I finished The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman on audio book last weekend and it took me some time to get my thoughts in order on the book. The book is a thougtful look at globalization and doesn’t veer to far towards extreme positions.
Friedman describes globalization as the process by which the world became flat, and opened up a huge new world of competition. The first of these he argues was the fall of communism, which he dates to 11/9/88, the date the Berlin wall came down (which he later contrasts 11/9 to 9/11) He then adds a list of other factors including the .com boom and bust, the laying of all the fiber optic cable for the internet, the advent of global supply chains, in sourcing, out-sourcing, off shoring etc.
Friedman argues primarily that the United States is equipped to compete in the 21st century with emerging economies from Asia and Eastern Europe but there are steps which need be taken to improve our position.
Instead of walling ourselves off his prescription is a manadate for more education and portable benefits so people can really pursue the opportunites of the new economy here at home.
I think Friedman in general is on point, manufacturing isn’t going to magically come back to America. We just don’t have the competitive advantages there. Where I think he’s somewhat underwhelming however is he doesn’t provide a very good speciffic prescription for people who are in the process of losing their jobs and some of his solutions have seemed fairly far-fetched in the current political climate. For instance his suggestion of portable benefits seems like a great idea but it also seems pie-in-the-sky as the powers that are aligned against such a scheme seems like a powerful faction.
1 response so far ↓
concerned citizen // May 2, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel winning Economist and the former Cheif Economist at the World Bank) said while on a trip to India, that 600 million people from India (out of the one billion!) have been left out of the “development” fold of globalization. Similarly newspaper reports have pointed out how Chinese workers are working in apalling conditions, to chhurn out the low cost products, with poor pay, cramped rooms, no accident or health insurance benefits, no job security, no overtime, long working hours….
The small, but interesting book, by Aronica and Ramdoo, “The World is Flat? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman’s New York Times Bestseller,” provides a counterperspective to Friedman’s book. It is a small book compared to the 600 page tome by Friedman, and aimed at the common man and students alike.
“Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution,” says Aronica. Aronica and Ramdoo conclude by listing over twenty action items that point the way forward, and they provide a comprehensive, yet concise, framework for understanding the critical issues of globalization.
You may want to see http://www.mkpress.com/flat
and watch http://www.mkpress.com/flatoverview.html
for an interesting counterperspective on Friedman’s
“The World is Flat”.
Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! http://www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html
There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
http://www.mkpress.com/extreme
http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html