I love books that are well written, interesting, educational and thought provoking. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman is just such a book.

I first encountered Thomas Friedman in the pages of his book From Beirut to Jerusalem which was based on his ten years in the Middle East as a reporter for UPI and the New York Times. My next encounter was in Longitudes and Attitudes that explored the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The World Is Flat is the work of a student of the way the world works who looks at what business is doing and sees the implications for all of us.

The press is full of stories pro and con about globalization - the flattening of the world in the sense of becoming a single, flat playing field for businesses large and small and for a set of supporting ideas and ideals. Friedman tells a story and provides a structure to help us understand the ongoing evolution of that story in our daily news. He then looks at the implications for America, for developing countries and for corporations and those of us who work for them. He identifies the risks that could unflatten the world including the best analysis I have seen on the potential roles of the Arab-Muslim world. The final chapter addresses the role of the U.S. in contributing to continued flattening and positive outcomes.

Friedman provides answers and poses useful questions. One of my favorites is, "Does your society [country, corporation, family, you …] have more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories." Memories are of course from the past; dreams are the creative material for the future. Flattening has occurred when people have dreamed of new ways things can work and have made those dreams come true. These are not the dreams of the past. They are the dreams made possible by new technologies, organizational structures, business relationships, roles of government, the increasing importance of individuals and more.

Illustrations

In addition to a sweeping view of the flattening of the world and a structure to understand it, he provides tantalizing illustrations:

It's not just us that are outsourcing: Japan is outsourcing to Japanese speaking call centers in China and a Japanese firm has 70,000 housewives in China doing data entry from hand written Japanese documents including medical and legal.

It's not just us that are losing manufacturing jobs: China's industrial productivity increased 17% a year between 1995 and 2002; despite increasing sales that rate of increasing productivity eliminated 15 million manufacturing jobs.

The management challenges and opportunities are orders of magnitude greater: Hewlett Packard sold four hundred thousand computers through four thousand Wal-Mart stores in one day during the Christmas season.

Some changes are dramatic but still limited in scope: The high-tech sector in India accounts for 0.2 percent of employment; add those Indians involved in manufacturing for export, and you get a total of only 2 percent of employment in India.

It's not just us that are outsourcing: Hewlett Packard has signed a $150 million contract with the Bank of India to implement and manage a core banking system across 750 bank branches including data warehousing, document imaging, Internet banking and ATMs.

Convergence

What's happening? He identifies and illustrates three convergences that are enabling and causing the flattening of the world:

1. The implementation of a global, Web enabled playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration - the sharing of work and knowledge - in real time without regard to geography.

2. New technologies are never enough, "… the big jumps in productivity come when new technology is combined with new ways of doing business" epitomized by the shift from centralized vertical command and control to distributed horizontal collaboration and value-creation.

3. Collaborative technology and processes empowered by the flattening of political and economic structures in countries including China, India, Russia and Eastern Europe have added 3 billion people as consumers, collaborators and contributors to the flat market, "… the next generation of innovations will come from all over Planet Flat."

The Future

"The flattening of the world, as I have tried to demonstrate in this book, has presented us with new opportunities, new challenges, new partners but also, alas, with new dangers, particularly as Americans. It is imperative that we find the right balance among all of these. It is imperative that we be the best global citizens that we can be - because in a flat world, if you don't visit a bad neighborhood, it might visit you.

"We Americans will have to work harder, run faster and become smarter to make sure we get our share. But let us not underestimate our strengths or the innovation that could explode from the flat world when we really do connect all of the knowledge centers together. On such a flat earth, the most important attribute you can have is creative imagination - the ability to be the first on your block to figure out how all theses enabling tools can be put together in new and exciting ways to create products, communities, opportunities and profits. That has always been America's strength, because America was, and for now still is, the world's greatest dream machine."

Well written, interesting, educational and thought provoking. What more can you ask of a book?

Marina del Rey CA
April 20, 2006

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Noteworthy is an occasional publication of Lyon,Popanz & Forester. Please feel free to pass it on to others who may find it of interest. To be removed from this mail list, click remove If this has been forwarded to you click to subscribe Copyright 2006. Written by Hal Amens hal@lpf.com Information in Noteworthy is based on our experience as management consultants and sources we consider reliable. There are no further warranties about accuracy or applicability. It contains neither legal nor financial advice; for that, consult appropriate professionals. Lyon, Popanz & Forester is a management consulting firm that designs and manages projects that solve management problems. We welcome your comments about the content of this issue, click to comment on Noteworthy.

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