Flat World

In Friedman’s “It’s a Flat World, After All”, Friedman in a trip Bangalore, India accidentally “encountered the flattening of the world”. The following paper will analyze “It’s a Flat World, After All” and the flattening of the world. To conclude the paper I will summarize my thoughts on the flattening of the world.

In recent news, a new community has outwardly spoken on the theory, the earth is flat. This community calls themselves “The Flat Earth Society” or “Flat Earthers”. This began around the mid-20th century and has rapidly grown with the expansion of social media, and influencers such as rapper B.o.B and basketball player Shaquille O’Neal.

These forces are the direct result of advanced technology. Moreover, the forces were made possible thanks to the World Wide Web (which is another force Friedman mentions). Technology and Internet are the real reasons our world became flat, and the reason the above flattener forces evolved. Companies, groups, and individuals – all connected together to form one global village. US companies started to outsource the back rooms of accounting firms and forwarding Dell customers to the 24/7 call center located in India. US companies were able to reduce cost, while making India a “customer service nation” and China a “low labor cost nation”.

In the late 20th century, technology began advancing so quickly that entire world economies underwent extraordinary transformations in very little time. It used to be only a handful of powerful people and corporations interacting in global trade and commerce, but technology has made it so “countries like India are now able to compete for global knowledge,” giving leaders and companies the ability to work with more nations than ever before (Friedman 7). The internet has given men and women the power to connect, communicate and provide information to people across the planet in an instant. It has given people the opportunity to seek knowledge, educate themselves and single-handily play a role in the world economy. This is called

People can no communicate, create, and transfer information within a split of the second. Friedman mentions "Globalization 1.0 and 2.0 were driven primarily by European and American individuals and businesses" (Friedman, 631.) What he means is business, and individual are interacting and integrating between one another in the Western and European world, but since; Globalization 3.0 is approaching at a rapid pace. Friedman stated (because it is flattening and shrinking the world, Globalization 3.0 is going to be more and more driven not only by individual but also by a much more diverse--- none-Western, nonwhite---group of individual" (Friedman, 631.) Even though India was the reason he came to the conclusion the world is flat, but during that time, China, Japan, and many other country are doing the same thing. This new era will be power by global market which is striving on competition, and those who can't catch up will be left behind.

According to Levitt, the successful global corporation does not abjure customization or differentiation for the requirements of markets that differ in product preferences, spending patterns, shopping preferences, and institutional or legal arrangements. But the global corporation accepts and adjusts to these differences only reluctantly, only after relentlessly testing their

In this chapter, Thomas Friedman looks at how cultures and societies will have to deal with and adapt to the changes that globalization brings to the way of doing business. It affects whole companies and individuals. He gives the perception of the world is flattening by comparing the Industrial Revolution to the IT Revolution that is happening right now. The flattening process was identified by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Marx’s writings about capitalism state “the inexorable march of technology and capital to remove all barriers, boundaries, frictions, and restraints to global commerce (Friedman 234).”

he World Is Flat is Friedman’s explanation of the brave new world facing us. A world that is growing at a rapid pace never seen before in history. Friedman believes that flattening of the world has happened as a result of occurrence of a series of events which he outlines as ten flattening factors. The low-cost computers, dot com bubble, standardized file format, excess laying of optic fibres, outsourcing and offshoring are some of them. This phenomena has the potential to change all of our theories of economies, politics and jobs. It will increase competition and require not only an emphasis on new skills sets, but a much more self-reliant, creative and innovative mind-set.

The business activity of companies in most industries is affected by the process of globalization. The need of globalization was determined by the necessities of companies that had to address markets in other countries in order to expand their business. In addition to this, they had to reduce their costs by hiring employees from other countries, and by outsourcing some of their processes to other regions.

In Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat he presents his idea of the globalization of the world in all areas; from economic to communication with other countries. Friedman is a journalist from the New York Times and most of his work focuses on economic and technological innovations and advancements, and furthermore how they are associated to history. The ideas he presents in this book are both plausible and convincing. The main focus is whether the world is “flat“. The answer to this question depends on the readers’ political, economical, and technological opinions. Friedman does however present evidence in many situations where the globalization of the world is clearly evident. This essay will explore these different

Thomas Friedman mentions that world is growing flatter. When he says that world is flat, he means that world is becoming more economically fair and levelling opportunities and wealth among all the nations. With easy access to information and availability of opportunities irrespective of one’s locations is providing for people from many different countries with an equal chance to succeed economically.

Increased globalization is the direction that all major multinational corporations are moving towards. Ford had made a good attempt at making a world car that proved to be partially successful in the beginning of sales. The company has learned that locational specialization is an extremely important aspect to selling globally because of the differing personal preferences and legal demands.

The phrase: "the world is flat" can be interpreted in many ways. Basically what Friedman means by "flat" is "linked." The falling of trade and political barriers and technical advances have made it possible to do business, instantaneously with billions of other people around the world. It has allowed for parts of the world, which had previously been cut off, like China and India, to successfully compete in the world market. Thus, the playing field is being leveled, and no one nation has an advantage. Friedman could also refer to a "flat world" in a metaphorical sense. In a spherical earth you cannot see around the world and cannot recognize the opportunities far from where you live. If the world were flat you could see it all. There

Recent years, encouraged by cultural and economic globalization, the world market is growing rapidly. With the market becoming increasingly mature and rational, corporations not only pay

In today’s world, with a few notable exceptions, nearly everyone in every region of the world has access to the same products, information and services. A long-distance relationship is no longer so distant, since each party involved in the relationship can communicate through Skype, Facebook or through any of the vast amount of social media available. A person in Easter Island, one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, can go to the other side of the world and travel to Canada. An economic crisis in Argentina could affect the economic landscape in Brazil. A person in Chile or Peru can buy an Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt because this transnational corporation decided to expand its market to developing countries, or as you might prefer, to emerging economies in South America. Although many of these examples might be trivial, these are the consequences of globalization.