...The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman (2005) is globalization in early 21st century. It emphasized the work “level playing field” with 1st world countries and third world countries by telecommunication channels. In this book, the author travelled to India and met up with entrepreneurs who are serving the needs of 1st world country (United States). The issue about Friedman’s book is, he seems like someone woke up and found a different new world (globalization) from yesterday. Globalization is not immediate change. And he is not practitioner in modern economics yet he tried to be one and touched on globalization effects. Globalization is double edge sword and it is not all juicy as Friedman suggested. Many US based multinational companies in the run up to cutting costs, are choosing to outsource some of their functions to outsourcing companies in developing or third world countries like India, China, Philippines and the likes. The advantages range from cost cutting benefitting the multinationals, to the companies residing in developing countries, and their economy. It is obvious that when a US multinational company is outsourcing their functions to the companies in developing countries, are cutting operational costs, thereby earn more revenue and getting the same work done at lower price and at an excellent quality. On the other side, this trend is also benefiting the companies in third world countries, for, they are getting more work, more work means, more employment done for...
Words: 546 - Pages: 3
...Nescio PSL200 T-TH 11:00 The international bestselling book The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty First Century by Thomas L. Friedman analyzes globalization in the early 21st century. Throughout the book Friedman helps the reader view the world on a level playing field, where the traditional issues of historical and geographical divisions are becoming irrelevant and all competitors have an equal opportunity. Friedman examines the influences shaping businesses and competition in a technology fueled global environment. Supporting his ideas with interviews, case studies and statistics Friedman sends the message to his readers that they need to be prepared because the flattening world waits for no one. The flattening of the world however is not something that happens over night. In fact this process has been happening over a number of years but has become more noticeable after the turn of the century. Throughout “The World is Flat” you will find Friedman believes are the ten major factors causing the flattening of the world, how the United States should approach the flattening world, and how Friedman comes to his conclusions. Thomas Friedman’s trip to India is where he first notices that the playing field has been leveled and that global knowledge is available to a much larger audience. Friedman argues that the world is “going from size small to size tiny” (10). The flattening of the world entails that we are now connecting all the knowledge centers on the...
Words: 2855 - Pages: 12
...Thomas Friedman takes a jibe of the “It’s a small world, after all” theme and writes a lengthy article on his discover that the world, in terms of innovation, technology, geo-economics and globalization that the world is “flat,” after all. He starts the article off by comparing Christopher Columbus’ discovery in 1492 of the world being round when he set sail searching for India. Thomas Friedman also set off to search for India however for many different reasons. He writes the article, “It’s a Flat World, After All,” in a way to encourage the reader to prepare for the future. He stresses the importance of studying science and engineering. He makes several references to surrounding countries being significantly more advanced than America. In 2001, China had twice as many college graduates than the United States and India had one million more students graduate than the United States. China also had six times as many students with engineering degrees than the United States. After reading this article, I would have to agree with Thomas Friedman, that the world is indeed flat in terms of innovation, technology, geo-economics and globalization. Education facilitators, human resource departments and even parents in the United States need to encourage furthering education and engaging individuals in pursuing science and engineering in order for our country to compete in the emerging markets in the technologically advancing race. I believe this is a good article which serves...
Words: 366 - Pages: 2
...The World Is Flat Thomas L. Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat is a book helps us understand the how the world is flat. He does this buy dissecting the world we live in and by sharing information we all should know. The World Is Flat focuses on globalization along with social, political and environmental issues we face. Chapter two highlights the ten forces that flattened the world along with the effect and opportunities we now have because the world flattened. The fall of the Berlin Wall, Netscape Going Public, Work Flow Software, Uploading, Off shoring, Supply Chains, In sourcing, Informing and Steroids are the ten forces Friedman identifies to be the main causes that flattened the world. The first force that triggered the world to flatten was the fall of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Berlin Wall helped us to understand the world differently. It helped us to open our eyes and think outside the box rather then just in our own. The fall of the Berlin Wall, allowed us to have a free market, introduced capitalism. We then began to adopt commons standers on how economics should be run along with a common understanding on how banking and accounting should be done. The second force that helped Flatten the world was when Netscape went public. Friedman describes the Internet and how it helped to connect people to come together globally. Netscape was an explosive technology that became w accessible to everyone. This made people want to do things differently...
