The World is Flat - Book Report/Review Example

? of the of the of the The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, Picador Part page. 4-59 The page ‘4’ of the book initiates with a discussion of the author trip to India. Mentioning the city Bangalore and terming it as India’s Silicon Valley, he mentions himself as being similar to Columbus and is inspired with his exploratory nature. He keeps comparing his findings with those of Columbus’s and eventually tells that he found that the “World was Flat.” He got immensely inspired by the existence of a video conferencing system embedded in one f the companies of India named Infosys. He is mesmerized when one of the personnel tells him just was he was trying to configure that the ‘Playing field was leveling’. This was meaning to say that the knowledge handling in seemingly backward and developing countries like India and China had no come just in line with the knowledge management norms of the developed countries like America etcetera. Outsourcing is the basic concept that Friedman studies from his entire journey. He is thrilled and decisive as to the fact that outsourcing was the key to the survival in the times to come. The author proceeds to the subsequent chapter mentioning the key concepts on which the rest of the book revolves. He mentions the ten Flatteners as the ten factors that influence and eventually lead to the globalization of the world. He stresses that it is the flattening only that would pave way for globalization. Namely, the ten flatteners were as follows: Berlin Wall Collapse 11/9/89 Invention of Netscape Navigator 8/9/95 Software compatibility Online collaboration via uploading Outsourcing Offshoring Supply-Chaining Insourcing Informing “The Steroids” part 2:  page. 60-129  The following narration is of the first five flatteners: Berlin Wall Collapse 11/9/89 Invention of Netscape Navigator 8/9/95 Software compatibility Online collaboration via uploading Outsourcing The Collapse of the Berlin wall on 11/9/89 is termed as a landmark happening that completely transformed the events that were to come. This happening paved the way for the residents of the former Soviet Union to become part of the happenings of the global economy. The happening is termed as an onset to the introduction of the free market system. Netscape Navigator was the first internet browser that showed human beings what the concept of the World Wide Web was. Being considered rightly so as the second flattener, it made the usage of the web extremely user friendly and suddenly everyone was coming online! Software Compatibility or the enabling of the cross communication between software themselves without the intrusion of man was a break breakthrough indeed. Computer systems could now become self-reliant and perform sole processing easing many tasks for man. Uploading or the transferring of information from one’s computer system onto the network of the internet or any other network such that it could be accessed by other computing devices connected to the same network was indeed a phenomenon that could be termed as a flattener. Outsourcing Bringing the entire world into one group and making people sitting and geographical locations millions of miles away do tasks for your collaborating business and reasonable costs and full expertise. part 3:  page. 129-199  Narration of the last five flatteners. Offshoring Offshoring is when a company moves its entire production scenario from its native location to another country where excellence was not being compromised and still additive advantages were being obtained. These included the reduction of health care costs, reasonable labor rates, lower taxes and backed energy. Supply-Chaining Mentioning Walmart as the ultimate Supply chaining example the author emphasized that the phenomenon was meant to promote and mediate the connections between retailers, consumers and producers. Insourcing Insourcing is hiring another company to do part of your company’s processes. An example of United Parcel Service as a company incorporating insourcing is mentioned. Informing Google and Yahoo! The name says it all. The phenomenon describes how the web exists and propagates as a source of information globally. “The Steroids” Mentions factors that enhance the effects of outsourcing, uploading, supply chaining etc. part 4: chapter 3&4  page. 200-259  The third chapter of this book by Friedman coins the term “The triple convergence”. This terminology is used by the writer in order to signify that the ten fatteners of the world discussed earlier converge all together to pave the way for an even flatter global arena. The first convergence is about the integration of collaboration platforms by virtue of the web. It narrates the convergence of the flatteners that has resulted in the world as it had become in the year 2000. The second convergence is the phenomenon that the potential of the flatteners is increased manifolds by the adaptation of the flatteners by business units and other commercial stakeholders. The third convergence is termed as the the entry of three billion people into the scenario of globalization. This was actually being referred to the fact that outsourcing had become possible from around the world after countries changed their economic and political systems to become in line with the uprising arena of globalization. The fourth chapter explores the way countries and individuals will have to incorporate changes in order to become part of the globalization scenario. He mentions that since the following and adopting of the Triple Convergence was an entirely new phenomenon thus the rising of confusion was a very likely phenomenon. He mentioned that things would eventually settle only when a few rules and regulations would be refurbished. Globalization would eventually eliminate the differences in the status of among the lower managerial level workers and the topmost management since each one of them would be very conveniently accessible and their rules would intertwine. part 5: chapter 5-7  page: 263-336 Chapter ‘five’ embarks with the discussion of free trade laws. Friedman mentions those trade laws as containing the behavior of ‘double edged swords’. He emphasizes that the economy of the world is ever flattening and Americans are going to lose their jobs eventually because of the increasing aptitude of outsourcing. In line with the author’s thoughts, the only way to survive internationally in the best of ways is to include the brightest of minds from around the globe into your team. He also mentioned that global economy was just on the verge of its existence