Free Essay

Google China

In:

Submitted By jessa2491
Words 378
Pages 2
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 directly in China due to concerns over censorship, what do you think the results would be? Who would benefit most from this action? Who would lose the most?
I think that Baidu, China’s homegrown company, would most definitely benefit if all foreign search engine companies declined to invest directly in China due to concerns over censorship. Those who would lose the most from an occurrence like this would be the Chinese people who would then not have access to as much information as they could have. I do not see something like this ever happening however because of the fact that companies like Google would not want to let go of a market that offers so much opportunity for growth and profit.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Google in China: The Big Disconnect 4. * The stakeholders in this case are: * Chinese government * Chinese citizen’s habit * Google company in China * The concerns and rights of each set of stakeholders: For Chinese government: * The concern of Chinese government is how to let Google do business in china without harmful for this country. Chinese government has many methods to control Google’s activities. * But the control method of Chinese Government is so strict for Google to continue doing business in China. For Chinese citizen’s habit: * Based on the research in this case, we can see that the habit of Chinese citizen bring the bad things for Google. In spite of paying fee for downloading on the Internet, some web pages in China allow people to download without paying fee. So the Chinese citizen in stead of using webpage from Google, they use their own Web such as: Baidu’s chat rooms, Sina.com, Sohu.com… For Google company in China: * Google try to expand their company into China. The concerns of Google is try to expand their business as large as possible in China because China is one of the largest third party in the world. According to Kai-Fu Lee, Google wants people in the countryside of China have chances to use internet. China is the best solution for expand their company. * But the fact that, Chinese government has too many method to reduce the affect of Google in China. The Great Firewall is the...

Words: 288 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Google in China

...Google  in  China                                                                                                                                                                    Cohort  Manara     Google  In  China     Corporate  Social  Responsibility   Professor  Kenny  Tang       HULT  International  Business  School   Module  B       Submitted  By:  Manara  Team  10     Hafswa  Salim   Adriéne  T.  Smith    Ornella  Anoh   Aravind  Sathyanandham   Yogesh  Ranwa   Samer  Abou  Fakher         March  9th,  2014                   1   Team  10...

Words: 3270 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Google in China

...Question 1 Response – Prior to the launch of Google.cn, what factors should Google have considered in reaching their decision to comply with Chinese government censorship laws? One factor Google should have considered is the financial perspective. From a financial perspective, China represented for Google a dynamic and fast-growing, though increasingly competitive, market (Wilson, Ramos and Harvey, 2007). According to Google’s 2006 projections, the Chinese internet market was expected to grow from 105 million users to 250 million users by 2010 (Schrage, 2006). Another factor Google should have considered is ethics. Google’s decision to self-censor Google.cn attracted significant ethical criticism at the time. The company’s motto is “Don’t Be Evil,” and prior to entering China, Google had successfully set itself apart from other technology giants, becoming a company trusted by millions of users to protect and store their personal information. The choice to accept self-censorship, and the discussion and debate generated by this choice, forced Google to re-examine itself as a company and forced the international community to reconsider the implications of censorship (Wilson, Ramos and Harvey, 2007). Another factor to consider was if the decision was in total agreement with Google’s mission and policies. Google senior policy counsel Andrew McLaughlin knew removing search results was inconsistent with Google’s mission, but also believed that providing no information at all was more...

Words: 798 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Google in China

...GOOGLE IN CHINA Google China was formed in 2005 headed by Kai-Fu Lee, who was a former Microsoft executive and the founder of Microsoft Research Asia. Microsoft sued Google and Kai-Fu Lee for the move, but reached a confidential settlement. Google's Beijing based office was located at NCI Tower. A Chinese-language based interface was designed for google.com and was launched in 2006 (google.cn) in which the results were censored by the Chinese Government. Q1. What considerations are relevant to a Government's decisions concerning the internet governance? Please use context of this case study. (5 marks) The People’s Republic of China has a socialist government rather than a democracy, thereby aiming on complete filtering of the flow of information amongst their masses. Internet, being the largest and such an open platform for the whole world to share and express their views can have a significant impact on the thinking of the people. Therefore China being aware of the consequences of free information to its public has censored the internet content mostly in their favor. Relevant considerations for the Government regarding internet Governance: Censorship on Chinese historical events where they have blocked certain key words so that the public don’t get access to certain search results that might start a rebellion movement. Some of the key words include ‘Tibet’, ‘Dalai Lama’, Chinese forces activities in Tibet etc. Every nation has a specific culture, but Internet is a...

Words: 728 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Google 'may pull out of China after Gmail cyber attack' Peter Barron from Google: ''We should no longer agree to censor our results in China'' Internet giant Google has said it may end its operations in China following a "sophisticated and targeted" cyber attack originating from the country. It did not accuse Beijing directly, but said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine - google.cn. This could result in closing the site, and its Chinese offices, Google said. Chinese rival Baidu called the move "hypocritical" and financially driven. In US trade on Wednesday Baidu's shares were up 13%, and Google's down 0.57%. Google said the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were the primary target of the attack, which occurred in December. The search engine has now said it will hold talks with the government in the coming weeks to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law in the country, though no changes to filtering had yet been made. Google launched google.cn in 2006, agreeing to some censorship of the search results, as required by the Chinese government. It currently holds around a third of the Chinese search market, far behind Baidu with more than 60%. Email targeted In a blog post announcing its decision, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond said: "A primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists." Some Google shareholders...

