Tuesday, October 03, 2006
The world really is flat
In chapter one of The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, India has developed into a very modern society that has embraced the technological developments of the twenty first century. Bangalore, the Southern part of India, is where these developments have taken place.
Thomas Friedman made an interesting connection between himself and Christopher Columbus because of his “search for the source of India’s riches.” What he found was a country that seemed more advanced than America. They had made significant breakthroughs and advances in technology that blew the author’s mind as well as my own.
For example a company named Infosys “writ[es] specific software programs for American or European companies…. They are [also] running the back rooms of major American and European based multinationals - everything from computer maintenance to specific resource projects to answering customer calls routed there from all over the world.”
Nilekani, the manager of Infosys, provided a tour for Mr. Friedman and his crew in which Nilekani revealed the core of the Indian outsourcing industry which was Infosys’s global conferencing center. Infosys’s global conferencing center was a room that contained “a massive wall-sized screen and … cameras [embedded in] the ceiling for television conferencing.” This seemed more advanced than American software because “Infosys can hold a virtual meeting of the key players from its entire global supply chain for any project at any time on that supersized screen. So their American designers could be on the screen speaking with their Indian software writers and their Asian manufacturers all at once.”
Outsourcing is the major result of India’s success because of the millions of dollars that were invested in technology “to provide broadband connectivity around the world.” Friedman is right though, the world really is flat. It is flat because technology has created a single global network where thoughts, work, and money could be delivered from anywhere resulting in a new era of transmitting prosperity to the once poor nations of the world.
Thomas Friedman made an interesting connection between himself and Christopher Columbus because of his “search for the source of India’s riches.” What he found was a country that seemed more advanced than America. They had made significant breakthroughs and advances in technology that blew the author’s mind as well as my own.
For example a company named Infosys “writ[es] specific software programs for American or European companies…. They are [also] running the back rooms of major American and European based multinationals - everything from computer maintenance to specific resource projects to answering customer calls routed there from all over the world.”
Nilekani, the manager of Infosys, provided a tour for Mr. Friedman and his crew in which Nilekani revealed the core of the Indian outsourcing industry which was Infosys’s global conferencing center. Infosys’s global conferencing center was a room that contained “a massive wall-sized screen and … cameras [embedded in] the ceiling for television conferencing.” This seemed more advanced than American software because “Infosys can hold a virtual meeting of the key players from its entire global supply chain for any project at any time on that supersized screen. So their American designers could be on the screen speaking with their Indian software writers and their Asian manufacturers all at once.”
Outsourcing is the major result of India’s success because of the millions of dollars that were invested in technology “to provide broadband connectivity around the world.” Friedman is right though, the world really is flat. It is flat because technology has created a single global network where thoughts, work, and money could be delivered from anywhere resulting in a new era of transmitting prosperity to the once poor nations of the world.
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I don't think the world is anywhere near "flat" There exist enormous barriers to equal development and access to markets and progress. CBARR is right, there are some countries that are poised to take advantage of the flattening world, on the other hand, there are a lot of poor countries that are being left behind because of political and economic barriers or turmoil and chaos.
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