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The World Is Flat
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The World Is Flat (2005) (edit title/settings)

A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

by Thomas L. Friedman (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter "Y2K to March 2004," what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

  • - Cheap, ubiquitous telco has reshaped the globe into a ‘flat world’ in which individuals compete on merit
  • - Reciprocity between my books and journalism gigs can fuel new income. Communication has facilitated global trade.

Summary edit see section history

Cheap, ubiquitous telecommunications have reshaped the globe into a ‘flat world’ in which individuals compete on an equal footing regardless of their geographical location.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “While the dynamic force of Globalisation 1.0 was countries globalising and the dynamic force in Globalisation 2.0 was companies globalising, the dynamic force in Globalisation 3.0 – the force that gives it its unique character – is the newfound power for individuals to collaborate and compete globally.”
  • “In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears - and that is our problem.”
  • “According to the IFC report, if you want to create productive jobs (the kind that lead to rising standards of living), and if you want to stimulate the growth of new businesses (the kind that innovate, compete, and create wealth), you need a regulatory environment that makes it easy to start a business, easy to adjust a business to changing market circumstances and opportunities, and easy to close a business that goes bankrupt, so that the capital can be freed up for more productive uses.”
  • “Capital does not just move around the world looking for the cheapest labor. If it did, all the jobs would be in Haiti and Bangladesh. It is looking for the most productive labor at the lowest price, which means that in order to attract capital, your country has to get those four basics - infrastructure, education, government, and environmant- right.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Change is hard. Change is hardest on those caught by surprise. Change is hardest on those who have difficulty changing too. But change is natural; change is not new; change is important.
    Highlighted by 85 Kindle customers
  • The flat-world platform is the product of a convergence of the personal computer (which allowed every individual suddenly to become the author of his or her own content in digital form) with fiber-optic cable (which suddenly allowed all those individuals to access more and more digital content around the world for next to nothing) with the rise of work flow software (which enabled individuals all over the world to collaborate on that same digital content from anywhere, regardless of the distances between them).
    Highlighted by 82 Kindle customers
  • And while the dynamic force in Globalization 1.0 was countries globalizing and the dynamic force in Globalization 2.0 was companies globalizing, the dynamic force in Globalization 3.0—the force that gives it its unique character—is the newfound power for individuals to collaborate and compete globally.
    Highlighted by 79 Kindle customers
  • It helps because it frees up people and capital to do different, more sophisticated work, and it helps because it gives an opportunity to produce the end product more cheaply, benefiting customers even as it helps the corporation.
    Highlighted by 68 Kindle customers
  • Goods are traded, but services are consumed and produced in the same place.
    Highlighted by 64 Kindle customers
  • Any activity where we can digitize and decompose the value chain, and move the work around, will get moved around.
    Highlighted by 63 Kindle customers
  • Totalitarian systems depend on a monopoly of information and force, and too much information started to slip through the Iron Curtain, thanks to the spread of fax machines, telephones, and, eventually, the personal computer.
    Highlighted by 63 Kindle customers
  • Communism was a great system for making people equally poor. In fact, there was no better system in the world for that than communism. Capitalism made people unequally rich,
    Highlighted by 63 Kindle customers
  • “Everyone has to focus on what exactly is their value-add.”
    Highlighted by 60 Kindle customers
  • Every new product—from software to widgets—goes through a cycle that begins with basic research, then applied research, then incubation, then development, then testing, then manufacturing, then deployment, then support, then continuation engineering in order to add improvements.
    Highlighted by 51 Kindle customers
Show all 14 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

No one ever gave me directions like this on a golf course before: "Aim at either Microsoft or IBM."

Table of Contents edit see section history

How the World Became Flat
Chapter 1 - While I Was Sleeping
Chapter 2 - The Ten Forces That Flattened The World
Chapter 3 - The Triple Convergence
Chapter 4 - The Great Sorting Out

America And The Flat World
Chapter 5 - America And Free Trade
Chapter 6 - The Untouchables
Chapter 7 - The Quiet Test
Chapter 8 - This Is Not A Test

Developing Countries And The Flat World
Chapter 9 - The Virgin Of Guadalupe

Companies And The Flat World
Chapter 10 - How Companies Cope

Geopolitics And The Flat World
Chapter 11 - The Unflat World
Chapter 12 - The Theory Of Conflict Prevention

Conclusion: Imagination
Chapter 13 - 11/9 Versus 9/11

Acknowledgements
Index

Glossary edit see section history

  • Globalisation: The increased mobility of goods, services, labour and capital due to a progression in the standard and availability of communications and technology.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 179 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and followed by Where the Red Fern Grows.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Thomas L. Friedman (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Country: United States
Publication Date: April 5, 2005
ISBN: 0-374-29288-4
Page Count: 488

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: HM846 .F74 2005
  • Dewey: 330.90511

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Wikipedia: Learn more about this book at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Includes summaries of multiple sections as well as criticisms about the book's content and viewpoint.

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
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  • Purple Cow
  • The Goal
  • The Age of Unreason
  • Built to Last
  • The Fifth Discipline
  • Leadership Is an Art
  • Being Digital

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • Making Globalization Work

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