Assessment Task 1

Analyze the case in Lesson 1. Use the following format.

I. Case Summary
II. Case Problem
III. Case Facts
IV. Alternative Courses of Action
V. Evaluation of Alternatives and Solution to the Problem
VI. Recommendation
VII. Conclusion

Note: You may find these guide questions useful to your case analysis.

1. Can Google afford not to conduct business in China?

2. Which stakeholders would be affected by Google’s possible decision to shut
down its China operations?
3. How would these people be affected?
4. What trade-offs would Google be sacrificing?

1. Can Google afford not to do business in China?

Yes, google cannot easily afford not to do business in China. China tried to hack
and steal user information from Google. Despite Baidu taking the largest market in the
world from Google, it is a very successful company. Furthermore, it is diversifying as
well as expanding itself far from browsing and currently a household name (Wang,
Huang, Gao, Ansett, and Xu 2015). It also has financial muscles that can make it move
beyond the simple search engine and remain big in china via other means as the
potential for growth is very high. China is an untapped market and because of it, many
businesses are trying to enter the China market. Google is one of those business firms
and succeeded but due to circumstances they have to shut down their branch there.
Google cannot really afford not to do business in China because It is developing in a
rapid pace and would lose the advantage of being the most popular search engine
offered in China. Once Google China has stopped to exist, Google has let go of one of
the largest market in the world.

2. Which stakeholders would be affected by Google’s managers’ possible decision to

shut down its China operations?

The most affected stakeholder that would be affected when Google would shut
down its China operations would be its Employees, because once the operations has
shut down, many of their employees are expected to lose their jobs. Another
stakeholder that would be affected would be the Shareholders since their return of
investment would decline. And lastly the Chinese consumers. If google stopped
operating on china, the consumers living in China will lose in having a popular search
engine that is connected all around the world. The trade-off that Google would be
making in letting go of one of the largest and growing economy, which is China, is
Google has regained the name of their brand and stopping future cyber hacking. Even
though Google has lost China, they still gained the favors of their users around the
world because they have chosen quality and the protection of their users instead of
staying and making lots of money.

3. Should Google’s managers be surprised by the China predicament?

Google’s managers should not be surprised on what happened to China since

Chinese authorities and Government are famous for their strict rules and regulations in
censorship. Google’s managers must have already prepared their selves on this
outcome because the China’s culture, laws and way of thinking is very far away from
them and is not easy to be changed.

4. What trade-offs would Google be sacrificing?

The trade-off is that Google is letting go off the world’s biggest market in aspects
such as browsing and numerous employees. However, it can maintain its reputation and
protect its user’s information.