Feb 01, 2006 04:30 PM
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(Updated Feb 01, 2006 04:31 PM)
Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?
Answer: Princess Diana's death.
Question: How come?
Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a
Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whiskey, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor,
using Brazilian medicines!And this is sent to you by an American, using Bill Gates' technology Which he enjoyed stealing from the Japanese.
And you are probably reading this on one of the IBM clones that use Taiwanese-made chips, and Korean-made monitors, assembled by Bangladeshi
workers in a Singapore plant, transported by lorries driven by Indians, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, trucked
by Mexican illegal aliens, and finally sold to you.
That, my friend, is Globalization! Finally, an explanation in English''
What is globalization?
How is US of A related/affected with/by it?
What made the worst enemies of World War II to collaborate in 21st century?
Why did China openup its economy?
How did India, which was on the verge of bankruptcy in late 80s, bounceback and become second fastest growing economy?
Where do the third world countries and middle east stand in the current trend of globalization?
What is comparative advantage?
Do the answers for these questions haunt you? If yes, then this book is for you.
Thomas Friedman gives a complete analysis of globalization, the driving factors and the future in his latest book ''World is Flat''.
Target audience of the book is a common man but persons from technical/managerial background are better placed to appreciate the contents.
The book is dotted with examples from across the industry which makes the reading enjoyable.
First half of the book gives a description of the ten forces that helped in flattening the world. These include the ''Fall of Berlin wall'' to
''Recent Technological Advances'', each playing an important role in leveling the playing field. With the live examples/interviews/incidences
from the life of the people/companies, first half of the book moves at a brisk pace. It includes case studies from across the industry including Retail Chain giant ''Wal Mart'' to Tech Gurus ''google''.
However the second part of the book is quite slow where author tries to analyze the comparative advantage of India, China, Russia and other
developing countries over developed countries. He discusses what flattening of world means to developing countries, multinational/domestic
companies and to US of A. How developing countries can take advantage of leveling of playing fields and how US can consistently raise the
bar.
Though author talks about the advantages of emerging China and India in the business world, but he has also raised the issues that might be
cause of concerns with emergence of China and India as global economy specially the Oil Crisis.
Overall the book makes a lively reading and is worth to be in one's collection of books.
