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Kudos to Google for its (belated) challenge to China
By Lauren | January 13, 2010
Google announced today that, unless the Chinese government allows it to stop censoring its search engine there, it will withdraw from China altogether. That’s a remarkable statement from a company that currently commands about 30% of Chinese Web access, and Google’s gambit is already drawing lots of commentary across the blogosphere. Some people are praising Google for its principled stance; others are more cynically wondering why the Internet giant took so long to come to the right result.
So, why is Google taking this position now?
The company’s stated reason is that a recent cyberattack from China put the security of Chinese dissidents at risk. This isn’t a small concern; people have died in the wake of similar espionage. But other factors are undoubtedly at play. Google admits that its decision in 2006 to provide China with a self-censored search engine has smeared its reputation in the U.S. and Europe, where the freer Internet access is widely regarded as essential to human rights. And then there’s Google’s past resistance to efforts by the U.S. Justice Department to learn what potential terrorists are searching for. It’s hard to justify opposing your own government’s national security initiatives when you’re actively cooperating with more oppresive regimes abroad.
Ultimately, it may all come down to cost-benefit. Google had the opportunity to make a lot of money in China but the time and effort involved had to be enormous, perhaps to the point where it wasn’t worth the cost. Additionally, Google’s cooperation with the Chinese government, no matter how reluctant, may well have cost it revenues elsewhere. When the plusses and minuses were totaled, perhaps the net gain was too small to justify the company’s continued self-censorship in China.
But I’d like to believe that Google’s management realized that finances aren’t the only factor in running a successful business. If critics of the Chinese regime were killed based on information hacked from Google, the company might well have had moral responsibility for the crimes regardless of whether it could be held legally liable or not. Google has always presented itself as a “white hat” company of good people offering valuable services. Its latest actions are consistent with that image. So, whatever its motives, Google deserves credit for recognizing that, when it comes to doing the right thing, late is better than never.
Topics: Business Ethics, Social Ethics, corporate responsibility, ethics |
January 14th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Lauren,
This is an interesting issue, one which I personally intend to have a more detailed look at and present my opinions on next week at some stage.
Whether or not the decision made sense from a point of view of business case considerations or not, it certainly represents a commendable stance from the company - and I have a high level of admiration for any company that is prepared to stand up for what they believe in.
Beyond that, I’ll have to look at the announcement and the surrounding circumstances in a bit more detail prior to giving my full opinion on the matter.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:16 am
John Quelch makes a good case that Google is being naive and squandering whatever influence it had, ham-handedly achieving the opposite of its goals if anything. Frankly I find him persuasive.
What’s your take on Quelch’s take?
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6364.html
February 9th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Hi Charles,
Welcome to my blog! Quelch certainly has a point, but I’m not persuaded that Google really had much influence to squander. Call me naive, but I believe that Google execs negotiated behind the scenes with China for quite a while without much success. Quiet negotiations are usually the best way to go, but once they fail it’s sometimes necessary to speak out more publicly. Here’s hoping that, eventually, Google and China get to a good result.
Lauren