A Positive And A Negative Imagination In The World Is Flat By Thomas Friedman

They use the new gadgets to create something that they can already relate to. If glocalization is not appropriately done, the business cannot be successful as the people cannot relate themselves with the business.

In the chapter titled “The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention”, Friedman uses his Dell laptop as an analogy to explain the notion of the “supply-chain”. The main goal of this notion is to address some of the geopolitical conflicts that have the potentiality to slow globalization. He tells that supply chaining, which permits Walmart to be the biggest retail chain in the world, even though Walmart doesn’t produce anything. Walmart simply offers supply chain. Insourcing, meanwhile, takes Friedman to UPS, where UPS engineers come right up to the neck in one company; study its manufacturing, packaging, and delivery processes; and then plan, remodel, restructure and manage your global supply chain. The conclusion of this insourcing is that some companies no longer touch their products. He then goes on and provides an insight into Toshiba process; Toshiba no longer even sees their products once it leaves the warehouse. If there is any issue with the product, the product gets shipped to UPS hub, where UPS workers fix it. Friedman then talks about another visit, where he learned that Dalian, China is the hub for Japan, where Japanese speaking Chinese men and women provide services to Japan – another outsourcing central. Thomas Friedman claims that the champions / front runners will be those who learns the new skill set in the ever-changing technology world. A quick learning mindset, processes allows India and China to be the front runners of IT industries and there is nothing that assurances it will be Europeans and American forever leading the way.

Here Friedman points out a very important idea. He states that if two countries are heavily invested in a business by being part of the same global supply-chain are less likely to go to war. Any external force or interruption to this global supply-chain will be devastating. However this supply-chain just like anything in our world could and is abused. Friedman for example mentioned Al-Qaeda and how did they use this supply-chain for destruction purposes instead of the common good. Supply-chain is not solely related to economy instead it is a broader term. We must use the Supply-chain for the common good instead of destruction. According to definition “A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer.” There are many parties involved and here we can see the importance of this notion. And how can we use it for the common good, collaboration and protection; instead of abusing it for destruction purposes such as what Al-Qaeda does. Friedman ends by this statement: “We must examine our abilities to derail the nuclear threat by using our capabilities to disrupt the terrorists supply chain.”

While reading the book, the real question may arise: Is the world really is flat? Organization can subcontract work to China, India or other Asian countries to obtain cheaper labor proves the world is not flat. Multinational Organization that go the ends of the earth to abuse cheap labor, and tax breaks. If the world were truly flat, wouldn’t all the employees whether they are in America or employees in China, India or Russia, all be paid same? The true flat world means the world in which wage gaps drops and fortune are evenly dispersed. But, Friedman instead sees a world where the chance to achieve wealth is evenly circulated, but wealth itself is not. Moreover, it is not proper to link the opportunities of the millions born into famine and poverty with children from the first or third world leaders, another evidence that proves the world is not flat. However, Friedman’s drastic comparison on 9/11 and 11/9 shows his point. Even the world is not flat, it is true that the world has granted us a huge access to another countries, culture, and people. Regardless of the amount of access that we have, it is important to utilize the right within a humane region. We can help this world to have a better imagination and positively affect the imaginations of those who would use the tools of the flat world. So, Freidman is essentially stating that with globalization come two types of imagination, a positive and a negative imagination. And we have the free will, to either choose the positive imagination to achieve a world class economy for the common good or to choose the negative imagination that will be negatively used to destroy our world as Bin Laden did.