The World is Flat

A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman, 2005 ed.

Presented by: Dilys Chan Kyle Chan Benita Chick Chris Spielmann

Main theme
- Globalization, particularly in the 21st-century - "The World is Flat" - metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an equal opportunity.

History of the book

2005 First edition: international bestseller 2006 Second edition: "updated and expanded" 2007 "Further Updated and Expanded: Release 3.0"

Hot, Flat & Crowded

Background of the book

Friedman's journey to Bangalore - outsourcing company Globalization 1.0 - countries and goverments Globalization 2.0 - multinational companies Globalization 3.0 - personal computer with internet

The world has been flattened by the convergence of ten major political events, innovations, and companies. None of us has rested since, or maybe ever will again. Thomas L. Friedman

Flattener #1

Flattener #1 (11/9/89)
Collapse of the Berlin Wall It allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream Capitalism vs Communism The raise of Window-enable PC Allowing people to share far and wide.

Flattener #2 (8/9/95)
Netscape went public the world has not been the same since (opening price $28) Window 95 equipped with built-in Internet support Netscape brings a new killer app the browser World wide web - relatively secure manner

Flattener #3 (Work flow software)

VPN share feed from microphone, images from session, the real time script and all the animation designs amongst all the locations with a simple log-in SMTP simple mail transfer protocol HTTP computer language that described how you put this content on the Internet railroad Platform for collaboration PayPal money transfer system founded in 1998 Facilitate C2C transaction (eBay)

Flattener #4 (Uploading)
Apache a shareware program for Web server technology BitTorrent allows users to upload their own online music libraries & download other peoples at the same time. Community developed software movement, Blogging/podcasting Open source software, wikipedia

Flattener #5 (Outsouring)
With Internet & optical cable Split service & manufacturing activities In call centre, business support operation (America & India) More cost effecitve & efficient

Flattener #6: Offshoring

Chinas joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001 was a milestone. The role of China as a major flattening force: China became a base for offshoring Many developing and developed countries started to compete with China, and a process of competitive flattening was created Good collaboration between offshoring and onshoring factories

Flattener #7: Supply-chaining

A method of collaborating horizontally, among suppliers, retailers and customers Encourage global collaboration Bring customers quality goods at low prices through global supply-chaining

Flattener #8: Insourcing

It goes beyond supply-chain management. It is third party-managed logistics, which requires extensive collaboration among, say UPS and its clients and its clients client.

Flattener #9: In-forming

Informing is the ability to build and deploy our own personal supply chain a supply chain of information, knowledge, and entertainment Empowered the formation of global communities people

Flattener #10: Steroids

Refer to digital, mobile and virtual innovations which added to the other flatteners and gave us super power They are amplifying and turbo-charging all the other flatteners

Triple Convergence
1. 2. 3. Ten flattening forces converge Business practices change Global increase of manpower

1.

Ten flattening forces converge

Steroids In-forming Workflow software Uploading Outsourcing

2. Business Practices change

Collaborative Horizontal

Global increase in man power

150 Million New workers educated and connected enough to compete with the existing workforce.

America and The Flat World

How does America survive in this Flat World?

America and the Flat world

1) America and Free Trade - Is Ricardo Still Right? Ricardo times - goods were tradable but not work and services Will flatness cause unemployment in America? Anti-outsourcing vs. free-trade/outsourcing advocates

America and the Flat world

1) America and Free Trade - Is Ricardo Still Right? Lump of labor theory is wrong - new things will be created and so as new jobs Idea-based workers will do well in globalization - niche (music, software, design)

America and the flat world

2) The Untouchables " Tom, finish your dinner - people in China and India are starving" "Girls, finish your homework - people in China and India are starving for your jobs" - Jobs that cannot be outsourced "special" (e.g. Michael Jordon) "specialized" (e.g. lawyers, surgeons) "anchored" (e.g. localized, plumber, waitress) "really adaptable"

America and the Flat world

2) The Untouchables - US research universities - best-regulated and efficient capital markets in the world - IP protection - flexible labors laws - largest domestic consumer market

America and the Flat world

3) The Quiet Crisis Steady erosion of US's scientific and engineering base Shrinking scientists and engineers capable of doing innovation or value-added tech Dirty Little Secret #1: the numbers gap #2: the ambition gap #3: the education gap

America and the Flat World

3) " This is Not a Test" - Compassionate flatism -i) Leadership ii) Muscles - lifelong learning and employability iii) Good Fat, "Cushions worth keeping" - wage insurance (compensate for old specific skills before you take a new job and learn new specific skills) iv) Social Activism - McDonald's n Conservation Int'l v) Parenting - Tiger Moms?

Developing Countries and The Flat World

How does Developing countries survive in this Flat World? In a flat world, countries struggles to keep up Time taken to set up new company Australia: 2 days, Mexico: 56 days, Congo: 200+ days Cost for Setting up New company Denmark: $0, Cambodia: 5 times greater than the avg. annual income

Developing Countries and The Flat World

The Virgin of Guadalupe - Mexican's icon made in China

Developing Countries and The Flat World

Strategies for developing country in a flat world i) introspection ii) reform wholesale, more export-oriented, free-market strategies - contra-case, North Korea iii) reform retail - upgrade infrastructure, regulatory institutions, education and culture

Developing Countries and The Flat World

Strategies for developing country in a flat world iv) culture matters: globalization, openness of culture vs. inward culture (national solidarity and a focus of development) - "glocalizes" v) intangibles - a society's ability and willingness to pull together and sacrifice for the sake of economic development and the presence in a society of leaders with the vision to see what needs to be done

Companies and the Flat World

Rule #1: When the world goes flat - and you are feeling flattened - reach for a shovel and dig inside yourself. Don't try to build walls

Companies and the Flat World

Rule #2: And the small shall act big....One way small companies flourish in the flat world is by learning to act really big. And the key to being small and acting big is being quick to take advantage of all the new tools for collaboration to reach farther, faster, wider and deeper.

Aramex in Arab World

Companies and the Flat world

Rule #3: And the big shall act small....One ways that big companies learn to flourish in the flat world is by learning how to act really small by enabling their customers to act really big

Companies and the Flat world

Rule #4: The best companies are the best collaborators. In the flat world, more and more business will be done though collaborations within and between companies, for a very simple reason: The next layers of value creation - whether in technology, marketing, biomedicine or manufacturing - are becoming so complex that no single firm or department is going to be able to master them alone.

Companies and the Flat world

Rule #5: In a flat world, the best companies stay healthy by getting regular chest X-rays and then selling the results to their clients.

Companies and the Flat world

Rule #6: The best companies outsource to win, not to shrink. They outsource to innovate faster and more cheaply in order to grow larger, gain market share and hire more and different specialists - not so save money by firing more people.

Companies and the Flat world

Rule #7: Outsourcing isn't just for Benedict Arnolds. It's also for idealists.

The Unflat World "I know that the earth is not flat"

The Unflat World

1) Too sick - malaria, no chance to step into a flat world Gates Foundation - "Grand challenges on Global Health" use the tools of the flat world to design tools that work in an unflat world

The Unflat World

2) Too disempowered - half flat, know the world is flattening but not getting benefits

3) Too frustrated - Al Qaeda

4) Too man Toyotas - energy shortage

The Dell Theory of Conflict prevention

Old Time threats (China versus Taiwan) VS. Supply Chains (China + Taiwan)

The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention INFOSYS vs. Al-Qaeda

Creative imagination of 11/9

Versus Destructive imagination of 9/11

Is the world really flat?

90% of web-traffic, investments and phone calls are domestic. globalizationfriendly policies that currently exist are easily revoked.
(Ghemawat)

The world is Spikey (Florida)

Population is spikey

The world is Spikey

Distribution of economic productivity is spikey

The world is Spikey

Distribution of innovation is spikey

Shift Happens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdTOFkhaplo

Key developments since the book was written:

Cloud computing

Key developments since the book was written:

Translator toolbar

Key developments since the book was written:

Translator toolbar

Key developments since the book was written:

Open source easier to access http://www.theopendisc.com/ http://www.theopencd.org/

Key developments since the book was written:

Unexpected sources of Innovation http://ushahidi.com/

Key developments since the book was written:

Power of Social networking

Will the world be flat in a decade? Flat

Or Round