Synopsis or Summary
This newspaper article talks about how Google.cn has a chance to be taken out of China’s market, which has about 35 percent of China’s search market. Things may not be absolutely clear as of now, but one aspect appears very clear that the Chinese establishment is not very pleased with Google, as it is believed by the government that Google and its related companies are providing shelter to anti-Chinese movements. If this threat materialises, Google will be losing Chinese business in the online entertainment segment. On the other hand, if Google is taken away, it will affect companies like China Mobile Ltd., the largest phone company by subscribers, with 527 million accounts in China, which use Google mobile search and Google map. The step is therefore bound to create ripples across many business companies in China, especially in the mobile industries. China promotes Internet use for business and education but bars access to sites run by human rights and political activists and some news outlets. They have already blocked sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and major blog-hosting services abroad and now want to ban Google. However, Google hopes that it will continue to operate the Beijing research centre, advertising sales offices and mobile phone business in China because of Google’s 700 workforces there.
Reflection
In this article, I learned that Google has acquired a big role for itself in different parts of the world. China being a huge consumer market for the IT and entertainment industry, holds significant importance for Google. But, at the same time, it is equally important that the government of China is seen as corporate friendly. If China keeps attracting investments from abroad, its job market will witness renewed enthusiasm as a large number of young Chinese will be able to get gainful employment. If Google is really banned from China it would result in an adverse impact in the labour market and companies might start reconsidering their immediate expansion or diversification programmes. If for example, Google goes out of China, this step will itself render at least couple of thousand Chinese workers jobless. In addition such signals will adversely impact the overall employment rate of Chinese job market. Many companies dependent on Google for their business prospects would also put their plans on hold. This in turn would result in cascading effect on the growth of businesses in China. In addition the goodwill, which the Chinese government has been able to generate over the last couple of years, would also be dented, thus affecting the international relations with other countries.