...GOOGLE IN CHINA Page 154 Case Study 1-3 September 3, 2011 IBA 301.90 Principles of International Business Chad Heidorn What Philosophical principle did Google’s manager’s adopt when deciding that the benefits of operating in China outweighed the costs? When google managers decided that benefits of operating outweighed the costs they adopted a utilitarian approach. According to Utilitarian and Kantian ethics, “Most moral philosophers see value in Utilitarian and Kantian approaches to business ethics” ( Hill, 2011, p. 138). Even though Google was blocked by the Chinese authorities in 2002, users were directed to a Chinese rival and Google realized the potential of benefits it would get out of being in China. Google was to provide all information via the internet, but the chinese government was proactive censoring the information. China has a large potential internet market where Google can make a great number of profits. It was also wise for Google to give the Chinese users access to a limited amount of information, then to none at all. There was two choices to choose from, it could continue operations from the USA and not have the proper equipment needed, or open a operation in China, impose self censorship and give limited information to its users. Do you think that Google should have entered China and engaged in self-censorship, given the company’s long standing mantra “Don’t be evil”? Is it better to engage in self-censorship than have the government censor...
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...Google In China 1. What philosophical principle did Google’s managers adopt when deciding that the benefits of operations in China outweigh the costs? I think that Google’s managers adopted a Utilitarian philosophy when deciding that the benefits of operations in China outweighed the costs. I think this way because of the fact that they took the time to weigh out the pros and the cons of the situation and ultimately chose the option which was more advantageous. 2. Do you think that Google should have entered China and engaged in self-censorship, given the company’s long-standing mantra “Don’t be evil’? Is it better to engage in self-censorship than have the government censor you? I do not think that Google should have entered China and engaged in self-censorship because they had gone against the way that they had long operated. The normally focused on the concept of “Don’t be evil,” and the entering of China has shown that Google did not stand behind their mantra. I am a bit torn in regards to the second question regarding whether or not it is better to engage in self-censorship than have the government censor things. I think that self-censorship can lead to problems in that it may emphasize certain bias and may share information that should not really be shared; however, I think that censoring done by the government is also problematic because they can withhold information that we all deserve to know. 3. If all foreign search engine companies declined to invest...
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...Case Study Analysis-D Critical Thinking Case Study Analysis: GOOGLE 1. Describe the philosophical principle Google's managers adopt when deciding that the benefits of operating in China outweighed the costs. Discuss the philosophical approaches to ethics. Describe the approaches that are favored by most moral philosophers and form the basis for current models of ethical behavior in international business. Google began to operate in China in 2000, it was two years later that the Chinese authorities blocked the site. Although this came as a surprise for the company’s managers, two weeks later the service was restored. It was clear that China was a strategically important market and Google couldn’t just ignore that. We begin our approach to philosophical ethics by describing what is called straw men. These approaches can be characterized as the Friedman doctrine, cultural relativism, the righteous moralist and the naive immoralist. The Friedman doctrine says that the only responsibility of business is to create profits, as long as the company remains within the rules of law. Yet this argument breaks down because the rules of the game are not well established and differ from country to country, and that may lead to inadequacies in a company’s social responsibility. The basic belief in cultural relativism is that a company should adopt the culture within which it is doing business. But serious contradiction arises from this approach, for example let’s assume that in one...
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...National Intermodal Transportation System shall consist of all forms of transportation in a unified, interconnected manner, including the transportation system of the failure, to reduce energy consumption and air pollution and supporting the United States = pre-eminent position in international commerce”. (US Govt. printing press, 1999) Evolution of Trade Corridors: The Globalisation of trade has resulted in dramatic changes in the domestic freight corridors that support international commerce. For ex. increased trade with China and the Pacific Rim has led to the development of enhanced east-west transportation infrastructure. (Appalachian Regional Commission, 2004) These statements define intermodal transportation as a macroeconomic concept, because an effective transportation system is a vital factor in assuring the efficiency of an economic system as a whole. Moreover, intermodal transportation is an important socio-economic phenomenon, it implies the benefits of intermodal...