Words: 702 - Pages: 3
...ABOUT THE AUTHOR Thomas Loren Friedman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 20, 1953, and grew up in the middle-class Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. He is the son of Harold and Margaret Friedman. From an early age, Friedman, whose father often brought him to the golf course for a round after work, wanted to be a professional golfer. He was captain of the St. Louis Park High golf team; at the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine National Golf Club, he caddied for Chi Chi Rodriquez, who came in 27th. That, alas, was as close as Friedman would get to professional golf. In high school, however, he developed two other passions that would define his life from then on: the Middle East and journalism. It was a visit to Israel with his parents during Christmas vacation in 1968–69 that stirred his interest in the Middle East, and it was his high school journalism teacher, Hattie Steinberg, who inspired in him a love of reporting and newspapers. After graduating from high school in 1971, Friedman attended the University of Minnesota and Brandeis University, and graduated summa cum laude in 1975 with a degree in Mediterranean studies. During his undergraduate years, he spent semesters abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the American University in Cairo. Following his graduation from Brandeis, Friedman attended St. Antony's College, Oxford University, on a Marshall Scholarship. In 1978, he received an M.Phil. degree in modern Middle East studies from Oxford. That summer...
Words: 3573 - Pages: 15
...Thomas Friedman talks in his book how the world is getting flatter because the new innovation in technologies have made easier for everyone to communicate with anyone around the world. For example you can have a job interview thru Skype with the employer being in another country or in the same city. Even though there is people that disagree with Thomas Friedman because some believe we are not there yet or because it’s not flat but curve everyone has its own opinion. It is true that it could be that not all the country are part of these new era of globalization and innovations of technology but they are being integrated little by little. I personally agree with Thomas Friedman we can see that there is no more barriers between countries anymore. Those countries that haven't being part of these flatter world sooner or later they will be part and it will only make a bigger flatter world. I also agree with Freidman that these flatter world had created a big outsourcing in America. There is more competition between countries than in another times. The potential impact for students looking for jobs it’s big. The internet had open a new horizon and new ways to search for jobs. Technology has made it easier to search a company to see what they offer and what they do in a very specific way which helps a students prepare for an interview with the company. The enlarged database helps students get a better understanding where the places that are recruiting are personal. Students today have...
Words: 579 - Pages: 3
...Read Closing Case Three: The World is Flat – Thomas Friedman on page 33. Watch the video of Thomas Freidman’s lecture at MIT which can be found at http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/266/ Discuss the following questions: 1. Do you agree or disagree with Friedman’s assessment that the world is flat? Be sure to justify your answer. I agree with Friedman’s assessment that the world is flat. I concur with this assessment because economic factors have all intertwined to create the environment for flattening. In other words, we can not go about doing things the same way. Change is inevitable and people must be willing to accept and adapt to it. 2. What are the potential impacts of a flat world for a student performing a job search? As a student performing a job search, one must realize the competition is stronger and stiffer in the job market. With the improvements in advance technology, individuals all around the world can apply for jobs in different countries, states, etc. As Friedman suggests, we must become “untouchable.” One must adapt and specialize where there is a need in the global playing field. 3. What can students do to prepare themselves for competing in a flat world? In order to prepare to compete in a flat world, an individual must constantly renew his or her technological and work skills, education and experience. Technology is changing daily and the world is moving at a significantly pace. Therefore, it is important to stress self-learning and learning to...
