Friedman's
bio: Thomas Friedman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He holds
a Master's degree, in Middle East studies, from Oxford University.
Currently Mr. Friedman is a foreign affairs columnist for the New
York Times. Friedman has written numerous books and has won the
Pulitzer Prize three times.
Main point: Friedman is using the title of this book as a metaphor. The point is to inform business people that the barriers to entry, in all industries, have been largely eliminated. This was caused by the explosion of telecommunications around the globe. So, the playing field has been flattened. People can participate, in the world of business, from all four corners of the globe. Competition is on the rise.
This book is the result of Friedman’s efforts to find out why so many American jobs were being shipped abroad to places like India. Friedman is a very intelligent individual and this book covers a lot of territory. While the premise is rather simple the scope of information is astounding.
Friedman drops a lot of information on the reader. Perhaps the information was so new it’s hard to develop a more concise and useful theory. If we stay on the topic of a flat world, we can make some progress. But Friedman tries to introduce some concepts such as reform wholesale, reform retail, and the triple convergence that simply clutter up his message.
This book is the result of a fairly simple inquiry. Friedman was trying to understand why so many American jobs were being exported to India. This is, no doubt, a sore subject for many Americans. It all boils down to a rather straightforward explanation. As the walls and barriers to communication are torn down, and information is able to flow more freely, the playing field of competition is leveled and the world becomes flat.
The catalyst for this flattening went unseen by most people. You may have heard of a now defunct company called Global Crossing. If so, it’s probably because GC was all over the news a few years ago along side many of the other corporate scandals, Enron being the most recognizable. Global's leader was a guy named Gary Winnick and people watched, through the media, as he was punished for his wrong-doings. What most people didn’t appreciate was the effects of Global Crossing’s business activities. You see, they were a big part of the hundreds of millions of dollars that were invested to put broadband connectivity around the world. Companies like Global laid endless amounts of fiber optic cable along the sea floor, thus connecting the continents through telecommunications. All of a sudden it was easier to place a phone call, through VoIP, from Calcutta to New York than it was to call a neighboring city in India. This is the essence of the world being flat. Barriers are being removed and the world is turning into a global marketplace.
That pretty much sums up the message of the title. Simple enough, right? But like I said, Friedman covers a lot of ground. The book does contains lots of information. But what we really need to understand is that globalization is real. Knowing the rules and how they have, and will, continue to change will be of great benefit to each of us.
Friedman does include a list of what he calls, “The ten forces that flattened the world.” I think the list adds confusion to the narrative but I will include it anyways. The ten forces are:
1. The falling of the Berlin wall in 1989
2. Netscape going public in 1995
3. The development of work flow software
4. Open-sourcing
5. Outsourcing
6. Offshoring
7. Supply-chaining
8. Insourcing
9. “In-forming”
10. The steroids are the new technologies that make it possible to perform each of the other nine forces in a way that is “digital, mobile, virtual, and personal,” as former HP CEO Carly Fiorina is fond of saying.
You might notice Friedman coins the term in-forming. Being a new term it creates some confusion in his message. Simply put, in-forming is searching for knowledge. And in-forming has been made easier thanks to the likes of Google and others.
The fundamental message of the book isn’t necessarily a new one. Change is already upon us and the future belongs to those who embrace the power of change and adapt accordingly. The book goes on to say that protectionism and isolationism are short sighted strategies. Such strategies might maintain the status quo for a while, but would ultimately result in our demise. Or so says history.
Friedman is clearly advocating for education and, particularly, for education in the sciences and math. Tom says JFK had a vision of putting a man on the moon and he has a vision of putting every man and woman on a campus.
Mr. Friedman appears to be a very proud American who appreciates his country's preeminent role in the world. This book is really a call to action. Friedman is attempting to wake Americans up to the fact that we can't rest of our laurels. That the future of American greatness will be achieved not with bombs but with books (or rather ideas.) He clearly belongs to the camp which believes the pen is mightier than the sword. This particular book serves as a reminder that what made America great isn't enough to keep her great.
