Google Case Study

Ethics Case

Case Name: Google, Inc., in China

I. Identification of Issues Presented

China has the largest population in the world, ranking #1 in the country comparison with just over 1 billion citizens. Gaining its independence on January 1, 1912, the country’s government became a Communist State. Communism is essentially a form of government that the state and all economic and social activities are controlled entirely by one political party. Geert Hofstede – a Dutch organizational sociologist who studied the cultural dimensions of each country in the world. According to Hofstede China scored extremely high in the Power Distance Index (PDI). This means that there are severe cases of inequality in this country. One person (or organization) bears the weight of all the power in the country. The people of China know and accept this. This is reminiscent of China’s totalitarian government. “The Chinese ranked lower than any other Asian country in the Individualism (IDV) ranking. This may be attributed, in part, to the high level of emphasis on a Collectivist society by the Communist Rule” (Hofstede, 2009). Because the country follows communist ideologies, herein lays the problem. China’s government has to be in control of every aspect of the country; this includes the Internet too.

Google (one of the leading search engines in the world) wants to open an office in China and give the people a reliable and resourceful web searching experience. Google is faced with several dilemmas, many of which are internal questions. The most important concern is how to expand into China without violating the country’s laws but still remain true to the company’s mission. Google’s core message is as follows: “Being Googlers means striving toward the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct”. In addition to this message, “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” (Martin, 2009)....