February 02, 2006
The World Is Flat
Finished reading (listening) this excellent book by Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat. It is a very insightful book that tries to explain everything about globalization and outsourcing using lots of examples and anecdots. The book talks about the rise of India and China as knowledge and manufacturing powerhouses and how that is affecting the US and global economics. It interestingly theorizes that the factors that brought about the spurt of globalization, global supply chaining and outsourcing are the same ones that are helping the spurt of Islamic terrorism.
Most of us have lived through the computer and internet revolutions of 80's and 90's. It was nice to read that whole history in a nutshell in one place. The chapters about global supply chaining were quite interesting as I didn't know much about it. Next time I open a box of something that I ordered online, I'll wonder about all the wheels that turned behind the screen to make that happen.
Friedman gives career advice to the young people in USA that they should concentrate on education, especially science and engineering. They should not take it for granted that USA will remain as the richest and technologically advanced country forever. USA used to be a leader in this area but, is seriously being challenged by the rest of the world as all US college graduates are scrambling to become a lawyer or get an MBA. He provides statistics that show the reduced number of science graduates and reduced numbers of peer-reviewed scientific journal articles from US compared to the rest of the world. It is still not too late for this trend to reverse but, there needs to be a big change in the educational system and attitudes of ordinary people and politicians towards science.
Friedman talks a lot about India in the book. I was taken aback by a couple of things...
- He repeatedly says, "India, a country with almost no natural resources...". It made me wince the first time I heard it. But, later his point became clear to me. He meant that India does not have large natural resource such as oil, that she can drill and sell to the world. This activity basically doesnot require any skill. All you need is ownership of the land on which the oil-well stands. India's biggest natural resource is her talented people that can be tapped for outsourcing.
- He talked about the plight of untouchables and their lack of access to schools and other services, etc. I thought that it was true in my grandparents' generation and somewhat true in my parents' generations, but, I hadn't seen untouchables being treated badly or discriminated based on castes. Maybe, it is because of the sheltered city life that I lived.
Overall, it is a very well written book and I highly recommend it.
Posted by Parag at February 2, 2006 02:40 PM
I read his "The lexus and the olive tree" last year. It's a must read book. Although, since you have already read this book (about globalization), you may find some repeatition in his previous book.
I got "The world is flat" from library yesterday. I had to wait for 3-4 months. I am not sure I will be able to finish in 3 weeks time.
Posted by: Mahesh at February 3, 2006 09:59 AMI have this book with me. But I have started reading White Moguls few ages ago, and couldn't finish it yet, now Iam hell bent on completing that.Then surely I will start this.
Posted by: Alka at February 3, 2006 11:30 AM...Interesting comments. I am extremely self-critical about my home country of the US. But in terms of the market economy, competition and business management, I do not see a threat to the US from China or India or anywhere else. Other countries have been educating their populations better than the US for a long time. The real story is value creation, innovation and management and the US, for all its faults, is the unchallenged leader in those arenas, with no close seconds. Just because a Chinese kid can take the square root of negative 7 in her head, while an American kid can barely read, doesn't mean that the Chinese kid has any vision, or can run a company. And at the end of the day, that is how wealth is created.
Posted by: hughess at February 8, 2006 04:16 AM
