Cover

About the Author

Thomas Loren Friedman is an American
journalist, author, and three time Pulitzer Prize
winner. Friedman currently writes a weekly
column for The New York Times
 Introduction
The World is Flat is an historical and geographical
journey, with stories and anecdotes from the
days of Columbus to a modern day internet; from
the Great Depression to the rise of economy
through technological advancement
demonstrating the pervasiveness of the world-
flattening trend
The theme of the entire book, in that we must
learn how to learn, teaching ourselves to stay
curious and innovative, if we are to excel in a
global economy.
 Columbus Era vs. Modern Era
Friedman guides us through the different eras of globalization
as he has defined them in an historical narrative from the days
of Columbus to our present day state
Columbus searched for Hardware Columbus found
America but thought that he discovered part of India
while author actually visited India and thought that
people met there were Americans
Columbus reported that the world was round while the
author thought the World is Flat
 Flattening
Flattening of the world means that we are
now connecting all the knowledge centres of
the world together into a single global
network.
The playing field is being levelled
 Three Eras of Globalization
1492 1820 Globalization 1.0
World shrank from Size large to size medium
Exploration and colonization drive success
Countries think globally to thrive
1820 2000 Globalization 2.0
World shrank from size medium to size small
Collaboration between international companies
Companies must think globally to survive
First half falling transportation cost and second half falling
telecom costs.
2000 Present Globalization 3.0
World shrank from size small to size tiny
Individuals and small groups globalize
Driven by software in conjunction with the creation of global
network
The Ten forces that flattened World
 Flatteners #1
11/9/1989:Berlin wall came down
Liberated the captive people of the Soviet Empire
Worldwide balance of power shifted to free markets
Each outbreak of freedom stimulated another outbreak
It provide a move towards single market, single ecosystem and a
single community
 Flatteners #2
8/9/1995: Netscape IPO
Sparked the dot com boom and over-investment in fiber optic
cable (connected the world)
Dot com bust made cost of using fiber optic cable virtually free
First commercial browser, invigorated internet use
 Flatteners #3
Workflow Phase
Software and standards developed that allow people to work
together
Created a global platform that enabled collaboration
Systems had to be interoperable
 Flatteners #4
Open-Sourcing
Self-organizing collaborative communities
Free code written by individuals and shared openly
Peer review provides rewarding gratification
 Flatteners #5
Out-Sourcing
Any service, call center, business support operation, or knowledge work that
can be digitized can be sourced globally
Opportunity to seek cheapest, smartest, most efficient providers
Invigorated brain drain
 Flatteners #6
Off-Shoring
Companies move entire factory or operation offshore to foreign country
Same product produces in same way with cheaper labor, lower taxes, etc.
Invigorated by China
 Flatteners #7
Supply-Chaining
Levelled the boundaries between customers and Manufactures
Wal-Mart pioneered global supply chain efficiency
Wal-Mart trucks deliver products to stores, pick up goods from
manufacturer on return to distribution center
 Flatteners #8
In-Sourcing
Dissolving the barriers between companies by increasing
standardization of business practices
Logistics giants take control of customer supply chains
UPS provides internal logistics support for other companies
Toshiba laptops sent directly to UPS where a UPS employee
repairs it and return ships to customer
 Flatteners #9
Informing
Provide ease to obtain information
Search engines (Google, Yahoo!, etc.) provide
universal access to information
Individuals empowered to find information
 Flatteners #10
Steroids
Wireless, VoIP, file sharing that enhance the
collaboration tools
Digital, mobile, virtual and personal technologies
explode
 Vertical (command and control) value-creation model

Convergence I: All 10 flatteners converged in 1990-2000

and worked together to create the flat world

Convergence II: Emergence of management Practices and infrastructure

to boost productivity.Flattened with PC, Optic fibre and software

Developing countries open their borders for rapid-fire pace of Globalization

Horizontal (connect and collaborate) value-creation model