Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • June 2018 (Revised April 2020)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

John Chambers, Cisco, and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield

By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:24
ShareBar

Abstract

This case examines the role of Cisco led by John Chambers in facilitating web filtering in China. It begins by tracing the origins of Cisco as a pioneer of networking equipment. John Chambers, who had worked as a sales manager at IBM and Wang Laboratories, joined Cisco in 1991 and became CEO in 1995. The company expanded rapidly thereafter, acquiring many firms and growing globally, including in China, where it virtually created the internet. The case explores how the firm facilitated surveillance and monitoring of the internet under the Golden Shield project launched in 2000, and in 2004 served as a key participant in the CN2 upgrade that greatly enhanced official capability to filter content online. The case ends in 2007 with Chambers announcing further capital expenditure in China but facing growing criticism by U.S. Congress and others for Cisco's human rights record. At the same time, Cisco faced a powerful domestic competitor in China, Huawei, that had grown rapidly by investing in innovation even as Cisco pursued a share buy-back campaign after experiencing a sharp fall in its share price following the end of the Dot-com bubble. The case provides a vehicle for exploring the ethical and human rights responsibilities of corporations in the technology sector, as well as the impact of the internet on democracy.

Keywords

Cisco; Internet and the Web; Governance Controls; Ethics; Rights; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; China

Citation

Jones, Geoffrey, and Emily Grandjean. "John Chambers, Cisco, and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield." Harvard Business School Case 318-158, June 2018. (Revised April 2020.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Geoffrey G. Jones

General Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • December 2018
    • Faculty Research

    John Chambers, Cisco and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean
    • June 2018 (Revised April 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    John Chambers, Cisco, and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean
Related Work
  • John Chambers, Cisco and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean
  • John Chambers, Cisco, and China: Upgrading a Golden Shield By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College