http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/technology/companies/20revenue.html?ref=business
Summary
As of January 19, 2009, Google prepares for a vital discussion with the Chinese government over its decision to stop its cooperation with censorship laws in China. Many people believe that Google’s Chinese-language search engine won’t be surviving the company’s upcoming confrontation, but its business and operation in China depend on it. Google has stated that it will shut down its local Chinese-language search engine, Google.cn, if agreements over censorship aren’t met. If Google is able to attain the right to run its search engine uncensored, then the company will be making a huge step forward and claim a principled stand on free speech and human rights while only suffering from a minor setback in its business. Experts believe that Google’s goals won’t be easily obtained. So far, Google has postpone the release day of two mobile phones in China, but the Chinese government remain hesitant due to the fact that they would be losing pride if they agree with Google’s terms. Google hopes to meet its terms in the upcoming negotiation and be able to keep its business and its many talented programmers in China.
Connection
The connection between the article, “Google Hopes to Retain Business Unit in China” and the Financial Accounting Textbook is discontinued operations. Although the negotiation between Google and the Chinese government is still in progress, Google has announced that it will discontinue operations in China if their terms aren’t met. Google’s Chinese-language search engine, google.cn is a significant segment of the company. If Google was to lose this segment, it will lose $150 million, a fraction of its $6 billion global revenue, in its quarterly sale. Although this event won’t affect Google’s revenue by a lot, it will greatly affect its research and development operations in China if terms aren’t met. If Google is to shut down in China, it will lose many talented programmers and engineers, which are a vital part of the company. If the discontinued operation is confirmed, then Google’s income will be greatly affected.
Reflection
I support Google’s action. I believe it’s time to get rid of the censorship laws in China. The censorship laws go against free speech and human rights and it should no longer exist in this time of age. If Google isn’t able to meet its requests and shuts down its operations in China, I think there will be many consequences. First of all many of Google’s talented and skilled programmers in China will lose their jobs and be forced to find another job, possible a job working for one of Google’s adversaries. Secondly, Google will be losing some revenue and many companies in China will be losing an excellent source of distribution for their advertisements. Lastly, China will be losing a great search engine. The only good that comes from the refusal of Google’s terms is that China won’t be losing their pride, which isn’t that important in my eyes. I hope that Google will be able to reach their goals and that China will finally get rid of censorship laws.
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I also agree with you Sam. I think both sides should just agree with Google’s proposition because the only loss for china that way is there pride – nothing less or more. Eventually they will have to catch up to the rest of the world in its actions, this way they can be more open to it. They will also keep their economy up and running compared to the consequences of not taking the request from Google. In this case I feel that China is in more of a loss than Google because Google is such a world wide trend nowadays.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Wong 1-2 Fi Acc.
I agree with you as well Sam. By getting rid of the censorship laws in China, it is a win-win situation. Google can benefit as well as other individuals. If China does not agree to this term, they will lose Google and everyone who relies on Google to earn money. Since people are constantly using search engines, closing down one of the major engines does no help. Although I personally see no pride in terms of refusing Google's offer, I can see that this loss will have an impact that will affect almost everyone.
ReplyDeleteBetty Chan
F.Acc12 1-2