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...eager to shift production to lowcost countries such as China or major markets such as the U.S., are racing to build factories back home, in a change of strategy among some of the world's industrial heavyweights. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. sell more cars in the U.S. than in Japan, but Toyota has invested three times as much in Japan as in North America over the past three years. Honda is building its first auto factory in Japan in nearly three decades. Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., a midsize company, is building the first new steel furnace in Japan in 15 years. And Sharp Corp. is considering building a plant here to make liquidcrystal displays a year after completing another such plant. As products from hybrid automobile engines to flat-screen televisions become more complex and the pressure to bring improvements to market quickly intensifies, Japanese manufacturers are finding it is important to keep factories physically close to their engineers, parts suppliers, decision makers and Japan's large pool of highly trained workers. Japanese companies registered to build 1,782 factories in Japan last year, up from 844 four years ago and the highest number in 14 years, according to government figures. Meanwhile, they are building fewer plants abroad -- 182 in the year ended March 31, down from 434 four years earlier, according to a government survey. "Companies have learned what they can do well in China and what they can do better in Japan," says Yukio Watanabe...
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...154 Part 2 Google in China Google, the fast-growing Internet search engine company, was established with a clear mission in mind: to organize the world's information and make it universally acceptable and useful. Google has built a highly profitable advertising business on the back of its search engine, which is by far the most widely used in the world. Under the pay-per-click business model, advertisers pay Google every time a user of its search engine clicks on one of the paid links typically listed on the right-hand side of Google's results page. Google has long operated with the mantra "don't be evil"! When this phrase was originally f ormulated, the central message was that Google should never compromise the integrity of its search results. For e xample, Google decided not to let commercial considerations bias its ranking. This is why paid links are not included in its main search results, but listed on the right hand side of the results page. The mantra "don't be evil," however, has become more than that at Google; it has become a central organizing principle of the company and an ethical touchstone by which managers judge all of its strategic decisions. Google's mission and m antra raised hopes among human rights activists that the search engine would be an unstoppable tool for c ircumventing government censorship, d emocratizing i nformation and a llowing people in heavily censored societies to gain access to information t hat t heir governments...
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...At first Mahindra was a company dedicated to manufacturing general-purpose Utility vehicles that later turned into a conglomerate with interests in oil drilling, bearings, time-share results, and instrumentation along with jeeps and tractors. In 1991 the Harvard educated scion told M&M that they would not continue business with them if they didn’t have global potential, resulting in the businesses being regrouped into four strategic business units (SBUʼs) such as; automotive, farm equipment services, IT services and trade and financial services. The company anticipated an economic downturn in the tractor industry that resulted in M&M creating the Operation Blue Chip. The drive was launched in 2000 and later in 2001 the domestic market for tractors collapsed as expected, and M&M was the only tractor company in the Indian industry that made profits. India was the worlds second largest tractor manufacturer and in the 1990s the country was expanding to more competitive markets such as the United States. M&M capitalized quickly on this opportunity and set up an assembly plant in Tomball, Texas in 1994. Elsewhere, the Indian tractor industry categorized 13 players in the Indian tractor industry on the basis of power delivered by the engines horsepower that also included three multinational corporations; New Holland, John Deere, and SAME. Because of an emphasis by the federal government on increasing share of agricultural in the gross domestic product, the flow of farm credit had...
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...For Better or for Worst Sarah Stillman addresses the sweatshop debate from a primarily utilitarian standpoint. This standpoint doesn’t consider multiple important factors and is not an indication of how people actually act. In my opinion, Stillman’s stance reveals a failure to address the globalized nature of the sweatshop phenomenon with regards to the ease with which corporations are capable of moving their operations to other countries. On the other hand, she does bring up important ethical concerns that should be addressed. In her 2005 essay Made by Us: Young Women, Sweatshops, and the Ethics of Globalization, author Sarah Stillman provides the reader with a narrative of her experiences interacting with young women employed in Latin American sweatshops. She indicates that she believes that globalization – a process marked by the growing interconnectedness of global systems – has been lead to a proliferation of sweatshop factories in the third world and expresses concern that young women are “increasingly bearing the burdens of globalization while reaping relatively few of its tremendous rewards" . Although it is not explicitly stated in her essay, Stillman seems to espouse a primarily utilitarian philosophy in her moral judgements of the sweatshop industry. John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher and founder of the utilitarian school of moral reasoning, describes it as the following: [t]he creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, utility, or the greatest happiness...