Words: 795 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Google China

...able to look into something you desire to know? Google is the world’s largest and most renowned online search engine. It is a household name and “to Google” has even become an accepted term in English language. Google should stay in China and deal with their censorships. (1)Google does not want to allow its global search competitors to gain a stronger foothold in the Chinese market; Consider this piece from The Huffington Post, which doesn't expressly say Google should stay, but shows that Microsoft and other Google competitors would gain a huge advantage if the search giant picks up and goes home. This is important because by Google leaving, they can lose on a lot of revenue. (2) China boasts more Internet users than the entire U.S. population, and Google has recently gained significantly in that market, so there is substantial revenue to be gained. Why leave when you can still make a great income? Even if you can’t be fully used as a program, engine, whatever; you can still make money through all you other searches. (3) China boasts more Internet users than the entire U.S. population, and Google has recently gained significantly in that market, so there is substantial revenue to be gained. Leaving China could even harm the United State’s relationship with them. Someone could disagree and say that congress may pass legislation that would fine companies that don't uphold basic human rights. If Google opts to stay in China, it could face serious fines and other penalties...

Words: 355 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Google in China Google was founded by two Stanford University graduate students in 1998. These students had a vision of creating a search engine on the web, which will organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible. Google became very popular between internet users, since it provided search results in order of calculated relevance rather than in order of advertising payments and did not allowed pop-up ads. Yahoo! became partners with Google on 2000, which helped the company become the world’s leading search engine. Also, search was offered in different languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Its first foreign office was opened in Tokyo and by 2009 Google offered search options in 110 languages and had offices in dozens of countries. By August 2004, Google raised $1.6 billion on its initial public offering and on 2008 revenues hit $21.8 billion primarily from two advertising products AdWords and AdSense. AdWords bid in auctions for rights to keywords on specific geographical regions. On the other hand, AdSense delivered relevant keyword ads to a network of third-party publishers. In addition, Google offered a variety of other services such as Gmail, Picasa, Goggle Calendar, Blogger, Google Docs, Google Images, YouTube, Google News, Google Finance, Goggle Scholar, Goggle Maps, and Google Earth. Google originally served the Chinese market through it Chinese-language version, but it has to use Chinese Internet service providers. These providers filtered...

Words: 1091 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Google in China Read Case 14.4: Google in China. Answer the questions below and submit the completed assignment to your instructor. Question 1: Discuss the three key principles that Google followed in developing Googld.cn There were three key principles used in the development of Google.cn. The act of filtering was made transparent through notifying users when search results had been removed. Furthermore, by not collecting the private information of users the company would not be obligated to release it to the government. Google did not offer e-mail or blog sites in China, which led to difficulties for other American companies. Lastly, the Chinese version of Google.com continued to be available in addition to Google.cn, so that it would only expand the information available to Chinese users and not reduce it in any way. (Boatright 449) Question 2: In your judgment and from an ethical perspective do you feel that the measures taken by Google were adequate to protect the rights of their Chinese users? Personally, I do not think the measures taken by Google were acceptable enough to protect the rights of their Chinese users. In China, there seemed to be a division between ethics and business ethics. Consequently, Google carried out censorship in China, which it did not do in the U.S. Additionally, Google was focused on the belief of getting into China to create a premium search engine site. Overall, Google was determined and confident that it would be a success within the...

Words: 417 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Re: Google in China Background In 1998 Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford University graduates that developed a search-engine technology to find and organize information on the Web; their mission: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, this meant that they wanted to provide easy access to as much information as possible, to the greatest number of people without censoring. Two years later, in 2000, Google.com offered search options in Chinese, but the content was being filtered by the Chinese government which promoted that, if foreign enterprises wanted to operate inside their territory they must do it according to their laws, and this included certain topics that are considered offensive. The company wanted to provide easy and fast access to as much information as possible, so by 2006 Google launched Google.cn, the China based Web site. The content was still being filtered, but in the attempt to follow the company’s principles Google tried to rationalize this differences. Because censorship is a non negotiable issue, executives chose to bet on China’s citizens and internet users. Even when the search results were censored, a statement appeared to inform the user that the information was not available, meaning that they had to look for it somewhere else. In 2009, revenues from Google’s workforce in China were approximately 1% of corporate revenues, and held a market share of 31% compared with 64%...

