Good The World Is Flat Summary Essay Example

“The World Is Flat” is a representation used by Thomas L Friedman to explain the developments happening globally in the present generation on a regular basis, in terms of technology and communications, and as a result of these advancement many people in any geographic location are well connected with each other as compared to the earlier years. Friedman speaks about the globalization history from 1492 to 1800, and from 1800 to 2000 and refers them as Globalization 1.0, 2.0, and the new Globalization 3.0 which is currently happening can only shrink the world due to the tremendous developments in technology.
Friedman discusses the reasons behind flattening of the world as he introduces the fax machines, which were used to transform information when the Berlin wall fell. According to Friedman, offshoring and outsourcing are the flatteners, along with supply chain, in-forming, insourcing, and steroids. After traveling to India and China, Friedman believes that business models must be changed on a regular basis to be competitive in the changing technology. Example of Wal-Mart as a supply chain company is cited by Friedman, in order to emphasize that growth is possible even without manufacturing anything. Insourcing is another flattener which is explained by Friedman in terms of UPS repairing the Toshiba laptops at the airport service rooms. Friedman refers information found through search engines as In-Forming that allows people globally to access to the same information.

Steroids are also flatteners that refer to the digital, personal, and virtual world, where

people can access information even while traveling. Friedman refers them as steroids because of the rapid development in technology that is continuing to empower collaboration. Friedman discusses about the triple convergence, which is a new model of doing business. He speaks about the first convergence that provided a base to perform business, the second convergence is the merger of the base with new ways to do business, and the third convergence is the growth of numerous people in the business.