Module 5, The World is Flat

Module 5

Reading further into The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman introduces the concept of triple convergence, explores a question on whom is exploiting whom through outsourcing from an example of companies in Indiana and India, and discusses the importance of intellectual property laws in today’s flat world. 

Friedman uses a concept called triple convergence to describe a new playing field, where both individuals and businesses have begun to develop new habits, skills, and processes to get the most out of today’s ever-changing technology.  All of the world’s flattening forces that developed through technological advancement is collaborating and converging together.  This is the concept of triple convergence.  Netscape, work flow software, outsourcing, insourcing, offshoring, uploading, and supply chains are examples.  This concept enables collaborating on a global, web enabled scale for the purposes of innovation, production, research, and entertainment.  This new platform will help the world’s economy flourish.

In an example of outsourcing through a company in Indiana and one in India, Friedman proposes an interesting question on who is exploiting whom?  In 2003, the state of Indiana put out a bid to upgrade the state’s computer systems that process unemployment claims.  Tata America International, an Indian consulting firm, won the contract despite Indiana’s intent to hold on to values that restrain against outsourcing.  So who is exploiting whom?  I think its difficult to say who is being exploited.  An argument can be made for either side, but I personally believe that neither side is being exploited.  Both companies will profit from collaborating in different ways.  An argument can be made that Indiana is being exploited.  If they chose to keep the job domestic, they’ll lose 8.1 million dollars that can go back to the state.  India views this as an opportunity and exploits it.  On the other side, however, you can argue that India is being exploited simply because Indiana is taking advantage of India’s cheap labor through outsourcing.  I think that through outsourcing both ends will gain from it, and it will help the world’s economy overall as a whole. 

Another question brought to our attention, is who owns what in terms of intellectual property in the flat world today?  How do we protect the legal rights of an innovator’s intellectual property so that they can reap the financial benefits, but at the same time, how do we keep the laws from being too stringent so that we can encourage the sharing of intellectual property?  Intellectual property is the innovation of an individual in which exclusive rights are recognized in the law.  As the world becomes more flat through technological advancements, intellectual property laws will need to adjust so that society can enjoy the benefits of individual innovation.  We need to rethink our ideas of intellectual property for collaborative information and the innovative communities to flourish. 

Module 3, The World is Flat

Module 3

            Continuing reading into The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman explains the term Offshoring, looks into supply chains, and finally the Internet giant Google and how all of these have benefited from or relate to the flattening of the world. 

            In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization and opened the door for businesses to start offshoring there.  Offshoring is when a company takes one of their entire factories and moves it offshore to a different country where they can produce the same product at a much lower cost.  China proved to be an attractive country for this strategy because labor is cheaper, health-care cost less, and taxes are lower.  Offshoring differs from Outsourcing, which is when a company or individual is shipping only a business process, instead of an entire factory, overseas to be done for less.  While I think offshoring has helped the global economy as a whole, our economy here in the United States suffers a little because of lost jobs resulting from offshoring.

            Another benefit resulting from information technology is how supply chains for businesses have improved.  Supply chains are a method of collaborating among suppliers, retailers, and consumers to create value.  The PC and the World Wide Web made finding the best producers in the world at the lowest prices to maximize profits for businesses an easier process.  Wal-Mart, the biggest retail company in the world, is a prime example of supply chains at its finest.  Wal-Mart does not produce a single item they sell on their own, yet they are widely successful.  This is because Wal-Mart uses a hyper-efficient supply chain and the key for their success is the distribution of information.  Everything that Wal-Mart sells is tracked electronically.  Because of information technology, Wal-Mart can see what products consumers are buying the most, and send that information down the supply chain to get them replaced expediently. 

            Google, the World Wide Web’s search engine giant, has also had a great effect on businesses throughout the world.  Google has made it easier for businesses to search for information on how they can collaborate with business partners for outsourcing, insourcing, off shoring, and supply chains.  Google also creates a targeted advertising model.  When you search for a certain product, Google will link you to advertisements for exactly what you’re searching for.  Google makes it easy for anyone with access to a computer to search for information, products, and services much faster than traditional means.  This helps both the consumer and the business.

            The benefits of information technology have undoubtedly improved businesses worldwide.  Companies and individuals who take advantage of this technology have seen their business flourish like never before.  Businesses that can’t or won’t use this technology are left in the past, and won’t be able to compete with those who are.  Google is at the fore front of creating business opportunities.  I use Google every day, to look up any piece of information I want at a particular moment.  If I’m craving a certain food, I Google what restaurants are in the area.  If I’m looking to buy a new product, I do my research and shopping through Google.  People know that this is the value of Google, and I think the businesses that take advantage of this resource are the companies that will be moving forward.

Module 2, The World is Flat

Module 2.

 

         Reading further in “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman introduces some of the key components to the success of the World Wide Web and examines how the advantages of flattening the world has helped not only our national economy, but the economy of the whole world flourish.

