If you can't beat 'em, then join them !

                                            A new website known as BuffferBox.com which was created by the University of Waterloo students have now been taken over by Google. BufferBox provides users with temporary storage facilities in central locations which can accept packages delivered from online retailers such as Amazon, E bay  etc. To begin the process, users are expected to sign up for a Bufferbox address at bufferbox.com. The users can then use the Bufferbox address as their shipping address while ordering goods online. When a parcel arrives at one of the Bufferbox's self-serve kiosks, the users receives an email and can pick up their package using a one-time-use code at their convenience.

A person using the Bufferbox Service to receive their package

As quoted by the BufferBox chief executive Mr. McCauley, "So us being able to work very closely with someone like Google allows us to leverage their resources and share vision and combine thoughts and talent together to really make something a lot bigger than we ever would have imagined." This quote basically summarizes everything I basically had to say about the article. By joining a world renowned and influential corporation such as Google Inc., Bufferbox will gain the necessary exposure that they would need to reach out to more online users and expand their services. This new ownership of Bufferbox Inc. will also benefit Google because it will help them to compete with the Amazon locker packaging service.

This article ties in with the course because it talks about the different types of ownership such as Corporations like Google Inc and Bufferbox Inc. and also how sometimes bigger companies take over or buy out smaller companies to either provide more services, get a competitive advantage or to even eliminate competition  In this scenario  Google bought Bufferbox to get a competitive advantage over Amazon's packaging service. Another example of such takeovers would be by McCarthy's. McCarthy's has bought out all the other small uniform companies and have taken complete monopoly over the uniform business. They take over the smaller companies to eliminate competition.

Another interesting thing about this incident is that, just like Instagram, this company had only about 10 employees. It's surprising to see how small scale business such as these are being taken over by huge corporations such as Google due to the interests of the people. Maybe I can start up some business like that and not worry about working for the rest of my life :)

More information about this take-over can be found at http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1296016--google-buys-waterloo-startup

What are your thoughts on this? Is this a good move by Google? Would you use BufferBox to get your parcels? :)