...Globalization is the key component nowadays for a company to be able to be profitable. As Thomas Friedman states in his book, The World is Flat, “For physical products, supply chains now span the world. For example, raw materials might be extracted in South America, electronic components manufactured in Asia, computers assembled in the United States, and the final products sold in Europe.” [1] Consolidation strategies further empower firms to capitalize on economies of scale and focus on lowering their unit production costs. Firms often publicly declare that their mergers are motivated by a desire for revenue growth, an increase in product bases, and for increased shareholder value via staff consolidation, overhead reduction and by offering a wider array of products. However, the main reason and value of such strategy combinations is often related to internal cost reduction and increased productivity. [2] In banking, globalization has also affected us. Citibank, for example, two years ago moved their AML operations from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to India where a friend of mine ended up for three weeks training her now ex-coworkers. Not only that, call centers are located around the world, I recently called Bank of America to report a problem and someone with perfect English helped me in a very efficient way, when I asked where was he located at, he mentioned that he was in San Jose de Costa Rica, Costa Rica. Most recently, the banking institution where I work was sold...
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...Thomas L. Friedman, a journalist¸ often travels the globe. On a visit to India he ran across and idea that sparked his want to author The World is Flat. The seemingly simplistic idea is that from information and economic aspects the world is “flat”. In the modern age, individuals and countries have greater access to technological advances, which help level the playing field in terms of communication and gathering information. He presents his ideas through specific stories, interviews, and conversations had with executives in different countries who have similar ideas about globalization. The Next Convergence, written by Michael Spence, expresses the idea that prior to World War II the rich countries were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. This is the idea of divergence; modern convergence is Spence’s main claim throughout this book. Convergence is the shift in the global economy in which developing countries have experienced rapid growth. He has the idea that fairly soon the developing countries will be on par with the countries with advanced economies. Ultimately, both books have similar messages, but the messages are presented in different ways. A key aspect of Friedman’s book is that globalization occurred rapidly. The Berlin Wall collapse, occurring during the end of 1989, was his first of ten “forces” that flattened the world. Throughout thousands of years of human existence and multiple economies, I do not believe any have experienced a rapid increase in technology...
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...Thomas L Friedman’s The World is Flat In Thomas L. Friedman TheWorld is Flat he explains the new “flat” playing field of world business created by a combination of technology and intertwined economies. In addition he notes that this global leveling can be both positive and detrimental. Evidence of one of the more detrimental effects of flattening is easy to view in the recent crisis of the Greek economy and its effect on the global economy. Greece is one of the smallest economies in Europe, however between the technological ease of information of the Greek economies woes being broadcasted incessantly and the interdependency of the European and other world markets, what was once a regional concern about the amount of debt amassed by a small economy has rapidly turned into a worldwide economic contagion. “Worries that over indebted Greece could default sent investors scouring for the next ticking debt bomb. The euro zone has quite a selection to choose from: Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain, which, along with Greece, form the aptly nicknamed PIIGS. Yields on the sovereign bonds of Portugal and Spain have already risen, a sign that investors believe holding their debt is becoming riskier.” (Schuman, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1987598,00.html) Greece’s economic turmoil combined with other EU member states poised to default has caused a global unease that endangers the recovery of the United States market as well. The U.S. was finally seeing...
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...The World is Flat MKTG 445; Questions 4-6 By using the Friedman’s rules, a Coffee Company will be able to realize a success in the market after is succeeds in defining its product because defining a product is followed by defining consumers, targeting them and retaining them, meaning a maximized income. The Coffee Company would identify the highest competence over competitors’ product, then use the level of the product’s strength in digging itself deep in winning the consumers. In addition, the company will take the advantage of being in collaborating with the PR houses that will ensure that its image is enhanced as being a large company over other bigger competitors. After elevating its image to the level of a top tier company, the company will allow their loyal consumers be partners of the company and get involved in the decisions, hence fulfilling the Friedman’s rules. Making their customers feel like they are a part of a big company and looked at as partners will help the brand grow. It’s the need that drives a consumer to buy. A need highlighted in a promotional aspect attracts more consumers that the one that doesn’t address the consumer’s need. To achieve greatly and acquire more tactics, the company will need to outsource its staff to a bigger company so that they can be well trained. The company could take some staff to an abroad company known well for coffee production. This will in turn bring a great achievement in helping the company define its product in the...
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...Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XLV (March 2007), pp. 83–126 A Flat World, a Level Playing Field, a Small World After All, or None of the Above? A Review of Thomas L. Friedman’s The World is Flat EDWARD E. LEAMER∗ Geography, flat or not, creates special relationships between buyers and sellers who reside in the same neighborhoods, but Friedman turns this metaphor inside-out by using The World is Flat to warn us of the perils of a relationship-free world in which every economic transaction is contested globally. In his “flat” world, your wages are set in Shanghai. In fact, most of the footloose relationship-free jobs in apparel and footwear and consumer electronics departed the United States several decades ago, and few U.S. workers today feel the force of Chinese and Indian competition, notwithstanding the alarming anecdotes about the outsourcing of intellectual services. Of course, standardization, mechanization, and computerization all work to increase the number of footloose tasks, but innovation and education work in the opposite direction, creating relationship-based activities—like the writing of this review. It may only be personal conceit, but I imagine there is a reason why the Journal of Economic Literature asked me to do this review. 1. Prologue hen the Journal of Economic Literature asked me to write a review of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2005) by Thomas Friedman, I responded with enthusiasm,...
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...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...
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...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...
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...Thomas Friedman discusses how 10 principle concepts, in summary, allow easy transfer of capital and information around the world. His concept, that the “world is flat”, emboldens global competition with the possibilities of an equal ‘playing field’ due to the 10 “flatteners”. Friedman’s main focus was on the equal opportunity for corporate businesses globally, but from a financial market perspective, the ease in which capital flows is also encompassed in the “world is flat” concept. Due to technological advances, the global financial market has been refined with electronic exchanges, networks, institutions, and communications. Each country may have its own financial market, but the world is so closely tied together, causing global affects when one market is prospering or suffering. Currently all eyes are on Europe and the “Euro Crisis” stemming from their uncontrollable debt. There are discussions of a $1 trillion dollar bailout for the 16 “Eurozone” countries, which could ultimately cost and estimated $3 trillion or bankruptcy. Greece and Ireland are in the forefront of the countries in financial ruin. With the media making the entire world aware of these countries financial crisis and their insolvent state, investors are reluctant to continue to buy bonds that may not payoff. These investors are expected to bring in cash flow buy buying bonds so the European country can pay back the bank loans with extremely high interest. European Central Bank, responsible for...
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...Bhagyesh 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...
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...Advanced Topics in MIS Assignment #1: The World is Flat In Thomas Friedman’s lecture The World is Flat, he discusses the Globalization in 3 great eras. The first era, which he refers to as Globalization 1.0, is defined as countries globalizing between 1492 and 1820. The aspect went from large to medium on a country level. Globalization 2.0 is defined as companies globalizing between 1820 and 2000. The aspect went from medium to small on a company level. Globalization 3.0 is defined as individuals globalizing between 2000 to present. The aspect went from small to tiny as individuals and small groups. As Globalization expands, the playing field is getting leveled. Friedman identifies ten flatteners in Globalization. The first occurred on 11/9/1989 when the Berlin wall came down. He used the analogy that when the walls came down, the “windows” came up (referencing the launch of Microsoft OS 5.0). The second flattener happened 8/9/1995 when Netscape went public. It gave us the Internet and started the fiber optic demand which had a huge leveling effect. The third flattener was the creation of workflows and connecting applications. The fourth flattener is actually collaboration which generated the remaining 6 flatteners: * * Outsourcing * Offshoring * Open Sourcing * Supply Chaining * In Sourcing * Informing The turbo charge of all 6 flatteners of the collaboration is wireless. When all ten of the flatteners started to work together...
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...Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat In The World Is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman discusses events and technologies that are “flattening” the world and increasing globalization. Friedman feels the world is highly interconnected without regard to hierarchy, distance, organizational size, individual status, culture, or language. He describes ten "flatteners" that are reshaping the world. Flattener 1 – Fall of the Berlin Wall The end of the Cold War broke down barriers between people. To catch your attention he identifies this flattener with 9/11. November 9, 1989 is when the Berlin Wall fell. He contrasts it with 9/11 which is journalistically neat but not terribly pertinent. But Friedman doesn't stop with a political-historical event. About the same time (the 1980s), Apple and Microsoft were making personal computers available to the world. Not only did the Berlin wall fall but Microsoft Windows opened [cute]. Part of flattener #1 is the personal computer, the ability of individuals to put their thoughts in digital form. Flattener 2 – The Internet On August 9, 1995 Netscape went public with first internet browser available to the public at large. Now people could access information from all over the world. Flattener 3 - Workflow software Many software developments, standards, and protocols enable computers and other digital devices to interact over the internet so that work and other projects can be done by people any where in the world. Friedman notes that...
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...HONG KONG Economic Freedom Score 25 World Rank: 1 Regional Rank: 1 50 75 Least free 0 Most 100 free 89.9 This economy is not graded freedom H ong Kong’s economic the 2012 Iscore. is 89.9, making its economy the freest in ndex Its overall score is 0.2 point higher than last year, with improvements in free- Freedom Trend 92 dom from corruption and the control of government spending partially offset by a small decline in monetary freedom. Hong Kong is ranked 1st out of 41 countries in the Asia–Pacific region. Hong Kong has demonstrated a high degree of resilience during the ongoing global turmoil and remains one of the world’s most competitive financial and business centers. The highquality legal framework, which provides effective protection of property rights and strong support for the rule of law, continues to be the cornerstone of strength for the dynamic city economy. There is little tolerance for corruption. Regulatory efficiency and openness to global commerce strongly support entrepreneurial dynamism, while overall macroeconomic stability minimizes uncertainty. Economic interaction with China has become more intense and sophisticated, chiefly through strengthened financial linkages, and financial markets are extremely well capitalized. Although Hong Kong maintains its ranking as the world’s freest economy, policies proposed or implemented since the second half of 2010, particularly the establishment of a minimum...
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...The Flattening of Healthcare The flattening of the world, specifically with technological advancements has given way to an increased amount of competition to businesses not traditionally open to international competition. One of the least discussed industries expanding its competition because of technology is healthcare. The globalization of the healthcare is one way that American hospitals, to be more specific, have increased their scope of influence overseas. Hospitals are now sending surgeons overseas to perform surgical procedures with real time information being delivered back and forth electronically between physical locations. This allows major hospitals here at home to now compete internationally and push back against the increasing popular phenomenon known as medical tourism, the practice of seeking low-cost healthcare in foreign countries. The Cleveland Clinic not only engages in this practice but is now actively expanding and building hospitals overseas. Electronic medical records and medical robotics have allowed the Cleveland Clinic health system here in Ohio to monitor all procedures being done overseas and even allows surgeons here in the US to perform surgery on international patients from right here at home. The advancement of surgical robotics and information communication technologies have allowed surgeons to transcend traditionally human limitations. These new technologies allow major hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic to increase their capacity for competition...
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...think Bozich would be able to try the Alta Garcia experiment but experiment would fall in the long run because of the higher costs and having to constantly assure concern shareholders if profit isn’t where it’s supposed to be. 3) I think the competitors might stand in his way. If the competitors have low costs, they will appeal more to retailers and wholesalers and will cause a challenge for Alta Garcia to compete in the market. I think Alta Garcia should keep marketing the message built around “fair labor” to the media and possibly get a celebrity endorser to help promote the brand and encourage more consumers to buy the brand. 4) The strategy would work if they tried to sell to Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. If Wal-Mart condones and market the message to millions of consumers who shop there, Alta Garcia would see a huge boost in profit. 5) It depends on what is “ethical” in certain countries. If a company has to move to a certain country to pursue the lowest possible labor cost in order to survive in a competitive market, then they have the right to do so. 6) I think the Alta Garcia experiment suggest that if you treat your employees fair by providing the workers with a safe working environment and decent wages, your company can still compete in a “unfair labor” marketplace. The company can still make profit while doing...
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...as effective marketing strategies cannot be developed without firstly analysing the environment in which the company operates. The paper analyses a number of the theoretical approaches to strategic planning to be considered in international marketing. Keywords: adaptation; international; marketing; McDonald’s; standardisation; strategy. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Vrontis, D. and Pavlou, P. (2008) ‘The external environment and its effect on strategic marketing planning: a case study for McDonald’s’, Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, Vol. 3, Nos 3/4, pp.289–307. Biographical notes: Demetris Vrontis is the Founder and Editor of the EuroMed Journal of Business and the Editor for the World Journal of Business Management. He is a Professor in Marketing and the Dean of the School of Business at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. His prime research interests are international marketing, marketing...
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