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.Video and mapping products might escape this problem becauseusers access them through a search engine, but the problem mightprove to be much more complex for social media, networking sites,blogs, and webmail.For example, although many consider Gmail200 Chapter 16 Approach Web Statistics with CautionSeveral companies specialize in analyzing online market share, suchas Alexa, comScore, Nielsen Net Ratings, and Hitwise.The data usedfor their analysis is typically collected from user panels or ISPs.Eachmethod gives different results and comparing one study to the other ishard because each panel s size and composition varies from one companyto the other.Getting precise information on the methodology used ineach study is difficult, and in addition, the techniques used to buildthese panels rarely prevent bias.Additionally, geographical factors areoften ignored.This latter point is significant because some productsare popular in one market but not in another.For example, Orkut,Google s social networking product, although relatively unpopular inthe United States, is very well established in Brazil and Asia.For thesereasons, approach statistics about the Web and its uses with caution.Thestatistics certainly suggest trends, but their accuracy can be questionable.to be a more powerful webmail client than Windows Live Hotmail,Google has been unable to dislodge Hotmail.Inertia is certainly atwork, but so is practicality: People are reluctant to change an emailaddress because they don t want to bother informing everyone theyknow and the companies they do business with.NOTE This resilience of inferior earlier technologies is no surprise.Anyone interested in innovation realized a long time ago thatthe best product doesn t always win, as Apple s fans know onlytoo well.Economists have written a lot on the subject ever sincethey noticed that the QWERTY keyboard was not the best oneavailable.5Finally, and most troubling for Google, these statistics are areminder that the Swiss Army knife approach to product developmentdoes not guarantee success.As far as I can tell, Google s dominationof the search market doesn t ensure market domination in otherareas.Yes, the Google brand is extremely powerful, but brandingalone won t make customers change products.In this sense, Google is in a far less favorable position thanMicrosoft, which over the years has learned how to trap its customersCan Google Evade Conformity? 201 into using multiple Microsoft products whether because of productintegration or because customers like that familiar Microsoft inter-face.Microsoft excels in this area and is not shy about exerting itsdominance.Google seems reluctant to use its power in the sameway a fact that many find appealing but one that may hinder thecompany s ability to compete as effectively in many areas.Google sSwiss Army knife approach to product development is unique, butthis approach also has a strategic downside: It prevents Google fromusing a dominant market position to lead in other markets.Is thata flaw? Maybe for Google shareholders it is, but certainly not forchampions of free market competition.Human Resources: The Other Side of the CoinGoogle s approach to human resource management has contributedgreatly to its ability to attract and keep high-quality staff in anindustry that experiences extremely high turnover (often more than20 percent a year).But will its HR model last?Google faces two risks that must be watched more closely: therisk of creating a caste system within the company and the risklinked to the unintended consequences of Google s compensationpolicy.I mentioned previously that engineers can devote 20 percentof their time to personal projects but sometimes use more.Thisattractive perk is reserved for engineers exclusively and for goodreason.Administrative or sales personnel would have a difficulttime developing personal projects that would interest the companyor the industry.Google s founders were also liberal about issuing stock optionsto their early employees since the company couldn t pay competi-tive salaries then.Many of these early employees quickly becamemultimillionaires.Those who were hired later didn t get the sameopportunity.Add in the fact that the company relies heavily onsubcontractors and temps, and you can foresee an emerging castesystem.Organizations of this type exist in they world, and they gen-erally function without too many clashes.Hospitals follow the samemodel with classifications for doctors, nurses, and administrativestaff.Administrators don t care for patients, and nurses rarely becomedoctors.So a caste system can endure in a hospital without creating202 Chapter 16 problems.One main difference though is that hospital employeesknow what to expect.Hospitals have been around for a long time,and the class system that exists is well known and generally accepted.But Google has not been around for a long time, and preventingconflicts from arising among spoiled engineers and administrators orsalespeople who don t enjoy the same advantages could prove difficult.All employees are under heavy pressure to perform, but they don tall get the same privileges.As long as the company enjoys continuedsuccess, these frustrations will be of little importance, but tensionsare more likely to build during difficult times (see Chapter 17 formore discussion of this).To remedy some of these problems, in 2007 Google implementeda transferable stock option (TSO) program that allows employees to sellvested options in an online auction.The TSO gives employees a wayto better control their total compensation, diversify their assets, andreduce the uncertainty of their stock options
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