Welcome to the 28th issue of B.

Each month, B has introduced a brand selected on the basis of four values: practicality, beauty, price, and philosophy. All those brands had one thing in common, and that was a three-way relationship formed between the management, workers, and consumers. This relationship creates a “virtuous circle” in which management is rewarded with good results for their endeavors and investments; the success of management then inspires workers in turn by increasing their trust and pride in the company; and then, finally, this leads consumers to anticipate continued growth and even makes them thankful the brand is there for them.

Through the media, we can see numerous examples of companies in which relations between management and workers are rife with distrust, and companies who pursue profits through clever manipulation of consumers. But we can also see that in good brands, management, workers, and consumers become trusted friends that you might see in a fairytale.

No explanation is needed for this month’s brand, Google. We’re already very familiar with it through our computer screens and smartphones. But I’d like to look at Google from the perspective of the relationship that I’ve just mentioned. Google’s success in business and the unusual pride its workers feel deserve special attention. The company’s executives and employees (known as “Googlers”) are objects of public interest, and asked to lecture based on nothing more than the fact that they have worked at Google. The lives of the company’s users and customers are also continually transformed, becoming more and more convenient thanks to the various innovative services offered by Google. Users eagerly await the launch of new services and even study up on them, all wanting to be the first to try those new services out.

The Google motto is “Don’t be evil.” And for the company’s staff members and a majority of users, Google may appear angelic. Its competitors, however, are unlikely to view the company as munificently. Perhaps the same is true for other brands that have been introduced in B: In order to remain angelic benefactors to workers and consumers, they might need to be unrelentingly savage towards competitors.

When you come across any articles that offer unusually high praise for a certain brand or business—or, conversely, any stories that paint them villainously— I would encourage skepticism. Negative commentary, for example, might be a biased description based on the direct or indirect impressions of defeated competitors or a small number of workers who couldn’t adjust themselves to an organization. In my opinion, if a business continues to make its good workers feel proud and its users appreciate its existence, it is definitely a good brand.

The interviews and analysis in this issue are the result of extended reporting from Google’s headquarters. We hope that through our coverage you will be able to see beyond the services Google offers and share in the realization of what makes the company such an enduring subject of admiration for both employees and customers.

Publisher Suyong Joh

PublisherSuyong Joh

http://www.johsuyong.com