UFPPC (www.ufppc.org) Digging Deeper: August 8, 2005, 7:00 p.m.

Thomas L. “free-trader” (127) “compassionate flatist” (299) Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005).

How the World Became Flat

Ch. 1: While I Was Sleeping. Catching up with globalization (3-9). Globalization 1.0 (1492-1800), driven by “countries and muscles”; Globalization 2.0 (1800-2000), driven by multinational companies ― Part 1: “falling transportation costs,” Part 2: “Falling telecommunication costs”; Globalization 3.0 (beginning 2000), empowering individuals (9-10). Bangalore, India (11-32). Dalian, China (32-36). JetBlue homesources in Utah (36-38). Iraq, military technology (38-40). 2004 headlines (40-42). Blogging (42-44). “Completely new social, political, and business models” are emerging (45-47).

Ch. 2: The Ten Forces That Flattened the World. (1) Fall of the Berlin Wall (11/9/89) + PC-Windows = capitalist global unification (48-55). (2) Internet-email-browser; overinvestment in optical fiber (56-71). (3) Extension of common Web-based standards (71-80). From these three results “the Genesis moment [sic] for the flattening of the world” (80). (4) Self-organizing collaborative communities, e.g. Apache, Wikipedia (81-103). (5) Outsourcing (Y2K an opportunity for India; dot-com bubble’s implosion “turbocharged” globalization [111]) (103-13). (6) Offshoring, i.e. moving factories (China joins WTO in 2001; “China is . . . simply racing everyone to the bottom” [118], China’s advantages are “overwhelming” [125]) (114-27). (7) Supply-chaining (“collaborating horizontally ― among suppliers, retailers, and customers ― to create value” [129]) (Wal-Mart) (128-41). (8) Insourcing (i.e. servicing supply chains, “third-party-managed logistics”

[149]) (UPS) (141-50). (9) In-forming (“the ability to build and deploy your own personal supply chain ― a supply chain of information, knowledge, and entertainment” [153]) (Google [“Google is like God” (Alan Cohen, VP of Airespace) (159)]) (150-59). (10) Steroids, i.e. amplifying technologies like increased computing speed, file sharing, additional devices, and especially wireless (159-172).

Ch. 3: The Triple Convergence. (1) “[T]he creation of a global, Web-enabled playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration . .  open today to more people in more places on more days in more ways than anything like it ever before in the history of the world” (176-77). (2) Development of new ways to collaborate horizontally (177-81). (3) Opening up of societies of “China, India, Russia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Central Asia” (181). This “triple convergence” is “the most important force shaping global economics and politics in the early twenty-first century” (181-82). Globalization will be increasingly driven by individuals (183). Zippies, Indians who have come of age since India embraced capitalism (184-93). China & student visas (191-94). Russia & Boeing (194-97). These developments obscured by “the other triple convergence,” of the dot-com bust, 9/11, and Enron-related scandals (197-200).

Ch. 4: The Great Sorting Out. Tribute to Marx as analyst of capitalism (201-05). The nature of corporations (208-12). Hierarchies undermined (Colin Powell as example) (212-13). Social responsibilities do not always jibe with political attitudes (214-17). New

property issues to resolve (217-19). Values questions remain (219-22).

America and the Flat World

Ch. 5: America and Free Trade. David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage (225-26). Acknowledges debate, but “Ricardo is still right” (227). Economics not a zero-sum game (227-29). Low-skilled most vulnerable (229-30). Faith in an infinity of human wants and needs (231-34). “Everyone wins” (Raghuram Rajan, director of research for the International Monetary Fund) in a world with a “bigger but more complex pie” (234-236).

Ch. 6: The Untouchables. I.e., people whose jobs cannot be outsourced. (238). Adaptability through education is key (239-43). U.S. research universities & labs (243-45). Capital markets (245-47). Other factors favoring America: intellectual property laws, flexible labor laws, large domestic market, political stability, meeting place for cultures (247-48).

Ch. 7: The Quiet Crisis. But U.S. has so many significant weaknesses that “we are in a crisis now” (252). Neglect of science and engineering (256-60). Lack of ambition and work ethic (260-65). Foreigners are increasingly better educated (265-75).

