Module 1

“The World is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman

            Tweet. Email message. Facebook alert. Friend request on Instagram. Snapchat of a friend in Europe. Text message. Someone is calling you through Skype. Wow! Imagine something that we take as something “normal”, 10 to 20 years ago seemed like movie special effects or just a wish. Change. The word that I feel fully describes the perspective of the author and I believe everyone that was involved with this book thus far. The power of change is incredible and the effects that it will always have on the world. The change that is described in the book comes by many names but I would like to focus on 3 changes, Globalization 1.0, Globalization 2.0, and Globalization 3.0.

            In 1492, Columbus sailed the Ocean blue. Something that we learned at such a young age but that really started what Friedman classifies, Globalization 1.0. In this period we began to open trade from the Old World to the New World, up to 1800 just when the American Revolution had celebrated just around 20 years. It opened up what was at that time a great advantage to trade goods that weren’t accessible in those continents until the Columbian trade exchange started. It came at a cost of course, of lives, of many, but it came with great advantages. It caused us to think deeper, broaden our vision, and explore new opportunities. It helped drive us to expand global integration and ask us what we were willing to do to make a better tomorrow. From this great era came many inventions or innovations that accelerated global integration, such as horsepower, wind power, and steam power machines. Did we just stop there? No, we didn’t settle but rather just continued gaining momentum.

            Wait you can have your business in more than one nation? What a revolutionary idea. Funny enough the revolutionary war was the only grand change that happened around 1800. From 1800 to 2000 the dominance of multinational companies. With few interruptions such as the Great Depression and World War 1 and World War 2, the power house of multinational companies started to take root in the economy in many nations. But much like anything that takes root and is cared for, starts to blossom. That is thanks to innovations of this period making transportation cost fall and to an increasing effective global communication system. Which created a great, fresh, and more accessible market for practically everyone. From Railroads to Telephones, the global economy was turning into an equally, “flat” playing ground. But just like the saying from Walt Disney, “Keep moving forward”. That is exactly what happened.      

            The freedom that once was something that usually only war or treaties could resolve had received a new ally to help let the voice of the people help seek for a solution. Now that goes without saying, we do need to act upon our words but it is easier when it is not only words but the desire of a group, society, nation, or the world. The Berlin Wall is a great example of a desire that finally was brought to action. Not only did it liberate all the captive people of the Soviet Empire, but as Friedman said “tipped the balance of power across the world”. The revolution of global communication opened the door for free expression of international interest from all stand points such as political, social, and more importantly, economical. Trade controls were released and we saw business fall or better yet flourish.

            The roots are in place, the growth spurt happened, and now we get to see the finished product. Globalization 3.0 is that “finished product” and helped give us what we call the modern technology age. It allowed us to have the internet thanks to Netscape. The company Netscape really was the company that established the playing ground for Globalization because thanks to them we were allowed to have “dot-com” because they started it. If we take away .com from any website we either go straight to a search browser like Google or it simply doesn’t work. This simple change still brings big results. Now thanks to the access of the internet we can process easy and practically effortless World Wide interactions and business transactions. Bringing it down to one “flat” playing field.

 I have the great pleasure of using a “normal modern miracle” called a computer, which gave me the opportunity to write this essay and upload it to the internet within my own home to then allow you to read this article. Let’s just say that playing on an equally “flat” ground makes a world of difference.