Case Study Analysis Template1
Analyst’s Name: ¶
Date: ¶
Case Study Name: ¶Google Inc., in China
I. The Pre-Analysis:
A. Perspective:
A.1. Describe the perspective2 of the author(s) of the case study and the possible biases that might result from that perspective:
¶ The case study is titled Google Inc., In china, written by Kirsten E. Martin for the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. Kirsten Martin is the Assistant Professor of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America and Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics Fellow, “to encourage classroom discussion and not to illustrate effective or ineffective business decision making”. Kirsten is an academic, whose purpose
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The brutality that happened from the protests and the total denial of the Chinese government will be set aside during my analysis. I have also completed an ethical assessment of Yahoo! disclosing personal information to the Chinese government for political adversaries that were promoting democracy, and imprisoned one individual for 10-years. Yahoo! broke their confidentiality policies, and payed an undisclosed amount to the wife of the man imprisoned. I will bracket my knowledge and assessment of how the Chinese government used threats to obtain the information. Also, I have read that Google has supported censorship to initially enter the market in China, and has a near monopoly over the internet search engine market. This monopoly can lead to overconfidence and complacency both of which lead to bad ethical situations. I have friends that work for Google and have heard very positive opinions regarding their corporate culture regarding their employees; this positive information has influenced my opinion of Google as well. I will bracket my opinions of the author and carefully examine her argument and facts. Moreover, I will bracket all opinions and information that I have regarding Google and the Chinese government.
II. The Situation5:
A. List the facts6 relevant to the issue(s) identified: ¶ Google:
1998 Google Inc. was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Mission
2. What is the bias of this Author, as it relates to this topic? What might account for this bias?
Given the increasing regulations of the Internet and email by the Government of China, recommend to the CEO of Google whether the company should continue to operate in China, the world’s fastest and among the largest growth markets.
Identify any examples of bias presented by the author. If none exist, explain how you determined this.
Their system of filtering and censorship is acknowledged as the most advanced and effective in the world. The Chinese internet system includes about thirty-thousand censors, as well as having web browsers, such as Google and Yahoo, censor their results.10 For an average citizen to publish their opinions without either an elite free speech patron or a willing government publishing house, the safest method is to publicize their thoughts through an internet bulletin board system run by the Chinese government.11 However, these electronic bulletin boards are required by the law to be licensed, the posts monitored constantly, and any posts which are found to be “inappropriate” are removed. Any forums that are free from government censorship are forbidden, since the Chinese authorities refuse to recognize the rights of the citizens to publish their uncensored opinions. Furthermore, if debates over political or other issues begin to take a life of their own, they are commonly silenced by Chinese authorities.12 The Chinese authorities only permit these monitored bulletin boards both for their own benefit and because they recognize that there must be outlets for the average person to express their dissatisfaction with the government.13 Allowing the citizens to speak their mind functions to lessen the political tension, by acting as a release for their discontentment. These boards also serve as an excuse to deflect criticism by other countries, who complain that people in China do not enjoy freedom of expression. Additionally, they allow government authorities to monitor the mood of their people and to find weaknesses, both in the government and in their support. Finally, the bulletin boards allow government authorities to track those who express discontent, keeping their expressions visible, so the authorities can trace these
Internet censorship and the requirement of self-censorship not only harm the economy inside China, but also are negatively affecting China in aspects of international commercial trade, even as globalization becomes the trend of today’s world. Chinese Internet censorship is applied to both directions; not only blocks Chinese Internet users’ access to certain foreign websites, but also prevents foreigners from knowing the truth about China through refusal of releasing reliable information. So when foreign companies want to enter the Chinese market, they face a serious question: “How do you assess an investment opportunity if no reliable information about social tensions, corruption or
10) Was the sample for this study adequately described? Provide a rationale for your answer
Google Inc., American search engine company founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Google handled 70 percent of worldwide online search requests, placing it at the heart of most Internet users’ experience. Even though Google’s essential core business is search service, it now offers more than 50 percent Internet services and products from Gmail and online document creation to software for mobile phones and tablet computers. Google successfully maintained its core competence meanwhile expanded its business to advertisement and application three major core businesses. Its success in market levitates Google’s growth by acquiring other tech companies as a way of horizontal integration. For example, its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility put it in the position to sell hardware in the form of mobile phones. Google’s broad product portfolio and size make it one of the top influential conglomerate companies in the high-tech market place. Google plays a very vital role in ICT ecosystem and it is one of the forces that enhance the growth of entire ICT ecosystem. For further illustrating the ICT ecosystem, I chose Apple and Comcast as device and Internet infrastructure firm to compare and contrast against Google.
