Preview

The World Is Flat

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2854 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The World Is Flat
An analytic paper on the two books: The World is Flat of Thomas Friedman and Making Globalization Work of Joseph Stiglitz

Globalization is process of integration. It is spread all through several fields, such as politics, culture, economy, technology and the environment. Internationally, these fields are going through a period of conversion and evolution causing this world to turn out to be homogenous and flat. Even nations in the Third World are having the prospects only the developed countries once had to emerge into affluence. In fact, globalization is not new. Numerous events through which this course is evident have been going on for many years. However, between the late 20th century and early 21st century, the process of globalization has intensified. According to Jones (2010), a number of thinkers, including Friedman and Stiglitz, say that economy is the driving force behind globalization.

In his book, The World Is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman examines a number of factors that have caused globalization to intensify during the past 20 to 25 years. But first of all, the thing which is very important to understand is what globalization is. In the book, Making Globalization Work, Joseph E. Stiglitz explains globalization as the global flow of ideas and knowledge, the sharing of cultures, global civil society and international environment
…show more content…
The need is obvious for a managed approach; one that does not bound itself to safe guarding investor concern. Friedman mainly uses a mixture of an empirical and logical technique. The American Heritage Dictionary explains empirical as being derived from and demonstrable by observation and logical as being based on previous or otherwise known statements, events, or conditions. Scholarly dissertations, main documents, conversations, and interviews are the major sources that Friedman uses to develop his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In this chapter, Thomas Friedman looks at how cultures and societies will have to deal with and adapt to the changes that globalization brings to the way of doing business. It affects whole companies and individuals. He gives the perception of the world is flattening by comparing the Industrial Revolution to the IT Revolution that is happening right now. The flattening process was identified by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Marx’s writings about capitalism state “the inexorable march of technology and capital to remove all barriers, boundaries, frictions, and restraints to global commerce (Friedman 234).”…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his article, “The World is Flat, After All”, Friedman discusses the progression of the world via Globalization. Starting from the initial age of Globalization between 1942 and 1800 when countries were globalizing for resources and imperial conquest, to the secondary age with the corporate revolution (1800-2000), and finally, to today’s era of globalization that is not limited to where you live, what race you are, or how much money you have. Each stage of globalization brought about change by new technologies used in business and everyday life. The article highlights multiple points in history where cutting edge technology further globalized the world, such as the Microsoft Windows operating system, the undersea-underground fiber network, and the use of outsourcing. The most important part of Friedman’s article “The World is Flat, After All” is that the playing field for people, businesses, and countries is being leveled through globalization due to the many technological…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The World is flat

    • 5346 Words
    • 16 Pages

    1. What is it about the flat world that both excites Friedman and fills him with dread?…

    • 5346 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    APA 1

    • 1340 Words
    • 5 Pages

    According to the research of Bishop et al (2011), the concept of globalization came into being soon after the world started to get connected at initial human history. The authors argued that increase in transportation and technology, the liberalization of trade policies between governments, increase in the inequalities between nations, and increase in inequalities of earnings between people of a nation are some of the major drivers of globalization. Fritsch (2011) in his study also argued that technology is not the only force behind globalization. In his study, he identified that technology has a great role in contributing to the increased globalization. However, there are many other factors that played equal part in driving globalization.…

    • 1340 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    World is Flat

    • 525 Words
    • 2 Pages

    2. Friedman mentions that the world has “flattened” in Globalization 3.0. What does “flattening” mean, and what are the key technologies that flattened the world? (3 points)…

    • 525 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Global Trends

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Globalization has triumphed since the last century after the end of the cold war in the late 1980s. It has made extensive efforts to unify the world’s economic order, created tremendous benefits for the countries that participate and is the driving force of economic life on this planet. It has not only spurred the growth of the high-income developed countries but as also brought tremendous opportunities to the developing countries. Globalization is viewed as an inexorable economic integration between countries in terms of technological innovations, cross border trade and increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) due to which national economies are merging into one huge interdependent global economic system.…

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    World is flat

    • 2929 Words
    • 8 Pages

    1. “But Friedman’s image of a flat earth is profoundly misleading – a view of the world from a seat in business class. Flatness is another way of describing the transnational search by companies for cheap labor, an image that misses the pervasiveness of global inequality and the fact that much of the developing world remains mired in poverty and misery. It also misses the importance of the global geopolitical hierarchy, which guarantees the provision of stability, property rights, and other international public goods. The rise of China and India is less about flatness than it is about dramatic upheavals in the mountains and valleys of the global geopolitical map”…

