GOOGLE IN CHINA: - THE BIG DISCONNECT - Essay Example

The cultural environment prevailing in the country proved to be a hurdle in the expansion plans of Google. The company had decided to tap the burgeoning Chinese market by setting up search engines in the country. Google is based in America, where search related to human rights will yield a number of results. But it found the Chinese environment to be very complex. Any kind of search relating to human rights is frowned upon by the Chinese government. Since, the Chinese government was not in a position to demand for voluntary restrictions by the company, it jammed the internet traffic.

The government also used the firewall technique to restrict access to the search of Google. These had an adverse impact on the company’s operations within the country. The consumers were forced to switch to the local service providers. This impacted the market share of Google. It was slowly losing out to the local rivals. The Chinese government even blocked the site of the company in 2002. But, this was quickly restored for the fear of public outcry. The company’s operations until now were based from outside the Chinese border.

After this the company started giving serious thoughts to operating from within the Chinese territory. Although this meant giving in to the Chinese regulations the company agreed to it as it will save the market of the company from slipping to the Chinese rivals. This can be seen as a compromise made by Google for getting a foothold in the Chinese market. In the underlying sections, a detailed discussion has been done about the Chinese censorship practices and the concept of firewall. The reason for this attitude of the government has also been highlighted.

The apathetic attitude of the existing firms has also been talked about. In the end, the merits and demerits of a joint venture of Google with a Chinese competitor has been discussed. It has been shown as to how the company