Stephanie Zide ISM 3010 February 6, 2012

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  “Thomas L. Friedman is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist—the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and the author of five bestselling books.”

OVERVIEW  “The World Is Flat is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks–environmental, social, and political.”  Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.

DID YOU SAY THE WORLD WAS FLAT?  Through advances in technology and a wealth of human resources the global playing field has been leveled, connecting people from all corners of the globe to compete or collaborate in a myriad of ways.

10 FACTORS THAT FLATTENED THE GLOBE

WHEN THE WALLS CAME DOWN AND THE WINDOWS CAME UP  The historic fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9, 1989, marked a global transition towards democratic governments and economies based on free market principles.  Once the Berlin Wall fell the world could see that there were no longer any barriers to global trade and enterprise.  Six months later Microsoft released Windows 3.0, providing the platform for the creation and transfer of information with ease and speed unknown before.

A NEW AGE OF CONNECTIVITY: THE WORLDWIDE WEB  The second event was the release of Netscape and the birth of the World Wide Web. Netscape went public in 1994 and introduced the beginning of the dot com bubble that ultimately resulted in the explosive growth of the fiber optic technology that enables us to send and receive the vast amounts of data that we do today.

WORKFLOW SOFTWARE:  The development of workflow software and the use of digital content have made it possible for us to collaborate with associates worldwide.

UPLOADING: HARNESSING THE POWER OF COMMUNITIES  Uploading allows communities to become creators and consumers as they connect with one another and participate in the creation of “Community Developed Software” like the widely used Apache operating system and influence their communities by the creation of blogs.

OUTSOURCING: INDIA  With a broadband Internet connection, expertise, and proficiency in English, almost any knowledge based job, from software development to accounting can be outsourced to any part of the world that offers the lowest labor cost.  After the dot com bubble burst, India became a major provider of low wage, knowledge based jobs for companies looking to outsource.

OFFSHORING: CHINA  Manufacturing production moves over seas, tempted by the lure of lower taxes, cheap labor, subsidized energy and lower health care costs for workers.  Offshoring promotes a “race to the bottom” environment where other nations must try to compete with low wage nations like China or see their production jobs move overseas, affecting their economies and labor markets.

SUPPLY CHAINING: WALMART  “Wal-Mart today is the biggest retail company in the world, and it does not make a single thing. All it ‘makes’ is a hyper efficient supply chain”.  Supply chaining promotes flattened world because it levels the playing field between manufacturers and consumers, providing on demand distribution of products at the lowest cost available to consumers.  This hyper efficient supply chain model requires that workers receive the lowest wages and fewest benefits, forcing other companies to follow suit to compete, stagnating wages.

INSOURCING: UPS  Smaller companies use the logistical resources of larger distributors like UPS to compete on a global scale with much larger companies, resulting in highly integrated relationships between companies and standardized business practices around the world.

IN-FORMING: GOOGLE AND YAHOO  The access to information becomes an equalizer.  Google searches represent global flattening because only 1/3 of all Google searches are U.S.-based and less than 50% of those searches are in English.  Social Networks like Yahoo Groups, connects people socially with others and presents a variety of forums for them interact in and share information.

THE STEROIDS: FACTORS THAT AMPLIFY GLOBAL FLATTENERS  VoIP- Voice over internet protocol  Wireless internet access and mobile devices that allow work to be done away from the office

TRIPLE CONVERGENCE: THE GRAND DESIGN  It is this triple convergence – of new players, on a new playing field, developing new processes and habits for horizontal collaboration – that I believe is the most important force shaping global economics and politics in the early twenty-first century...The scale of the global community that is soon going to be able to participate in all sorts of discovery and innovation is something the world has simply never seen before..

SUMMARY  “For Friedman, cheap, ubiquitous telecommunications have finally obliterated all impediments to international competition, and the dawning 'flat world' is a jungle pitting 'lions' and 'gazelles,' where 'economic stability is not going to be a feature' and 'the weak will fall farther behind.’  “Friedman agrees with the transnational business executives who are his main sources that these developments are desirable and unstoppable, and that American workers should be preparing to 'create value through leadership' and 'sell personality.’

REFERENCES  Friedman, T. L. (2008, June 23). The World is Flat | Thomas L. Friedman. Home | Thomas L. Friedman. Retrieved February 05, 2012, from is-flathttp:// is-flat  Altermatt, B. (n.d.). Summary and excerpts from Thomas Friedman’s the world is flat (2006) [Scholarly project]. In Notes on The World is Flat (2006). Retrieved February 5, 2012, from  Scholarly Project