    • 2929 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The World Is Flat

    • 1943 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In Part I, “How the World Became Flat,” Friedman visits India, where he realizes that the playing field has been leveled, meaning that a much larger group of people can compete for global knowledge. He pursues examples of this metaphor in other places, such as Iraq, China, Japan, and the United States. Friedman argues that there are primarily ten forces that flattened the world and describes each of the following “flatteners”: 11/9/89, the fall of the Berlin Wall; 8/9/95, or the date that Netscape went public; work flow software; uploading; outsourcing; offshoring; insourcing; in-forming; and the steroids. Next Friedman explores what he calls “the triple convergence,” or the way the ten flatteners converged to create an even flatter global playing field. The first convergence encompasses how the ten flatteners came together in such a way that they created a global, Web-enabled platform that allows for multiple forms of collaboration. The second convergence is the appearance of a set of business practices and skills that make the most of the ten flatteners, thus enhancing the flatteners’ potential. The third convergence is the entrance of some three billion people onto the playing field. The triple convergence is likely to cause some chaos and confusion. Friedman argues that “the great sorting out” will recalibrate the ceilings, walls, and floors that define us. Some questions that arise during the great sorting out are: what should be the relationship between companies and the communities in which they operate?; how do we navigate our multiple identities as consumers, employees, citizens, taxpayers, and shareholders?; who owns what, particularly in the case of intellectual property?…

    • 1943 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is the World Flat?

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Thomas Friedman’s idea that the world is flattening is based on recent observations that the global economic “playing field” is becoming increasingly easier to enter and to compete in. Friedman notes ten events that have played a significant role in this phenomenon.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The world is flat

    • 1361 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Thomas L.Friedman, The World is Flat: a brief history of the twenty-first century. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The World Is Flat

    • 2134 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In the world today, business is on the rise internationally and technology is getting stronger and stronger every day. In the book The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Friedman, who was a foreign affairs columnist for NY Times, tells of his journey to India and how while he was there he realized that globalization has changed economic concepts. Friedman analyzes globalization in the twenty-first century and how the world is now at a level playing field in terms of competitors having equal opportunities; hence the title of the book being The World is Flat. He is not talking about the world being flat geographically, but the world being flat in the business sense. Friedman describes ten different “flatteners’ that he determined to be leveling the playing field. These are the ten flatteners: 11/8/89, 8/9/95, workflow software, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining, insourcing, in-forming, and “The Steroids”. In this essay I am going to key in on in-forming and how it has flattened the playing field, “thus allowing even individuals to compete with big established companies on an equal footing.”(One) Times are changing and we are finding ourselves relying on technology such as PCs more often than not. Essentially, informing is the means by which uploading, outsourcing, in-sourcing, supply-chaining, and off shoring are possible on a personal level. We can gather information and buy-sell-trade with expertise using search engines. Friedman depicts “in-forming” as being search engines such as Google or Yahoo providing international access to information. Friedman writes, "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." Having this kind of access gives us a chance to excel in anything that we do. Having unlimited entry to this much information makes…

    • 2134 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    With the overarching message that “the world is flat,” Friedman argues that talented individuals from all over the world can now compete with more equal opportunity, and businesses can now expand globally to take advantage of such talented individuals, as seen in the example of Hewlett-Packard employing “142,000 employees in 178 countries” (Friedman 92). As another example, Friedman also references IBM’s decision to sell “its entire Personal Computing Division to the Chinese company Lenovo to create a new world-wide PC company. As a global business, the new Lenovo will be geographically dispersed, with people and physical assets located worldwide” (Friedman 244). Friedman further argues that as globalization continues, competition will further increase, especially as “new workers…jogging and even sprinting…onto the flattened global piazza” (Friedman 112). Friedman’s case for the globalizing and flattening of the world is extremely cogent, and can also be supported by several outside sources. For example, Drucker Institute director and Times Magazine contributor Rick Wartzman, in his article “What Globalization Really Means,” states several examples of how businesses and the role of individuals have…

    • 2363 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The World is Flat

    • 752 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The title "The World is Flat" was taken from a statement by Nandan Nilekani, the former Infosys (an Indian IT company) CEO. It seems like if hadn't met Nandan then he wouldn't have even written this book.…

    • 752 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Globalization is the process by which different societies and cultures integrate through a worldwide network of political ideas through transportation, communication, and trade. Generally, globalization has affected many nations in various ways; economically, politically, and socially. It is a term that refers to the fast integration and interdependence of various nations, which shapes the world affairs on a global level. Simply put; globalization is the world coming together. In this essay I will discuss multiple perspectives on globalization through the analysis of these three sources.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Globalization has been underway since the dawn of history. “It is now characterized by shrinking space and time and by vanishing borders. Globalizing processes are dismantling obstacles to movement. As a result, there has been an increasing flow of people, goods, services, ideas, technologies and information across international borders. In simple terms, globalization is defined as a ‘process that widens the extent and form of cross-border transactions among peoples, assets, goods and services and that deepens the economic interdependence between and among globalizing entities, which may be private or public institutions or governments” (Lubbers 2000). Globalization is a basically connecting different country together as a global village.…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays