Background of the book
Author
Thomas L. Friedman is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist—the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and the author of six bestselling books, among them From Beirut to Jerusalem and The World Is Flat.
Publisher and published year
Penguin Books Ltd. The book was published in 2006.
Brief summary:
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Friedman, is an international bestselling book that analyzes globalization of 21st century. In the book, Friedman starts with a journey to Bangalore, India, when he first realized the world is flat and has entered the globalization 3.0 (different from the previous globalization 1.0 (in which countries and governments were the main protagonists) and the globalization 2.0 (in which multinational companies led the way in driving global integration)) is formed and worthwhile of attention. “The world is flat” actually is a metaphor, which means the brand-new platform for companies, countries, and individuals to have the equal opportunity to compete.
In the later part, Friedman demonstrates 10 flatteners, which are: 1) Collapse of Berlin wall; 2) Netscape; 3) Work Flow Software; 4) Uploading; 5) Outsourcing; 6) Offshoring; 7) Supply-Chaining; 8) Insourcing; 9) Informing; 10) The Steroids.
The work of emerging middle class from the flatten world requires people to be a brilliant cooperator, an operator, a flexible person, interpreter, versatile person, model builder, localized person and an individuality. Besides, it requires people to learn how to learn, to acquire curiosity and passion, and to cultivate their creative right brain by cooperating with others.
Friedman has faith that America will win the game in the Flatism future. However, he also realizes the potential threats and dangers are approaching.
1) The numbers gap. Traditionally the America made up for any shortages of engineers and science faculty by educating more at home and importing more from abroad. But both of those remedies have been stalled of late.
2) The education gap. America is not putting enough emphasis on the education of math, science and engineering. A really significant fraction of the top people graduated from American universities were not born there, but stayed there and created the businesses, and became the professors, that were engines for the economic growth. Plus, the whole American education system is the combination of regional education communities, which leads to a huge education gap between the poor and the rich. What’s more, the national expenditure on education is declining while many other countries like China are spending more on national education.
3) The ambition gap. American people are not ambitious enough to work hard compared to Asian people.
4) The infrastructure gap. In 2005, most American households only have fundamental broadband equipment, which is the slowest, most expensive and most unstable network access among the developed countries.
Then, claims the Friedman, “This is not a test. This is a crisis, and as Paul Romer has so perceptively warned, ‘A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.’”
At the end of the book, Friedman also introduces us Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention, which may provide implications for countries that are part of the global supply chain to make rational decision rather than just conduct violent actions.
Friedman himself is a strong advocate of these changes, calling himself a “free-trader” and a “compassionate flatist”, and he criticizes societies that resist these changes. He emphasizes the inevitability of a rapid pace of change and the extent to which emerging abilities of individuals and developing countries are creating many pressures on businesses and individuals in the United States.
Key points and discussions
1) The world is flat
The title is genius. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an equal opportunity. It is very easy to understand and sounds smart and unusual. Using an approach the layman can understand, Friedman chronicles events which took place right under our noses. He gives an excellent overview of how globalization really has helped the world, and he does it via plenty of footnoted research into actual events that took place to get us to this point in history.
2) The collapse of the Berlin Wall
The collapse of the Berlin Wall symbolized the good that technology could do. It brought people together and helped them communicate. The tragedy on September 11th symbolized what could happen when technology is in the wrong hands. These are two important points in this book. The book implores readers to look at the positive and negative points of technology.
3) The impacts of offshoring
Indeed, offshoring can bring abundant benefits to both the developed and developing countries. It helps because it frees up people and capital to do different, more sophisticated work, and it helps because it gives an opportunity to produce the end product more cheaply, benefiting customers even as it helps the corporation. In the first chapter, the author recounts his journey in Bangalore, India, where he finds “the world is flat”. With the help of Internet and telecommunication, job offshoring to developing countries like India and China, where the labor is several times cheaper than that of developed countries, is becoming increasingly commonplace. Among all the jobs he cited, such as accountant, call-center telephone operator, airplane telephone booking operator, and journalist, the last one is what I am really impressed and agreed. Just like Friedman said, everyone had better rethink his/her own value-add in order to create the max value at the lowest cost. As for news, the most valuable part is the comment, especially in a we-media era, where everyone can be a reporter or a source provider. It does not mean we do not need professional training of journalist anymore. “That is when you need a real journalist who knows how to get a comment from the company, a comment from the top two analysts in the field, and even some word from competitors to put the earnings report in perspective.” It is the time that the professional journalist should put their energy on works more complicated and creative and we can make news with highest efficiency and lowest cost.
However, I think Friedman over exaggerates the pros of offshoring and neglect the cons. With a simple word: “Everyone has to focus on what exactly is their value-add”, developed countries officially move their low-value jobs to developing countries and exploit the labor without mercy. The most important is, up to now, the most powerful driven force of offshoring is the transfer of pollution rather than the luring of labor resource. In this sense, such developing countries can hardly benefit from the offshoring in the long run. I think Friedman should mention such kind of negative influence either.
4) America will be the winner
After analyzing the qualifications that the emerging middle class should obtain to avoid being swept by the wind of flattening, Friedman still believes America will be the winner in the future. According to Friedman, America has comparatively flexible and loose-regulated free market economy, which enables trials and competitions between states and universities. Besides, America has countless institutional advantages. For example, research capable universities can provide inventions, experimental results and scientific breakthroughs to the world. With high funding, researchers can actually transfer their ideas into real products. What’s more, American capital market has the strictest supervision and runs with the highest efficiency.
