Google in China Essay Example for Free

Google in China Essay In 2006, China attempted to move away from socialism and declared itself committed to economic reform and to opening itself to the outside world. Expanded personal freedoms for its citizens, however, China still maintained a harsh enforcement of political and religious regulations ? Membership in the WTO put China back on the map as a possible market for Western companies ? Yahoo! first American Internet company to enter China in 1999. Uncensored Internet information was not welcomed by Chinese authorities and government officials immediately implemented rules restricting access to content deemed improper or harmful, and monitored Internet usage of its citizens ? Included many private citizens in their surveillance efforts, and implemented public propaganda campaigns to create atmosphere of fear from reprisal and self-censorship ? Tom MacLean director of International Business for Google Inc. or last nine months; starting to worry about his job security after a storm of criticism resulting from decision to agree to subject Google’s search results to Chinese authority scrutiny ? Felt that he and his team had been mindful of political pitfalls they could face in implementing their strategic plan in China; level and intensity of subsequent backlash and disapproval was unexpected ? Elliot Schrage, Google’s vice president of Global Communications and Public Affairs, efended Google’s censorship agreement as necessary, while at the same time admitting decision conflicted deeply with Google’s core principles, and that it was something they were not proud of ? Congressional hearing planted seeds of doubt in MacLean about Google in China decision. Starting to question if Google was endorsing censorship by conforming to the Chinese authorities’ rules, if Google was acting as a tool for the government, if Chinese citizens were actually better off a fter Google’s decision to enter China, and whether censorship decision did go against their stated corporate philosophy ? Top leadership claim Google’s decision was made based on information currently available at the time; were not afraid to revisit that decision if necessary ? MacLean has only one day before attending a meeting where he would be questioned on the development and implementation of Google’s China strategy and asked for his suggestions for future courses of action ? MacLean under a lot of pressure to act, but his instinct is to stick by his strategy and let it play out a bit longer; hoping that Senate hearing would be the last bit of publicity for a while Problem Identification: (Write in complete sentences from now on) Key Identify major problem(s) and any minor contributing problem(s) ? Google’s launching of Google China and agreeing with Chinese government’s censorship demands has tarnished their reputation and public image (major) ? Lots of bad publicity generated globally; makes them look like hypocrites ? Caught between alienation of a potentially extremely lucrative international market and an ethical dilemma of global proportion ? Company ridiculed for its professed â€Å"don’t be evil† motto; critics blame Google for supporting a country with a regime known for its numerous, well-documented abuses of human rights and oppressive measures; violation of internationally recognized norms (minor) ? What should MacLean say at the meeting to justify his strategy? ? Has it become necessary for Google’s top leadership team to revisit decision in light of new information and circumstances? What should we do? Under a lot of pressure to act†¦. soon Inferences: Key Read between the lines and make some assumptions about the case that re suggested but not explicitly provided (read between the lines) ? Decision by Google to select China as its international target at this particular point in their political and social history is suspect, however, in accordance with their long-term global strategy, they could not pass up such a tremendous opportunity ? Censorship decision was necessary to maintain th eir position as global search-engine market leaders and to fend off advances from major competitors such as Yahoo! (who already have an established foothold in China) and Microsoft ? Capable of weathering out the storm of criticism without major negative financial implications ? In time, entire episode will simply â€Å"blow over† as media moves on to something else ? For long-term gain, worth putting up with short-term pain ? Actions can be justified if given the proper â€Å"spin† ? No irreparable damage has been done to the company’s reputation ? International business risk associated with decision can be managed General Case Ideas: Key Link applicable course material/theory to the case State applicable theory (the â€Å"what†) ? The global economy (Chapter 1, pages XX) Cultural influences on global business (Chapter 3, pages XX) ? Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Market Screening Process handouts ? Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility in International Business handout ? Government and political influences on global business (Chapter 4, pages XX) ? Managing international business risk (Chapter 21, pages XX) Make relevan t connections between course theory and the case (the â€Å"so what†) ? There are four major categories of the international business environment that MNCs should consider when deciding on potential expansion markets: 1. Geographic Conditions (climate, terrain, seaways, natural resources) 2. Cultural Social Factors (accepted behaviours, values, and customs; language, education, religion, social relationships) 3. Political and Legal Factors (type of government, political stability, government policies toward business) 4. Economic Conditions (type of economic system, general education level of the population, types of industries, level of technology) ? The two of these that are most applicable to this case are: Cultural Social Factors The more similar one’s own culture is to another in history, language, religion etc. , the less difficult it is to conduct business in that society. But when societies differ on most of these characteristics, the potential for