What are Thomas Friedman's 10 forces that flattened the world?

Answer 1

o Flatteners #1, #2, and #3

§ These are all communication and information technologies.

§ Friedman believes these first three forces have become a "crude foundation of a whole new global platform for collaboration"

§ #1: Collapse of Berlin Wall

· the event not only symbolized the end of the Cold War, it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream.

§ #2: Netscape

· With Iternet browsers, suddenly everyone could browse the web with significant and prolific content, allowing instant publishing to a world audience.

· The digitization that took place meant that everyday occurrences such as words, files, films, music and pictures could be accessed and manipulated on a computer screen by all people across the world.

§ #3: Workflow software:

· The ability of machines to talk to other machines with no humans involved, as stated by Friedman. Common web-based standards; software applications "taking" to each other.

o Friedman considers #4 "the most disruptive force of all".

§ #4: Uploading/open-source:

· Communities uploading and collaborating on online projects.

· Self-organizing, collaborative communities; the decline of closed, proprietary developments.

· Examples include open source software, blogs, and Wikipedia.

o Flatteners #5, #6, #7, and #8.

§ These describe how technology changes the space in which firms and professionals compete.

§ #5: Outsourcing:

· Allows for products/services to be subcontracted and performed in the most efficient, cost-effective way. The rise of outside specialists, part-timers and home-workers.

· This process became easier with the mass distribution of fiber optic cables during the introduction of the World Wide Web.

§ #6: Offshoring:

· The internal relocation of a company's manufacturing or other processes to a foreign land to take advantage of less costly operations there. Sending manufacturing to wherever it could be done - good, fast and cheap.

· With the availability of worldwide high-speed communications, knowledge work can be delivered fast from anywhere.

§ #7: Supply-chaining:

· Friedman compares the modern retail supply chain to a river, and points to Wal-Mart as the best example of a company using technology to streamline item sales, distribution, and shipping.

§ #8: Insourcing/Logistics:

· Friedman uses UPS as a prime example for insourcing, in which the company's employees perform services - beyond shipping - for another company. For example, UPS repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub, by UPS employees.

§ #9: In-forming:

· Google and other search engines are the prime example. "Never before in the history of the planet have so many people - on their own - had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people," writes Friedman. The growth of search engines is tremendous

§ #10: "The Steroids":

· Personal digital devices like mobile phones, iPods, personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and voice over internet Protocol (VoIP).

· Digital, Moble, Personal and Virtual -

o all analog content and processes (from entertainment to Photography to word processing) can be digitized and therefore shaped, manipulated and transmitted;

· virtual - these processes can be done at high speed with total ease;

· mobile - can be done anywhere, anytime by anyone;

· personal - can be done by you.