Role of Ict in Flattening the World

This definition conveys an idea of the extraordinary impact of digital divide on world society and economy. Indeed, it is the close interrelation between economy and technology that attaches such a worldwide significance to a single socio-economic occurrence, such as digital divide. Nowadays, communication technologies, strongly stimulating economic growth, are the grease, which helps the wheel of global economy go round. Internet, for instance, has revolutionized the way we trade,

At the moment, the whole world is being swept by globalization at a speed that is both immense and inescapable. The present scenario can be associated with that water glass which is considered as half-empty by the pessimist and is viewed as half-full by an optimist. The Internet has empowered cultural globalization tremendously. It has initiated an environment that is globally borderless. If the impact of internet on cultural globalization is judged, one would crystal-clearly observe that it has made nations realize their potentials and strength. Its usage has created new and additional wealth worldwide by eliminating cultural differences ("Creating Wealth in a" 2006, p. NA).

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

Globalization, the technique by which human social requests have turn out to be dynamically related, transcending geographic, monetary, political, and social checks. All the more generally, globalization incorporates the general stream of capital, musings, and information made possible through the climb of present day development and the expansive interchanges, including the Web. Globalization has brought an overwhelmingly beneficial outcome on most countries to the extent economy, society and legislative issues; it moreover has deserted a couple of drawbacks on the same points. Writer Kwame Anthony Appiah has an alternate perspective on globalization, "He contends that there is an in number relationship between singularity as found in progress

With easily accessible hi-speed internet connections that grant communication between people thousands of miles away in milliseconds, it is hard to imagine that this essential commodity, the net, is a recently developed technology – that not too long ago, people were not able to easily communicate with loved ones across the globe. As a result, the internet is often credited as the spark that ignites the beginnings of globalization – a modern phenomenon arising from the integration of multiple cultures. However, in Vermeer’s Hat, published in 2007 and written by Timothy Brook, Brook offers a different opinion. He believes the rise of globalization began from an era, centuries before the online web and argues that the roots of humanity’s

Nicholas Carr’s “How technology created a global village -- and put us all at each other’s throats”, conveys the message that technology was contrived to join people together, but all it is doing is disjointing them. Conversely, a dark place was shaped online, over the years, and there is no sign of the situation resolving.

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).”

Information technology has advanced in multiple ways in society, where organizations has implement the structure into their work environment. Industries have outsource their manufacturing to other places in the world and rely on telecommunication to keep the marketing. The geographic distribution has changed significantly by reducing the distance it takes to complete an operation, due to information technology. These are just a couple of examples of how this advanced technology has reshape our society and continuing.

The Internet makes the world smaller. The ability to communicate and exchange information instantaneously and across enormous distances has enabled more individuals and businesses to participate in the economy, regardless of their location. Corporations can connect with suppliers, employees, and customers around the globe, and smaller businesses can find their customers anywhere in the world. Businesses can hire knowledge workers almost regardless of where they are, greatly expanding employment opportunities for people in the United States, and giving developing nations the ability to become economic powerhouses by providing information technology services to the rest of the world (Gates). The Internet, along with other computer technologies, is literally enabling some developing countries to "leapfrog" the industrial revolution and jump straight to the Internet Age (Malaspina 77).

China’s accession to the WTO in 2001 has helped shape its economy to becoming a more predictable environment for trade and foreign investment. Corporate governance and frameworks for business operations and interactions have improved, providing a much more transparent environment. (Deckers, 2004)

Many historians and sociologists have identified a transformation in the economic processes of the world and society in recent times. There has been an extensive increase in developments in technology and the economy as a whole in the twentieth century. Globalization has been recognized as a new age in which the world has developed into what Giddens identifies to be a “single social system” (Anthony Giddens: 1993 ‘Sociology’ pg 528), due to the rise of interdependence of various countries on one another, therefore affecting practically everyone within society.

In view of Thomas Friedman’s work “It’s a flat world, after all”, the entire planet is turning into a global village due to a rapid growth of information technology. There are 10 major contributors, which were also named “flateners” by Friedman, that made the playing field level. Undoubtedly, current sophistication in technology has provided us great access to internet, a virtual platform where people are capable of communicating, sharing knowledge, or performing online activities. Globalization appears to have collapsed the concerns of space and time by outsourcing cheap labor from another continent to undertake the same task but with equal or better performance. To some extent, Friedman has brought about an

A final reason for the company to offshore part of their operations is access new markets. Since the company is not restricted to just the domestic market, offshoring gives the company global presence and the ability to access developing markets in Third World countries. By streamlining the company’s production processes and supply chains globally, companies can lower their prices increase demand for their products, thereby attracting new customers and entering new markets.

The issues of globalization increasingly dominate the universe’s life. The concept of globalization according to Robertson (1992) refers to the narrowing of the world as incentives and increased our awareness of the world, namely the increasing global connections and our understanding of the connection. Globalization is a situation in which no boundaries between the people of the world and links communities in a country with people in another countries. Globalization departs from an idea to unite the nations which is expected to be a mutual agreement and guidelines for nations around the world. Globalization is able to waive the space and time constraints to get the interaction and communication between nations can be done

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.