Chapter 15: 11/9 Vs. 9/11 (Use your Imagination)

I thought how Friedman contrasted 11/9 (Fall of the Berlin Wall) and 9/11 (Twin Towers) was quite interesting. He took two different forms on imagination and showed us the differences behind them. 11/9 was a more open world, why 9/11 showed how evil thoughts cold stop the flattening of the world. His example is of the two airlines he uses to demonstrate his point is quite ironic and clever. The first airline was JetBlue, they began selling paperless tickets and provided jobs to house wives. They wanted to be innovative and embrace the new world. The second was the airline made by Osama bin Laden, that was determined to crash into the World Trade Center trying to slow us down. One made flying more efficient, the other made chaos and flying horrific. But I believe that 9/11 woke us up and increase our global presence, not stop flattening the world.

I also respected Friedman's thought when he said technology alone will not keep us safe, that we have to affect the imaginations of those who are trying to hurt us. Because we are the world's most powerful country we are suppose to lead by example, and help other countries prosper in this flattening world. Hopefully we can change more peoples imaginations towards 11/9 ideas rather then 9/11 ideas. I remember that day like the back of my hand. After watching all the madness on TV and hearing it all over the news, anger struck across this nation. It's sad, but it was an event that brought this split nation together. The first Dolphins football game that happened after that tragic day was my best because after the anthem the entire stadium was chanting U.S.A. It was told that you could hear it from miles away.

Chapter 14: Purchasing and Supply Chain Management

Dell did have a great run and expansion in the beginning of the twenty-first century. Their purchasing and supply chain methods were unprecedented and set a lot of standards. They advertised to the right market (mostly college students), and had a great promotion theme. Unfortunately the time I heard of the "Dude, you're gettin a Dell" guy, he was arrested for drugs or DUI or something. I want to know what happened to Dell though, they kind of disappeared?


Friedman's theory of conflict prevention is probably the smartest thing he had to say in this whole book. Talking about how nations that are invested in just-in-time global supply chains are more likely to stay out of wars and keep the peace. These countries would suffer significant financial losses if they did. Why don't we go to the Middle East then? Most the countries in the South Pacific resist war despite their cultural and religious differences because they are all economically invested. Just look at the Middle East with no global supply chains. Great point Friedman!

Friedman talks of two tests that prove his theory. The biggest and first case is China and Taiwan. In 2004 Taiwan was hoping to finally get independence from China. However their DPP (Independent party) lost because the people did not want to be independent. Friedman says they realized that their economic stability was reliant on China, also they didn't want to have the Chinese invade. This kind of reminds me of the U.S. and Puerto Rico, how we provided protection and stability for their country and they did not want to get rid of their Common Wealth status.

The second test dealt with the nuclear crisis in 2002 between India and Pakistan. A nuclear exchange between the two seemed imminent and all U.S. citizens were advised to leave India. The CIO of United Technologies talked to the Indian Prime Minister and threatened to take business away. The concerns were informed and the Indian govt backed down their position. I don't believe this necessarily was the real reason, but I do believe it was a variable in the crisis. Then of course Friedman talks about the con's of his position in the end of the chapter.

Chapter 13: Uploading and Sweat shops.

Friedman starts out by saying the Cultural Revolution is about to begin, and that globalization is really driven by American cultural Imperialism. It's true to some degree, we are the ones who are outsourcing to other countries and bringing our products international. We are Americanizing the world and they are eating it up, whether its McDonald's, Entertainment, or materialism. The U.S. has the ability to take advantage of this new world and we are. We are bringing diversity to a degree the world has never seen. Friedman says this is primarily due to the fourth flattener, Uploading. It is suppose to globalize the local, there are no barriers to entry as long as you have a computer, microphone, and a camera. The bad part is most of the world does not have the capacity to upload items onto the web with having 20% of India's population only has the ability. Only 31.1 million people in China have Broadband. Uploading can be a very negative aspect too. Terrorist are using the web to podcast terrorism and their beliefs. I saw a report on the news talking talking about we are winning the war, but losing the war on propaganda. Which is the most powerful tool of all, and they are turning people against us.

The biggest thing that got my attention in this chapter is the Sweat shops going on in China. I knew they were a somewhat communist country and repressed freedom of religion, but I didn't know slaves were still around. When Friedman talks about the Uighur and the iPod factories, that made me mad. You would Human rights watch or some organization for humanity would step in. Making young people work 15 hour days for $50 a month. Punishing them for screwing up, and warehousing them from the public. Sounds almost like a concentration camp to me. People say America is full of shit, but stuff like that makes me proud to be an American.

