Comments on: Google vs. China – Moral Stand or Calculated Business Move

By: Grant Simmons

Grant Simmons — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:30:59 +0000

IMHO this is 90% business decision and the moral stand is a nice PR win by-product.

Not questioning the morality of Google (how dare I!) and their overall desire to do good, I would however question the timing, insistent indignation and complete avoidance of bottom line rational in their explanations on the pull out.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:16:27 +0000

I agree with Ted. Though I would say it is probably a bit of business influencing their decision too. If they keep playing the censorship game then they will keep trailing that Chinese search engine. If they play rebellious then it perhaps they will get more “street cred” in China. You’ve got to stand out and this is the right time to ride that PR wave.

By: Ted Ives

Ted Ives — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:07:21 +0000

I suspect the IP theft is really what’s driving Google’s response (human rights has always been an issue).

China and France are both well known in Competitive Intelligence circles to have business cultures in which unethical competitive behavior is far more likely to occur (a good source for info on how to protect your company is the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals – http://www.scip.org). At a SCIP gathering some years back, an expert on Competitive Intelligence in China related to me that in China, placing an employee inside a competitor’s organization happens far more often than one might think.

It’s stunning to imagine that any major US firm would locate critical IP in China at all after the many high-profile incidents, even back here in the states, that have occurred…search on any of these for some interesting incidents:
[Quantum3D source code theft]
[netlogic blueprints prosecution]
[boeing economic espionage]