Flatteners 7-10

Flattener #7: Supply chaining

Friedman compares the nowadays supply chain to a river. He gives Wal-Mart as the best example for this, streamlining sales, distribution and shipping using technology. Friedman thinks that supply chains flattens the world because the keep the prices comparatively low, and are available in most areas despite the fact that employee salaries are low.  

 Flattener #8: In sourcing

When a company for example, a car company imports some parts to use in their vehicles and sell it as their own. Friedman uses UPS as an example for this because the use Toshiba computers in the interest of Toshiba, in which the work is done by the  UPS employees.

Flattener #9: In forming

Google, Yahoo!, and MSN are some examples for informing. Friedman explains this and say people were never able to find information about everything by their own. People now have the access for all information around the world. For instance there are 1 billion Google search were it was 150 million Google search some years before.

Flattener#10: The Steroids

Friedman calls phones, iPods digitals steroids because they help to strength other flatteners. As an example for this, which Friedman man gives is voice calls via the Internet because they make people able to call people around the world and for no money that what makes telecommunication easier.

The Most Popular Steroid

            The most popular steroid in my opinion is the ability to make phone calls via the Internet (VOIP). As I see it most people are using Skype or Viber to make phone calls. Moreover, and in my opinion the quality of the Viber calls are way better than the GSM calls, that's why it has a very big impact on my society.

Flatteners

The World Is Flat

Flattener #4 Uploading (Harnessing the power of communities)

This flattener is explaining uploading, and how did it have a great impact on communications. People by using the Internet became able to upload their work on the web to share with others. People now can upload their books music, video, and thoughts without having to publish it or give to an organization to do that for them, and people usually can download these things for free. As instance for this, the website Wikipedia.

Flattener #5 Outsourcing

As Friedman argues, Outsourcing allowed many companies to assign jobs activities to people around the world because of the Internet. Moreover, it explains how India benefited from the dot-com bust. America hired many Indians people to them their work because Indians can do the work efficiently and with less cost as a reason for the education they had in high school. Also, I would mention the three untouchable jobs. Jobs that cannot be outsourced like: specialized, localized, and adaptable.

Flattener #6 Offshoring (Running with Gazelles, Eating with Lions)

Offshoring, is when a company moves its factories from one country to another because the other country has a less taxes rate and less payment average. When China joined The World Trade Organization in 2001, offshoring reached its highest rate because China confirmed to all the international laws and makes it clear that investing in China is secure and beneficial. In Friedman opinion this the most disruptive flattener because it causing a threat to the United States. Many factories are now choosing china for investment instead of America.  

The World is Flat - Summary

The World is Flat

In the first chapter of his book "The World is Flat," Thomas Friedman is talking about the theory of the flat world and what does that mean. Friedman idea about the flat world first started when he was on a trip to India, especially Bangalore, with the Discovery channel team. As he was there, Friedman saw a number of advertisements, and most of these advertisements were for Americans companies. Moreover, as he was travelling through India he saw many Indian people, who works for American companies, talk with an American accent, and trying to behave like Americans. A visit to the Infosys technologies ltd makes Friedman very amazed because of the impressive conferencing system which allow people to collaborate in a huge room via satellite. Then Friedman talks about different examples of globalization stating from Columbus time till now. Following that, Friedman encounters Jerry Rao, whose an Indian business man, Through Jerry we learn about the importance of sharing information. Also, Sharing information  made the world a very small place. As Friedman travels through Japan, China, and Finally America, he gives examples about some business phenomena that had an impact on the world.

            As we read then In chapter two "The Ten Forces That Flattened the World," Friedman gives ten example or events that helped the world to be more flat ( Globalized). In my summary I am going to talk briefly about three of these events.

·    *     The Collapse of the Berlin Wall: 11\09\1989, The collapse of the Berlin Wall was not only a sign for the end of the cold war as Friedman mentions. The collapse of the Berlin Wall allowed people on the two parts of the wall to communicate and establish a new economic situation. Also, it helped Europe to establish the Free Market.

·   *      Netscape: 8\9\1995, This date was a very important day in the history of the world. In this date the Internet became available for the people to use, and the first browser Netscape was created. In my opinion, this the most event that helped to flatten the world. through the Internet people became able to share many information as easy as never before, and what made the world more globalized.

·      *   Work Flow Software: Which simply means the ability of computers to talk with each other without the human being involved. That when the humans depended on computers to create a whole program or show by the use of the VPN. The example Friedman gives is the Walt Disney cartoon company.