Google in China

Google in China

Because of its population / geographic size and revenue potential, China is considered a dominant player on the world stage both politically and financially. But the price for Google to play in China is a restrictive relationship with a totalitarian government. Worse yet is Google’s philosophy [Table 1] would have to be compromised. In consideration of entering the market, Google would need to be able to accept China’s history of human rights violations and the curtailing of speech and information when it goes against their founding principles [1].

Additional considerations are if Google conforms to China’s restrictive censorship policies, what would it do to its reputation and would finances be affected worldwide? When the government’s right of self governance and ethnocentric view conflict with Google’s Western’s idea of freedom of information, who should win? It can be argued that Google is not being respectful of local customs, culture and traditions by going against the government [2]. Is Google a disruptive organization who would compromise the stability and the affairs of the ruling state? If foreign organization wanted to take a subversive stance in the U.S., we would not accept this but we expect others to accept our intrusions. The ethnocentric view on how the world should operate goes against the respect we say we hold for the values of a foreign nation. The problem is capitalist societies are also hypocrites when money is involved. We tolerate China and its oppressive communist government but we come down hard on Cuba. Financial gain and interests skews morals and justifications are sought to rationalize selfish goals. We can look at the Iraq war for an example.

Google entered China for financial gain and the principles of freedom of information tagged along. Maybe by providing information to the people about the world around them will lead to questions, to dissatisfaction and finally to change towards...