          First was the creation of workflow software.  This software allowed companies and individuals to take advantage of what the PC and the World Wide Web had to offer in business.  Everyone in a company can communicate and collaborate with each other through their PC’s electronically.  From my experience in the Air Force, I can give you a personal example of how workflow software helped my flight out a great deal.  If you wanted to get gas for your government vehicle on base, you needed to use what was called a VIL (vehicle identification link) key.  My job was to keep track of these keys and issue them to new vehicles.  If you had a new vehicle that needed a VIL key you had to physically come to our office, fill out a form, bring that form back to your office and get all the signatures needed for approval. Finally, you had to bring that form back to us so we could issue you a key.  By being able to digitize this form you could simply request us to email you the form, which you could then email to all the approving officials for their electronic signature, and then Email it back to us for approval.  This reduced the average time to get a VIL key from about 3 days to less than one hour. A great example of how workflow software can aid a business.

         A stepping-stone in the development of the Web and its popularity today was the use of open source web servers.  Open source, or community developed software, allowed anyone around the world to access an original source code of software and modify and improve its content.  This allowed for total effectiveness of creating a product.  The large companies no longer had all the say in developing software.  People from all around the world could work together and contribute individually to develop the best product possible, and release it for free.  I think this opened the door for software development to reach the level of quality it is at today at a much faster rate. The creation of Apache through individual collaboration on the World Wide Web is a great example of the empowerment that open source software provides. Without community developed software, I think it’s very likely that we would have had to pay a premium just to download a quality web browser to browse the web.

    One of the greatest additions to the world from the Web is Outsourcing.  Outsourcing is the ability to take a business process and ship it electronically to a foreign country where it could be done at the same quality for a lot less.  The introduction of the fiber optic cables and the World Wide Web made outsourcing possible.  I think outsourcing has proven to be the greatest product of the Web and has helped our global economy flourish.  Although this has almost certainly reduced a lot of jobs in the United States, it has greatly improved the economies of other countries and the global economy as a whole.  Businesses here in the U.S. recognize the value of outsourcing and the advantages of it to obtain maximum profitability.  Because of this, I think we must take a closer look at our career choices to determine if our own careers can be affected by outsourcing in the future.

   
          I think this section of reading takes a closer look at how the world became globalized through

technology. Today, most of the world's economy occurs in electronic form.   We can connect to

anyone anywhere in the world and work together on any kind of project.  Being able to collaborate

with anyone digitally creates endless possibilities in business, or anything else for that matter.

Module 1, The World is Flat.

Module 1

The world is expanding through technology and becoming one large global network that has opened the doors for a bigger global economy, and anyone is free to participate.  Thomas L. Friedman refers to this as the “flattening” of the world. 

Friedman suggests that the globalization of the world occurred in three different era’s. The first era, globalization 1.0 occurred from 1492-1800.  What sparked this globalization was the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.  This opened trade between the Old World and the New World.  In this era, global integration was limited by a countries wealth, power, and available resources to take advantage of expanding trade to the New World.  Globalization was solely in the hands of a country and its government. 

The next phase, globalization 2.0, occurred from 1800-2000.  The driving force that changed globalization in this era was the falling costs of transportation and telecommunication and later advancements in technology.  The development of technology such as telegraphs, telephones, PC’s, satellites and the World Wide Web allowed for multinational companies to globalize and expand to a world market.  The difference between this era and globalization 1.0 is that the limiting factor is how your company fits in to globalization, rather than your country.  The advancements in hardware, and movements of goods and information around the world created a global economy and presented opportunities for companies to take advantage of this.

Globalization 3.0 gives the power to globalize to the individual.  The advancements of the PC, fiber optic cable and software has allowed individuals to create and share their own digital content all around the world, and also collaborate with others anywhere around the world.  The difference in this phase is that the current advancements in technology removes any limitations for global integration, and thus empowers individuals to globalize. 

The fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989 proved to further help globalize the world.  It opened a whole new part of the world to the free market economy, which helped shift the world into one central economic system. The world adopted capitalism over communism.  This allowed more economies to be developed by the people, rather than a government.  Essentially, the fall of the Berlin Wall allowed us to see the world as a single market for the first time.

Another important breakthrough in the flattening of the world was Netscape.  Essentially, Netscape put the World Wide Web on the map.  This easy-to-use browser helped to popularize the Web and make it easily accessible to everyone in the general public.  When Netscape launched in August of 1995, it became the spark that the World Wide Web needed to take off and form into what it is today.  The world became digitally wired together, and Netscape was the foundation of the internet’s success.

The world is being knitted more and more tightly together each and every year.  Looking back at some of the technology and advancements that has helped create the global network that we share today has really given me an appreciation for how far the world has come with our global economy.  The world has really been shrunken down so small through technology that the possibilities to globalize are endless.  It’s a little scary to think about how practically any occupation can become digitized and outsourced to another country for more profitability but it’s definitely something we need to take into consideration. 

 

Friedman, Thomas.  The World is Flat. New York: Picador/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007