World Is Flat Essay

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The world is flat

To be totally honest with you Bill I had to re-read these chapters over and over again to understand it and hopefully I understand it. He is showing us a world moving faster than most can keep up. “America’s place in the fast-evolving world economic platform, Friedman presents not only the problems we face, but preventative measures and possible solutions.” What it all comes down to is the world of business and the technology is going far and beyond advance then most people in business can keep up with. Friedman warns of the forces that could seriously harm or slow the flattening of the world, particularly the threat posed by terrorist networks such as Al-Qaeda. His perspective is refreshing in a media driven largely by scare tactics and fear mongering as he encourages a realistic and objective approach to this threat.
Friedman gives us a list of “the ten forces” which are:
1. Collapse of Berlin Wall- Friedman explains that this symbolized the end to cold war and it also allowed people on the other side of the wall to come join the economic mainstream.
2. Netscape- made the audience bigger for the internet from its roots as a communication medium mostly used by geeks to something that can be used by everyone around the world. It wouldn’t matter how old you are or if you’re good with computers or a computer geek, everyone can use the Web.
3. Work flow software- This as Friedman explained is the ability of a machine to communicate to another machine without an actual human being involved or part take in this.
4. Uploading-Communities collaborating and uploading on online projects. Friedman considers the phenomenon "the most disruptive force of all."
5. Outsourcing- Has allowed companies to split service and manufacturing activities into components, with each component performed in most efficient, cost-effective way.
6. Offshoring- Offshoring just means manufacturing’s version of outsourcing.
7. Supply-Chaining-Friedman compares the modern retail supply chain to a river, and points to Wal-Mart as the best example of a company using technology to streamline item sales, distribution, and shipping.
8. Insourcing- Friedman uses UPS as a prime example for insourcing, in which the company's employees perform services--beyond shipping--for another company. For example, UPS itself repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub, by UPS employees.
9. In-forming- Google and other search engines are the prime example. "Never before in the history of the planet have so many people-on their own-had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people", writes Friedman.
10. “The steroids”- Our own personal devices like cell phones, iPods, personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and voice over Internet Protocol
Friedman believes these first three forces have
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