difficulty grows exponentially. For most American businesses in China, this potential is very high. There will be innumerable, unforeseen challenges, even when there is an honest effort to learn about and understand China and its people. When doing business in China, many cultural and social considerations must be addressed. Political and Legal Factors China has been under the communist party rule for many decades. The communist party exercises absolute power over legislations and economic and cultural institutions. Unlike western economies where the government promotes transparency for doing business, in China rules and regulations are not so transparent. Strict laws and patents in economies of the west protect domestic and foreign businesses, whereas in China, the legal system is loosely defined, giving rise to various loopholes in the law. When doing business in China, many political and legal considerations must be considered. Conclusion and Recommendations: Key Suggest specific and implementable solutions to solve identified problems ? Maintain status quo regarding decision †¦but go into damage control mode ? Hire an internationally-experienced and renowned public relations firm to present the situation in a more positive light (â€Å"spin doctors†) ? Counter bad publicity by using the media to your advantage. Issue a series of press releases arguing that it would be more damaging to pull out of China altogether; address criticisms directly and clearly explain the rationale of your decision ? Argue that censorship is necessary to keep the Chinese government from blocking Google altogether, and that Google can play a role more useful to the cause of free speech by participating in Chinas information technology industry than by refusing to comply and being denied admission to the mainland Chinese market ? Highlight the fact that Chinese authorities have restricted citizens to opular search engines such as Altavista and Yahoo! in the past, and that while removing search results is inconsistent with Googles mission, providing no information at all would be even more inconsistent with their mission ? More public visibility of Yahoo founders Page and Brin as well as CEO Eric Schmidt. Delivery of consistent message through carefully orchestrated television and print ad campaigns and appearances a t national and international industry forums ? Alter public perception through increased promotion of Google’s philanthropic work ? It is not Google’s job to fix governments but to provide the best service to users and the best return possible to its stakeholders. By choosing to do business in China, it is their job to serve the Chinese people in their best, albeit restricted, manner given current political climate ? If we didnt do it, someone else would have ? Emphasize that censorship issues are not restricted to China and that Google also had to do similar things in Germany as well as in their own home country to meet legal requirements ? Stand together as an industry. Enlist rival’s assistance with similar issues and common interests. Get Bill Gates, billionaire founder of Microsoft, to stand up for arch-rival Google and argue that state censorship was no reason for technology companies not to do business in China. Get Gates to issue public statement that the Internet is contributing to Chinese political engagement, as access to the outside world is preventing more censorship ? Close its China offices and abandon market

The Kite Runner Essay -- Khaled Hosseini Afghani and Islamic culture

Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel, The Kite Runner, is an eye-opening look into Afghani and Islamic culture through the painful memories of an American immigrant, Amir. Hosseini’s novel is rich with beautiful imagery and settings. The book also masterfully tells of disturbing events and very real characters. Perhaps Hosseini’s greatest achievement is his vast and quite effective use of symbolism in The Kite Runner. One such recurring symbol is the pomegranate. The pomegranate’s rich symbolic history from cultures around the world provides many different interpretations as to the various ideas the pomegranate represents. The Kite Runner can be viewed as an analogy for the well-known story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden by interpreting the pomegranate as the forbidden fruit. Many people are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve’s fall from paradise in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament or from the Hebrew Torah. What may be less familiar to people is that a similar story is also found in the Koran. The Koran states, â€Å"‘O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye plentifully there from whatever ye list; but to this tree come not nigh, lest ye become of the transgressors.’ But Satan made them slip from it, and caused their banishment from the place in which they were† (Rodwell 6). The Koran does not explicitly state the type of tree that was forbidden, just as the Book of Genesis only tells of an unnamed forbidden fruit. This forbidden fruit is commonly believed to have been an apple. Many scholars now believe, though, that the forbidden fruit of scripture was actually a pomegranate. The transformation in common culture of pomegranate to apple may have had many causes. Et... ...ions that will lead both countries toward a better future and paradises of their own. Works Cited Freedman, David Noel. The Anchor Bible Dictionary: Volume 2. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1991. Ghauri, Abdus Sattar. â€Å"The Concept of Original Sin.† 13 November 2002. Understanding Islam. 23 February 2008 com/related/text.asp?type=article&aid=178#_ftn2>. Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Penguin, 2003. Prpic, J. Kaya, and Ainslie E. Ellis. â€Å"Influences in the design of a faculty-wide tutor development program.† HERDSA, 2002. Rieger, Mark. Introduction to Fruit Crops. Birmingham: Food Products Press, n.d. Rodwell, J. M. The Koran. London: Orion Publishing Group Ltd, Orion House, 1909, 1992, 1994. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

What Was the Main Cause of the Financial Crisis in 2007-2009?

