The World is Flat

I was watching Thomas Friedman yesterday evening on Charlie Rose and he talked about how the world we live in is becoming increasingly "flat". It is the title of his latest book and he is an authority on globalization who recently spent time in India with the heads of several corporations to get another perspective on this subject. It was an interesting context to help understand what is happening in the ever connected, and highly integrated worlds of business, supply chains, and commerce. The landscape of the globe has changed and distance, language, and access to information has drastically changed the dynamics of business and supply chains. He mentioned that during the dot com era over a trillion dollars were invested in optical networks and communications infrastructure enhancements and how that has effectively made the world a much smaller place. He regarded the flattening as a major shift in the world and reiterated that Americans need to be aware of it and be able to adapt in a changing world. It is quite an accomplishment if one thinks that "all the knowledge" of the world is instantly accessible by virtually anyone at anytime and traditional boundaries both intellectually and geographically are fast disappearing. That is an amazing and unique human accomplishment. He made a point about how the fall of the Berlin wall (11/9/1989) symbolized the start of globalization (east meets west) and how 3 months later Microsoft's Windows 3.1 was released around the globe giving us all a common framework and platform to work and collaborate from.

Here is what Friedman describes as the flattening of the world ..

FRIEDMAN: I was in India interviewing Nandan Nilekani at Infosys. And he said to me, "Tom, the playing field is being leveled." Indians and Chinese were going to compete for work like never before, and Americans weren't ready. I kept chewing over that phrase - the playing field is being leveled - and then it hit me: Holy mackerel, the world is becoming flat. Several technological and political forces have converged, and that has produced a global, Web-enabled playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration without regard to geography or distance - or soon, even language.

The 10 Great Levelers that have helped flatten the world ...

1. Fall of the Berlin Wall
The events of November 9, 1989, tilted the worldwide balance of power toward democracies and free markets.

2. Netscape IPO
The August 9, 1995, offering sparked massive investment in fiber-optic cables.

3. Work flow software
The rise of apps from PayPal to VPNs enabled faster, closer coordination among far-flung employees.

4. Open-sourcing
Self-organizing communities, à la Linux, launched a collaborative revolution.

5. Outsourcing
Migrating business functions to India saved money and a third world economy.

6. Offshoring
Contract manufacturing elevated China to economic prominence.

7. Supply-chaining
Robust networks of suppliers, retailers, and customers increased business efficiency. See Wal-Mart.

8. Insourcing
Logistics giants took control of customer supply chains, helping mom-and-pop shops go global. See UPS and FedEx.

9. In-forming
Power searching allowed everyone to use the Internet as a "personal supply chain of knowledge." See Google.

10. Wireless
Like "steroids," wireless technologies pumped up collaboration, making it mobile and personal.

Pretty interesting framework to help understand what is happening to the world around us . Pretty Amazing ! Anyway -- I have a plane to catch to San Jose.....