Page 137 - NITI - Navigating Indian Traditions in Industry

withdrawal from over-saturated or unprofitable areas, encouraging businesses to
explore new opportunities or markets that align with their capabilities.

Case Study:Google’s Transition to Alphabet Inc.
One of the most well-known examples of Viyog in modern business is Google’s
transition to a holding company, Alphabet Inc. This strategic move allowed Google
to separate its core business from its newer ventures, each of which operates
independently under the Alphabet umbrella. Let’s explore how this case embodies the
principles of Viyog:

1. Strategic Separation for Clarity and Focus:
Before the restructure, Google was operating in a wide variety of sectors, including
search, advertising, hardware (Nexus), software (Android), self-driving cars (Waymo),
and even healthcare (Calico). Over time, this led to complexity in the company’s
structure and a blurring of focus.
Alphabet Inc. was created in 2015 as a way to separate Google’s core search,
advertising, and software businesses from its other experimental projects and
moonshot ventures. This strategic separation allowed each business unit to have its
own leadership, goals, and financial accountability.
This mirrors the concept of Viyog, where withdrawal or separation from a core unit
enables focus on areas with more potential or less competitive pressure. By removing
the complexity and risk from Google’s core business, Alphabet allowed for clearer
business focus and more efficient management.

2. Minimizing Risk and Focusing on Core Strengths:

The separation into Alphabet allowed Google to refocus on its primary business:
search engine advertising. Alphabet, as a parent company, allows each subsidiary
to operate independently, which mitigates the risks of diversification and ensures
each entity can thrive in its own niche without being weighed down by the broader
corporate complexity.
For example, Waymo (the self-driving car subsidiary) is allowed to operate without
the direct pressures of Google’s search and advertising business. This strategic
separation allows Google to focus on its strengths in core areas and enables its other
ventures to scale more efficiently without compromising on focus.

3. Resource Reallocation and Innovation:

By creating Alphabet Inc., the company strategically withdrew from an all-

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