The intention of this essay is to provide an in depth and critical analysis of the financial crisis that took place between 2007-2009, in particular focusing on some key issues raised by the Foote, Gerardi and Willen paper ‘Why did so many people make so many Ex Post bad decisions? ’ Whilst there were many contributing factors, it is clear that a specific few played a particularly dominant role, primarily the ‘Bubble Theory’, irresponsible regulation, toxic CDO’s and $62 trillion of CDS’s. ‘That’s what bubbles are: they’re examples of mass delusions’ (Norcera, 2011).Bubble theory’s are by no means a new school of thought, in fact they date back to the Dutch Tulip bubble in the 1630’s and it is these types of bubble that are believed, by many economists, to be the primary cause of the foreclosure crisis. The bubble theory explains the crisis as a natural progression of overly optimistic price expectations for a particular asset class, recently the US housing market. When the housing bubble began to enlarge, lenders were lulled into a false sense of security, which lead to large amounts of credit being extended to ‘sub prime’ borrowers, people who had shady or uncertified credit history.However due to the inflating house prices the banks seemed to have little concern towards the credit being repaid. Although this credit was issued to subprime borrowers through the securitised credit market, securitisation was not necessarily the definitive cause of the crisis, but what it did was act as a catalyst allowing borrowers and investors to undertake their desired transactions. With this appetite for risk from lenders and interest rates being cut to 1% by the Fed, institutional investors were eager to chase higher returns.The opportunity encouraged investment banks to anti up their leverage and create a higher yielding product which was directly linked to an ‘ever rising h ousing market’. The emergence of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV’s) allowed banks to over leverage and buy mortgages which were then bundled together into a special purpose vehicle, proportions of these were then subsequently sold off as a Collateralised Debt obligations (CDO’s), ‘an investment-grade security backed by a pool of bonds, loans and other assets’. The theory behind this SPV was to reduce the lenders liability by pooling hundreds of supposedly ndependent mortgages, meaning that in the event of any mortgage defaults the loss would be contained rather than having a simultaneous effect on the other mortgages pooled within the CDO. Given that house prices were expected to continue along the bubble’s growth path, any losses from mortgage defaults would be naturally offset by house price inflation, or so they thought. Once the Investment banks had packaged these mortgages they then sought to diversify their liability by selling off the mu tual funds to external investors, some more bullish than others and hence the segregation of tranches within the CDO packages.The riskiness of each tranche was determined by the rating agencies, Standard and Poor/Fitch, which ranged from AAA (the lowest risk, but highest price) to CCC (the highest risk, but lowest price). In the event of any mortgage defaults, the highest rated tranche, the senior tranche, was paid out first and any subsequent losses were absorbed by the junior tranches, ie junior tranches were only paid once the other tranches had been paid. Given that the Fed had cut interest rates to 1%, the opportunity proposed by these CDO’s became increasingly more attractive.The excessive demand chasing CDO’s forced banks to lower their credit requirement standard, which inevitably lead to subprime lending. This access to the credit markets for those who ordinarily would have been declined credit meant that CDO’s were becoming filled with comparatively hi gh risk mortgages. This became increasingly problematic when borrowers began to default on their mortgage payments, the domino effect lead to the collapse of house prices and over 2million foreclosures.This left worldwide investors and banks with failing CDO’s who in turn also defaulted on their payments and lead to a global ‘credit crunch’. Even the largest of investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were so confident in their products that they too maintained large holdings of ‘super senior’ tranches on their balance sheets, thus wiping billions of dollars of their balance sheets too. However whilst it is true that the bankers over zealous nature and thirst to maximise profits lead to the breaching of standards and forfeit of reliable credit checks, they were still allowed to do it.This leads to the plausible involvement of the credit rating agencies and the Governments lack of regulation and in some cases irresponsible regulation. A major concern surrounds the actions