Introduction
The Meaning of the World Being Flat
Additionally, this concept was first created during Friedman’s journey in Bangalore, India. He realized that the aspect of globalization has changed many essential economic terms which businesses were already accustomed to over the past 15 years. Friedman also believed that the flattening of the world happened to be a product of the convergence of computers which has a fiber optic micro cable since this created a new era of efficient work flow process and its software. This creation was perceived as Globalization 3.0.
It is important to understand that the flattening of the world was caused by the collapse of communism, explosion of the usage of the internet which many businesses overinvested into the telecommunication software’s and outsourced to engineers to help fix the issues that millions of individuals thought would occur at the beginning of the millennium. Friedman also refers to ten various flatteners which levels the playing field of globalization. The flatteners are the collapse of the 1) Berlin Wall, 2) Netscape, 3) workflow software, 4) uploading, 5) outsourcing, 6) offshoring, 7) supply chaining, 8) insourcing, 9) informing and 10) the steroids. Although we will explore these characteristics of flatteners in the next section, it is believed that these metaphors are excellent for what the author is attempting to help the reader understand because these occurrences or creations all individually contributed to significant economic shifts of globalization. For instance, “two employees who work for the same organization no longer have to work side by side with one another due to the advances in outsourcing and uploading files” (Neal, 2006).
Flatteners
The first flattener, which is the Collapse of the Berlin Wall enabled the individuals who were on the other side of the wall to join the mainstream of globalization. It was also the end of the Cold War which will be discussed more in depth in the next section. The second flattener, Netscape was introduced to the general public at only twenty-eight bucks for service. The internet audience was broadened to the point even a five-year-old child held the capability to access it.
Everyone human being on the face of the planet is able to access the internet. The third flattener, workflow software was a catch phrase for Friedman which was meant to be understood by the reader in the sense of technologies and machines who communicated with one another without any human involvement and this process sped up the flow of successfully completing work related tasks.
The fourth flattener, uploading allows billions of people to simply upload a document with one simple click. The fifth flattener, outsourcing allows companies and entrepreneurs to hire people at lower rates who are based in many countries without leaving their office desks to simplify the hiring process. The sixth flattener, offshoring is when a companies’ manufacturing process goes to another country due to its cheap operational costs. The seventh flattener, supply chaining is compared to a streamline of water such as a river because many companies utilize technology to streamline the overall sales, distribution and shipping. One example of this is Wal-Mart. The eighth flattener, Insourcing and the author uses the company UPS as a primary example of this flattener because the company ships but also performs services for other companies. The ninth flattener, informing consists of the growth of search engines such as Google, Bing, among others to keep consumers aware of information. The final flattener, steroids is the technology individuals use on a daily basis, for example iPhones, iPods which could be manipulated and virtually transmitted.
The Role of Central Europe
Friedman believes that globalization replaced the system which previously existed in the Cold War because it has its rules and incentives which affects each individual, regardless of their country or cultural background. Therefore, globalization is an ongoing process which involves an integration of markets and technologies which Central Europe has never seen before. In addition, it has its own culture that dominates and continuously is homogenizing due to the evolving of internet, computerization, fiber optics and satellite communications.
The primary driving force which impacts this region the most is the free market capitalism. This concept believes when a market forces are allowed to rule, while the economy is open to competition and free trade; then the economy will become more flourishing and efficient for all members involved. Most importantly, Friedman characterizes the central theme of globalization and the Cold War which was in Europe as a mirror of the internet because everyone is becoming more and more connected, but no one is really in charge of how the process continues to be ongoing which will only keep happening to evolve as the years pass.
References
Neal, C. (2006). What Does "The World Is Flat" Mean for Education? A Closer Look at Our Educational Globe. Edutopia. Retrieved 13 July 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/what-does-world-flat-mean-education
Piasecki, B. (2016). Thomas L. Friedman | The World Is Flat | Globalization. Worldincbook.com. Retrieved 13 July 2016, from http://www.worldincbook.com/res_book_friedman.html