Chapter 12:The Unflat World

Finally! He admits that he embellished many of the flatteners of the new contemporary world. He has been also contradicting himself throughout the whole book! That's what you get for writing a gazillion page book. Anyways as you all know Friedman admits that the world is not flat, and that he thinks of himself as a technological determinist (Whatever that is). He finally says that everybody cannot embrace this new world, when yet he said some 3 billion people are now waking up. But I will give him some respect for playing the devil's advocate on himself. You do need to show the pros and con's to every situation. In this chapter he tells of some of the reasons why flattening could go wrong.

The section of the world that will have a hard time coming about is the "too sick" people. Which is the poor in the developing nations. This is common sense of course. Diseases like malaria and AIDS are to rampant in these countries and there is no support on how to prevent this pandemic. One bad feature about this is because of a flattening world, these diseases could spread a whole lot faster and we would have another plague on our hands.

The second group of people is the "too disempowered", or also known as the half-flat people. These are lower class citizens and people in ravished nations. Friedman talks about trying to improve local govt, infrastructures, and education. Also their lack of opportunity to be apart of this new world. Places that have communist leaders and dictators is a great example of this. Look at Cuba and Castro, having the government control every move you make. Cuba could be a thriving country even with its small size.

One of the biggest set backs to me is terrorism, which Friedman hits on a little bit. The Arab-Muslim world today caused so many barriers with their violent Islamist fringe. Groups like al-Qaeda and their attacks on 9/11 have brought tighter security measures and built protectionist walls. Americans don't want to do business with people that want to kill us or who we are at war with. Who really wants to go to a business meeting or work over in the Middle East. Its to bad too, because places like Dubai are one of the fastest growing nations in the world.

Part 4; Chapter 11: How Companies Cope

"The companies that have managed to grow today are those that are most prepared to change". Friedman starts off with this observation of the chapter meaning how do these companies respond to the triple convergence. It's about coming up with a strategy to survive in this new world. I like the part where he talks about Howard Schultz, founder and CEO of Starbucks, and how they have 19,000 variations of coffee. Their strategy was to make the customers the designers and customize the product the way they want it. As we talked in one of our discussion boards, these new people are Prosumers. Friedman also has seven rules on how to survive. Ill briefly touch on a few of them.

Rule #1 - When the world goes flat-and you are feeling flattened-reach for a shovel and dig inside yourself.
During this Triple Convergence stage, companies need to find a way to stay competitive and survive in this new global market. He uses his friends company Greer & Associates as an example. This rule is common sense to me, and I will sum it up in one of my favorite quotes. "If you stand still, you will get left behind"

Rule#2 - "And the small shall act big"
This is the classic story of David verse Goliath. Small companies need to not act their size and take advantage of the new technology for collaboration. Use the resources that the bigger companies offer, like in the previous chapters, how Toshiba used UPS for quick delivery and even repairs.

Rule #3 - And the big shall act small
This is one of my favorites, because it's saying the big companies should no longer treat you as a piece of meat, but as an individual personalized customer. They use the example of Starbucks as I talked about in the intro of this chapter. Starbucks made their service into a buffet for the customers, and let them have their way.

Rule #6 - The best companies outsource to win, not to shrink
Saying the successful companies don't outsource to save on cost, rather they want to be innovative, increasing market share, and having a diversified staff. This subject is rather controversial, and Friedman has gone back and forth about the matter. He is really just confusing me with his opinion. There is so many pages I think he forgets what he writes.

Part 3; Chapter 10: The Virgin of Guadalupe and the D.C.A.

This chapter talks about what policies developing countries need to make it in the flattening world. Each country needs to know where it stands compared to the ten flatteners. Friedman talks about the only way out of poverty is to join more open markets, and that it must have three elements: Infrastructure, proper education, and the right governance. But for a lot these countries have bigger problems to deal with then the 10 flatteners. What about hunger, no reliance on govt b/c of warlords, or disease. I believe a lot of these couldn't even catch up in a few hundred years, a man living in a clay hut in Iraq isn't not worried about the world being flat.

Friedman does make some sense when he says developing nations need a a business-friendly environment. But it needs to be regulated well, most of those govt are corrupt and won't deal with the WTO. He talks about Ireland addressing these issues and going from the worst to the second richest in the EU, and that its about the most productive labor for the cheapest price. But, Ireland was not that bad to start off with, and its a fairy tale story. Not every kid is going to be a professional athlete.

Friedman's talks about culture being a big determinate is a very controversial variable, but he's right to some degree. He says that open cultures are the most willing to adopt global practices verses closed cultures. What about the Asian cultures, they are all about tradition and solidarity, but is one of the biggest flattening factors. On the other hand though countries in like the Middle East don't let there woman work or in the public process, and that eliminates a huge workforce.

