Lowering Barriers to Telecommunication Growth - Literature review Example

? The Flat World Introduction It’s a flat world! As realized by the article’s after he visited India (Friedman, 2005). Thales believed that the world was flat (Theles of Miletus, 624-547), this belief was held until Columbus said otherwise in 1492 (Friedman, 2005). The rude awakening was precipitated by the display of various technological advances that made geographic locations and time constraints immaterial in the way the world do business. According to the article, intelligent creations can be created separately and then put together as if the people working on them separately from different parts of the world were working together in one room. The large video conferencing equipment as an indication of technological advances has in fact made the world move in the same direction as if under one time zone indicating further that the world is flat. However, the context of the levelled playing field in the context of business could have meant that the most progressive countries do not have the monopoly of all knowledge based business. Intelligence or knowledge is not exclusively spawned in progressive countries they are also present at some level in other countries. Even in the most adverse condition brilliance tends to shine and even outshines the brilliance emanating from progressive countries (Darling-Hammond, 2010). A company with little or limited capital is on the same playing field as those with tens of millions in their advertising and promotional marketing budgets and more in their pockets. A company with several hundred engineers in their talent pool can easily be eased out from a government contract by a company with only one brilliant engineer with the right invention (Ferrell, Hirt, & Ferrell, 2010). The internet has made all of these possible. Competition is not all about money now or who has the right connection or even the number of employees or buildings or even offices all over the world (Done, 2011). Talent and knowledge have become universal and within easy reach. Communicating directly with the talent with the knowledge has lessened the cost of its acquisition. All of these things considered the world have been made flat (Eve, 2011). Telecommunication The article mentioned the enormous investment poured into creating the infrastructure to support the colossal telecommunication system that is the foundation of the internet. Over the past several decades strides have been made to make everybody connected not just locally but internationally as well. This is evidenced not in audio transmissions alone but also in video transmissions as well. The number of companies or the syndication of the capital needed to create the infrastructure did not simply come from one company in one particular country. Each country wanting to be part or connected to the internet highway have contributed their resources or that of the proponent companies in that country. These efforts have made the telecommunication industry borderless another indication of a flat world. It should be mentioned that being connected into the internet highway could open opportunities for the country no matter how small or how poor the country is (Crombie, 1976). Telecommunication is the great equalizer, the greater the bandwidth and the wider the reach of telecommunication infrastructure in every country all over the world the cheaper it gets. The fastest way to get in touch with clients is through the telephone. Clients who do not have the time and only function on the basis of trust and goods delivered to establish credibility will more and more dominate the international business climate. Since not all companies or business owners have the budget or even the resources to conduct face to face business transactions thus the changing business landscape also reacts and adapts to the technological advances being made commercially available (Qiang & Pitt, 2003). Technology have made it possible for regular analogue phone, cable television or video frequency, radio or audio frequency, data transmission and even power or energy to be available in one single line. This made it possible to lessen the cost of telecommunication even lower. This trend if it continuous equally makes it possible for the world to shrink in a way (Loomis & Taylor, 1999). Audio/Video Conferencing and other technological advances The technological advances in audio and video conferencing have shrunk the world and have made everything in real time. The article have made mention of the observation of the author with regards to how the video conferencing capability of the the company in India have made it possible for the company in India to directly communicate with its clients or peers in other parts of the world. Receiving and resolution of complaints have become real time and immediate because of this functionality. Organizations do not have to make assumptions and abstract reference to real time corporate or marketing problems but more importantly, it can actually be presented via live feed video conferencing. Business requirements, parameters and order specification can now be shown and explained over the internet. Business do not have to wait for the first batch of delivery to determine the success of the design, real time data can be made available. Information about product launching and other details can also be emailed instead of being sent over through parcels or telegrams. Taking advantage of these innovations and technological advances, some enterprising young men launched the first in a series of social networking sites that made social interaction even more current. Children and parents including couples or even just friends do not have to wait for weeks or months to receive updates about each other they can actually make any news about each other current. They do not have to wait for hours just to see their love ones, what they can do is just talk to their love ones over the phone. For the movie and musical enthusiast even sports faithful followers do not have to wait for a delayed broadcast just to determine the result of a game. The movies “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” are just some movies that have been launched simultaneously all over the world giving the people at the other side of the world the same privilege as that of the moviegoers in Hollywood and New York. Everybody now is on the same time zone. It matters not where we are or what the actual time of our location is or if we are sleeping or not. People will adjust to the demands for their time. This is another indication or evidence of a flat world. Business Process Outsourcing/Internet based business The internet has provided the means for even the small entrepreneurs to compete in equal footing with the big guys of large corporations. In the world-wide-web, the web pages are the sole window of the company that can be opened to introduce its products (Brynjolfsson, 2011). Web browsers can only do so much in displaying the different arrays of web pages that a company can present in the internet. Web browser’s heuristic and semantic web functionality can only display a portion of the abstract of a company. Each company no matter how large or small are only given from two to 5 lines of information about the web page they have created (Delgado, 2011). This limitation has made it possible to for small players to be in level playing field with that of large companies. Even the intricate and highly attractive website is not an indication or do not reflect the size of the company or how much it earns. Google.com only has several regular employees but its earnings are already beyond the six digit figures. America On-Line with its several thousand employees all over the world can only boast of its large acquisition but its page hits is not even half of Google.com (Bright, 2008). Several more success stories can come to mind detailing the success of several David’s amidst the threat of annihilations of Goliaths in the same industry. While these companies can be considered the Davids of our time, their success can only be attributed in equal measure to the success of the internet. In the seventies, it was only large companies such as Ford and Toyota or several other pharmaceutical companies who considered setting up manufacturing companies in Southeast Asia (Vitasek, Crawford, Nyden, & Kawamoto, 2011). Now even smaller companies can outsource their back-office processes to save on cost to Business Process Outsourcing specialist in Southeast Asia. Some companies that availed of outsourcing opportunities have also made it prudent to make their operation global. Translated roughly they have also made their services available to customers from other countries (Toren & Toren, 2011). Virtual stores have also been set up for fast moving consumer products that are manufactured in South America but is marketed and sold in Southeast Asia while a small farmer in China can actually make his or her agricultural produce available worldwide through the internet. Conclusion In conclusion, concepts are proven with experiments to provide empirical representation of what needs to be proven: Please try this experiment: In a football field try giving direction to somebody who is at the other end of the field with a megaphone as done during practice games by coaches all over the world. This is not only real but this currently in practice. Taking the experiment in a bigger context, try calling somebody from the other side of the world with the use of a cellular phone and the player at the end is receiving his instruction via a blue tooth earpiece. While the coach from the other end of the world is watching the player through a web cam transmitting the images of whatever is happening in the player’s field. He can relay the same instruction to the player. This is not science fiction this is possible already. With the proof provided by this experiment, we can conclude that the world is flat. To prove this the following will be established the football field is considered flat. On a flat surface you can give instructions to players that you can see with the use of technology. Since you can also use technology to relay the same message to players on the other side of the world and watch the player thru a web cam then the world can be considered flat. Big businesses do not have the monopoly of hoarding the impact of the flat and smaller world. Everyday people are slowly realizing that the world has suddenly become smaller and flatter since the seventies. And, this is because of technology. Technology has made the world flat. Innovations like audio and video conferencing including emails have also made the world smaller. Social networking sites have made it easier to get in touch with people separated by thousands of miles. Everything has been made current by technology. News about friends can be relayed almost immediately after it happens, and at times even as it is happening. Technology have made it possible for boundaries to be crossed and distance be breached without any significant effort. International cooperation towards a common goal that would include linking the world through telecommunication have made infrastructure borderless. Investments in technology and infrastructure have been made investments and infrastructure nationality or race neutral so long as they serve a common purpose. Governments all over the world including the boundaries that define tax jurisdiction have not yet catch-up with technology that will enable them to monitor, collect and even enforce tax laws. Goods can be made in Southeast Asia, paid for with international accounts in Europe and actually delivered in North America while transactions are made over the internet. The tax jurisdiction of the transaction has not yet been defined nor has its equitable sharing been established yet between nations. A new norm or world order have been spawned by technology everybody is enjoying the freedom it gives while taking advantage of the financial benefit it endows to the first in the business. The shrunken flat world is slowly making its presence felt and is finding its way through main stream society. The international launching of several movies and the real time showing over pay per view of a potential Pacquiao and Mayweather fight will make people realize how flatter and smaller the world have become since Mohammad Ali and Joe Fraizer fought in the seventies and was delayed telecast over satellite. References Bright, G. (2008). Get Top Ranking on Google and Other Search Engines. California: Wiley. Brynjolfsson, E. (2011). The great equalizer: Consumer Choice behaviour at internet snapbots. New York: Nabu Press. Crombie, D. (1976). Lowering Barriers to Telecommunication growth. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future (Multicultural Education). New York: Teacher's College Press. Delgado, T. (2011). The Online Businerkss Owner's Outsourcing Profit Plan with Worksheets. New York: Wiley and Sons. Done, A. (2011). Global Trends: Facing up to a Changing World. New YOrk: Palgrave MacMillan. Eve, M. (2011). The Essential Guide to Small Business Online Marketing. New York: Elsevier. Ferrell, O., Hirt, G., & Ferrell, L. (2010). Business: A Changing World. New York: McGraw-Hill. Friedman, T. L. (2005, April 3). It's a Flat World, After All. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03DOMINANCE.html?_r=1 Loomis, D. G., & Taylor, L. D. (1999). The Future of the Telecommunication Industry: Forecasting and Demand Analysis (Topics in Regulatory Economic and Policy). Florida: Springer Press. Qiang, C.-W., & Pitt, A. (2003). Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies to Growth (World Bank Working Papers). New York: World Bank Publications. Theles of Miletus. (624-547). Phoenicia. Toren, M., & Toren, A. (2011). Small Business, Big Vision: Lessons on how to dominate your market from self made entrepreneurs who did it right. New York: Wiley. Vitasek, K., Crawford, J., Nyden, J., & Kawamoto, K. (2011). The Vested Outsourcing Manual: A guide for creating sucessful Business and Outsourcing Agreements. Florida: Wiley and Sons. Read More