Jan 4, 2011 10:47 GMT  ·  By

The latest meme about Google is that the company has become too big and unwieldy and it's actually starting to drive away potential acquisitions, along with valuable employees. While it may be too early to claim this, Groupon's rejection of a $6 billion offer along with the lengths Google is going to keep its employees may be signs of things to come.

Marissa Mayer, who has been recently appointed head of all local products at Google, doesn't think that there's a problem and revealed some of the things Google is or could be doing to compete with Groupon and also why startups should be thrilled to be acquired by the giant web company.

In an interview with Mediabistro, Mayer said that Google already has the components it needs for a type of "deals" feature that Groupon is offering and that the company is exploring ways it can enter and compete in the new market.

“When you look at our overall suite of services, especially around our advertising, we already have some things that are like [Groupon],” she said.

“We have things like coupons and offer-extension ads that allow merchants to basically make offers to our users. And, so we’re looking at how can we take that technology and put it to use especially in the location space,” she added.

Groupon's case may be a particular one, the company has been seeing some huge growth, in both revenue and valuation, and going at it alone was probably a smarter decision for its founders.

But there have been voices saying that Google's bureaucracy is something to reckon with and it may prevent acquired startups from moving as fast as they were used to.

Of course, Mayer says that Google has a great infrastructure and procedures for incorporating startups. However, she also revealed that there is another option for the ones that can prove their worth, they can be "autonomous units" inside Google, essentially operating as a startup within the company.

She says that YouTube is one example of that, though it has become a lot more intertwined with Google as the years went by, and a more recent acquisition, Slide, is a another one.