Could Google be the GE of the 21st century?
An article in the NYTimes gives an overview of Google’s vast pursuit of clean technology development, noting, “Last year, Google unveiled an ambitious initiative called RE<C, denoting its goal to develop renewable energy that is cheaper than coal. Since then, much of the public focus on the initiative has been in the approximately $45 million in investments that Google.org has made in wind, solar and geothermal energy start-ups.” This is in addition to the proposed Google Clean Energy 2030 plan recently released.
The NYTimes notes that Google.org has a unique status that gives it added incentives and flexibility, since it is “set up not as a traditional philanthropy, but rather as a Google unit that could profit from its investments.” Google’s investments and development of renewable energy sources may position themselves as a leading provider of clean technology in the coming years. Much the way GE succeeded in the 20th Century through effective horizontal expansion, Google may do the same in the 21st Century.
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