"The World Is Flat" - Thomas L. Friedman

Above is a long video that I hope each and every one of you will take the time to enjoy. In the video, Thomas L. Friedman talks about the globalization of the world and what it means for the marketplace. 

Chances are good that Bhavya in Bangalore will read your next x-ray, or as Thomas Friedman learned first hand, “Grandma Betty in her bathrobe” will make your Jet Blue plane reservation from her Salt Lake City home. In “Globalization 3.0,” Friedman contends, people from far-flung places will become principal players in the marketplace.

Below is an assignment I had to do for class based on this video. The assignment was to state 10 Key Learnings from the video. Hope you enjoy.

1. Japanese speaking Chinese workers living in Dalian,China are outsourced to develop software and run the back room operations of major Japanese companies.
2. The introduction of Netscape’s internet browser was a key moment in globalization history. Allowing everyone to connect to each other through the internet. Also, it spurred the started of the dotcom boom.
3. Open-source code and applications combined are shrinking the world even more. Allowing normal, every day people to collaborate together to bring something that should have a price tag to the public for free.
4. UPS has revolutionized what Friedman calls “in-sourcing”. Where UPS manages not only the shipping & recieving of parcel goods but also processes the refurbishment of HP and other products.
5. Southwest Airlines allowing their customers to print their own tickets from home is, in essence, turning their customers into employees. It empowers the customer to  ‘ticket-agent’ status and further reduces Southwest’s costs of employment and training.
6. Friedman points out that there is no such thing as an “American job” any more.
7. The developing parts of the word such a Africa are the areas that need the most technological stimulus now. Those nations need help to be incorporated in the global climate.
8. HP ‘adopted’ a town in India and supplied their citizens with HP solar-powered cameras and printers to allow this developing nation to have the luxuries that Americans have. HP then helped the city devise a business plan so HP could be compensated for the use of their technology by these citizens.
9. The shrinking of the world has made consumer markets more niche driven. Now more than ever can a consumer find very specific, tailored items marketed towards a small consumer base. Jobs are also becoming more focused such as Friedman’s example of a “search engine optimizer”. The combination of these two forces is making the consumer market and job market more complex.
10. A smaller, more globalized world is a good thing but how do we keep it safe? We can’t. The imaginations of people are the only thing that can bring about good or bad in the world. How people use their imagination in a globalized world is the only determining factor of safety. Will we use it for harm - 9/11. Or for good - 11/9 (Berlin Wall).