Honors Theses
Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Croft Institute for International Studies
First Advisor
Gang Guo
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This thesis aims to understand and further explain the reasons culminating in Google's relative failure in the Chinese search engine market. By examining Google's tenure in China, Google's fairings in other large East Asian markets, and other Western corporations' troubles adapting to the Chinese market, this paper works to exhibit the reasons for Google's failure in China. Many of Google's high-ranking officers have claimed censorship as the most important factor in forcing the industry giant to vacate one of the fastest growing and most populous search engine markets in the world, but this paper seeks to exemplify that Google's approach to China was flawed and may have contributed to its failure just as much as censorship. Through the utilization of papers detailing Google's efforts in various East Asian markets, various sources showing the Chinese government's works against Google and the Chinese public's perception of Google's actions, and works discussing Google's strategy in East Asia, the paper analyzes how Google was affected both by internal and external stimuli in the four areas that affect search engine loyalty according to various researchers: speed, comprehensiveness, ease, and relevance. The conclusion is that, while nothing is certain due to how interconnected every aspect of the question is, Google's flawed business plan for the Chinese market and inability to overcome the label as an overly foreign corporation ultimately concluded in its inability to best China's homegrown search engine, Baidu, and its decision to depart the Chinese market.
Recommended Citation
Cookston, Zachary T., "An Industry Giant's Struggles: Google's Relative Failure Within China" (2016). Honors Theses. 971.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/971
Accessibility Status
Searchable text
Comments
A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion of the Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from the Croft Institute for International Studies and the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College.