of US credit rating agencies, namely Standard & Poor and Fitch. Whilst they may not have anticipated the financial crisis, they, to a large extend suffered from institutional failure. The mathematical models that had been developed and used by the credit rating agencies were inadequate to deal with and provide accurate data concerning the riskiness of sub prime mortgages.The mathematical modelling teams continued to use traditional out-dated 30 year mortgages to asses the likelihood of default. Mortgages issued after 2004 were based on a different credit rating tool, know as FICO. A FICO score takes into account 5 factors to help determine a borrowers credit risk, length of credit history and the various types of credit used, the current level of personal debt, credit history, amount of new credit and passed payment history.These new mortgages were typically non documented adjustable rate mortgages and relied on the FICO score. It became appare nt that the agencies had minimal concern towards the investors. The rating analysts within the agencies expressed their levels of apprehension towards the reliability of certain ratings, but they were cut short and dismissed. The credit rating agencies were simply concerned with maintaining or increasing their market influence by doing their job and providing the ratings that their clients employed them to generate.In many cases these ratings were later downgraded within 6 months implying that their original job was either done with a lack of due diligence or there was an ulterior motive behind providing a flawless AAA rating. This was highlighted in the residential mortgage backed security Delphinus case study where 26 dummy loans were issued that were clearly not of AAA standard, yet sailed through as AAA. This leads us to the issue of the Government and their irresponsible lack of regulation towards preventing a financial crisis.The neoliberalist argument suggests that the US Gov ernment was a big player in the demise of the financial sector. The Governments irresponsible regulation of banks allowed the passing of the Community Reinvestment Act from 1977, ‘the law was designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low and moderate income neighbourhoods’ (Wikipedia). The law actively encouraged low income earners to take out mortgages to buy a house, which in reality they could not afford.To really tempt fate congress later allowed the act to be amended, allowing potential borrowers to opt out of income screening, therefore meaning that no credit worthiness was required to take out a mortgage. It is this link to the CDO market which allowed for such disaster to unravel, had this act not been so irresponsibly been amended, the banks would not have been able to bundle toxic debt and sell it as a repackaged CDO. In fact George Bush Junior actively en couraged it in 2002 when he campaigned for an additional 5. 5million low income homeowners by 2010.By actively holding interest rates below the well-known monetary guide lines it encouraged mass risk taking, not only was money cheap but low interest rates also offered very little return in the banks so investors sought alternatives which lead them to junk CDO’s and CDO2’s. However these junk CDO’s were only half the problem, whilst they were being actively encouraged they were also being bet on and against, implying a magnitude of leveraged risk. In the 1990’s J. P. Morgan developed a strategy to hedge their loan risks know as credit default swaps (CDS’s).Essentially a CDS is a bilateral contract between two parties that provides a level of insurance. A buyer would pay a yearly premium in order to protect the face amount of the particular bond or loan, but the CDS’s unlike a traditional insurance policy were subject to counter party risk onl y. This implication meant that if the counterparty was unable to pay or had gone insolvent then essentially the buyer was no longer covered. What it also allowed for was speculators to gain exposure to markets where they didn’t actually own the underlying assets or credits, which they were now betting on.The crux of the problem arose when CDS’s were taken out on the subprime mortgage securities, which had been largely over rated by the ratings agencies, therefore providing false information upon which the investment decision and insurance policies were taken. When the defaults started to roll in the likes of AIG and Bear Stearns had billions of dollars wiped off their books. To exacerbate the problem almost all the major investment banks and investment houses had insurance underwritten by Bear Stearns, which of course was now insolvent. This domino effect lead to multi billion dollar losses across the globe.The general belief amongst economists was that financial deriv atives and their purpose was to dilute individual risk through