Case Study 1: Google in China
Question1. What philosophical principle did Google's managers adopt when deciding that
the benefits of operating in China outweighed the costs?
Google's mission is to provide the most competent searching engine and complete results
as possible. They are guided with a principle, "Don't be evil” that ensures integrity on every
result. When it comes to the benefits outweighing the cost in China Google's managers decide to
adopt the Utilitarian Approach because according to utilitarian philosophy, “It focuses attention
on the need to weigh carefully all of the social benefits and costs of a business action and to
pursue only those actions where the benefits outweigh the costs,” (Hill, 2009). Without a doubt,
China has a highly promising market that has the biggest component of customers that can bring
huge earnings for a company. Also, the top managers of Google explained that it is better to give
limited information to the Chinese users than giving nothing. At first, Google Company had a
negative insight about cultural relativism and government regulations in China that implies
blocking the accessibility on the different politic-sensitive sites. However, after weighing
benefits and costs with regards to Friedman Doctrine, Google has agreed with Chinese
regulations that give the best possible balance of good consequences over unfavorable
consequences to run its business successfully.