CHINA,INTERNATIONAL,BUSINESS: Search Key words: Microsoft-Dr. Kai-Fu Lee-Google
By Beryl Hou (Hou dong)
No matter how the judge rules, Microsoft will lose a highly skilled employee, along with part of its reputation, impact, market, and wealth. What's worse, it lost "the face of Microsoft in China," just as Microsoft had said the week before the preliminary injunction was issued in a Washington State court.
In July 2005, nothing was more contentious than Microsoft's vice president Dr. Kai-Fu Lee with Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division shifting from Microsoft to head the Chinese research and development team of Google, which is indeed a fatal blow to Microsoft, since the information Dr. Kai-Fu Lee possesses is "strategically and economically advantageous to any company or individual seeking to compete with Microsoft."
On July 18, 2005, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, spanned two eras.
On July 19, 2005, for the two companies, the atmosphere was worlds apart:
Google confidently announced that it had hired Lee as president of its newly-born China operations. Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is responsible for opening a research and development center here in China, which intends to create a strong research and development team to develop products and services.
Microsoft indignantly issued its own press release announcing it had filed a lawsuit against Lee and Google regarding breach of Microsoft's employee confidentiality and non-competitive agreement Dr. Kai-Fu Lee had signed when he began at Microsoft, saying asserting that in his position at Google, Lee will focus on the same technologies and strategies as he had at Microsoft. Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., said Lee has 'direct knowledge' of its trade secrets on search technologies and its China strategies.
On October 13,2005, Microsoft won a preliminary injunction in a Washington State court against Kai-Fu Lee and Google Inc. that prevented Dr. Kai-Fu Lee from working for Google on products or services related to search and speech technologies. Unless California repeals it, the preliminary injunction will remain in effect until the case is decided following a trial scheduled for early next year.
One of the aspects of the injunction is that it forbids Lee from recruiting employees of Microsoft, which revealed the current situation of Microsoft's working staff. Google has been the beneficiary of a recent brain drain, recruiting talents from competitors including the pc giant Microsoft.
We cannot help asking: what is wrong with Microsoft? Why did Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, who once told Chinese students that he would never leave Microsoft except for certain very important reasons, choose to work for Google? How Google can attract so many talents?
The values and culture of a company is vitally important for it to attract highly skilled employees. At Microsoft, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee earned not only a considerable amount of money but also a world-wile reputation for both his talent and his personality. It seems to us that he has already gotten everything. But, to a person who possesses a legion of knowledge and in certain fields stands on top of the world, money and reputation is not that important. For a talent, he needs more space and freedom to create something his own and to fulfill his ambition without much restriction form the higher rank officers.
Just as Dr. Kai-Fu Lee has said after he joined Google: "I feel rather lucky to join a company whose values and culture are a perfect match with mine." Probe between the lines and it is not that difficult to figure out why Dr. Kai-Fu Lee left Microsoft. To Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, he may be like a fish out of water with the values and culture that surrounds Microsoft.
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee said that "I am very happy to work with Google, and happier to work in China. I like Google for the most part because it is very supportive of me helping Chinese students." Dr. Kai-Fu Lee has always had an intention to influence people around him, especially young students. He said once that, "I cannot change education, but I can change the attitude towards education." He even established a personal website to help students, especially Chinese college students, in answering all the questions concerning their study, work, etc.
In an answer, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee told the students he wouldn't leave Microsoft except for two reasons: to do something more influential; retire to help the Chinese students. Obviously, to head Google in China is in accord with his wish and he needn't retire.
The case of Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is not simply a shift from one company to anther. It represents the conflict between two values and gradually forms two cultures. The culture of Google is typical of "cultivation of the origin." Does Google sell anything? The answer is definitely not. It only aims to provide high quality, high-tech and the most advanced services to its users. To profit is the side effect, which is way different from the other companies with respect to this point. That is why Google is so successful today. Before Google, there was no company that could both provide first-rate service and profit from it.
That is exactly what Microsoft is afraid of. Admittedly, during the past years, Microsoft has reached the goal it pursued. Google insisted upon treating every product the same and holding the firmest belief: benefit the customers as much as possible. Though, apparently, it is a very simple doctrine, to materialize it in the fierce competition is really a tough task. But whoever can fulfill it is the final winner. Google is on its way.
Google tells its staff that only excellent goods will hold the attention of customers This value and culture is a dire threat and the exact reverse to the traditional modes of competition. It gains Google the competitive edge in the nowaday IT market, which acts as a terminator to Microsoft's long term hegemony and monopoly.
As a vigorous company, Google provides ample space for its staff to innovate. It has a list called: "the elite 100 pets projects," from which the staff can choose to attend any one of them freely. The core technology group will select the successful ones to promote. So there's no fixed plan, all the projects are chosen by the staff, geared to the needs of the market.
Compared with Google, Microsoft is already in its middle age. It has very strict organization and hierarchy, so inevitably sometimes it will follow the prescribed order. Room for the staff to innovate and create something of their own is not that great. Microsoft is famous for its technology monopoly. It attacks its competitors and purchases innovative companies so as to keep its absolute domination in the world market. In this sense it does live up to its reputation as world "tyrant." This might be one reason why Dr. Kai-Fu Lee left Microsoft.
Microsoft should draw a lesson from Dr. Kai-Fu Lee's leave. How to attract highly skilled employees is of great significance in nowadays competition. Capital alone, and customers alone cannot make a company prosperous. The highly skilled employee is the driving engine for every corporation. A free atmosphere with ample room to materialize ideas are key factors binding a talent to a company.
Just as the old Chinese saying goes: "It is easy to recruit a hundred soldiers, but it is extraordinarily difficult to find one to lead them."
