By Joey Alarilla INQ7.net Once, people thought the world was flat. Of course, we now know the Earth is round, but author, New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman would have us believe that, indeed, The World is Flat.
If you haven't read this bestseller yet, check out the updated and expanded edition that incorporates about 100 new pages, including stuff on blogging and podcasts. Now, while I don't agree with Friedman's often unabashed support for globalization and US foreign and military policy (plus Columbus wasn't the one who proved the world is round, Friedman) anyone who doesn't examine his or her own role in a flat (meaning interconnected) world might soon become obsolete. The flattening forces he's talking about include outsourcing, which has largely benefited India, and offshoring, which is making China the center of the world again. Any nation that hopes to succeed in a flat world must ask itself what competitive advantage it has. The most interesting thing about the flat world and what Friedman somewhat awkwardly dubs Globalization 3.0 is that now, more than ever, we can compete in the market as individuals. As I've always said, it's not where you are, it's what you know. Technology allows us to work from anywhere, and for companies to take advantage of the talents of knowledge workers from all over the world. In a flat world, you don't always have to emigrate to a first world country. You can stay in the Philippines, for example, and still earn dollars thanks to the magic of telecommuting. Of course, Friedman writes from the point of view of the US and American companies, pointing out that they can take advantage of an incredible pool of talented people in Asia who are willing to work for far less than their first world counterparts. It's hard not to feel a bit, well, exploited when you hear stuff like that, but it's the reality. That's why a lot of people choose to leave the Philippines in the first place, because we could earn a lot more in other countries doing the same thing we do here. My hope is that we will be able to work our way up the value food chain. Friedman rightly points out that anything that can be commoditized can be done more cheaply in other countries. In discussing Reuters' decision to outsource some of the wire services' news operations to India, he points out that for "grunt work" such as quickly rewriting and uploading breaking news on company earnings, it makes more sense to hire Indian journalists who will get paid a fraction of the cost of his or her Western counterpart. By outsourcing the commoditized aspects of news, Reuters can concentrate on the higher value-added content such as full-blown news reports, features and analyses, which would require more experienced, higher-paid journalists. Frankly, the Philippine attitude should be like China, which, as the Chinese officials quoted in this book are saying, is concentrating on learning what it can from the US with the vision of one day becoming the designers of products, not just the cheap alternative for countries offshoring their manufacturing needs. The scary thing you have to consider if you're competing with China is that they don't just have the advantage of low-cost but also increasing productivity. Like India, they have thousands of talented and hardworking people eager to learn from the West, and, let's face it, beat it at its own game. They've learned their lesson. How about us? What will be our competitive advantage in a flat world? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." Matthew 11:12 Do you want to be a worldchanger? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldchangers2010/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldchangers2010/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldchangers2010/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
