google in china
Google in China
Q1: What philosophical principles did Google’s managers adopt when deciding that the benefits of operating in China outweighed the costs.
Google’s managers made the decision to operate in China because of vast profit assumptions and predictions. Therefore they had to adopt to the local Chinese habits and the governments restraints and regulations. But to which philosophical approach does this behavior refers to? Maybe on the first sight it seems to be either the Cultural Relativism or the Friedman Doctrine. But there are some details negating this. First Google is not acting after the Friedman doctrine as they are not 100% pragmatic and rational. Google does concern about the major Chinese people’s needs and wished for free speech and freedom in general. They don’t adopt but the adapt and there is the crucial difference. They try to follow their own principles and want to provide “the greatest amount of information possible”. This indicates, and is definitly the intension by Google, that thy do not agree with Chinese regulations. At least some informations are more than nothing. Furthermore they decided to sign cencored and restraint websides for the customer’s awereness. And it is not the Cultural Relativism because of the actual easy reason that censoring and surpression are not a part of the Chinese culture. It is more just the surpression by a tyrant regime. The right approach Google’s following ist the Utilitarian Philosophy. It says “an action is just desirable if it leads to best possible balance of good consequences over bad consequences” (Hill, 2009) and “. An Utilitarian considers all consequences and “focuses attention on the need to weigh carefully all the social benefits and costs of a business action and to pursue only those actions where the benefits outweigh the costs” (Hill, 2009).
Q2: Do you think that Goggle should have entered China and engaged in self-censorship, given the company’s long-standing mantra “Don’t be evil”? Is
Q1: What philosophical principles did Google’s managers adopt when deciding that the benefits of operating in China outweighed the costs.
Google’s managers made the decision to operate in China because of vast profit assumptions and predictions. Therefore they had to adopt to the local Chinese habits and the governments restraints and regulations. But to which philosophical approach does this behavior refers to? Maybe on the first sight it seems to be either the Cultural Relativism or the Friedman Doctrine. But there are some details negating this. First Google is not acting after the Friedman doctrine as they are not 100% pragmatic and rational. Google does concern about the major Chinese people’s needs and wished for free speech and freedom in general. They don’t adopt but the adapt and there is the crucial difference. They try to follow their own principles and want to provide “the greatest amount of information possible”. This indicates, and is definitly the intension by Google, that thy do not agree with Chinese regulations. At least some informations are more than nothing. Furthermore they decided to sign cencored and restraint websides for the customer’s awereness. And it is not the Cultural Relativism because of the actual easy reason that censoring and surpression are not a part of the Chinese culture. It is more just the surpression by a tyrant regime. The right approach Google’s following ist the Utilitarian Philosophy. It says “an action is just desirable if it leads to best possible balance of good consequences over bad consequences” (Hill, 2009) and “. An Utilitarian considers all consequences and “focuses attention on the need to weigh carefully all the social benefits and costs of a business action and to pursue only those actions where the benefits outweigh the costs” (Hill, 2009).
Q2: Do you think that Goggle should have entered China and engaged in self-censorship, given the company’s long-standing mantra “Don’t be evil”? Is