MBA Geek

It was with interested that I read that Google stopped censoring search results in China today. Not that I was happy about it; at the end of the day, regardless of what your ideological beliefs may be, a country has the right to its own sovereignty and the right to make its own laws. However, the nature of the Web is pervasive and this is something that the world must come to terms with. Deep down, I agree with Google’s stance; if I decide to search for “best acne treatment“, I should get the same sort of results, regardless of where in the world I am; likewise if I search for “China militant leaders”. Ranking results based on factors like geographical proximity is one thing, but mapping results onto the ideologies of the current leaders of a country just wouldn’t cut it for me.

Now the question is, what will China do next ?

There’s an interesting movement happening in the journalism world at the moment. You could sum it up as a battle of wills between Murdoch and Google, but it’s more than that. There’s a cost involves in collecting news and someone has to pay for that in the end. Here are some costs The Times faces:

Indicating the costs of quality journalism, he said it had cost the Times £1.5m to run a Baghdad bureau for the duration of the Iraq war and £10,000 to send a correspondent to report on violence in northern Sri Lanka.

(taken from an article in the Guardian)

The answer isn’t quite clear for now. It’s not like you can take some time out, hire one of those outer banks vacation rentals and put everyone in a room until they reach a compromise. The market will bear what the market will bear.

An interesting post on Business Week talks about Google deals with Web Spam. It’s interesting insight into how the industry giant operates, but I found the last section most interesting of all. It talks about how Google stimulates innovation amongst its employees. Here are some things that are mentioned:

• Constant re-examination of the status quo. Looking at the way you do things today and how how they can be improved may pave the way for a brighter tomorrow.
• Take time off. Taking a bunch of smart people out of their work environment and letting them engage with one another in a fun environment can yield interesting results
• Reinvent the wheel. Never assume you have the best way to do something. There’s always a better way to do something and if you assume you’re doing it the best way possible, then you might stifle innovation.

These ideas are valid, regardless of whether you the biggest search engine in the world, or simply trying to market a new brand of herbal weight loss pills; innovation is the lifeblood of an organisation and without initiatives to keep it flowing, companies will just fade into oblivion.

Interesting snippet of news today where it seems like Google is looking to acquire Valve, an entertainment software provider reknowned for gems like Half-life and Counter-strike boasting a portfolio with over 20 million retail units sold worldwide (Valve games account for over 80% of the PC online action market). Lots of folks seem to be curious as to why this Google may be pursuing this acquisition, but a source claims that Google is really after their content distribution network.

There are another two reasons why Google may be after this juicy company. First of all the talent it hires are responsible for some amazing work and could do wonders for Google’s Lively offering. The other option is that it opens up the door to in-game advertising, something Google doesn’t seem to do much of yet. Whatever it is, this space will certainly be fun to watch, as long as Google doesn’t just sit on it and do nothing.

Readers of this blog will know I’m a great fan of Seth Godin, a marketing guru who has published numerous books and is also a world renowned speaker. I managed to find a video of a talk he gave at Google last year. It’s full of great ideas and excellent advice, so here it is for your viewing enjoyment:

Great huh?