Ch. 8: This Is Not a Test. A call to respond to the challenge (276-80). Need for political leadership (280-84). Benefits and education should be “as flexible as possible”; call for “portable health insurance” (287) and “every American man or woman on a campus” (290) (285-93). Need for compassionate measures, if only out of self-interest (293-97). Need to sort out “the relationship between global corporations and their own moral consciences” (297); argues there is a “progressive tilt”

observable in big business (302). Need for “improved parenting” (303-06).

Developing Countries and the Flat World

Ch. 9: The Virgin of Guadalupe. Proposes a “Developing Companies Anonymous (D.C.A.)” modeled after AA (313). Top-down reform has limits (313-15). Need for “reform retail”: “upgrading” infrastructure, regulatory institutions, education, and culture to “remove as many friction points as possible” (317-23). Exhortation for open cultures and against tribalism, with special criticism for Muslim societies (324-29). Intangible factor of social will and dynamic leadership (329-36).

Companies and the Flat World

Ch. 10: How Companies Cope. Seven rules for the successful globalization of companies(339-67).

Geopolitics and the Flat World

Ch. 11: The Unflat World. “I am a technological determinist! . . . I believe that capabilities create intentions. . . . But . . . I am not a historical determinist ” (374). Caveat: “I know that the world is not flat ” (375). “Middle class” is a state of mind and a key to social stability (375-78). Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for “that other 3 billion” (378-82). The “half flat”: rural India, rural China, rural E. Europe (382-83). Five forces driving antiglobalization movement (liberal guilt, rear-guard socialism, nostalgia, anti-Americanism, criticism of process ) castigated (384-91). Frustration and humiliation of Arab-Muslim cultures diagnosed; prescription: self-realization and confession (391-406). China’s embrace of automobile culture critiqued (407-13).

Ch. 12: The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention. The history of the Dell laptop on which this book was written (414-19). Importance of just-in-time supply chains as influence on international relations (420). “[T]he advent and spread of just-in-time global supply chains in the flat world are an even greater restraint on geopolitical adventurism than the more general rising standard of living that McDonald’s symbolized. . . . Because people embedded in major global supply chains don’t’ want to fight old-time wars anymore.” (420-21). Supply-chain membership as asset elites are unwilling to risk (422). Taiwan-China, India-Pakistan as test cases (423-29). Al-Qaeda as exploiter of flat-world technology, forming “mutant global supply chains”; Gabriel Weimann (Haifa U.) report on terrorists’ use of the Internet (429-36). Nuclear terrorism; endorses Graham Allison’ “doctrine of the Three No’s: No loose nukes, No new nascent nukes, and No new nuclear states” (437). The Internet and the Tower of Babel (438).

Conclusion: Imagination

Ch. 13: 11/9 Versus 9/11. 11/9 (Berlin Wall falls, 1989) and 9/11 as symbols of two contending sorts of imagination

(441-47). America must be a “dream factory” exporting hope (447-50). Plea to give retire Sept. 11 as a defining moment for the nation (451-52). Imagination as product of narratives and formation; narratives can be reinterpreted (452-53). E.g. EBay as creator of self-governing community (453-56), relative good fortune of Muslims in India (456-60). Oil resources as a factor preventing representative institutions from developing (460-64). School for untouchables in India (464-68). Greatest dangers facing U.S. are “an excess of protectionism . . . and excessive fears of competing” (469).

Acknowledgments. New York Times for leave of absence. Nandan Nilekani, Infosys. Vivek Paul, Wipro. Joel Cawley, IBM. Craig Mundie, Microsoft. Paul Romer, Stanford U. Marc Andreessen, Netscape. Michael Dell, Dell Inc. Sir John Rose, Rolls-Royce. Bill Gates. Dan Simpkins, inventor. Michael Sandel, Harvard U. Yaron Ezrahi. David Rothkopf. “My soul mates and constant intellectual companions Michael Mandelbaum and Stephen P. Cohen” (473). Wife, Ann; daughters, Orly & Natalie.

Index. 14 pp.