The case study that was analyzed is, “Unauthorized Disclosure: Hewlett-Packard’s secret Surveillance of Directors and Journalists,” by Anne T. Lawrence, Randal D. Harris, and Sally Baack. The ethical issues presented through the case deal with Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). HP is a major international company in the computer and technology market. The company describes itself as a “technology solutions provider to consumers, business and institutions globally.” Their credo is called “HP way”, which focuses on points such as trust and respect for individuals, high level of achievement and contribution, business conduct with uncompromising integrity, objectives through teamwork, and encouragement of flexibility and innovation (Newman). The problems faced by HP’s board of directors were a lack of accountability with HP’s credo. If the “HP way” was followed by them, these ethical issues would be avoided. It also promotes a bad example by the high-level of management of this globally powerful organization.
Corporations that move into China have long recognized that internet censorship is a fact of life. In 2006,
The Freedom of Speech is granted to every American citizen and has been since it was founded in 1776; however, not every nation grants that right. China, as a communist nation, retains most individual freedom rights from its citizens. Although in the Peoples Republic of China’s (PRC) 1982 constitution, people are guaranteed Freedom of Expression and Press; it is often violated by the current corrupt government. The government demands the news to be 80% positive and 20% negative, altering the facts n occasion. In contrast to that, America has recently become more involved with the pressing issue as well because of the involvement of Google. Thus it has shined the light on government censorship and corruption. China’s government corruption
1. Discuss competition in the search industry. Which of the five competitive forces seem strongest? weakest? What is your assessment of overall industry attractiveness?
My research project explored the extent of internet censorship and its necessity to China as a form of societal protection. It discussed the advantages, disadvantages and impacts of censorship on Chinese society. As I researched the topic, I determined that censoring parts of the internet was more than just about protecting the young Chinese children from online predators and distressing content. My initial intention was to highlight the wrongfulness of widespread censorship however, as I researched, I was able to understand that censoring parts of the internet improved the Chinese economy, prevented cybercrimes from occurring while concurrently offering online safety. I discovered this by analysing several different websites, YouTube videos and conducting two interviews with people with expertise in the Chinese internet. My outcome, presented in the form of a feature article, explained that censoring parts of the internet benefits society more than it harms.
Google entered China in 2006 with high hopes of taking over the Chinese internet market. In order to become a major player for internet search engines in China, however, they had buckled and filtered search results according to the Chinese government. When Google.cn was launched, a loud public outcry over its giving in to the Chinese government on censoring and filtering search engine results, the company faced a communications crisis. Since Google had always been known for its free thinking, this seemed a vast contradiction. From a communications standpoint, Google’s greatest vulnerability in this crisis lay with a tarnished public image.
Google is the most popular search engine that the world uses on an everyday basis. Sergey Brin and Larry Page created Google in 1998. What started out to be a small search engine and ranking system are now the worlds most profitable Internet companies of our time. Google has created many products today that have changed the world of technology, products such as Google+, YouTube, Android, Motorola Mobility, the Nexus 7 tablet computer, Google Wallet, and Google Glass (p.470). Google is qualified as one of the best companies to work for (p.464.) The issue we are facing today is the privacy policy
Interests: If Google also provide services such as Gmail, chat rooms or blogging that involve users’ personal information, The Chinese government could abuse the information that Google provides as it did with Yahoo. This will critically damage its principle of “Don’t be evil”