Words: 255 - Pages: 2
...Summary of The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman LENGTH: 4976 words HEADLINE: It's a Flat World, After All BYLINE: By Thomas L. Friedman. Thomas L. Friedman is the author of ''The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,'' to be published this week by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and from which this article is adapted. His column appears on the Op-Ed page of The Times, and his television documentary ''Does Europe Hate Us?'' will be shown on the Discovery Channel on April 7 at 8 p.m. BODY: In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail for India, going west. He had the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He never did find India, but he called the people he met ''Indians'' and came home and reported to his king and queen: ''The world is round.'' I set off for India 512 years later. I knew just which direction I was going. I went east. I had Lufthansa business class, and I came home and reported only to my wife and only in a whisper: ''The world is flat.'' And therein lies a tale of technology and geoeconomics that is fundamentally reshaping our lives -- much, much more quickly than many people realize. It all happened while we were sleeping, or rather while we were focused on 9/11, the dot-com bust and Enron -- which even prompted some to wonder whether globalization was over. Actually, just the opposite was true, which is why it's time to wake up and prepare ourselves for this flat world, because others already are, and there is no time to waste. I wish I could say I saw...
Words: 5367 - Pages: 22
...“While I was Sleeping” by Thomas L. Friedman, he made a very strong argument (figuratively) that the world is becoming flat. After reading this essay, one really has no choice but to agree. The essay was written fairly recently due to the fact that he mentions very current technology in this essay. Mr. Friedman said “I just want to understand why Indians were taking Americans work and why they have become such an important pool for outsourcing Americans work” (626). It is obvious that he is somewhat warning the American culture, young and middle aged. The world really is flat in regards to technology, the economy, and our ever changing cultures. Thomas L. Friedman’s argument in this essay is that the world is flattening. He starts with the setting on a golf course in Bangalore, India. Bangalore is the home of the modern world’s most advanced technology. The author kept comparing his journey to Bangalore, to the journeys of Christopher Columbus. As we all know Christopher Columbus set out to find a more direct way to India and to prove that the world was round. The author of this essay uses the modern world of technology and its recent advances to prove that the world is in fact flat and that everyone needs to be ready to except significant changes to our culture and power as we know it. Through the help of interviews with the CEO of Infosys Technologies Limited, he supports the fact that the people from Indian are helping to make the world smaller through the technologies...
Words: 952 - Pages: 4
...among states, individuals and corporations by creating a more economic interdependence and global integration which in turn makes the globe a dynamic place. Since the development of technology the world has consistently been made smaller from time to time by reducing the physical, economical and socio-political barriers thus turning the world into what scholars refer to as a global village. We cannot talk about ICT and its role in flattening of the world without touching on globalization. Globalization in this case refers to the increasing free flow of readily available technology, ideas, market and people. In the book “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman he argues that ICT and global integration have enables countries like China and India to develop the fastest growing economies in the world. In his book Thomas starts us off by telling us he realizes the world is flat when he visits a campus in India. Friedman is impressed by the campus’s advanced technology such as the glass-and-steel buildings and large flat-screen televisions. The playing field has been leveled; now countries like India can compete for global knowledge. Friedman argues that we are now in the midst of Globalization 3.0 is a period in which the world shrinks from small to tiny, flattening to such a degree that individuals can collaborate and compete globally. The uniqueness of this era is the unprecedented empowerment of individuals to collaborate...
Words: 803 - Pages: 4
...January 2013 Untouchable This is a summary of “The Untouchables” is a section from The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty First Century written by Thomas Friedman. In this excerpt Friedman explains how everyone should strive to be “untouchable” in todays society. This is ironic because untouchables in India’s caste system are people with very little respect, but how Friedman puts it they are people with jobs that can not be outsourced or become digitized. Due to globalization Americans as “individuals will have to work a little harder and run a little faster to keep our standard of living rising.” We have to stop the globalization of industries and begin globalizing individuals because we ave to think globally to survive. Self awareness has been created by the ability to move work around to other countries people now realize they have to be able to have the skills and be able to compete in order to survive in today’s work world. Americans can not be mediocre at their job and get by anymore. A start would be striving to be the best and staying passionate about whatever that person does for a living. Friedman believes that the world is becoming flat due to jobs being outsourced all over the world. Jobs will go to the cheapest most productive worker wherever they may be. The companies that will survive in this new flat world are changing their model of work in order to compete world wide. Students need to reorient what they learn in school to change it to make it useful...
