A two-piece feature on Google China’s bumpy year and its aspiration to claw its way back in soon-to-be-the-largest Internet market in the world. From China’s Caijing magazine:
Schmidt has a favorite story that sheds light on why Google attracts many of the best and brightest. He tells about a hesitant Chinese applicant who was torn between the job offer and relatives who thought Google China was too young. A day after the offer was accepted, Lee personally invited the family of the new employee to dinner and briefed them on the company’s mission in China. …
After being pounded by Baidu.com’s promotion efforts, including nationwide advertising that boasts the domestic search engine’s understanding of the Chinese market, Google chose to concentrate on improving its search services. The goal was to meet local needs rather than rush to introduce new products to compete with Baidu.com. [Full Text]