Assignment 445

Assignment 7: Google

Carla E. Henderson

Dr. Farzad Shirzad

Strategic Management for Information Systems (MGMT 445)

October 9, 2011

Answer the following questions:

What are the specific issues of taking Google’s to the Chinese Internet?

Currently Google faces major issues regarding its operation in China. Google has been faced with the decision to comply with Chinese government regulation and censor its search engine results or take on the human rights approach of freedom of speech and eliminate censorship of searched terms. There are many factors that Google should have considered when reaching its decision on the new approach in China, such as whether it was worth the increased revenue to operate in a country where there is a poor relationship with that country’s government. Google’s media/public relations department should also have considered all the negative public relations it would receive for not respecting the Chinese government’s regulations. Google failed to realize that China’s approximately 140 million Internet users actively engaged in e-commerce are a total market in itself. Instead of Google developing appropriate technology for China users, it integrated what worked in the U.S. to China, which is a prime example of the self-reference criterion (Rein, 2007). The market in China is too big to consider it an auxiliary market, thus requiring new systems to be put in place to compete with Chinese Internet firms, such as Baidu.

What are the key success factors for Google’s?

Google has, since its inception, a policy of acquiring fully controlled by acquiring companies with strong growth potential, like Blogger, DoubleClick or YouTube. The technological adaptation and innovation are one of the core businesses of Google (like the computer auction system introduced by the company to manage advertising content), the ability of the company to innovate and offer new services and tools are indeed a key factor of success. In 2008, Google...