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....