Google in China

GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

CASE STUDY

GOOGLE IN CHINA

Case Discussion Questions:

1. What philosophical principle did Google’s managers adopt when deciding that the benefits of operating in China outweighed the costs?

They said that it was better to give access to the Chinese users of some limited information than none at all. The co-founder of Google Sergey Brin justified that Chinese users can still get more information but not all of it. Google also created their search engine in China which indicates at the bottom of the web page when the webpage is being censored.

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 for you?

Yes, because when Google was launch in China, their objective is to provide access on the greatest information for Chinese users. With this objective, Google also has a responsibility to provide the best possible service.

Yes, because in accordance with the Chinese regulations some classified information should be censored and since Google established it’s Chinese operations, then they need to follow government regulations. Whatever their decision Chinese government is still going to censor the information anyways, so why not do it for them and create a system that will allow Google to continue its operations by putting a bullet on the bottom of the page if it’s being censored and have the server speed to its optimum performance.

3. If all foreign search engine companies declined to invest directly in China due to concerns over censorship, what do think the results would be? Who would benefit most from this action? Who would lose the most?

On today’s generation of high speed internet and advance technology, having a system like a search engine can really help us a lot in many things, with this type of system...