Abstract

The case focuses on the regulatory challenges faced by Australia’s federal government to ensure that news media businesses in Australia would be fairly remunerated for the content they generated that were displayed as links on search engines and address the issue of market dominance of technology firms like Google Australia over media organizations in Australia. The case describes the objectives of the Australian Government to implement the ‘News Media Bargaining Code’ in 2020. The case touches upon the viewpoints of various stakeholders on the proposed Code including analysts and policy makers. The case then focuses on Google’s reaction to this Code and the approach taken by the company to minimize the implications of such a regulatory initiative by the Australian government. The case offers learners the opportunity to delve into the regulatory challenges of operating in foreign markets, the importance of stakeholder management, and the issues of competitive practices in the digital economy. The case is suitable for post graduate and executive programs that offer courses on International Business and Business Environment.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Gain an understanding on the regulatory environment
• Examine the need for government regulations on digital advertising
• Understand the role of stakeholder management in international business
• Become aware of the need for corporate communications during crisis management
• Explore the challenges of defining and implementing competition policies for platform businesses

Keywords

Digital Economy; Data privacy; Social media; Digital Advertising; Data Security; Ethics; Corporate Communication; Anti-trust Laws, Competition Policy; Regulatory Environment; Stakeholder Management; Monopoly