After reading this, I am not convinced about the claim that America will still be the winner as there are no comparisons with the conditions of other countries, especially the European countries. The author’s point is not solidly supported.
5) Quiet crisis—the number gap
“For the first time in more than a century, the United States could well find itself falling behind other countries in the capacity for scientific discovery, innovation and economic development.” The reasons behind are the numbers gap, the education gap, the ambition gap, and the infrastructure gap.
The number gap. To summarize his opinion, America is at the condition that engineers and science faculty are in shortage. And the remedies, which are educating more at home and importing more from abroad have been stalled of late. New York Times education writer Sam Dillon reported on December 21, 2004, that “foreign applications to American graduate schools declined 28 percent this year. Actual foreign graduate student enrollments dropped 6 percent. Enrollments of all foreign students, in undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral programs, fell for the first time in three decades in an annual census released this fall. Meanwhile, university enrollments have been surging in England, Germany and other countries. Chinese applications to American graduate schools fell 45 percent this year, while several European countries announced surges in Chinese enrollment.”
Friedman realized not just the number of graduates matters. The quality of the graduates is an important matric as well. A research report released by Duke University claims that among the American graduates, experts in engineering and computer are more creative than the graduates from India and China, and therefore, the former are more competitive.
Friedman contradicts the report with 2 reasons. Firstly, the academic degrees of American universities are also given to foreign students. Secondly, more and more Indian and Chinese are studying the advanced knowledge within or without their country. In the flatten world, the knowledge can be spread at very high speed.
I feel the pressure given by Friedman to his own country. I can find ways to weaken his argument. However, that would be meaningless. Even with the best education resources, top-ranking professors, and the most brilliant students, Friedman is not misled by the vanity appearances but stay chill and have strong crisis conscientious. This is what we should admire and learn.
6) The Flatism race is really a science race
Friedman mentioned 3 gaps, which put the most threaten into American’s standard of living in the age of Flatism. They are the numbers gap, the ambition gap, and the education gap. In the 3.0 version of the book, the author also added the infrastructure gap.
All of the gaps mentioned are about the science and technology. Friedman’s opinion would be summarized as “The Flatism race is really a science race”. It is a well-known truth and Friedman put it in a more acceptable and interesting way. Actually, I did not read insights unheard before in this chapter and in most parts of the book. I keep wondering why Bill Gates would recommend this book. Maybe the reason lays here, that the book reiterates the significance of science and technology with real life stories, which can be an enlightened reading material for the folks and the government to better understand the changing world and the priorities of the future development.
7) America needs a reason to be more powerful
“The U.S. is still the leading engine for innovation in the world. It has the best graduate programs, the best scientific infrastructure, and the capital markets to exploit it. But there is a quiet crisis in U.S. science and technology that we have to wake up to. The U.S. today is in a truly global environment, and those competitor countries are not only wide awake, they are running a marathon while we are running sprints. If left unchecked, this could challenge our preeminence and capacity to innovate.”
I can feel the elite awareness deeply rooted in the soul of Americans. They are always the NO.1 in most aspects of the world and their movie is always about saving the planet. It is a part of American culture. When organizing Friedman’s book, I feel that he consider China and India as powerful waking up dinosaurs. So, the man who can beat dinosaurs must be a hero and Friedman wishes the leading actor in the movie The Future were America, like always. However, we know we are not dinosaurs, America just need an excuse to be more powerful. And the America is ready for the change.
8) Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention
The Dell Theory stipulates: No two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell’s, will ever fight a war against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain. It does not make wars obsolete. And it does not guarantee that governments will not engage in wars of choice, even governments that are part of major supply chains.
It is very interesting to think sovereignty issues with an economy head. Actually, concerning about country issues, in most cases, economic interests are the priorities and the theory can only provide implications for countries that are part of the global supply chain to make rational decision rather than just conduct violent actions.
It is quite safe to say that, Friedman is using a more interesting way to paraphrase the truth.
9) Terrorism in the flat world
The globalization facilities our lives while it also facilities the terrorists to conduct criminals as well. But just like the author of The New Digital Age says, despite the gains, communication technologies also make terrorists far more vulnerable than they are today. For that living in the virtual world give terrorists, they still have to live physically, and that’s precisely what makes them more vulnerable in the new digital age, for the reason that their model of secrecy and discretion will suffer. There will be more digital eyes watching, more recorded interactions, and, as careful as even the most sophisticated terrorists are, even they cannot completely hide online.
10) Remedies for the Americans and questions for the Chinese
Friedman has provided special advice for American individuals, companies, and counties. He believes that to fight the quiet crisis of a flattening world, the United States work force should keep updating its work skills. He also suggests that the government makes it easier to switch jobs by making retirement benefits and health insurance less dependent on one’s employer and by providing insurance that would partly cover a possible drop in income when changing jobs. Friedman also believes there should be more inspiration for youth to be scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.
So, what our Chinese have assumed and prepared for the future?
Have we already thought over about how to survive, operate and win in the globalized trend? What are the other education strategies besides the discussion about the charge issue of our education? What is the advantages or disadvantages our education will bring us in the future? What kind of quality will the society require? Should we discussion about our strategy of 21st century? At least, it’s no longer the time to discuss whether China is a large country.
Book Report of The World is Flat: The Globalized W
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