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...she could not understand them. She explained to the representative what the problem was, but she could not understand any of the information given to her. She asked to speak with a different representative; after being placed on hold for several minutes, she had no better luck with the new representative. She and her husband tried several more times to communicate with them, finally hanging up in frustration. They vowed to never purchase another thingamajig from the Computer Company again. They have just experienced offshore outsourcing. Offshore outsourcing of customer service is unethical and may have negative effects on the economy. Outsourcing customer service is companies hiring other firms to perform their customer service operations for them. Offshore outsourcing is contracting with firms in other countries. Offshore outsourcing is also known...
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...1 CASE ANALYSIS: MABE: LEARNING TO BE A MULTINATIONAL STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 04-75-498-02 Dr. Gerry Kerr July 7, 2016 Shawn Phaneouf 103801474 Kevin Victor 103798446 John Yahaya-Joe 103830915 Boyu Lu 103677756 Lichen Liang 103483267 2 Introduction Within just 60 years, Mabe had conquered the Latin American electrical appliance market and was continuing to press on towards global success. Through leveraging their foundational strategic partnership with General Electric (48% ownership) and developing others in new markets, Mabe was able to quickly spread it’s influence in international markets however, it now faced the challenge of pushing beyond Latin and North American markets. Boasting a sizeable and highly profitable appliance industry, Russia represents an attractive opportunity for Mabe however, with opportunities come a number of potential issues. This paper will address the core issue of whether Mabe should remain in the Russian market. The symptomatic issues that arise from this concern the suitability of Mabe’s joint venture partner Fagor, it’s future pricing strategy, whether to start producing locally and if other geographic markets should be entered. Various strategic and financial tools will be utilized to capture the relationship between the aforementioned issues and Mabe’s positioning as a whole, allowing the presentation of recommendations and thorough implementation plans. PESTEL Analysis Many factors define and impact the environment of an organization, which...
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...| Case Study on Cisco Systems, Inc | Continuous Assessment | Global Supply Chain Management | | | Table of Contents Table of Figures 3 Question 1. Using an appropriate operations framework outline the challenges/risks faced by Cisco in introducing a new product. 3 Question 2. What are the general operational / supply chain issues in using a Chinese supplier 6 Question 3. Identify and briefly explain the specific risks / rewards in selecting Foxconn as a key subcontractor. 9 Question 4. Recommend, detail and justify operational and supply chain strategies for Cisco. 11 Question 5. Research and reference Cisco's subsequent actions using publically available material and comment briefly 13 Appendices 16 Appendix A 16 Appendix B 17 Appendix C 18 References 20 Project Diary: 26 Table of Figures Figure 2.1 Chinese Traditional Values (Jin et al., 2013). 17 Figure 2.2 Global Rate, Labour and Freight (Kumar et al., 2009). 18 Figure 4.1 Competitive Advantages. (Christopher, M., & Peck, H, 2003)…………...….….....18 Question 1. Using an appropriate operations framework outline the challenges/risks faced by Cisco in introducing a new product. Erhun, Gonclaves and Hopman (2007) state that risk during new product introduction (NPI) process can stem from either an internal or external source, and more critically from either a supply or a demand prospective. The challenge for Cisco during the NPI phase is to utilise an operational framework...
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...MATTEL: A Case Study | October 22 2012 | Case study discussion taken from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business “Unsafe for Children: Mattel’s Toy Recalls and Supply Chain Management” | Rob Breakiron Wenyao Ma Alek Shnayder Jiajie Wang | Contents Introduction 2 Why do companies outsource? 2 What were the primary causes of Mattel’s recall problems? Where these the result of outsourcing? 4 What actions were taken by the principals in the case to address the recall problems? Were these the right actions? Why, or why not? 5 What should Mattel do now? What should governments do? 7 How can accountability be better managed in long, global supply chains? 12 Introduction Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), the world’s largest toy company with over $12.5 billion in revenue, has grown from the little toy company it once was and has certainly come a long way since it was founded in 1945. The exponential world-wide growth has not always come without a hitch. In the late 2000’s Mattel was at a crossroads due to a significant toy recall problem, reaching far beyond the bottom line. During this case write up we discuss what went wrong, whose fault it was, and what can and should be done to not only fix the problem, but eliminate the chance of similar problems for Mattel and other firms in the future. Our case study will tackle the following five questions through in depth discussion: 1) Why do companies outsource? 2) What were the primary causes of Mattel’s...
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...several other factors that decide the regular functioning of ERP in organizations. While many organizations have not incurred the necessary benefit in terms of money and other measures there are lots who have witnessed multiple profits. Studying them will help in understanding the critical success factors for ERP implementation. They will help in deciding ERP success. TISCO PROFILE This company founded and established in the year 1907 is known to be one of the leading steel giants in the country offering multiple products and successfully running many subsidiary corporations. Being a large entity does not stop things from being subject to scrutiny and internal audit. They are regularly implemented with the help of committees who report to the selected members from the senior management. The company is dedicated to providing laudable services to the stakeholders improve on the quality and as thrive for innovations and improvements constantly. BACKGROUND TATA steel is India’s largest integrated private sector steel company that started its corporate journey in the year 1907. Backed by captive iron ore and coalmines, Tata Steel runs state-of-the-art Cold Rolling Mill complex at Jamshedpur, Eastern India. The enterprise has undergone a modernization programme costing $2.3 billion, resulting in production of steel at the lowest cost in the world. Being a large entity does not stop things from being subject to scrutiny and internal audit. They are regularly implemented with...
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...Business Benefits to Hewlett-Packard Suppliers from Socially and Environmentally Responsible (SER) Practices in China A Case Study November 2008 By: Sonali Rammohan Socially and Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains Program Global Supply Chain Management Forum Stanford Graduate School of Business Business Benefits to Hewlett-Packard Suppliers from Socially and Environmentally Responsible (SER) Practices in China Executive Summary In recent years, the electronics industry has made important improvements in social and environmental responsibility (SER) conformance among first-tier suppliers, due in part to the standardization of SER practices set forth in the Electronics Industry Code of Conduct (EICC). Hewlett-Packard (HP), the first company in the industry to implement a Supplier Code of Conduct, has taken a comprehensive approach Delta Electronics Delta Electronics by educating suppliers on how to achieve compliance, conducting individual audits and third-party joint audits, and emphasizing continuous improvement. This approach is being disseminated now to sub-tier suppliers, which should improve standards throughout HP’s supply chain. What should motivate suppliers to achieve full SER compliance? Are there business benefits to meeting and exceeding minimum standards? This paper explores the business case for SER by looking at the operations of three HP suppliers with significant operations in China — Flextronics, AU Optronics (AUO), and Delta...
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...Would an exit from the EU benefit the British economy? Advocates of the UK leaving the EU claim that there would be little trouble negotiating a free trade agreement with the EU once it left, because the UK has a large trade deficit with the rest of the Union. If trade barriers between Britain and the remaining member-states were erected upon exit, the EU would lose more exports earnings from Britain than vice versa. At the same time, the UK would be freed from the burdens of EU regulation and hence able to boost trade with faster growing parts of the world, nations such as China, US and emerging markets that include India that are not part of Europe. This could be done by eliminating tariffs and signing trade agreements without the constraints of EU membership. Undermining this assertion is the belief that the UK is a big enough economy to be an effective trade negotiator in its own right. As a result it might be concluded that the UK would see little impact from leaving the EU except perhaps a minor reduction in trade while new arrangements were made. However, it would be ill judged to assume that the UK would be able to dictate terms with the EU simply because it is running a trade deficit. Primarily, the EU buys half of Britain's exports whereas the UK accounts for little over 10 per cent of exports from the rest of the EU, so the UK would be in a weak position to negotiate access on its terms. Furthermore, it could be argued that the UK's access to many non-EU markets comes...
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