Main point: Friedman is using the title of this book as a metaphor. The point is to inform business people that the barriers to entry, in all industries, have been largely eliminated. This was caused by the explosion of telecommunications around the globe. So, the playing field has been flattened. People can participate, in the world of business, from all four corners of the globe. Competition is on the rise.
This book is the result of Friedman’s efforts to find out why so many American jobs were being shipped abroad to places like India. Friedman is a very intelligent individual and this book covers a lot of territory. While the premise is rather simple the scope of information is astounding.
Friedman drops a lot of information on the reader. Perhaps the information was so new it’s hard to develop a more concise and useful theory. If we stay on the topic of a flat world, we can make some progress. But Friedman tries to introduce some concepts such as reform wholesale, reform retail, and the triple convergence that simply clutter up his message.
This book is the result of a fairly simple inquiry. Friedman was trying to understand why so many American jobs were being exported to India. This is, no doubt, a sore subject for many Americans. It all boils down to a rather straightforward explanation. As the walls and barriers to communication are torn down, and information is able to flow more freely, the playing field of competition is leveled and the world becomes flat.
The catalyst for this flattening went unseen by most people. You may have heard of a now defunct company called Global Crossing. If so, it’s probably because GC was all over the news a few years ago along side many of the other corporate scandals, Enron being the most recognizable. Global's leader was a guy named Gary Winnick and people watched, through the media, as he was punished for his wrong-doings. What most people didn’t appreciate was the effects of Global Crossing’s business activities. You see, they were a big part of the hundreds of millions of dollars that were invested to put broadband connectivity around the world. Companies like Global laid endless amounts of fiber optic cable along the sea floor, thus connecting the continents through telecommunications. All of a sudden it was easier to place a phone call, through VoIP, from Calcutta to New York than it was to call a neighboring city in India. This is the essence of the world being flat. Barriers are being removed and the world is turning into a global marketplace.
That pretty much sums up the message of the title. Simple enough, right? But like I said, Friedman covers a lot of ground. The book does contains lots of information. But what we really need to understand is that globalization is real. Knowing the rules and how they have, and will, continue to change will be of great benefit to each of us.
Friedman does include a list of what he calls, “The ten forces that flattened the world.” I think the list adds confusion to the narrative but I will include it anyways. The ten forces are:
1. The falling of the Berlin wall in 1989
2. Netscape going public in 1995
3. The development of work flow software
4. Open-sourcing
5. Outsourcing
6. Offshoring
7. Supply-chaining
8. Insourcing
9. “In-forming”
10. The steroids are the new technologies that make it possible to perform each of the other nine forces in a way that is “digital, mobile, virtual, and personal,” as former HP CEO Carly Fiorina is fond of saying.
You might notice Friedman coins the term in-forming. Being a new term it creates some confusion in his message. Simply put, in-forming is searching for knowledge. And in-forming has been made easier thanks to the likes of Google and others.
The fundamental message of the book isn’t necessarily a new one. Change is already upon us and the future belongs to those who embrace the power of change and adapt accordingly. The book goes on to say that protectionism and isolationism are short sighted strategies. Such strategies might maintain the status quo for a while, but would ultimately result in our demise. Or so says history.
Friedman is clearly advocating for education and, particularly, for education in the sciences and math. Tom says JFK had a vision of putting a man on the moon and he has a vision of putting every man and woman on a campus.
Mr. Friedman appears to be a very proud American who appreciates his country's preeminent role in the world. This book is really a call to action. Friedman is attempting to wake Americans up to the fact that we can't rest of our laurels. That the future of American greatness will be achieved not with bombs but with books (or rather ideas.) He clearly belongs to the camp which believes the pen is mightier than the sword. This particular book serves as a reminder that what made America great isn't enough to keep her great.
