World Is Flat

By Author: Henry Ford
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Author
Thomas Friedman comes from St. Louis Park at Minneapolis. He schooled at St. Louis Park High School. While in school, he used to engage in writing of articles for his school magazine. It is remembered that he even wrote a story about Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel. He finished his high school in 1971 after which he took his bachelors degree in Arts and graduated in 1975 from Brandeis University. He later on took his masters of philosophy at University of Oxford. Friedman married Ann a graduate from Stanford University. The two with their family live in Maryland. They are blessed with two daughters Orly and Natalie, 24 years old and 21 years old respectively. When Friedman had finished his master’s course, he enrolled in the London Bureau of United Press International. He was later on sent to Beirut where he remained until 1981. After, 1981, The New York Times employed him. He worked here as a reporter until 1982, when he was taken back to Beirut. While working at Beirut he won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. In addition, he won the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting. He later on ...
... worked at Jerusalem for four years where he earned himself more prizes for being a good reporter. Friedman later was made the White House correspondent in the Times magazine. While here, he achieved the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2002. Apart from that, he also won the 2004 Overseas Press Club Award. He has written a number of books one of them is the world is flat where he talks about events and the change in technology leading to flattening of the world and the rise in globalization. According to him, he looks at the world as being so interconnected despite the distance, culture, hierarchy or individual’s language among other differences that exist in the world. To support his thesis statement of the world is flat Friedman has ten flatteners which according to him has an impact in the world. A summary of which is here below.

Berlin Wall Collapse on 11/9/89
When this collapse occurred it marked the end of the cold war and thus gave people the freedom of joining the mainstream in economy. The fall of Berlin Wall and the end of communism and the introduction of personal computers brought about greater connections between individuals. This then was forming a basis of the introduction of word processing, world phone network and the use of modem. All these were going to bring about easy and fastest way of communication globally. It marked the birth of Microsoft Windows. These personal computers were being made by Apple and Microsoft which allowed people to convert their thoughts in digital form. After the cold war globalization has taken its place now. The democratization of ideas, technology and exchange of ideas has resulted from it. Friedman says the rankles that existed in the political world came to an end during the fall of Berlin Wall and the constraints that individuals had also came to an end with the introduction of Apple and Windows-enabled, modem-connected IBM PC. These two events led to the changes which have occurred in our current world, a place where we can work with people in foreign lands without fear of mistreatment at all (Friedman, 2005, p.58).

Netscape on 8/9/95
The advancement in technology in terms of Netscape and Web as media of communication to Friedman confirmed the fact that the world is flat. Out of this, everybody in the world could be able to access several things ranging from files, films, and even pictures among others. One could also be able to manipulate most of this information from any corner of the world. This web browser led to the introduction of the internet in 1995 and thus the web could reach even the middle class people in the society. Netscape has also brought about open transmission of protocols therefore there is no company that can own the net. The Netscape also has brought about the investment in fiber-optic cables (Friedman, 2005, p. 56).

Workflow software
According to Friedman, the advancement in technology which leads to the ability of machines to communicate to each other from one corner of the world to another without any human influence was an indication that the world is flat. According to him, workflow software and the first two flatteners contributed so much to the world platform of unity. Out of software, there was simple mil transfer protocol and HTML which enabled individuals to create and publish documents which then could be read and transferred to any computer at any moment in time (Friedman, 2005, p. 71

Uploading
According to Friedman, 2005, uploading is the ability of various communities to cooperate in several projects done on online. He talks about how people are able to come up with content and have it in the internet for others to access. There is no hierarchy to be followed what is emphasized only is the quality of work. Some of the examples which he gave were like the use of wikipedia and blogs just to mention but a few. This then supports his thesis statement that the world is flat.

Outsourcing
Friedman looks at the possibility of various companies to outsource their services. This refers to the subdivision of their services into components which can then be managed in an efficient manner. This outsourcing was facilitated by the utilization of optic fiber cables globally. This occurred at the start of World Wide Web (Friedman, 2005, p. 107).

Offshoring
This term as explained by Friedman, refers to the ability of a company to relocate its processes to other parts of the world. A good example which is given for this is the decision which was made by China to join the World Trade Organization. This move created a good environment for competition in the world market. For instance, Malaysia, Brazil and Mexico have no choice but to compete with this country in order to achieve offshore businesses as well (Friedman, 2005, p. 125).

Supply-Chaining
According to Friedman,, the modern retail supply is likened to a river. He says that with the onset of technology companies are then able to streamline goods from one country to another unlike in the past when it was not so easy. This involves the distribution and shipping of these items. It is surprising how money can just be transferred from one country to another just by sitting in front of a computer and clicking the mouse and instantly the money is transferred. According to Friedman supply chain is important especially for UPS since there is need for creation of customs offices in various parts of the world.

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