A Review of The World is Flat from
Processor Magazine
Not long after The World is Flat, A brief
History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman came
out, I read the book. I found the theme of the book to be an
excellent theme for a web site, especially in internet marketing. My
web site
http://www.tmcco.com specializes in self-publishing, marketing,
research and freelance writing, and uses Friedman’s comments to
emphasize ways to market and reach customers.
I started to see other reviews of The World
is Flat from a variety of sources. One of those sources was
Processor Magazine. This book review was done by Dean Takahashi,
July 1, 2005.
Processor Magazine is described on
Processor.com as follows:
“Processor is a
leading trade publication that provides products, news, and
information key data center employees can trust. Processor's
format provides a comprehensive display of corporate equipment and
services, including storage, communications, and servers. You’ll
also find product announcements, marketplace information, and other
articles designed to keep data center and IT employees up-to-date
with the latest news that matters most.
Published weekly, Processor is
distributed to data center managers and other computer buying
decision makers throughout North America.”
I find the review in Processor to be unique in
the sense that this is a trade publication specifically for IT
employees. It is some of these employees that are being
“out-sourced” from American companies to those overseas. How can
they feel about the premise made by Friedman that:
“the flattening of the
globe, where U.S. professionals will compete against educated rivals
in other countries who are willing to work for much smaller
salaries.”
According to the review:
“For many IT managers,
Friedman’s explanations of technologies may come off as pedestrian.
But he delivers his argument with an immediacy and a breadth that
can only come from someone who has traveled the globe and met with
government leaders and captains of business.”
After reading the book and reading this and
other reviews, I fully agree with the article when it notes:
“Until you see what
Friedman has witnessed, its hard to adsorb just how fast
globalization is transforming the rest of the world and why 3
billion people across the globe are now ready to compete for your
job.”
Still Friedman notes that in reacting to this
“flattening”, “Don’t build walls.” His solutions for small, medium
and large companies are more progressive.
Small companies need to act large. They need to
“tap the tools that can make them global, such as using UPS not only
to ship computers but to repair them as well.”
He states that “Every company needs to
collaborate.” Further he states about outsourcing:
“If you outsource, do
it to innovate and grow faster, not just to save money and fire more
people.”
About individuals, he says:
“The flat world will
create more jobs for everyone. But knowledge workers have to strive
upward, If your job as an illustrator is threatened, provide
higher-level service as an illustration consultant.”
However, as the Processor review notes:
“Friedman warns there
is a quiet crisis in the United States, driven by the decline of its
science, engineering, and manufacturing competitiveness.”
Further the Processor review states;
“Friedman describes
his meetings, whether he’s sitting across the table from India’s top
outsourcing executive or dining with a venture capitalist in Palo
Alto. He plays golf in downtown Bangalore, India, when his partner
tells him to aim his ball at IBM or Microsoft. That’s an apt
metaphor for what enterprising young Indians are doing to American
industry.”
In reading both the book and the Processor
review, I agree that Friedman has a unique perspective. The
Processor review notes:
“He [Friedman] shows
familiar technical issues from a global perspective that weave in
social, political, and cultural analysis.
Friedman has looked at
these forces closely and can dissect them from multiple points of
view. U.S. IT professionals may see offshore-crazy executives as
Benedict Arnolds, but if they could see what Friedman has seen in
his global travels, they might understand what to do in response to
globalization. Better to manage it then to stand in its way.”
One statement that is both haunting and
ominous, as noted by the Processor review;
“Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates tells Friedman that today he would rather be born a
genius in China than an average guy in Poughkeepsie.”
The Processor review notes the following Key
Concepts in Friedman’s book:
- The barriers to entry are leveling across
the globe.
- Globalization’s pace is accelerating and
threatens to overtake anyone not ready for it.
- It isn’t always clear who is exploiting
whom. It some aspects, both parties benefit.
- Knowledge workers must move up the value
chain.
- The flat world will bring bigger markets
than everyone can exploit.
I would recommend this book to any IT or
technical professional that is concerned about job security, future
job prospects or where the corporate world is headed. Often,
outsourcing and job loss due to global competition tends to make us
feel like victims. Friedman’s book The World is Flat portrays
this new globalization or flattening as a new force to be reckoned
with and to be managed. However, as Friedman portrays it, we are not
victims, but we do need to be smarter in the ways we approach the
new global markets and look at our society, culture and business.
By H.
Court Young
October
2005
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H. Court Young is an author and publisher. He has written 3 books
on water and terrorism. He uses a laptop computer to write at the
local Barnes and Noble Bookstore were they have high speed internet
connectivity.
He has been a computer consultant and network specialist since
his first computer purchase in 1977. He is very interested in
technology and in particular laptop computers.
You can find more books, articles and information about
laptop
computers, laptop peripherals, laptop software, laptop security and
laptop use at:
our
WritersLaptop
Notebooks and Laptops website.
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