Module 3

            The world is still flattening. It is hard to believe that all of these different influences played a part in creating a more balanced world.

            The first part of this section deals with offshoring. Offshoring is a great deal different that outsourcing. When companies outsource it just means that they take on aspect of their company and send it overseas to have another company take care of it. When companies offshore it means they actually take part of their company, like a factory or a warehouse, and send it overseas to be run in another country. By spreading companies to other countries it has created a more equal playing field for companies to grow globally. I understand the offshoring is important to businesses because then companies often times can afford things that the otherwise wouldn’t be able to here in the United States, which allows form improvement of products. Although offshoring has its advantages I think that often times there are disadvantages as well. Companies often times get a “good deal” so some things use the quality that they could have and it also takes jobs away from people in the United States. It would be great if we could find a way to keep things affordable and keep them more local.

            Thomas L. Friedman was able to witness Wal-Mart’s supply chaining first hand. As he called it is was like a Wal-Mart river flowing boxes and boxes down conveyor belts to waiting truck, after waiting truck. Wal-Mart uses scanners that as items are being bought they are already being scanned and boxed to be sent back to the store, so that they can make sure that they aren’t out of stock of the items. It actually really set in that supply chaining is a big deal when Friedman said “Wal-Mart is the biggest retail company in the world, and it does not make a single thing.” Wal-Mart has just created a very successful supply chain management. Supply chaining has allowed companies to find the best deal out there and sell it in their store for the lowest price. Since they don’t have to rely on their own manufacturing companies like Wal-Mart can search all over the world for the lowest price and then ship it to their store. I am personally grateful for the development of supply chaining because I know that I can find great deals at nearby stores because the companies are doing the work in finding cheaper products.

            The last topic was about In-forming. Which deals with search engines, which I am sure almost every person uses something like Google, Yahoo or other search engines every time they are on the internet. Google has allowed us to look up topics or types of businesses right from home. We can immediately find out all about the company from a click of a button. I think that google has really helped businesses become better known, since you can look up businesses locally or globally. Google allows you to find that small specialized business when you have a specific need. Search engines, like Google, aren’t always good for businesses since other companies can pay to be at the top of the search as a way of advertising and most people don’t look beyond the first page of their search. I think that Google has been a great resource for large companies and quite possibly a hindrance for small companies.

            As I continue to read this book it is astonishing to me how many of these factors actually play a big role in my day to day life. I didn’t realize that all of these “flatteners” actually effected my own personal life, as I realize these things it makes me realize more and more that just as Friedman says, “the world is flat”.

   As I continued to read The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, I learned how some many things that I never thought about continued to make the world a more equal playing field. A lot of things in these sections were harder for me to completely grasp the ideas, since they were a lot more in depth about programming on computers.

                One of the things that contributing to the flattening was work flow software. This is what standardized computers and the way they communicated. It was allowed for people to work on the same projects from all over. It allowed for different individuals and even different companies to access the same information. My wife currently works in a job where she works from two different computers, one at the office and one at home, because of work flow software she is able to transport files back and forth from the two computers, even though they don’t run the same exact programs. I guess what was most shocking about the idea of work flow software was the fact that I never knew it was any different that it is today. I didn’t realize all the complications that there was when it came to sharing information, files and company information. It is insane the amount of programs that we have allowed to communicate with one another and work hand in hand.

                The next “flattener” open source software has also made it so that we have found many new advances due to the contribution of many people. These software programs allow people from all over to tap into them and edit them. They are allowed to make improvements or find problems. Someone writes a code that allows the program to run as they want. Another aspect that plays a part with the codes written for software programs are hackers, they developed a community where they would go in and change programs and share their ways. Most of this really goes above my head to be honest, I do not fully understand about computers and codes and the interworking’s that there are, I just want my computer to work when I want it to. I am grateful that there are people that have developed such programs so that I am able to do everything that I am able to from the convenience of my living room couch.

                The last section was on outsourcing, which is when companies outsource their jobs to other country, the biggest being India. Through the internet and programming companies are able to share information across seas. It was amazing to me that in the book they said that often times in other countries there are many companies that work out of one large room. Since the companies aren’t stationed there they don’t need a fancy office, so often times they cram as many individuals in the office as possible and have them working for multiple companies depending on the part of the room that they are assigned to. I think that outsourcing has provided companies a cheaper way to run businesses. A lot of companies are also able to have extended hours of customer service when they outsource to other countries. Personally, I see the advantages for companies to outsource, but sometimes as a consumer it can be very frustrating. They don’t always understand completely how the problems that you are having because sometimes there is a gap in the understanding of the company that they work for.

                This section of the book was a little harder to completely comprehend, but I still think it helped to open my eyes to all the interworking’s of companies and all the things that they are constantly doing to make sure that we are still advancing.

Module 1

Before starting to read this book I hadn't really put much thought into the accessibility and the progress that technology as made in such a short period of time. Since I have been old enough to really use the internet it seems as though it was always easy to access and use, but I never thought about how this creates an equal playing field for everyone as individuals.  

            I quickly realized what changes had occurred in such a short period of time with the internet, making the world an entirely different place, or as Thomas Friedman says makes the world flat. It was interesting to read about all the different steps to globalization. Friedman breaks it down into three different version: 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. The first version, 1.0, is what as Friedman says brought the world from “large to medium”, which allowed for globalization of countries and allowed them to try and figure out their place and purpose in the process of globalization. Then came along globalization 2.0 which then took the world from “medium to small” and the focus shifted from countries as a whole to companies. This era lasted in Friedman’s opinion from 1800 to 2000. There was a more widespread use of telephones, PCs, satellites and many more technological advances that allowed for growth among businesses and a global economy.  Then zoom ahead to now, where we are currently a part of globalization 3.0, which now allows individuals to focus on their part and compete globally. Friedman explains that this is what he calls the flat-world platform, which because of personal computers and internet is allowing individuals to be more empowered and enabled to connect as a whole globe. It is amazing that throughout the process of globalization you can already see the influence that it has on the world as a whole, since globalization 1.0 and 2.0 were dominated by Europeans and Americans, and now 3.0 is reaching out to all parts of the world. With globalization 3.0 taking part it is allowing for people from all different walks of life to participate.

In his book, The World is Flat, Friedman discusses the different the forces he believes to have caused the world to become flat. One of the first things that occurred that Friedman believes to help begin the world to flatten was the falling down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The wall was a divide between the two parts of the country that was able to be seen by the eyes. As soon as the wall fell, it immediately forced them to become one, there was no longer anything separating them. This began the idea of the world uniting in economic standards. It started to tilt people’s ideals away from the Communist and capitalist ways to a more democratic and free-market oriented economy. This all helped to allow the spread of telephones and the computer for a more open way of information and communication. It became harder to keep the nations separate in ideas.

Another event that allowed to for a more equal playing field among individuals was the development and releasing of Netscape. Before Netscape there wasn't a simple way to explore the internet, but after it became accessible to individuals it allowed for people to easily access the internet and explore all sorts of things. Friedman explains that Netscape made it so easy to access the internet that anyone from 5 to 95 years old could use it efficiently. Netscape was easy to download to the growing number of personal computers, making it usable by people of all different lifestyles. Netscape is what started the growth of internet exploring applications, although they eventually were put out by Microsoft’s creation of Internet Explorer, Netscape is what started the popular, easy to explore internet.

Although I have only read a fraction of Friedman’s The World is Flat, I can already see how there are some many different things that took place allowing for each of us to be able to easily use technology and make individuals competitive as a whole. I never realized how easily every one is able to compete thanks to the easy accessibility of the internet.