Flatworld

Chapter 12

"The globalization of the local is not only happening culturally but also commercially."

This quote explains that business's outside of the Western culture are driving the economic world. Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, Russian, Asian, and even African companies are doing global investment which is creating commercial globalization. I think that the first step in this transition of more globalization does start with the culture though. It is important to understand a culture if a business wants to conduct trade and investments with that business from a different culture. The example given in the book is that he had lunch with an entreprenuer man from Egypt who was telling him about the people he just hired. He had hired two different men who had worked in Atlanta, London, and Africa, also Hong Kong. It was clear that the Eqyptian man was wanting his company to be successful in the fact that he was hiring people with experience from other countries. I think it is extremely important for companies to have international people working for them to have a braoder view of the world especially if they are doing business abroad.

LMH #2

Chp 12

Friedman tries to explain the concept of the globalization of the local. he states that the flattening of the world is not only equalizing the diversity of flow of culture it is also equalizing the diversity of flow of income and investments from other countries. to him, Globalization is no longer driven by d American economy or companies, but more by the Indian, Chinese, Brazillian, African and Asian companies who do business in America.By this, America and Europe are loosing their hold and power in driving globalization. Globalization is now commercial . it belongs to everyone
KPN

Comment Chp 11

i think for every company to survive they have to adapt and change their ways to suit the needs of the people who are primarily the customers.because if they dont do this they will get to loose business. change is a vital thing in life. and a change for the better is a sign of progress. things can never be done right at the first time.through surveys and feedback from customers i think many companies have been able to improve in the way they maintain and sustain their clients and customers
KPN

Chp 10

Friedman looks at what policies developing countries need to undertake in order to create the right environment for their companies and for the entrepreneurs in that country to thrive in this flat world that we have found ourselves in now. the question we ask ourselves here is to what extent are we adapting and taking advantage  of the competition being faced in the world today? and what progress is this making in the economy of our country? we cant maintain rising standards of living in a flattening world when you are up against competitor countries who have gotten their acts and fundamentals right. the smaller countries not only want to get rich. they also want to get powerful also. This should bother the US because if things keep going this way they would loose their power to the rising countries of mexico and china
KPN

Chp. 12

I do believe that as much as technology has advanced, the world was still only flat from a limited standpoint.  Countries, cultures, and people still have to take some time to change and develop, and it doesn't just happen with a click of a mouse.  China has been seeing dramatic economic steps, but it still has to go throught it's continued growth before it can really worry about refining their industrial boom.  This story is similar to all of the challenges developing countries are facing while they are quickly growing in different economic areas.  While each country feels like they are catching us, they still aren't aware of the fine tuning that has already been done and is continued to be done in the developed countries.  This process will keep the world from being on a perfectly flat playing field and will maintain the constant competition.

JDR

Chp. 10

Chapter ten discusses how developing countries can get in the fast paced global economic game.  I personally think that Friedman hit the nail on the head about what these countries had to do.  Of course they are going to have to prove to the rest of the world that their country can be a valuable place for a foreign led business to thrive by having a solid infrastructure, low tax rate, and limited regulation.  The intangible part is definitely the element that gets developing countries over the hump economicall speaking.  The workforce has to not only work hard, but also work smart, and use their culture, their resources, and other outside ideas to make a unique economic environment.

JDR

Chp. 8

I do think that there are two problems with the declining interest in young people majoring in the sciences and engineering.  The first problem is definitely the fact that as a society of younger people we are pretty lazy.  With the day and age of internet and living a lifestyle where kids get what they want when they want, it has created an instant gratification society.  This makes the concept of working REALLY hard for something pretty foreign.  Hard work is the cornerstone of getting a degree in the science and engineering fields.  Secondly I do believe that the college education system could be tweaked in these planned areas of study.  The fact that some of these programs are designed to fail out as many of the students as possible is in no way productive towards developing young minds.

JDR