The new Google Europe HQ is apparently a really fun place to work. It has a giant slide and firemen’s poles for the playful engineers.

The philosophy behind this is that happy staff are productive, loyal and creative staff.

What should the small business make of all this? How are we to compete with attracting and keeping the best people if this sort of trend develops in large corporates?

Fear not. Google is trying to do what large organisations the world over, throughout history, have failed to achieve – maintain dynamism and creative efficiency.

Of course, it is entrepreneurs and inventors who design and bring innovation to the world. Where large companies most often acquire their innovation is through the purchase of entrepreneurial organisations. Intrapreneurship is largely a business school myth.

Google will probably be more successful than most. But in time, the weight of bureaucracy, procedure and compliance will take its toll.