The article in the url link below highlights the leveling effect that the Internet (Issues: Internet, p237) has had on the free flow of information (Figure 3.4, p56):
“Opponents of a chemical plant being built in the coastal city of Xiamen used cellphone text messaging to distribute widely their warning of dire consequences if the factory opened. … Spreading like a virus, the message was repeated more than 1 million times, environmentalists said, until it had reached practically everyone in Xiamen, a city of 1.5 million people in southeastern China known for its clean air and scenic views.”
This effect still impacts governments more than corporations, but I believe it is a sign of things to come. Firms that overstep societal expectations will face grass-roots campaigns, which are aided significantly by the revolution in communications technology that has occurred over the last 10 to 15 years. There is no reason to suspect that consumers have any less influence on corporate executives than the public has on politicians:
“[In late May], in a move that caught almost everyone by surprise, municipal authorities announced that they were suspending construction of the plant. … Vice Mayor Ding Guoyan was quoted in the official China Daily newspaper as saying, "The city government has listened to the opinions expressed and has decided, after careful consideration, that the project must be re-evaluated."”
Today, NGOs and individuals can communicate their agenda and mobilize like-minded others in ways that were unthinkable only 10 years ago:
“Student protesters who filled Tiananmen Square in 1989 used fax machines to disseminate news about their struggle, leading to a crackdown on the use of faxes. Similarly, the advent of the Internet and e-mail brought a new organizing tool, one still in use despite a massive, and largely successful, government effort to control it. … But cellphones present a new challenge to the government, because all but the poorest people in China own one and text messaging is ubiquitous — used far more often, and by a wider span of ages, than in the U.S., where it tends to be a tool of the young.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
Chinese activists turn to cellphones
Authorities in Xiamen, China, halt construction of a factory after text messages spread word of the risks it would pose.
By MITCHELL LANDSBERG
1118 words
1 June 2007
The LA Times
Late Edition – Final
http://globaltechforum.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=rich_story&doc_id=10856&title=Chinese+activists+turn+to+cellphones&categoryid=30&channelid=4
