China, with one fifth of the world's population, vast intellectual and physical resources, and an immense high-growth economy, would seem to have little to fear from a single corporation, even if that corporation is Google. The Internet giant, alarmed that suspected Chinese dissidents on its network have faced cyber attacks from within China, has announced that it will stop censoring communications there, and that it is prepared to shut down its operations in that country if need be. And what of it? China has a vibrant and globally competitive tech sector of its own. The top search engine in China is Baidu, a homegrown product. Let Google leave. It's Google's loss. Right?
The People's Republic of Google may have more leverage in this battle than one might think, though. That power has little to do with its stock price, its market share, or its revenue growth. In this particular instance, Google's power transcends conventional business. It's really confronting China as a nongovernmental organization. And this is a time when nongovernmental entities, from moveon.org to the tea parties and al-Qaeda, exert real political power.
Google has the ability to mobilize public opinion and shape behavior on a global scale. It has the power to rebrand China. China has enjoyed great press in recent years. In the '80s and early '90s, it was associated with the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square. Since then, its story has been about a move away from communism and toward a new and unique form of capitalism, the fruits of which inspired the world during the Olympics in Beijing. It will soon surpass Japan as the world's second-largest economy. With GDP gains of 8 percent, it is leading the world out of the first global recession in 70 years. During an era of chaos and decline, the world has been happy to embrace China's orderly and successful ascent.
Yet Google has the power to craft a compelling counter story by standing up to Chinese authority at the expense of its own economic interests. Google could soon set the standard for other companies around the world, which would be expected to live up to Google's example. Google already sets the bar for individual and corporate behavior in a good many respects
The danger is that Google could make authoritarianism in China an issue and compel people and companies around the world to take a stand against it. Recent history is filled with such media-powered grassroots campaigns, from the anti-apartheid boycotts to environmentalism, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the antismoking campaigns, equal rights for men and women, abortion rights, and the recent push for gay marriage and legalized pot. Such movements are hard to resist.
The public, disillusioned with finance and business after a decade of scandal and failure, just might be happy to embrace a company that people can believe in. They want, and need, to believe that business is more than just the housing bubble and Bernie Madoff.
In a sense, Google may be more revolutionary than China. Technological innovations such as the Gutenberg press usually have broader and more lasting consequences than the regimes of their day. The Internet is the Gutenberg press of our day, and Google is leading the Internet as much as any one thing can. That makes it a force with which to be reckoned.
In other words, Google has the ability to give China its first truly bad press in nearly a generation. In an age when stories "go viral," that is a dangerous thing, even for a great nation such as China.
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