Case Study: Google Inc.

in China

In partial fulfillment of the requirement in Accounting Information System III

Submitted by:

Ronna Mariz V. Magdayao ACA

August 3, 2012

POINT OF VIEW Google Inc.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The decision of Google Inc. to submit to government of China with regard to one of the requirements which is self-censorship despite that it is inconsistent to their mission, to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful.

OBJECTIVE To be able to assess whether Googles chosen decision, which was the creation of Google.cn, was incline with their ethical standards. And did the decision violate the companys mission or not.

AREAS OF CONSIDERATION 1. Googles expansion 2. Requirements in doing business in China 3. Googles mission 4. Rights of the Chinese people

ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION 1. Continue Google.cn which is subject to Chinese filtering and not missing out the large Chinese market and the services that Google can give to the Chinese people.

Advantages * Google.cn will have a positive impact to the Chinese people and make meaningful though imperfect contribution to the overall expansion of access to information in China. * Googles market in China will increase. * Profits will also increase. Disadvantages * Google Inc. will be inconsistent with their mission. * Bad publicity over the decision to develop the Google.cn search engine within China. * More cost to operate 2. Withdraw the project and continue only the unfiltered Chinese-language version of its home page. Advantages * Google Inc. will be consistent with their mission. * No additional cost will be incurred. * No strict legal compliance will be required by Chinese authorities that would affect Googles mission. Disadvantages * Failure to serve the Chinese people in the information they might need. * Loss of potential increase in profit. * Jobs that were made available because of Google.cn will be lost.

3. Still pursue the project but not complying with the self-censorship requirement by redirecting the Google site of China to other nearby countries, like Hong Kong. Advantage * Google Inc. can expand * There will be no more restrictions. * Avoiding Chinese regulations and allowing uncensored Chinese search results * Googles market in China will increase and so as profit * Availability of jobs * Consistent with the companys mission Disadvantage * More costly

RECOMMENDATION I will recommend the third course of action which is to pursue the project but not complying with the self-censorship requirement by redirecting the Google site of China to other nearby countries, like Hong Kong. Even though Hong Kong is a part of China, it is a special entity which is independent from China and is not subject to most Chinese laws including self-censorship. Along with the benefit of no more restrictions or at least lesser, is that the company is being consistent with its mission. It will also allow Chinese users to access to Gmail, Blogger and other site associated with Google. And even though Google will incur greater cost, the company will also be earning more because it continues to serve the Chinese community in China. In this situation, both Google Inc. and the Chinese community in China will benefit.