No matter how the judge rules, Microsoft will lose a highly skilled employee, along with part of its reputation, impact, market, and wealth. What's worse, it lost "the face of Microsoft in China," just as Microsoft had said the week before the preliminary injunction was issued in a Washington State court.
In July 2005, nothing was more contentious than Microsoft's vice president Dr. Kai-Fu Lee with Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division shifting from Microsoft to head the Chinese research and development team of Google, which is indeed a fatal blow to Microsoft, since the information Dr. Kai-Fu Lee possesses is "strategically and economically advantageous to any company or individual seeking to compete with Microsoft."
On July 18, 2005, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, spanned two eras.
On July 19, 2005, for the two companies, the atmosphere was worlds apart:
Google confidently announced that it had hired Lee as president of its newly-born China operations. Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is responsible for opening a research and development center here in China, which intends to create a strong research and development team to develop products and services.
Microsoft indignantly issued its own press release announcing it had filed a lawsuit against Lee and Google regarding breach of Microsoft's employee confidentiality and non-competitive agreement Dr. Kai-Fu Lee had signed when he began at Microsoft, saying asserting that in his position at Google, Lee will focus on the same technologies and strategies as he had at Microsoft. Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., said Lee has 'direct knowledge' of its trade secrets on search technologies and its China strategies.
On October 13,2005, Microsoft won a preliminary injunction in a Washington State court against Kai-Fu Lee and Google Inc. that prevented Dr. Kai-Fu Lee from working for Google on products or services related to search and speech technologies. Unless California repeals it, the preliminary injunction will remain in effect until the case is decided following a trial scheduled for early next year.
One of the aspects of the injunction is that it forbids Lee from recruiting employees of Microsoft, which revealed the current situation of Microsoft's working staff. Google has been the beneficiary of a recent brain drain, recruiting talents from competitors including the pc giant Microsoft.
We cannot help asking: what is wrong with Microsoft? Why did Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, who once told Chinese students that he would never leave Microsoft except for certain very important reasons, choose to work for Google? How Google can attract so many talents?
The values and culture of a company is vitally important for it to attract highly skilled employees. At Microsoft, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee earned not only a considerable amount of money but also a world-wile reputation for both his talent and his personality. It seems to us that he has already gotten everything. But, to a person who possesses a legion of knowledge and in certain fields stands on top of the world, money and reputation is not that important. For a talent, he needs more space and freedom to create something his own and to fulfill his ambition without much restriction form the higher rank officers.
Just as Dr. Kai-Fu Lee has said after he joined Google: "I feel rather lucky to join a company whose values and culture are a perfect match with mine." Probe between the lines and it is not that difficult to figure out why Dr. Kai-Fu Lee left Microsoft. To Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, he may be like a fish out of water with the values and culture that surrounds Microsoft.
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee said that "I am very happy to work with Google, and happier to work in China. I like Google for the most part because it is very supportive of me helping Chinese students." Dr. Kai-Fu Lee has always had an intention to influence people around him, especially young students. He said once that, "I cannot change education, but I can change the attitude towards education." He even established a personal website to help students, especially Chinese college students, in answering all the questions concerning their study, work, etc.
In an answer, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee told the students he wouldn't leave Microsoft except for two reasons: to do something more influential; retire to help the Chinese students. Obviously, to head Google in China is in accord with his wish and he needn't retire.
The case of Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is not simply a shift from one company to anther. It represents the conflict between two values and gradually forms two cultures. The culture of Google is typical of "cultivation of the origin." Does Google sell anything? The answer is definitely not. It only aims to provide high quality, high-tech and the most advanced services to its users. To profit is the side effect, which is way different from the other companies with respect to this point. That is why Google is so successful today. Before Google, there was no company that could both provide first-rate service and profit from it.
That is exactly what Microsoft is afraid of. Admittedly, during the past years, Microsoft has reached the goal it pursued. Google insisted upon treating every product the same and holding the firmest belief: benefit the customers as much as possible. Though, apparently, it is a very simple doctrine, to materialize it in the fierce competition is really a tough task. But whoever can fulfill it is the final winner. Google is on its way.
Google tells its staff that only excellent goods will hold the attention of customers This value and culture is a dire threat and the exact reverse to the traditional modes of competition. It gains Google the competitive edge in the nowaday IT market, which acts as a terminator to Microsoft's long term hegemony and monopoly.
As a vigorous company, Google provides ample space for its staff to innovate. It has a list called: "the elite 100 pets projects," from which the staff can choose to attend any one of them freely. The core technology group will select the successful ones to promote. So there's no fixed plan, all the projects are chosen by the staff, geared to the needs of the market.
Compared with Google, Microsoft is already in its middle age. It has very strict organization and hierarchy, so inevitably sometimes it will follow the prescribed order. Room for the staff to innovate and create something of their own is not that great. Microsoft is famous for its technology monopoly. It attacks its competitors and purchases innovative companies so as to keep its absolute domination in the world market. In this sense it does live up to its reputation as world "tyrant." This might be one reason why Dr. Kai-Fu Lee left Microsoft.
Microsoft should draw a lesson from Dr. Kai-Fu Lee's leave. How to attract highly skilled employees is of great significance in nowadays competition. Capital alone, and customers alone cannot make a company prosperous. The highly skilled employee is the driving engine for every corporation. A free atmosphere with ample room to materialize ideas are key factors binding a talent to a company.
Just as the old Chinese saying goes: "It is easy to recruit a hundred soldiers, but it is extraordinarily difficult to find one to lead them."
1 Comments:
At 8:15 AM , Tower of Babel said...
I'm happy for Dr. Lee, but don't be so bullish on Google. Microsoft was like Google once, and in the future, Google will lose its crown to a younger,leaner player. Google is not some non-profit organization for the public good. It is a profit-seeking corporation like Microsoft and everybody else.
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