Words: 1129 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Google in China

...primary source of revenue was through the advertising placed on its Web site.U.S. based Google had started to focus more on its global strategy while growing domestically. The majority of searches were international, yet revenue was just 34% of $3.2 billion in 2004. What is the source of the information? Google faced and stil facing growing competition from Microsoft, Yahoo!, and “meta” search technology that combined the search results from other search engines such as Dogpile or Mamma. As their part of globalization process,at first,the strategy of Google was to maintain a Chinese-language version of Google.com that was housed in the United States.Later, they realized that its approach in China was not sustainable. Yahoo! was the first American Internet company to enter China with a Chinese-language Web site and an office in Beijing, in 1999.23 Google was losing market share to Baidu, and others, including Yahoo! and Microsoft, were gaining ground through their local presence. And with launching Google.cn located in China and subject to Chinese filtering. Google differentiated the site from those of its competitors by: 1) keeping personal information outside China through Gmail, its Web-based email service, and Blogger, its personal Web-blog-hosting service; (2) disclosing the presence of general filtering to users; and (3)continuing a Chinese-language version of Google.com While Google removed some content from the search results available on Google.cn , Andrew McLaughlin...

Words: 784 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Case A: 1.) Why did Google issue the statement of Jan’12? Google has issued the statement because they were unwilling to except the fact that they have to censor the content provided by them in China. The Chinese government actually wants them to control the information instead of monitoring politically objectionable information, which violates the mission and principal of the company – To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful and do no evil. 2.) Can Google take the comfort from the reactions of stakeholders so far? In my opinion, it depends on the types of stakeholders. For competitors, such as Baidu, there is no doubt that Google exiting from China is great news by getting rid of such a strong competitor. And also I don’t think the shareholders of the company were happy to see that, as the stock price of Google falling as low as $573.09 on January 13 comparing to $714.87 in December 2007 which is Google failed business in the Chinese market is an irreversible facet. But Google’s management must give investors an explanation. This is the basic ethics of corporate management in the West. More important, Google tried to give users around the world this information. 3.) Do you except Google to exit China? Yes, I strongly expect Google to exit China because first of all it is very risky to handle a Capitalistic Chinese’s government and it is also not healthy for them to strive that hard keeping in mind of the investors and...

Words: 762 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Google China

...Key Facts Google has become the most used search engine in the world, in 2010 it accounted for over 66% of the use of internet search engines.1 China, a developing nation2, has flourished as a global web user. Internet users grew from 23 million in 2000 to 103 million in 2005, an increase of 447% in just five years. See Exhibit 1. Introduction Tom MacLean, Google’s director of International Business, saw an opportunity to invest in the Chinese Market 3, and then subsequently moved forward with Google China. We believe that the major driver for the development of Google China was revenue and growth. When conducting business abroad, managers must respect and embrace: local governments’ restrictions, culture and beliefs. We are dealing with ethics, business opportunity, and loyalty to a firm’s code in this brief. Key Issues In an attempt of conquering a new market, Google cheated its “Do No Evil” motto4, which was ridiculed in North America. “When is different just different, and when is different wrong?”5 Company executives called into Congressional hearings and compared to Nazi collaborators, which lead – we believe – to the fall of company stock from $432.66 to $362.62 from January 2006 to February 2006. 6 Did Google’s decision to enter the Chinese Market through Google China was against Google’s stated mission7? Our Position Google complied with the Chinese’s government restrictions on censoring certain information. We agree with the...

Words: 548 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Analysis of the problem. * Case is based on the negotiation that took place between Google and the Chinese government to allow their citizens access to Chinese version of Google. Google looking at vast business opportunities in China as a long-term strategy. Due to its population size and market potential, China has become an attractive market for many USA and multinational companies. But Chinese government had censorship demand to Google that created some problems with opening Google search engine in China. * In 2002 Google was blocked in China. It all happened because of Chinese culture and maybe of political views. Co-founder of Google Sergey Brin began to read a dozen books to know this country. And then Google was restored for unknown reasons but Chinese users faced another problem – censorship. Chinese government very aggressively began to censor Google’s search results. Google censored some historical moments, political topics such as democratic reform, Taiwanese independence, the banned Falun Gong movement and references to the notorious Tiananmen Square massacre of democratic protestors that occurred in 1989. After that the human rights activists protested against Google. Their argument was that Google abandoned it principals in order to make higher profits. * Explanation of implication of issues and problem for affected parties is simple. Google wanted to operate in China due to its economy and market potential and don’t wanted to lag behind of its opponents...

Words: 663 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Google in China Case Study Introduction On January 12, 2010 Google’s Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, posted an online memo that targeted the Chinese government. The company stated that it had detected highly sophisticated cyber-attacks originating from China and that the evidence suggested the primary goal of the hackers was to access Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The memo further disclosed that Google was no longer willing to censor its search results on Google.cn and it would exit China if its conditions on non-censorship were not met. The problem faced by Google is that, the Chinese government has been determined to control the flow of information on the Internet and insists on removing certain information that it considered politically objectionable from search results. Google’s mission as a company is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. However, China’s policies on censorship seemed to conflict with several of Google’s core principles. There is also the question; did Google do its homework to thoroughly analyze the Chinese operating environment as it relates to censorship? By 2005, Chinese search engine company, Baidu, emerged as the leading internet search engine in China. A very important piece of information to consider is that, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not considered inherent rights in the People’s Republic of China. Therefore, to compete with...

Words: 2536 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Google China

...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...

Words: 1743 - Pages: 7