...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 flattener is what Friedman calls “the steroids.” Friedman calls certain technologies steroids (digital, mobile, personal, and virtual), because they augment and strengthen other flatteners. Friedman says these flatteners “created a flat world: a global, web-enabled platform for multiple forms of sharing...
Words: 385 - Pages: 2
...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...
Words: 421 - Pages: 2
...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...
Words: 1380 - Pages: 6
...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...
Words: 472 - Pages: 2
...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,...
Words: 25516 - Pages: 103
...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 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...
Words: 604 - Pages: 3
...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
...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...
Words: 500 - Pages: 2
...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...
Words: 491 - Pages: 2
...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...
Words: 999 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 421 - Pages: 2
...We are introduced to Friedman’s interpretation of the ten influencing factors that led to globalization and world flattening, the first being the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which tipped the balance of power across the world towards democratic free market and away from authoritarian rule. A second flattener is identified as our ability to not only author our own content, but to send it worldwide with the 1995 launch of the Internet. Subsequently, free workflow software was developed, allowing people from around the world to collaborate and work together on projects using a shared medium. As Apache and Wikipedia came into play, we became able to develop and upload web content and community collaboration became another flattening force. Preparations for Y2K required resources beyond those available in the United States and as a result, we see that India became responsible for a huge portion of these preparations. Offshoring, using the Chinese manufacturing sector as a prime example, has forced other developing countries to try to keep up with their low cost solutions, resulting in better quality and cheaper products being produced worldwide. The seventh flattening factor is our introduction to supply chaining. Rounding out his list with insourcing, in-forming and “the steroids”, Friedman examines his flattening factors, their origins and the effect they will have on the way we do business in the future. List of Ten Forces * Collapse of Berlin Wall--11/89: The...
Words: 547 - Pages: 3
...Is the world really flat? In his famous book: The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman depicts how globalization has broken the restrictions of country border and is transforming the world into an interconnected, flat world. Based on his observations, Friedman groups these globalization phenomena into 10 so-called “flatteners”, such as Collapse of the Berlin Wall, outsourcing, offshoring, and informing. He is a firm advocate of free trade. He recounts several examples of Chinese and India companies that take advantage of low cost labor to integrate into the whole world trade supply chain. From his view, the world is really becoming a seamless world factory where every country works in cooperation along this supply chain. Meanwhile, globalization is bringing a set of globalized values to every corner of the world. Indeed, the world seems like a truly fair playing ground. However, in my view, the world is just far from being flat. The world is in a huge imbalance. Due to the comparative advantage of labor between developing countries and developed countries, the world capital is flowing from the US and European countries which have high labor cost to emerging economies like China and India where there are abundant supply of cheap and skilled labor. On one hand, China and the other emerging economies are accelerating their integration into the interdependence world factory. Gaps in living standards, wage and technology are quickly shrinking. The benefits of economic boom are spreading...
Words: 1392 - Pages: 6
...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
