Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.!

Tom MacLean finished watching the Senate hearing on C-Span and slumped in his chair. He had been with Google, Inc., as a director of International Business for only nine months, and it wasn't going as well as he had hoped.

MacLean prided himself on being a thoughtful and methodical project manager, so the recent publicity generated by Google's launching a Chinese-language search engine in China in 2006 left him feeling a bit on the defensive. MacLean had worked hard to develop a strategy for Google in China. He had involved outside experts on China, called upon talented in-house engineers about the technical design, and exposed top leadership to many of the pressing issues within China. MacLean felt that he and his team had been mindful of the many potential pitfalls they could face in implementing their strategic plan in China.

He had been actively involved in almost a year of deliberations and preparations within Google, Inc., before Google's entry into China. This decision-to physically enter Chinese territory and, consequently, subject search results to Chinese filtering and monitoring-drew ire from nongovernmental organizations, academics, press, and the general public, culminating in a congressional hearing on February 15,2005. The company was ridiculed for its "Don't be evil" motto, and critics blamed Google for supporting a country with a totalitarian regime and known for its numerous human-rights violations.

MacLean had developed a solid strategic plan: the financial projections were based on sound assumptions that had been gathered across operations, engineering, marketing, sales, and finance. Moreover, he had won support from the top management team by suggesting that Google, Inc., maintain both the unfiltered Chinese-language site (Google.com) with the filtered China-based site (Google.cn).

Green Dam

Analysis of the Green Dam Censorware System

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The Business Roundtablc Institute for Corporate Ethics
BRI-I004

This case was prepared by Kirsten E. Martin, Assistant Professor of Business and Economics at the Catholic
University of America and Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics Fellow, to encourage classroom discussion and not to illustrate effective or ineffective business decision making.

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