Words: 474 - Pages: 2
...Thomas Friedman’s analysis of the influences shaping business and competition in this day and age’s technology-fueled global environment is a plea to action for governments, businesses and individuals who must stay ahead of these trends in order to remain competitive. Friedman describes the untimely force of social and technological shifts that leveled the economic world. Friedman believes there are historically three great eras of globalization. The first was from 1492-1800, which he calls Globalization 1.0; the second was from 1800-2000, which he calls Globalization 2.0. Friedman discusses that we are now in the midst of Globalization 3.0 which is a period in which the world shrinks from small to tiny, flattening to such a degree that individuals can collaborate and compete globally, from ANYWHERE in the world. Friedman explains how the world became flat as well as the associations of that development. He then goes on to explain that there are 10 flatteners of the world. The first flattener discussed is 11/9/89, when the Berlin wall fell, “when the wall came down, windows came up,” which Friedman explains that when this wall fell it allowed the world to be looked at as a single plane. The third flattener argued is when workflow software such as Microsoft office software came into effect. Outsourcing was the fifth flattener; Friedman quickly details how the United States benefited from India’s seven Institutes of Technology (IIT), created in 1951. The tenth and final...
Words: 385 - Pages: 2
...University of the Philippines Lahug, Cebu City The World is Flat Book Review by Thomas Friedman Submitted by: Angelique Kay G. Consular Submitted to: Ms. Mae Claire Jabines Chapter Summaries Chapter One: While I Was Sleeping The first chapter begins by illustrating Friedman's disclosure that the world is flat. It sets forward on his visit to Infosys Technologies Limited in India, where he go on foot with Discovery Times. Friedman is inspired by the grounds' propelled innovation, for example the glass-and-steel edifices and huge even screen Tvs. The organization's CEO, Nandan Nilekani, tells Friedman that the global competitive field seems to be leveled and that that the world is being flattened. From this, we can see that a "flat" world is one in which the "playing field" on which companies contend is presently level. It is one in which companies from different nations can compete with each other on an equivalent basis. Friedman breaks down Globalization into three (3) eras. The first is from 1492-1800, which he calls Globalization 1.0 and it shrink the world from large to medium. Its dynamic force is countries — how much physical strength your country has and how creatively you can move it into action. The second is from 1800-2000, which he calls Globalization 2.0 and creates a small world. It is about the multinational companies. As Friedman argues, we are now in the Globalization 3.0 period where in the world shrinks from small to tiny, flattening to such a...
Words: 3616 - Pages: 15
...preschool programs that meet state standards. As well, as results in a Georgia State University study, indicated that preschool significantly decreases the achievement gap. Children began preschool well behind the national norms on three of four skill assessments (receptive language, cognition, letter/word recognition, and expressive language) and finished preschool well above the national norms after the program (Henry, et al, 7). This is why the government should redirect our resources to include universal preschool in the Yakima Valley. This will enable future generations to become curious, self-motivated, and improve the education gap, therefore competing in the new flat world. There is a correlation between the world, education, and jobs. According to Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World is Flat, the world is dramatically becoming “flattened.” Meaning that through the convergence of advanced technologies, the...
Words: 1451 - Pages: 6
...Parna BUS 151 09/16/2014 The World Is Flat Growing up I learned about the process of adhesion in my biology class that occurs between water molecules. Adhesion is a process in which dissimilar molecules attach themselves to each other due to various inter-molecular forces. An example of this could be the water droplets attached on a leaf surface. In his speech Thomas Friedman explains a theory very much similar to this called ‘globalisation’. In today’s world there is a large presence of ‘adhesion’ due to which many countries are pulled together to form a much larger platform. In other words, Thomas Friedman has explained the substantial growth of the worldwide phenomena of ‘globalisation’ in his theory of a “flat” world. In this upcoming world of constant change and development of science and technology, ‘impossible’ is a word that could soon be possibly removed from the dictionary. The rate of discovery and inventions over just the past decade is much higher than that compared to the rate of inventions from the start of time. Furthermore, the dependency that has been developed on technology is so massive that, a simple shut down of the ‘internet’ could potentially crash economies around the world. Keeping up with the growth and pace of technology is no longer an option. From businesses to consumers to governments, everyone has to constantly adapt themselves in order to make the best of the situation to accomplish their ulterior goals. As Friedman says, all businesses are now...
Words: 500 - Pages: 2