and it was inevitable. The sixth chapter voices out a concern that according to Friedman was shared by every American individual. It was the concern that what should the children be told about the occurring changes in norms and how should they be made acquainted with it. He emphasizes that the next generation should be trained as “untouchables”. They should be told that that the traditional survival means were obsolete now and only three categories of workers would survive the changing scenario. Mentioning the rising concerns in the last chapter Friedman then coins out a possible manner to tackle them. The only way, Friedman said, was to learn and adapt to the ever evolving scenario. Like the author said that people will have to learn to learn. He emphasized that education in the right direction was the only manner in which it was possible to excel in the times to come. These skills involved brain excelling tasks that could not be taken over or replaced by computers. part 6: chapter 8-9  page: 337-400  The author mentions that after being in the regime for quite a while now the Americans had forgotten that the rest of the world was idolizing the work done by American scientists and was slowly and gradually gearing up to swap all the leading places from the Americans may it be the world of Sports or anything else. Friedman stresses that it was alarming that the American population itself was centered over idolizing entertainment legends while their competitors were making science and technology centered policies instead. One of the reason for this, he mentioned, was that the politicians of America were unaware of the emerging threat that their nation had from globalization while the scientist leaders of states like Japan etcetera could foresee due to their extended knowledge paradigms that what should have their line of action been. In the subsequent chapter Author Thomas Friedman calls for action. He strongly emphasized that if the American were to survive they should act just then to change their existing norms and actions. The basic things that needed a new line of action were education, skills and safety. He mentions that the first action in this regard was required by the politicians. They are the key personnel who were required to inspire and encourage the masses that looked up to them. The lifetime of the worker was needed to be given a supportive increase by enabling him to get outsourced. For those who had lost their jobs by outsourcing a remittance plan should be introduced that would assist them until they got another earning foothold. part 7: chapter 10-11  page: 403-474  Titled as “The Virgin of Guadalope” the current chapter under discussion mentions how developing nations should act in order to survive the emerging globalization and flattening of the world. He mentions that companies needed to be true to the changing environments and to themselves if they were aiming at surviving in the ever evolving world. He exhibits a proof of this though as the mentioning of countries who had adopted the free trade market system as compared to those nations who had not wholeheartedly adopted the globalization arena and had thus suffered. Developing nations should make such regulations that would assist in the fluent execution of business processes. This included simple execution, running and ceasing of businesses. He mentions Ireland as one of the states that already adopted to flexibility of business processes and said that their success was possible because their workforce was a combination of the most productive personnel from around the world and not only the most cheapest ones. As the name of the chapter suggests, the eleventh chapter emphasizes the actions of the companies solely in order to narrate what their strategies should be henceforth. The companies that would be adaptive to changes would only success and survive as no one could enforce changes into them from the outside. Restricting ones processes from outer world intrusion would only leave businesses behind in the race of globalization. Offering example of the company named “Greer and Associates” Friedman shows how they had to change from being a recording company to their current status of Strategic insight and creative instinct. He stressed that only those who worked hard to evolve into unique and simpler outlook and processing in line with the usability of the globalized world were prone to survive and thus eventually succeed. part 8: chapter 15-16  page: 533-594 The current chapter under discussion compares two instances in the history of mankind that were very recent and had left deep impacts on the lives and society of the human race. The first that happened was the demolishing of the great Berlin wall that had demarcated a boundary between east and west Germany. The author terms this demolishing as the constructive and creative imagination. Then he mentions the alarming happening of the 9/11 when the twin towers in the United States were hit by air borne passenger planes leading to killing of thousands and the realization of many things by the Americans. While the former was termed as an act that paved the way for the flattening of the world the latter was the resultant of the negativity of imaginations thus leading to the destruction of the world as a whole. He compares the emergence of two airliners the first of which incorporated the services of stay at home moms and retirees while the second was run by Bin Laden likes to lead to 9/11 and its likes. He emphasized that it was the responsibility of the positive thinkers to guide others who could misuse the flattening of the world against the prosperity of the entire human race. In line with the above thoughts Friedman continued that technology was an ever evolving phenomenon and was going to get better with the passing times. He stressed it was not for technology to guide the human beings but it was for the positive thinkers to harness technology in line with their requirements. Its misuse was very easy but should be inhibited by wise and quick adherence to positive globalization. The narration of the Dell Company and its supply chain concludes the masterpiece penned by the renowned author. He mentions that two nations, if involved in a single global supply chain mechanism, were less likely to enter into a war arena than those not involved. Each counterpart would effort to save its share and make the supply chain continue to survive thus leading to lesser geo political conflicts and prospering the arena of Globalization. REFERENCES: Friedman, Thomas H. The World is Flat. New York : Picador, 2007. Read More