Blog entry #3

The World is Flat Blog #3

The last 1/3 of the book discusses the following three subjects; Developing Countries and the Flat World, Companies and the Flat World and Geopolitics and the Flat World and the conclusion: Imagination.
Developing Countries and the Flat World discusses mainly China vs. the rest of the developing countries and mainly focusing on Mexico. The chapter discusses how the growth of China Vs the United States is based around this one quote from the Chinese, and reads; first we were afraid of the Wolf, then we wanted to dance with the Wolf, now we want to be the Wolf.” China has had such amazing growth in the flat world compared to the other countries that is has taken on producing some of the most imported products of Mexico such as toys and most importantly it has even taken over the manufacturing of Mexico’s prided statue The Virgin of Guadalupe. After the statue they went after the production of the lantern of Ramadan that Egyptian children carry around from house to house collecting candy like the American children do for Halloween.
China has managed in their decision to develop to get three main basic things right; the infrastructure to connect more of your there people with the flat world platform, from cheap labor to cell phones, the right education to get more of their people innovating and collaborating on the flat-world platform; and the right governance, from fiscal policy to the rule of law-to manage the flow between the people and the flat-world platform in the most productive way possible. (The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman p. 398). This is where they have outperformed the other countries like; Mexico, Egypt, North Korea the rest of Latin America.
Where this falls into the education discussion is that China is much more proactive in getting their people a good education by helping students to come to the US to study, where as Mexico is missing the boat on furthering their student’s education. So Chinese students are much better prepared to take on the changing world and keep up with innovation.
Companies and the Flat World is the next section and it talks about how small companies may not be able to outsource they may need to be able to do it all in house to cut expenses for their customers. Now that everyone has the same tools available to them thanks to the internet you have instead be the more creative one in order to keep your clients. It is the goal of the small company to now look big as the book says “and the small act big…. .One way in which these small companies can look big is by taking advantage very quickly of all the new tools for collaboration to reach farther quicker, wider and deeper. The big companies can compete is to sometimes look small like Starbucks has done where they let the customer decide what they want to drink offering the customer a “buffet “ of choices made up by the customer. The customer gets that homey feeling with their choices and the atmosphere of Starbucks coffee shops. Another way big companies can look small is by giving their customers the choice of customizing exactly what features and price they want to pay. Referred to in the book as “self-directed consumer”. “Big companies can act small by making their customers look big.”
The next section entitled “Geopolitics and the Flat World”. Globalization and culturalization, the internet allows all countries to post about their cultures, “uploading makes possible the globalization of the local”. This allows people worldwide to have the tools to create and unload their own content, their own countries news reports, their own opinions, their own music their own software. Friedman compares this freedom of expressing your culture to that of a pizza, where each country has its own toppings on their pizza; Japan has sushi, Bangkok, Thai. “The flat world is the pizza dough. It allows different cultures to season and flavor it as they like.”
People in India and China will now be able to innovate rather than having to emigrate, so local culture has a much better chance of being preserved. The internet allows for more people for example students to stay right in their home countries and get an education instead of having to travel to America.
In the conclusion Friedman talks about the negative aspects that the internet has brought to this country. The use of the internet for terrorism recruiting and communication and that like many things in this world that evil people find a way to make just about anything into a tool for mass destruction. And the computer has become their new source; from broadcasting beheadings as a scare tactic to communication and purchasing supplies for their terrorist plots. That is where once again we as parents and teachers come into play that we need to try and help our children to use the computer in a positive manner rather than to get caught up in some of the negative plots that are now being fabricated on the net.