Chapter 9: This is Not a Test

Friedman is saying this isn't another Cold War era where it is won without a shot being fired. That the other countries are not just going to lay down and collapse on their own. He is saying its a 75 question scan tron test with essays, the real deal. Its time for Americans to respond to the challenge and pro-globalization advocates to recognize the need for compassionate measures. Friedman outlines 5 areas of this compassionate flatism in which the goal is to give us the tools to compete in the flat world.

1st action - Leadership - Its time for politicians to get serious about globalization. I say just get Bush and his goon's out of house and we'll be find. He says they need not to encourage stupidity among constituents. But look who is in the White House.

2nd action - Muscles - How are we going to enhance each workers lifetime employability by giving them "muscle" that will make someone employable for life. Some examples are Universal pension plans, more stock options, or portable health care program.

3rd action- Good Fat - Wage Insurance, for people that have lost their jobs and will not make as much next employment b/c of our economy. Three criteria make you available for this : One, lost job through displacement. Two, held job for 2 years. Three, could not collect until he found a new job.

4th action - Social Activism - Relationship b/w the global corporation and its moral conscience. He trying to be a peace maker here and just say why can't everybody get along. He's killin me smalls. Also we need to do more for our citizens like educate consumers.

5th action - Parenting - The economist, technologist, and now parent counselor. He says parents need to do a better job at raising their kids. Every old person whine's about the younger generations, and that's never going to change. They give you the I walked up hill both ways to school and back.

Chapter 8: The Quiet Crisis

In this chapter Friedman gets naughty and throws out six dirty little secrets of why Americans are not taking advantage of their resources and forecasting the future. Friedman is throwing America under the bus here and saying were not even getting out of the way. He takes about how we are losing our innovators such as engineers, people in science and technology. That all the jobs are going East, and it's America's fault for being complacent. He is basically saying we need to do an all out, no-holds-barred, throw money in your face program for science and engineering right away. He is a hypocrite I would like to also point out, because in the last chapter he talks about needing to use the right brain while here he says you need areas using the left brain. Our quiet crisis is that we are not doing it. The six dirty secrets he talks about are:

DLS 1 - The Numbers Gap - Declining number of American students completing degrees in science and math fields. He is saying people around the world are receiving these degrees and taking a comparative advantage in the new jobs that are being created

DLS 2 - The Education Gap at the Top - It's the numbers gap to the education gap, basically a decline in Americans skein advanced degree's. Also that our entire education is declines due to the web and TV.

DLS 3 - The Ambition Gap - Low-prestige, low-paying jobs get sent abroad and become high-paying and high-prestige jobs. Although still cheaper then the U.S. Companies pay less and receive more.

DLS 4 - The Education Gap at the Bottom - Refers to the inequality of American public schools. The wealthy districts attract the best teachers and staff, while the poor districts must settle for whats left.

DLS 5 - The Funding Gap - Decreasing amount of funding Congress provides for research in the physical and mathematical sciences as well as engineering.

DLS 6 - The Infrastructure Gap - How America has fallen behind the rest of the industrialized world with broadband connection. We need good connection b/c its important to innovation and productivity.

Chapter 7: CQ + PQ > IQ

What is "The Right Stuff" and who has it? Friedman talks about four skill sets that are widely sought after to make it in the flat world. First one is the abiity to "learn how to learn". This important because information is constantly being updated, and in the flat world it is just as important to have the ability to learn then just what a person knows.

The Second skill is CQ + PQ > IQ, which means curiosity quotient + passion quotient matters more then intelligence quotient . Students with curiosity and passion will teach themselves to learn and there are tons of tools to take a person further.

The third is "Plays Well with Others" is almost self explanatory. Jobs are becoming more group oriented, and team work is a big factor. We get that first hand at Florida State.

The fourth and final one is "The Right Brain Stuff", to me this was the most interesting. Friedman talks about needing to develop the right side of your brain because it's responsible for seeing the big picture, being artistry, and empathic while the left side is measured by the SAT's. Also that the jobs being outsourced are the left-brained task's.

Below is a great website that tests whether you are right, left or both brained. It's awesome, do it with numerous people because it does turn both ways.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html

Chapter 6: The Untouchables & MBA's

This chapter completely solidifies my point in the last chapter that Americans need to use free-trade as motivation to get a better education. Also this quote he uses is perfect for my point, "Tom, finish your dinner- people in China and India are starving. Then my advice to you girls is- finish your homework- people in China and India are starving for your jobs". Friedman talks about an Untouchable who is a person whose job cannot be outsourced. They are either special, specialized, anchored, or really adaptable. You know that adaptability through education is a major incentive to economic security. We have so many great advantages on our side because of our country. Whether its universities, capital markets, political stability, or a large market.

You have an opportunity to specialize in many areas in this country, as Friedman calls them either Great collaborators, Great Leveragers, Great Adaptors, Great Localizers, Great Explainers and so on. It's better then being normal and falling behind in the job market, yesterdays bachelor's is today's master is what I believe. That's one of the main reasons I'm sure most people go ahead and get their master degree's these days, it has become the norm. We need to keep our Untouchable stature, and reinvent ourselves.

I also thought the part about being managers was great, and somewhat true. I want to go into management so I'm some what bias too. But we should let the Chinese and Indians do the work why the managers be collaborative, explain, and all the other Greats. That's actually some what the point of outsourcing, but you also have to be able to manage your outsourced feature also.

Part 2 Chapter 5: America and Free Trade

I actually agree with Friedman in this chapter as he promotes David Ricardo's free-trade theory of competitive advantage. Friedman talks about how free-trade must use both domestic and foreign strategies that will help Americans adapt to the globalization of the world. Everyone is scared that because of this flat growing world we are going to run short on jobs and lose our high wages. That is definitely not the case, Americans have a chance to take advantage of this, and it should bring innovation. Americans should be more motivated to increase their education to stay above the curve in the new job world. All global markets need to be open so more nations would be part of the global free-trade system. Job outsourcing and unemployment will both be decreased because of the greater demand for goods and services in the world. There is possibility of an overall gain in trade if each country specializes in what they have a comparative advantage in trades in with other specialized countries. As long as the global market keeps growing, there is going to be more demand for these goods and services, also meaning that a lot more people will be needed for jobs.

Chapter 4: Friedman, A Marxist?

Friedman thinks the Great Sorting Out is what to follow the Triple Convergence. It's here to sort out or clean up the confusion that defines us. A funny issue in the Great Sorting Out that had to be negotiated was the Indian company won a bid by placing 8.1 million dollars lower than its competitors. The bid was for the upgrading of the unemployment department of the state of Indiana. Whats going on, the Zippies are taken over. But I don't think that is the case, the transnational corporations are actually in control of the Zippies. The corporations are actually in pursuit of uncontrolled raw capitalism. It's the same way capitalism was gone after in the Industrial Revolution before all the regulations took control. President Theodore Roosevelt reigned in raw capitalism and started the mix economy, and now the free-market Friedman now seems to emphasize that with his flat world. As quoted from Marx "A world after its own image". One of my favorite parts in this chapter is when Friedman visits Micheal Sandel at Harvard and tells Friedman that the flattening he is talking about is similar to the Communist Manifesto. Basically saying that what Friedman is arguing is that developments in information tech are enabling companies to squeeze out all the inefficiencies and resistance from the markets.

Chapter 3: Combining The Flatteners

Chapter 3 talks about the "The Triple Convergence", or basically just putting the 10 flatteners together to flatten our mother earth even more. Also about how you can print a boarding pass out or all the cool things a printer can do. What is he four? This wasn't a great chapter to follow the second.

Convergence I talks about how the 10 flatteners came together in a way that people could see things differently at the end of globalization 2.0. They basically created 3.0, a web-enabled world that allows for massive collaboration. Convergence II brings about a set of skills and business practices such as managers, business schools, etc that bring out the flatteners potential. Convergence III brought some 3 billion people into the free-market game from places all over the world. All these workers become some kind of global labor force.

I'm gonna call Friedman out like Alex did on Yahoo. His third convergence is nonsense. How did 3 billion people all of the sudden come out of the wood work and be able to finally "plug and play" as Friedman says. The truth is most of these 3 billion people don't even have access to the Internet. Then he cuts the 3 billion by half to 1.5 billion and cuts it even more after that. He said like only 10% of the 1.5 billion are educated or have the connectivity. That's 150 million the size of our work force. Anyways I liked the part about the Zippies and Zuppies, it's like almost like our culture with the yuppies, just 20 years behind.

Chapter 2: The Chapter that could of been it's own book!

This chapter was quite interesting actually and brought some value to my reading, if you read my chapter 1 you would know what I'm talking about. This chapter was incredibly long, so this blog is going to be incredibly long in which I'm going to talk about each and every Flattener. 233 pages is a little much huh Friedman?

1) Fall of the Berlin Wall - 11/9/89

Friedman talks about this event having "flattened alternatives to free-market capitalism", but I think it really symbolized the concept of the world being a single market. Not different geographic policies, but global policy. After the fall, or how Friedman likes to say 11/9, I believe ideas and knowledge were able to flow more freely, especially things like economic policy.

