Preview

World Flat View

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
445 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
World Flat View
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is an international bestselling book by Thomas Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. 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. As the first edition cover illustration indicates, the title also alludes to the perceptual shift required for countries, companies and individuals to remain competitive in a global market where historical and geographical divisions are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

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; he has special advice for Americans and for the developing world (but says almost nothing about Europe). Friedman's is a popular work based on much personal research, travel, conversation, and reflection. In his characteristic style, he combines in The World Is Flat conceptual analysis accessible to a broad public with personal anecdotes and opinions. The book was first released in 2005, was later released as an "updated and expanded" edition in 2006, and yet again released with additional updates in 2007 as "further updated and expanded: Release 3.0." The title was derived from a statement by Nandan Nilekani, the former CEO of Infosys. The World is Flat won the inaugural Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2005.

Summary[edit]

In his book, The World is Flat, Friedman recounts a journey to Bangalore, India, when he realized globalization has changed core economic concepts.[1] In his opinion, this flattening is a product of a convergence of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Friedman begins by pointing out that the world is progressively becoming flat. He states that the only way people can get the best out of the change is to be the best themselves. This means only the people best suited…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his essay “The World is Flat”, Thomas L. Friedman reckons with the belief of flattening world he realizes in the journey to India. Friedman notes that Columbus's sea exploration shortened the distance for Spanish monarchy to grow its wealth and power out of the "source of [India's] untold riches" (633), and discovered "the world was indeed round" (664). Columbus found the hardware source of India's riches which is the free slavery labor and natural resources, and yet Friedman found the software source of India's riches when he "encountered in the real India [which] profoundly shook my faith in [the world is round]" (664). After meeting the Indians who "taken American names" with "great imitations of American accents", "are writing specific…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This is a presentation about Tom Friedman’s book, called The World is Flat. Tom Friedman is a New York Times reporter and columnist who has won three Pulitzer Prizes and has had four or five bestselling books out. He gets some criticism for this book because some people think he’s a cheerleader for Globalization, and those people who are against Globalization don’t particularly like that. I think, in all fairness to Tom, although he’s very enthusiastic about his book and his subject, I think he just recognizes that, like it or not, Globalization is here, and here to stay. So maybe we need to understand it and figure out what we need to do about it, whether we think it’s good, or bad.…

    • 3319 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Friedman's book, "The World Is Flat" he explains many reasons as to why he believes the world is "flat". Flat meaning connected, no boundaries,or no blockages. He believes the world has slowly been flattening due to certain events/actions which he calls "flatteners." I believe some flatteners had a greater impact on globalization in the world than others. An example of one would be flattener #1. Friedman named the first flattener, " 11/9/89 When the Walls Came Down and the Windows Went Up". On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall…

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    study guide 1 -5 chapters

    • 2192 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Flat - world view: a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all the competitors have an equal opportunity.…

    • 2192 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When Friedman says the world is “flat” he means "the economy is increasingly globalized," which it is. The internet and other technologies as we all know have allowed many jobs especially…

    • 3828 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    While making documentaries for discovery channel, Thomas Friedman got an idea to go to call centres across the world and document young people on America’s standing. He says that Globalization took over when he was sleeping and that he couldn’t explain it. Tom travels to Bangalore and meets Nandan Nilekani who casually mentions that the world's economic playing field was being levelled. This propelled him to write a book on globalization and outsourcing called “The world is flat”.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The video discussion, Tom Freedman, The World is Flat, is about Tom Freedman’s experience of how he learned the world is flat. By this, he means that anyone can send their own content to anyone in the world, basically for free. Tom believes the global economic playing field is being leveled. He believes this happened by three great eras of globalization. The first, globalization 1.0 started in 1492 and lasted until early 1800’s where the world shrunk from large to medium. The Spanish explored the Americas, and Britain colonized India, Portugal and East Asia. The next form of globalization was globalization 2.0. this is from the early 1800’s to 2000. This is when the world went global for markets and labor. The world went from medium to small.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Globalization and India’s economic growth has constructed two seemingly contradictory narratives of the effects of this phenomenon. Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat and Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers, both exemplify the disparity between these two realities. Friedman frames globalization as a “world flattener” that will create new possibilities, opportunities, and equalize people across the globe. He uses India as an example of a nation that has successfully adapted to the new needs of globalization and thus experienced an…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The World is flat

    • 5346 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Friedman gets excited because the flattening of the world means that we as people who inhabit Earth are collecting all of our knowledge and putting it together into this worldwide network. By doing this we would start to emerge ourselves in an era of prosperity, innovation, and collaboration, by company’s communities, and individuals. Friedman states that is if terrorism and politics do not get in the way. The flattening of the world also fills him with dread both on a personal and professional level. On a more personal level it fills him with dread because with this flat world it not only opens up the playing field for the “software writers and computer geeks” to connect with each other in the workplace, but also opens up opportunities for the AL-Qaeda and many terrorist networks. Everything is being leveled to where anyone can very easily become empowered.…

    • 5346 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    self reflection BSB124

    • 2143 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: a brief history of the globalized world in the 21st century. London, : Penguin Books.…

    • 2143 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Today globalization is essentially a synonym for global business. Globalization is changing the world we live in at a very increasingly rapid pace (Rodrik., 1997). Changes in technology, communication, and transportation are opening up borders and markets at increasing rates. In any large city in any country, Japanese cars ply the streets, a mobile call can be enough to buy equities from a stock exchange half a world away, local businesses could not function without U.S. computers, and foreign multinationals have taken over large segments of service industries. Impact of Globalisation, both theoretically and practically, can be observed in different economic, social, cultural, political, financial, and technological dimensions of the world. Globalisation has created a new world order and is gradually reaching new heights, incorporating all the fields to form a cohesive network. (Boyer & Drache, 1996)…

    • 3639 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman is best described as an exposé of the realities of the present day business world and of the effects that certain advances in technology as well as political upheavals have had on capitalism during the past three decades. The “flattening” of the world is a metaphor used to describe an increasing interconnectivity among the citizens of the world. This increase in interconnectivity is ascribed to several events such as the fall of the Berlin wall, and most prominently, the advent of the internet. The point is stressed that for companies to survive in today’s environment, they must keep pace with the constant advances in technology that are making previous ways of doing business no longer competitive.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people in the economic periphery of the world, especially countries in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, have stalled in their development despite the increase in globalization. According to Thomas Friedman in his book, The World Is Flat, this phenomenon can be blamed on these certain countries’ lack of “reform retail.” Friedman describes the act of reform retail as the improvement that countries make on areas such as education or infrastructure. Without these improvements, environments in which to create productive businesses cease to exist. Without these environments, businesses that innovate and spread wealth will not be able to develop, which, in turn, severely inhibits these countries to make any real progress on their journey…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In his book Thomas starts us off by telling us he realizes the world is flat when he visits a campus in India. Friedman is impressed by the campus’s advanced technology such as the glass-and-steel buildings and large flat-screen televisions. the company’s CEO, tells Friedman that the playing field has been leveled; now countries like India can compete for global knowledge. Friedman realizes that the world is flat, which fills him with both dread and excitement. Friedman argues that we are now in the midst of Globalization 3.0 is a period in which the world shrinks from small to tiny, flattening to such a degree that individuals can collaborate and compete globally. From this we can see that ICT is now making its way into developing countries and is playing a big part in the development of education.…

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays