"The World is Flat"
“No one ever gave me directions like this on a golf course before: ‘Aim at either Microsoft or IBM’.” pg. 3
Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" discusses how the world is quickly becoming a level playing field. He attributes the flattening of the world to ten major factors, "The world has been flattened by the convergence of ten major political events, innovations, and companies. None of us has rested since, or maybe ever will again.” (pg. 51) These ten factors are the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of Netscape, work flow software, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining, insourcing, informing, and finally, "the steroids" (wifi, mobile phones, etc.). Because of these factors, the world is becoming more and more transparent and level.
Friedman discusses complicated concepts in a novelistic manner that makes his theory easy to understand and entertaining to read. There are quite a few critical of his work, but "The World is Flat" is approachable enough for one to read through it with little prior understanding of the concepts and develop their own opinion. Friedman makes a strong case for his "flat world" theory by providing plenty of examples and tracing it from the sparks that started it up to the globalization of the workforce present now.
"The World is Flat" was published seven years ago, but has not lost its relevance. New "steroids" are released constantly, but they only further help to flatten the world. I can pull up a live feed of Paris on my iPad instantly, or apply for a job in China. As a college student, it is easy to see Friedman's case for Americans competing on a global job market. Americans can no longer count on being the only person in the area with their expertise. Mar 26
Flattener #5: Outsourcing
COVER STORY PODCASTGlobalization has been brutal to midwestern manufacturers like the Paper Converting Machine Co. For decades, PCMC's Green Bay (Wis.) factory, its oiled wooden factory floors worn smooth by work boots, thrived by making ever-more-complex equipment to weave, fold, and print packaging for everything from potato chips to baby wipes. But PCMC has fallen on hard times.
Offshoring ... benefits the consumer'
CIO — Sam Walton's self-described distrust of computers didn't keep him from building his company into a global leader of information technology innovation. First Wal-Mart opens in Rogers, Ark. With more than 125 stores and $340.3 million in sales, Wal-Mart leases an IBM 370/135 computer system to maintain inventory control for all merchandise in the warehouse and distribution centers and to prepare income statements for each store.