Week 1 Reaction Paper
Reaction to Friedman, Week One
Lisa Marcum
Mount Vernon Nazarene University
MAN 6093 Global Business
GBD012ON
January 08, 2015
Dr. Sacha Walicord
Reaction to Friedman, Week One “The world is flat” is not a simple statement to understand. Globalization has made a profound change in business and is continuing to happen throughout the world. There has been an “…emergence of completely new social, political, and business models” (Friedman, 2007, p. 48). According to Friedman (2007) the falling of the Berlin Wall and the trend toward democracy and information sharing was the start toward the flattening. With the development of Windows software and personal computers there were more people who could create content and it could be created more quickly and saved digitally. The invention of the Internet, the World Wide Web and browser software was another huge factor. It all came together with fiber optics, standard transmission protocols and everyone being able to communicate across the same pipe. This was the beginning, and people started to realize that they could communicate, collaborate, connect and compete with others around the world. This is when it started to get exciting.
In history there have been times when people have gone through a major technology change without so much emotion. However, it never moved as fast, or as far reaching, as this. Compared to the Industrial Revolution the “…flattening process is happening at warp speed and directly or indirectly touching a lot more people on the planet at once” (Friedman, 2007, p. 49). Since it is happening so fast and broad it has a higher possibility of creating problems than the historic orderly transfer. There is no longer just an American economy or a German economy. It has melded into one, large World Economy. This has created many different reactions and emotions depending on where you sit.
There are people who reside in India or China and are working for someone in the
Lisa Marcum
Mount Vernon Nazarene University
MAN 6093 Global Business
GBD012ON
January 08, 2015
Dr. Sacha Walicord
Reaction to Friedman, Week One “The world is flat” is not a simple statement to understand. Globalization has made a profound change in business and is continuing to happen throughout the world. There has been an “…emergence of completely new social, political, and business models” (Friedman, 2007, p. 48). According to Friedman (2007) the falling of the Berlin Wall and the trend toward democracy and information sharing was the start toward the flattening. With the development of Windows software and personal computers there were more people who could create content and it could be created more quickly and saved digitally. The invention of the Internet, the World Wide Web and browser software was another huge factor. It all came together with fiber optics, standard transmission protocols and everyone being able to communicate across the same pipe. This was the beginning, and people started to realize that they could communicate, collaborate, connect and compete with others around the world. This is when it started to get exciting.
In history there have been times when people have gone through a major technology change without so much emotion. However, it never moved as fast, or as far reaching, as this. Compared to the Industrial Revolution the “…flattening process is happening at warp speed and directly or indirectly touching a lot more people on the planet at once” (Friedman, 2007, p. 49). Since it is happening so fast and broad it has a higher possibility of creating problems than the historic orderly transfer. There is no longer just an American economy or a German economy. It has melded into one, large World Economy. This has created many different reactions and emotions depending on where you sit.
There are people who reside in India or China and are working for someone in the
References: Friedman, T. L. (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York, NY: Picador/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Hill, C. W. L. (2015). International business: Competing in the global market place (10th ed.). New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin.