The World is Flat - Essay Example

1) I think I do not agree with the Though many of the arguments of the may seem correct because of the fact that has very intellectually argued about the various aspects of globalization which has rather flattened the field for competition however same is not the case yet. Firstly, economic competition never remains the same. Technologically superior countries always enjoy an upper hand in terms of producing cost effective goods and services which give them a clear advantage in a globalized world to dominate the terms in the market.

Further, linking Information technology with the economic growth and competition may be just one side of the argument as the author has suggested. However as we analyze the economic competitions, we come to know that there are other different variables to the overall economic competition in the globalized world also. Since information technology provide just one aspect of growth, the availability of skilled labor force, the availability of indigenous sources of raw materials etc are some of the core issues which define the competition within any industry whether at the local and regional level or at the globalized level.

The arguments put forward in this should also be analyzed in terms of the arguments put forward by Joseph Stieglitz in his book “Globalization and its discontents”. The supposed exploitative power of globalization has not in fact flattened the world however it has allowed few more countries to come into its folds to exploit those who lack that capability. It is also further be noted that the writer has quoted the examples of China and India while citing the reasons for flattened world however as of now the Indian economy is sliding back.

The brief period of Euphoria seems to be ending as the external events such as surge in oil prices, food inflation as well as shortages of essential commodities have forced to kneel down. This suggest that the flattened world have not allowed to grow in economic terms rather allowed it to grow for brief period of time through speculative activities through stock exchange and real estate boom.So overall I do not agree with the arguments of the author.2)Author has largely relied on the development into information technology as well as tele-communication technologies as the main events which have connected the world and created an opportunity for the flattened world.

The author has however defined ten most important events which have flattened the world.The fall of the Berlin wall is the first major event which has allowed the start of the flattening of the world followed by development of Netscape which has basically broaden the scope of internet for all thus allowed the development of communication between the different entities of the world. The development of the workflow software is also a critical event which has allowed better collaboration between the machines themselves without the interaction of humans.

Outsourcing is probably the single most important event which author believed has provided the companies the necessary cost advantage as the splitting of service and manufacturing component has allowed companies to be more efficient and cost effective. The open sourcing has further allowed individuals and companies to share the resources on the internet freely thus allowing sharing and transfer of knowledge between them. Off shoring is another flattener of the world as many companies are physically relocating to the places like China and India in order to better capture the untapped markets as well as become cost efficient.

Supply Chaining, in sourcing as well as informing are other events which according to the author has flattened the world.3)There are various examples in our daily life which can suggest that world is flat around us. If we call our Bank for some complain through its call center, we are mostly connected with the phone lines in India or other developing countries which are providing these services on behalf of our banks. Further, open sources of communication such as Google provide us a great opportunity to search the various resources on the organization in order to keep us informed as well as up to date about the recent trends in the world.4)Author is basically wrong because of the fact that research has effectively proven that the some of the events mentioned by the author in his book have not provided the desired results to the companies and they are thinking of retracting from their current positions.

Outsourcing as perceived has not provided the desired results to the companies and many of them are now feeling that they have provided the control of critical areas of their success to external agencies thus effectively loosing control over them. This in return has resulted into increased costs rather than the reduction in cost as perceived by many. Further, the distribution of wealth in nations like India and China is not really flat. It has allowed though to grow a middle class into those countries but the real strata of the society i.e. poor are still poor and wealth has not technically being transferred to them in real sense thus not creating the so called flattening impact on major chunk of the societies of those countries.

It must also be noted that the author has largely and solely have tried to correlate economic growth with the information technology which is not the case as wealth creation and economic growth is not the result of improvements in information technology as well as tele communication only.5)There are various implications for a student of a flat world. First a student entering into a local company or a multinational would face enormous competition as the jobs will be evenly distributed among the areas where companies work in a flat world therefore the immediate result of the flat world would be the loss of jobs in domestic market.

Further, a company working in a flat world would really provide a greater experience to the student to get exposure of many markets at the same time thus helping them to evolve as better managers.