Google in China
Executive Summary
Rarely do potentially momentous business decisions get made without a significant amount of debate, consideration, and in some cases, compromise. This is precisely the case in Google’s decision to not only open a product research and development centre in China, but also to revitalize its web search engine’s Chinese presence through launching Google.cn. In launching this new site, Google made the difficult decision to compromise on its mission of providing open and free access to information, in favour of increasing user satisfaction. Essentially, though searches are easier and more streamlined through Google.cn, items that would have previous been blocked by the Chinese government on Google.com are now “self-censored” by Google itself. Thus, the decision was made to comply with Chinese policies, and from this, Google faced large-scale criticism that it was actively participating in the suppression of free speech. Faced with this dilemma, Google has hired Navigator Consulting to help determine its next steps coming from this decision. In this report we begin by identifying the key issues that Google must consider before identifying a direction. These issues particularly surround balancing Google’s socially responsible reputation with its commercial interests of expansion and profit. This balance must be achieved, while also ensuring that Google maintains a competitive edge with both primary rivals (Yahoo!, Microsoft), and domestic Chinese rivals (Baidu). Following this we analyze these issues using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis, a PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, and Technological) Analysis, and a Porter’s Five Forces Analysis to assess over-all industry attractiveness. Prior to these, we ensure to set out the relative importance and urgency of each issue that Google must consider, with Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Profit ranking high in both importance and urgency.
Rarely do potentially momentous business decisions get made without a significant amount of debate, consideration, and in some cases, compromise. This is precisely the case in Google’s decision to not only open a product research and development centre in China, but also to revitalize its web search engine’s Chinese presence through launching Google.cn. In launching this new site, Google made the difficult decision to compromise on its mission of providing open and free access to information, in favour of increasing user satisfaction. Essentially, though searches are easier and more streamlined through Google.cn, items that would have previous been blocked by the Chinese government on Google.com are now “self-censored” by Google itself. Thus, the decision was made to comply with Chinese policies, and from this, Google faced large-scale criticism that it was actively participating in the suppression of free speech. Faced with this dilemma, Google has hired Navigator Consulting to help determine its next steps coming from this decision. In this report we begin by identifying the key issues that Google must consider before identifying a direction. These issues particularly surround balancing Google’s socially responsible reputation with its commercial interests of expansion and profit. This balance must be achieved, while also ensuring that Google maintains a competitive edge with both primary rivals (Yahoo!, Microsoft), and domestic Chinese rivals (Baidu). Following this we analyze these issues using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis, a PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, and Technological) Analysis, and a Porter’s Five Forces Analysis to assess over-all industry attractiveness. Prior to these, we ensure to set out the relative importance and urgency of each issue that Google must consider, with Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Profit ranking high in both importance and urgency.
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