Preview

The World Is Flat

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
8659 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat

A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

by
Thomas L. Friedman
First published: 2005

Table of Contents

• Key Figures
• Short Summary (Synopsis)
• Thomas L. Friedman - Biography
• Genre
| |
| |

Chapter Summaries with Notes / Analysis

• Chapters 1 - 4 - How the World Became Flat
• Chapters 5 - 9 - America and the Flat World
• Chapter 10 - Developing Countries and the Flat World
• Chapter 11 - Companies and the Flat World
• Chapters 12 - 14 - Geopolitics and the Flat World
• Chapter 15 - Conclusion: Imagination

Overall Analysis

• Structure Analysis
• Key Facts
• Important Quotations / Memorable Quotes and Analysis

Questions

• Memorable Quotes Quiz
• Vocabulary
• Study Questions/Multiple-Choice Quiz
• Answer Key
• Essay Topics - Book Report Ideas

ONLINE STUDY GUIDE: THE WORLD IS FLAT BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN

KEY FIGURES

Nandan Nilekani
CEO of Infosys Technologies Limited, “one of the jewels of the Indian information technology world.” Friedman describes Nilekani as “one of the most thoughtful and respected captains of Indian industry.”

Ann
Friedman’s wife. Ann is a first-grade teacher and Friedman’s confidant throughout the text.

Orly and Natalie
Friedman’s daughters, whom he references throughout the text.

| |
| |

David Ricardo
He is the Ricardo to whom Friedman refers in the subtitle of Chapter 5, “Is Ricardo Still Right?.” Ricardo (1772-1823) “was an English economist who developed the free-trade theory of comparative advantage, which stipulates that if each nation specializes in the production of goods in which it has a comparative cost advantage and then trades with other nations for the goods in which they specialize, there will be an overall gain in trade, and overall income levels should rise in each trading country.”

G. Wayne Clough
He is the president of Georgia Institute of Technology. When Clough became president of the college the graduation rate was only 65% and
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    aqa AS economics unit 2
    • 7216 Words
    • 28 Pages

    aqa AS economics unit 2

    Free Market – Milton Friedman – 1912 – 2006 – argued that gov should focus more on promoting price…

    • 7216 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Milton Friedman On The Minimum Wages
    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Summary Of Milton Friedman On The Minimum Wages

    Milton Friedman appeared on Phil Donahue in 1979 to discuss a multitude of topics involving economics. When at first I saw the image of the video that was about to play I felt dread. How could this man impart viable information towards our class? Much of what we have discussed has been over the way our Constitution was written and the course our Judicial System. Well I was wrong. Milton Friedman was not your average Economics Professor. He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner, as well as the National Medal of Science, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Mgt7019-1 Different Perspectives of Drucker, Friedman and Murphyy
    • 2376 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Mgt7019-1 Different Perspectives of Drucker, Friedman and Murphyy

    Krugman, P. (2007, February 15). Who was milton friedman?. The new york review of books,…

    • 2376 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Karl Marx Vs Adam Smith
    • 1892 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Karl Marx Vs Adam Smith

    Comparative advantage according to Ricardo was the mathematical proof that if two countries both specialize in a specific good, and can out produce the other in that good, then that country has a comparative advantage. If those two countries then trade, they will both come out with more than they would if they tried to create both goods by themselves. Smith also had the basis of this idea in his book The Wealth of Nations, where he states, “if a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage " (Smith Wealth of Nations). Ricardo takes Smith’s ideas and builds on them to create a more solidified theory on international trade between nations. Ricardo also believed that the labor theory of value showed how wages and profits were able to determine prices for products that were then able to determine rent. Ricardo spent a lot of time showing how this system worked, as he used multiple models to calculate his findings. Marx on the other hand looked at the labor theory of value as production prices equal to capital and living. Marx relied on prices as the end result, just like Ricardo did, but not in the same sense. Ricardo used a method that determined the value of the…

    • 1892 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The World is flat
    • 5346 Words
    • 16 Pages

    The World is flat

    1. What is it about the flat world that both excites Friedman and fills him with dread?…

    • 5346 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    World Is Flat: Great Sorting Out
    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages

    World Is Flat: Great Sorting Out

    In this chapter, Thomas Friedman looks at how cultures and societies will have to deal with and adapt to the changes that globalization brings to the way of doing business. It affects whole companies and individuals. He gives the perception of the world is flattening by comparing the Industrial Revolution to the IT Revolution that is happening right now. The flattening process was identified by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Marx’s writings about capitalism state “the inexorable march of technology and capital to remove all barriers, boundaries, frictions, and restraints to global commerce (Friedman 234).”…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    world flatterners
    • 1056 Words
    • 3 Pages

    world flatterners

    #1: Collapse of the Berlin Wall – 11/9/89: Friedman called the flattener, “When the walls came down, and the windows came up.” The event not only symbolized the end of the cold War, it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream. “11/9/89″ is a discussion about the Berlin Wall coming down, the “fall” of communism, and the impact that Windows powered PCs (personal computers) had on the ability of individuals to create their own content and connect to one another. At this point, the basic platform for the revolution to follow was created: IBM PC, Windows, a standardized graphical interface for word processing, dial up modems, a standardized tool for communication, and a global phone network.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Quiz 1 for UNC - Conboy
    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Quiz 1 for UNC - Conboy

    1. An international trade theory, grounded in the work of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, that focuses on the importance of comparative advantage obtained through differences in natural or acquired economic advantages is referred to as:…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Friedman vs. Duiker
    • 807 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Friedman vs. Duiker

    William Duiker, a liberal arts professor and author of Contemporary World History, does not dispute Friedman’s “Dell Theory” but he does raise awareness that globalization may not be the sole movement taking place in regards to the world economy. He argues that a stronger…

    • 807 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    An Executive Summary - the Social Responsibility of Business to Increase Its Profit
    • 3212 Words
    • 13 Pages

    An Executive Summary - the Social Responsibility of Business to Increase Its Profit

    Do you agree or disagree with Friedman's position? Why? What is most positive about his position? What is most negative about his position? This was written in 1970, does it apply in today's global/high tech economy? Why or why not?…

    • 3212 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When Did The World Become Flat World
    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When Did The World Become Flat World

    In chapter 15, as the world became flat, some parts of the world remained unflat because they could not participate in the flattening process. The unflat world consisted of developing nations while the flat world consisted of developed nations. Since the unflat world could not participate, it has kept them unadvanced, stagnant, and deprived. Rural Africa, China, India, and Latin America were left behind because their nations were plagued with diseases due to their broken government system being unable to treat and prevent these conditions, which has kept these nations sick, dying, and stuck in poverty. In other parts of rural China, India, and Eastern Europe, where people were healthy but poor and stuck between the unflat and the flat world,…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    World is flat

    • 2929 Words
    • 8 Pages

    World is flat

    1. “But Friedman’s image of a flat earth is profoundly misleading – a view of the world from a seat in business class. Flatness is another way of describing the transnational search by companies for cheap labor, an image that misses the pervasiveness of global inequality and the fact that much of the developing world remains mired in poverty and misery. It also misses the importance of the global geopolitical hierarchy, which guarantees the provision of stability, property rights, and other international public goods. The rise of China and India is less about flatness than it is about dramatic upheavals in the mountains and valleys of the global geopolitical map”…

    • 2929 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Flat World: Leveling the Global Competitive Playing Field

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Flat World: Leveling the Global Competitive Playing Field

    I agree with Friedman’s assessment that the world is flat. According to Friedman a "flat world" mean that there is now a level global competitive playing field. It has now become very possible for many people around the world to collaborate and compete in real time with each other on many different kinds of work, markets and products from many different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing than at any previous time in the history of the world. Due to technological advances, the global financial market has been refined with electronic exchanges, networks, institutions, and communications. While each country may have its own financial market, the world is now so closely tied together, causing global effects when one market is prospering or suffering e.g the Euro crisis. Whereas innovation and scientific inventions used to be done in the developed world, the developing world is now catching up as more and more people are being trained in the vitally important fields of mathematics and science. Globalization that used to be largely controlled by European and American individuals and businesses is now being driven by a more diverse non-Western, non-white group of individuals Technology has also leveled the playing field and made the world to be flat in that any company can make its products available to the whole world in a matter of seconds. It is up to the to consumers to choose from whom to buy from. The internet and related technologies make it possible to conduct business across the organizations' boundaries almost as efficient and effectively as it is to conduct business within the organization. Location is no longer a limiting factor in how organizations design , develop and produce goods and services. With the internet it is now possible to maintain close relationships with suppliers and other business partners at great distances. Countries like China and India have really redefined the way business is being conducted all over the world. Many…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The World Is Flat Book Review
    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The World Is Flat Book Review

    Thomas Friedman’s book The World Is Flat analyzes the progress of globalization and how it has changed core economic concepts. After traveling to numerous countries, he came up with the conclusion that the world is “flat,” in the sense that competitive playing fields between industrial and emerging market countries have been leveled. He provides frequent examples of how countries, such as China and India, are becoming part of large global complex supply chains. Freidman assures that change is inevitable and that internet and outsourcing tactics are shrinking the world from “small to tiny.” Through his use of empirical evidence and first-hand experiences, Friedman is able to provide the reader with a greater insight as to why to world is flat.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Flat Earth
    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Flat Earth

    A main point of this speech by Friedman is that what can be done will be done. What he means by this is the way the world works today, if you or somebody can think up some type of idea the technology and tools that are available to us today it will happen. He also touches on if you have a type of idea or plan act upon it as fast as you can because either you do it or someone else will and you will have to remember that for the rest of your life. I would almost call today’s economic society today a “dog eat dog” world. This how people should start thinking, it is a very optimistic thought and I think it’s what America needs.…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics