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Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

nytimes.com

11–20 of 175 posts

Re: Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

#11
post #8

Should I, an employee of Amazon, quit, if I do not support this policy?

That's going to be up to you, the Amazon employee.

Personally, I'm able to distinguish myself from the company and I my identity isn't the company's, so I wouldn't see a need to quit my job over something like this.

Re: Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

#12
post #6

What are they supposed to do? Either they comply or they leave the Chinese market. It's that simple. I hope people don't fault these companies for playing ball with a communist government.

That is what I was curious about. That is a country four times the size of America. It would be interesting to see how the conversation went in Apples and Amazons board room though.

"We rollin'?"

"We rollin'"

Re: Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

#15

I wonder how much a publicly traded company could act upon their values, as opposed to the primary value of seeking value for shareholders. For instance, if an Apple or Amazon takes a stand and ends up having to pull out of China, would that be grounds for a shareholder lawsuit?

I haven't heard of any such lawsuit against Google.

Re: Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

#17
post #8

Should I, an employee of Amazon, quit, if I do not support this policy?

That's going to be up to you, the Amazon employee.

Personally, I'm unwilling to work for a company who's values are in severe opposition to my own, so I would probably quit my job over something like this (if I felt strongly enough about it).

Re: Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

#18

It's no surprise. Even if Apple or Amazon wanted to resist this, they won't get any competent support from the current US administration. The strategy for the time being seems to be "don't rock the boat" for US businesses right now.

Strategy has always been dont rock the boat, just as during dismantling of US car industry, or TV industry.

Frontline: Coming From Japan [The Fall Of The US Television Industry] (1992) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aesJTsZqm6c

Re: Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

#19

What are they supposed to do? Either they comply or they leave the Chinese market. It's that simple. I hope people don't fault these companies for playing ball with a communist government.

They do have influence here (in US) and there (in China). They should certainly comply with law and push for change together with US government. If change is not happening and laws aren't just then they certainly should leave.

Re: Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors

#20

In case you assumed that corporate responsibility is actually taken to heart by those making corporate strategic decisions, let this show you that it is not. Corporate responsibility moves are little more than good PR, a product selling point, and a way to avoid fines in some jurisdictions. Money matters more than morals. These corporations want access to the Chinese market. To gain access (and profit from) to the Ch…

Maybe there's a middleground? You've still got to pick your battles and understand the scope of them. It's also entirely reasonable for a company to not to choose to follow a particular fight because it's too expensive or would have to much of an impact on the strategy of the company. If a company decides to not fund healthcare for everyone in the US, even if that aligned with their values and CSR, there's no need to…

Definitely a middle ground but that's not what is being occupied here.
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