VC7

List the pros, cons, and unknowns if facebook were to seek a way for the Chinese government to allow its expansion into china. What are the risks if the firm remains out of the country? What do you think the firm should do?

There are many pros, cons, and unknowns for Facebook if they were to move into the Chinese market. Pros can include a large potential new market, diversification for their revenues by adding another market to lessen dependency on markets like the United States, and access to talented individuals who are developers in China who can help them continue building. The cons include strict government regulations, data privacy concerns, and they may be risking their reputation dealing with a government who has had issues with censorship in the past. There will also be unknowns include if Chinese government even approve it, will the people use it, and could there be changes in local laws and regulations that can affect if Facebook could have longevity in China. Finally, there are many risks Facebook may face if they stay out of China like their growth staggering out and missing potential growth opportunities and potentially a miss on increasing global influence.

Using the Belief decision making guide, I think that Facebook should investigate creating a partnership with a local Chinese company. As stated in the paragraph above and question, the facts and problem have been found for step 1 and 3. The stakeholders include Facebook and all their involved parties, and the Chinese government and civilians. Next, we need to figure out some options for Facebook to consider including a partnership with a local company, avoid China altogether and possibly wait for regulations to become more favorable, or seek approval from the Chinese Government. Next, we test the options and their practicality with various tests. Tests will include the harm, legality, and reversibility tests. The harm test will see if regulations could harm user’s privacy, the legality test will see if it is even legal, and the reversibility test will see if they could change their mind if it does not work out. Finally, for my tentative decision I think the best option would be to partner with a Chinese company, not only because of the tests, but because it would give Facebook the best of both worlds. They would get their access to the Chinese market and its benefits and be able to upkeep the need for user privacy.