Google in China Root Cause Analyses

Google in China Root Cause Analyses

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1-Define the problem

Should Google exit the Chinese Market.

Google mission is:

Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Accepting Chinese censorship for a company that preach to make information universally accessible goes against the company values. It also goes against fundamental human rights to have access to information.

2-Collect Data

Doing business in China for Google create an inconsistent philosophy:

• Their motto was to ‘’ Do no evil’’ keeping the Chinese population in the dark of what is happening in the world is to protect the evil happening in China. China is using the information as a surveillance tool on the population.
• By limiting the accessibility of information, it goes against their mission statement to make information universally accessible. It also goes against the right of free speech.
• Unethical action with the sole goal to generate higher profit, Google is willing to go against their own values to generate more profits.
• Inconsistent information sourcing for customers. Changing the programming of the search engine to filter information to comply with communist governmental requirements.
• It creates undesirable censorship results in unethical disputes, is information a privilege or a fundamental human right?

Doing business in China is tarnishing the company image:

• With all these search filters, Chinese customers are provided with slower internet so lower customer satisfaction with the search engine.
• Negative publicity within China due to the communist regime and it creates significant protestors within the country to portray
• Hypocritical view, if Google sensors their search engine, it's going against their mission statement of organizing the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
• Direct results of short-term problems; Putting so many filters and restrictions, there is always possibility the filters won't work properly, and average citizens will find the information anyway. It does create many legal conflicts with the government and the communist’s leaders. Hacking the privacy structure of Google is a way of protesting their power.
• The hardware sales of cellphones will take a dive
• Google own 31% search market share in China, 31% is quite low Vs. the rest of the world.

Doing business in China increase the company value:

• Since entering the Chinese market, Google stock price when from $85.00 to $714.87 in December 2007.
• On January 13, the day after the cyber attack the stock fail to 576.46 but Baidu stock rose 11% on the day of the Google threat to leave the Chinese market.
• China is such a growth opportunity, playing by the country’s rule is the price to pay to do business in this country.

3-Identify possible causal factors

Appreciation: What would happen to Google to put filterers on the search engine to comply to the Chinese government requirements? Google will keep increasing their market share and Network China will become stronger than Command China. Which will push the Command China to its exit this function and review the governmental regime. (Tomas L.Friedman, New York Times)

5 why

Question: Should Google exit China

Why:

The censorship of the government

 Why:

Communist regime wants to control the flow of information

Why:

To control the population

Why:

To filter the news

Why:

To control the freedom of speech.

Countermeasure

Comply to the Chinese requests, until further notice. As the population evolve and become more

educated, the government will change and the google filters will adapt to this change.

Drill down to detail parts:

Ethical problem vs. Financial growth problem

Cause and effect diagram:

4-Identified the root causes

Google is confronted to rules and regulations they never had to deal with before.

These rules go against the fundamental of the company and the human right of free speech.

With 31% market share in the search engine segment, Google is divided between profit or reputation.