San Francisco, 2015 #tech #inequality
In December 2013 a group of angry protesters blocked one of the commuter buses provided by the large Silicon Valley firms (known as "Google buses") which was stopped in San Francisco on its way to the company's headquarters 40 miles south. The protests were a tangible manifestation of the sharp increase in tensions between citizens upset with changes they saw in San Francisco and the "techies" and technology companies they held responsible for the disappearing middle class, increased homelessness, languishing public education, and a sense of departure from the unique culture and values of the city's past. This case explores some of the substantial economic inequality problems facing San Francisco, and how much responsibility for creating or exacerbating the problems rests with the government, technology firms, their employees, and the nature of capitalism, among others. It also allows for discussion of what technology firms and the "techies" might do to help alleviate the problem.
Keywords: income inequality; Economic inequalty; technology; Silicon Valley; Income Characteristics; Equality and Inequality; Technology Industry; United States; California; San Francisco;
Citation:
Rose, Clayton, Allison Ciechanover, and Kunal Modi. "San Francisco, 2015 #tech #inequality." Harvard Business School Case 315-076, January 2015. (Revised March 2015.) View Details