2) Netscape Went Public! - 8/9/95

I actually never really was a big fan of Netscape, always have been an AOL guy. Anyways Friedman talks about two big phases in this technology (Internet and World Wide Web) and how they came together to connect people globally. First phase Apple-PC-Windows phase which let people interact on a network, like an intranet. The second phase, Internet-email-browser phase let people work with anyone who had the same kind of technology.

3) Work Flow What - Mid 90's

This is described as the quiet revolution that no one knew what was happening. Sneaky, sneaky. This helped people collaborate within and between businesses and continents. It sped the processes up a lot quicker then before. Things like XML, HTML, HTTP helped get rid of all that techno babble stuff and allowed everyone to speak the same. This basically gave everyone the same software to use, I thought this flattener kind of sucked and was boring.

4) Uploading

I believe this by far was one of the coolest technologies so far, allowing people to put information on the web. Wiki is the new resource of information whether people don't give it credit or not. We wouldn't be doing this blog if it wasn't for uploading (Which would of been nice j/k). This definitely helps the basic human need to participate in an activity and to be heard.

5) Outsourcing

This is one of the top issues of today, almost every class I have been in has dealt with this issue. There are way to many variables when dealing with this matter like jobs, GDP, exploiting, and etc. so I'm not going to get into this. But I do have to say, if you look back at the millennium incident it was pretty funny, everyone was a bunch of fools. India should be grateful for our paranoia.

6) Offshoring
This is when a company moves not just a specific task, but a factory to another country. The biggest reason for this is cheaper labor, resources, less trade barriers, and fewer taxes. We finally were able to bust into the Chinese expansion once they joined the WTO in 2001, but I still don't think they comply with international law. Their government has to much control.

7) Supply-Chaining
When you think of supply chaining you think of Wal-Mart. As Friedman says Wal-Mart the worlds biggest retail company that makes nothing. They basically create value by moving horizontally through the organization between customers, retailers, suppliers. Wal-Mart is great for customers because they keep prices low, but their employees suffer bad wages. I only go there for their breakfast sausage patties, there amazing.

8) Insourcing
I was actually very interested in this flattener because I have a Toshiba laptop. I had no clue if your laptop broke you were able to drop it off at an UPS shop and they'll fix it in a timely manner. You would think Toshiba would promote this, especially since they had trouble taking to long to repair things. The little man can actually make it in the world today, but I would think the smaller company would just end up becoming a subsidiary of the larger one.

9) In-Forming
The self empowered researcher, where would any of us be without Google, Yahoo!, or Wiki. I know I wouldn't be anywhere this far in school if I just had to use textbooks. Just being able to search for information on whatever subject you want, entertainment, food, school. This does empower an individual and I believe is one of the biggest flatteners. Friedman has a point that it does expose our privacy and theft, but technology is coming out more and more each day to protect us from Internet theft, sexual predators, or hackers.

10) Arnold and the steroids
Steroids are the helping hand, they beef up and strengthen other flatteners. Things like digital, mobile, or personal devices. The VoIP thing was probably the coolest thing in this flattener. It was great with the students who did the IT in the news presentation and pranked Chili's with this device, I just want to know what telephone companies are going to do once this revolutionizes telecommunications.

Chapter 1: While I was Sleeping (Nothing New)

The thing I didn't like to much about this chapter is in his discussions about 'technology advances" and their impact, its hard to find anything original in this 600 page book. A lot of this analyses came out even before the dot-com era. Check out Global Paradox by John Nasibitt written in 1994. But I will give it to him, it's been a while since someone has really exploited outsourcing.
The thing that caught my eye the most is when he talked about it's not the corporations low-level, low wage jobs that are being outsource, but the white collar globalization. Its interesting how finance and accounting services for GE Capital world wide are managed from India. Or how American Express processes internal financial interactions for all of Asia. Makes getting your MBA a must these days if we want to stay ahead of the low-cost labor economies. These "empowered individuals" are some what being exploited to a point though. Multinational corporation's are going around the globe looking for cheap labor, finding the poor in developing places, and pay them a fraction of America's wages. You only hear about the great jobs like the call centers where they have to change their accents, and start calling each other Bob and Ivy.
On a good note though, there are many benefits to globalization, especially the technology that is being developed. Whether its the lady In Salt Lake City working for JetBlue, how the military has flattened through letting low-level officers make decisions b/c of technology, or students can be tutored by people in India for cheap. I wish I had those opportunities earlier in my life. I could of sit at home playing X-Box and working for McDonald's at the same time. It's creating a better standard of living for most, even people in low-level economies.