The World is Flat: Chapter 3

Triple Convergence:
1)Creation of New field
2)Adapt to New rules
3)Addition of New players
                = New Game
A very competitive new game.....reminds me again of the gazelle lion metaphor on pg.114
There is a drive in the developing world, that is lacking in our country. While the developing world is building a generation of "zippies", internally driven and focused youth. Our country has produced a generation of entitlement. I look at my generation and see a generation that believes that the U.S. is still the best, and deserves the best, and will have the best. This entitlement has led us to be unmotivated. We are not working at the pace that we need to to keep ahead. I think this should be one of the great flattening forces; our ego. Currently, the majority of outsourced and off-shored work is grunt work, not the brains of the operation.....but that may not last long. Then the world will be flat.

The World is Flat: Chapter 2

The ten flattening forces as described by Friedman and summarized by me:

1) Fall of communism/socialism--> Capitalism became King, ruler of all (major) economies

2)Open communication--> public launch of Netscape the opening of the web to the people

3)Interfacing software apps--> build up of applications on a computer that can seamlessly function together....made working a whole lot easier

4)Open-source--> the advent of making and sharing knowledge....for free. Allowed the public to edit, fix, and rework programs. More minds = stronger better ideas. Yay collaboration!

5)Fiber optics--> better communication, occurring over further distances. Even more collaboration and access to the web! (Especially for India, who got to stop outsourcing all of there knowledge)

6)Race to the bottom begins--> Off-shoring! Moving elsewhere to cut costs and up profits.
(I REALLY like the metaphor he uses:
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running." page 114
Except...in Africa the metaphorical "lions" won't really starve....they will just lose profit...the "gazelle" really might die though)

7)Work smarter, not harder--> By adopting technology as it comes out and incorporating it quickly you can stay ahead of the rest. ( "The fewer natural resources your country or company has, the more you will dig inside yourself for innovations in order to survive." page 131--> This is so very true!)

8)Global supply chains--> more efficient companies. Get what you want, where you want, faster.

9)Search engines--> evened playing field by increasing access to knowledge.

10)At your fingertips--> Information at the touch of a button. Forget the days of dial up.....now I can text my friend, while twit picking you, and fact check you on google....all on my phone...while pretending to pay attention. BOOM! crazy....
crazy....

The World is Flat: Chapter 1

In a way one could say the world is flattening, but I feel that gives a false understanding of what is occurring. There are most definitely hubs of production across the world that are reaching a level playing field. However, as it has always been the case those hubs are surrounded by areas that are not seeing the same progress.Friedman talks about Bangalore, India as one of his examples of a flattening world.To the outsider Bangalore looks like a sprawling and thriving city, yet right outside is settlements of highly impoverished people.

           

                                                             
Durban, South Africa is another example of a beautiful thriving city encompassed in poverty, if one was to explore out past the lovely area of the city, they would find an expansive settlement of shack dwellers who have "No Land, No House, No Vote" and there for are ignored by the government in the planning of developments to "fix" their living situation.
These are not rare examples.

 

 I feel as though there are rising hubs of power in developing countries. I fully understand that the playing field is never really even, in any country that is working under a capitalistic economy. However it just kind of irks me, because in my head I translate "flat" to "even", which I suppose is not the way he means it. 

I do however really like Friedman's outline of the three stages of Globalization.

Globalization 1.0 : Where does my country fit in

Globalization 2.0: Where does my business fit in

Globalization 3.0: Where do I fit in

It is a nice way to boil down what has occurred since the advent of colonization.