risk sharing amid investors. In theory it should create a more efficient allocation of capital and price transparency, it is the mass trading of these derivatives that became problematic and raised a cause for concern. However whilst it is true that CDS’s, CDO’s, a vast lack of regulation and inaccurate credit ratings all facilitated the collapse in the financial sector, it is not clear that they were the actual cause of the financial crisis.What is more evident of the actual cause is the fact that financial institutions and investors, as a whole did not foresee a collapse of housing prices. The collapse of house prices created mass negative equity and consequent defaults on subprime mortgages and also the falling face value of the subprime mortgage securitisations. Investment banks were particularly caught by surprise when the ‘super superior’ AAA rated tranches of CDO’s collapsed in va lue, given that they had relatively few defaults.Another factor which points to the root cause of the financial crises was the levels of excessive leverage combined with large holdings of subprime securitisations. The rapid and unexpected losses from these large investment houses lead to the markets questioning their solvency and so a mass culture of hoarding developed along with a fire sale of assets in order to deleverage their exposure. All this combined resulted in a squeeze of cash flow due to market uncertainty and lenders became unwilling to lend. This unfolding of events lead to the CDS and CDO market getting wrapped up and associated with large losses.It is for these reasons that the financial crisis developed and continues to develop implications for the future of the financial industry. References Nocera, Joe. 2011. â€Å"Inquiry is Missing Bottom Line. † New York Times, page B1. January 29 Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 24, Number 1—Winter 2 010—Pages 73–92 Credit Default Swaps and the Credit Crisis Rene M. Stulz Cordell, Larry, Yilin Huang, and Meredith Williams. 2011. â€Å"Collateral Damage: Siz- ing and Assessing the Subprime CDO Crisis. † Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper Money morningFinancial Crisis Inquiry Commission. 2010. â€Å"Credit Ratings And the Financial Crisis. † Pre- liminary Staff Report, June 2, 2010 The Credit Rating Agencies and TheirContribution to the Financial Crisis MAUR ICE MULLARD http://www. investopedia. com/terms/c/cdo. asp#ixzz2BqfZ28TI Brunnermeier, Markus K. 2008. â€Å"Bubbles. † In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Eco- nomics, eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume, second edition Foote, Christopher L. , Kristopher Gerardi, and Paul S. Willen. 2008. â€Å"Negative Equity and Foreclosure: Theory and Evidence. †

The Presidential Election of 2004 Essay - 917 Words

Analyze the Presidential election of 2004. What happened and why? Analyze the changing nature of the media and how that is affecting politics. The two questions identified above cannot be adequately answered alone without one influencing the other because a campaign that influences the election of the most powerful position in the world is a public event. However, after months of predictions of a too-close-to-call contest, Bush won nationwide balloting making him the 15th president elected to a second term and the first to win both a majority of the popular vote and the Electoral College since his father in 1988. The GOP also extended its majorities in the House and Senate. The Presidential election followed a political campaign†¦show more content†¦Those who opposed the president did so because of his decision to go to war in Iraq and how it was carried out and their nervousness about the economy. As it turned out Kerrys vote was anti-Bush, it wasnt pro-Kerry. Voter turnout hit record highs nationally, and the total for Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney was higher than any previous presidential ticket. Some of the greatest percentage gains over 2000 came in 13 states that were the battleground in the presidential election. Millions of dollars were spent on TV ads and voter mobilization. Interestingly, Democratic strategists had predicted that turnout at those levels would assure victory. But Democratic voter drives were matched in large part by Republicans, particularly religious conservatives. Voters conveyed a sense of urgency about Iraq, and their top priority for President Bush to tackle after his re-election. Iraq was followed by terrorism among voters leading concerns. Voters also conveyed they want the President to cut the deficit and balance the budget rather than reducing taxes. After a campaign dominated by discussion of Iraq and terrorism, national security issues were at the top of voters concerns along with the economy. 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