Ten Forces That Flatten the World

Paper Summary:

The paper examines Friedman's "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century" in which Friedman explores the significant changes that have taken place in the hi-tech industry during the past few years and severely criticizes those who do not embrace these changes. The paper discusses how Friedman believes the world to be flat due to the following ten factors: 11/9/89, 8/9/95, work flow software, open-sourcing, outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining, in-sourcing, in-forming and the steroids. The paper demonstrates how Friedman portrays these factors as flattening the world and breaking past barriers to create a globalized economy and environment.

From the Paper:

"The chapter begins with Friedman's story of a walk in Berlin, glancing at the nearly fallen down German wall. The author believes that not only was the construction a painful scar on Berlin's face, but it also represented the impediment in worldwide unification as it divided countries. "The Berlin Wall was not only blocking our way; it was blocking our sight -- our ability to think about the world as a single market, a single ecosystem, and a single community..." (The World Is Flat, Chapter 2, "The Ten Forces That Flattened the World", p. 48)"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat, Chapter two: The Ten Forces that Flatten the World, pages 48 to 172
• The Official Web Site of the University of Tennessee, University Libraries, Ready for the World, Thomas Friedman's flatteners, by Martha Rudolph, posted on March 2, 2006http://www.lib.utk.edu/news/readyfortheworld/archives/the_world_is_flat.html, last accessed on October 5, 2006
• James Berry, Review on the book The World is Flat, posted on April 19, 2006http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=1884, last accessed on October 5, 2006
• Howard Rheingold, Seven Ways to See What's Next, winter 2005http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/05409b, last accessed on October 5, 2006
• Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, articles on Insourcing and The World is Flatwww.wikipedia.org, last accessed on October 5, 2006

More papers on Ten Forces That Flatten the World:

• Book Review # 101014 : "Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat"
• Essay # 67955 : "The Map that Changed the World"
• Research Paper # 95625 : "Global E-Business Marketing"

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