The Precursor Blog. 19 Feb. 2010. . 7 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Order granting market-based rate authorization. Docket Nos. ER10-468-000 and ER10-468- 01. . 18 Feb. 2010. 28 Peters, Mark. "Google Cleared on Power Bid." The Wall Street Journal. 18 Feb. 2010. . 29 "Google Green." Google. . Dawson, Christopher. "Google Wind Farm Investment: Datacenters or Diversification?" ZDNet.com. 12 Oct. 2010. . 1131 "Google History." Google. . Fehrenbacher, Karen. "Google Buys Wind Power, First Deal for Google Energy." Gigaom. 20 July 2010. . 33 Google. "Collaboration: Are We Approaching a Green Energy Revolution?" Google. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 4 Google. "Google's Green PPA's: What, How, & Why." Google., 19 Apr. 2011. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. . 35 Google. "Collaboration." 36 Marlow, Jeffrey. "QuA: Google's Green Energy Czar." The New York Times. 7 Jan. 2010. Accessed 20 Jan. 2012. Google. "Collaboration." 38 Google. "Google's Green PPA's." Google. "Google's Green PPA's."