Module 7

            The reading this week has been interesting. It’s been about the beginning of globalization. Friedman talked about why it’s better from some business to be and run from different countries, how it is going to help to push globalization. He also talked about how the internet made it easier to be a globalization company to self-directed consumers. He also talks about does globalization mean Americanization, meaning is every culture going to have to convert to the American culture. Are we going to lose our countries ancestry.

Some counties are better at doing things then other countries because they have different resources readily available. They are able to gather needed materials closer. Another reason is the demand for work. Some countries might need the work more and are will to accept a lower price for the work so they can get it and get what little money they can. Along with that the amount of education available for the people to take such as India, you know if you are looking for a engineer who will get the job done right and in a timely manner India has the people for you. They have more students studying engineering and are able to charge less than any other competitors. The other key part is government. How well your government is working with other countries and also if they are supporting the work and trying to help and keep it working so that people can have a job and that the goods will be able to be sold to other countries.  

            Self-directed consumers are the people that shop online and shop to their specific needs. That in turn companies can give people an experience of this product is perfect for you. The consumer is able to put in all the information they are looking for and the company will meet the demand of the consumer more effectively. The consumer is happy and the company just made a sell without having a sells person. Am I a self-directed consumer? I would say I am. But not in the traditional sense, I’ll look it up online and then I’ll go the store and buy it from a person. This way I can do as much research as I want on the product and see who is going to give me the best deal.

            Does globalization mean Americanization? Yes, and no. I mean this because it is American companies who are leading it so of course they are going to be the trend setters, they are going to be the leaders, but that is not say once other countries are better established they are going to run things differently and more efficiently. Business and growth are limited to whatever strategy and future plan has worked, but that is not to say that a better one will not arise. Once countries are able to flatten themselves. Friedman says that he believes globalization could be a way for the world’s culture to come closer without all culture disappearing.    

            From the reading we learned about why some countries are better or better suited to run certain jobs while others are not. We learned that the internet made it possible to better sale what people wanted.  What globalization means for out cultures as far as are we all going to be one culture or are we going to keep our culture identity.  

Module 6

                In this week’s reading the Friedman starts a new direction. No longer is the world being/ becoming flat a question, he has taught us that. Now we must learn what we need to do to plan for the future. Who are we going to have to become, what skills, and personal qualities are going to need, as both a worker and as a business. The way people work is going to change, eventually the world will need to minds that are innovative and passionate, not just a body to work for the day.  

Free trade is described as being each nation produces good, in which that particular part of the world can produce the easiest, cheapest and most productive way. Then take those goods that they created cost effectively from local supplies and trade with other nations around the world. The world will in turn grow steadier, and keep growing as a whole. The problem is that this free trade would require all nations to work together for the benefit of each other to grow, they would have to rely on each other. It would also require quite a lot of change for everyone. For example if you are working for a warehouse on an assembly line, chances are pretty good that you would need to find a new job, that job would be able to be done in another country for less the cost and closer to better resources. However the change I mentioned would not all have to take place at once. It could be a slow thing. In fact if you look around it’s already started. I do think that free trade is important, its how many business are going to reach their full potential.

            The new middler, will be the people holding the new middle class jobs of the future. These are people with good people skills, team leaders, synthesizer’s, explainers, leveragers, adapters, passionate, localizers. These are some of the things the new middle class jobs will need to be. I am also sure new things will always be coming out for people to do. The new middle class jobs, won’t be laborers anymore, it will be people who carry meaning with them. People who are sociable and know people. For example, freeman who owned a photography lab, once people could do it themselves from home his business dropped. He found himself explaining to people now how to use the technology instead of doing it himself. He became a teacher of the trade.

            CQ+PQ > IQ, CQ is curiosity quotient, which is summed up by is the person curious, do they want to learn new things, do they ask questions. PQ is passion quotient, which is are they passionate do they care, do they want to try and be the best they can. So the formula is to say that curiosity and passion are greater than IQ. This is important because even if a person has a high IQ level that does not make them flexible, sure they are smart but do they care about the work they are doing do they want to better themselves or just do the same work again and again.   People with passion and curiosity are people who are self-learning, I would say sometimes not naturally but because they care they want to be the best they can they teach themselves. They develop the skill set for the job they want and are doing.   

            We learn that the free trade is the world going into business together and how it will profit everyone. We learn what and who we need to be for the future jobs. We are given the formula as to how to be a successful person. The world is becoming flatter and flatter.

Module 5

                Once the flatterers converge what are some of the problems that will arise around the world. That is what we read about this week in, “The World is Flat”. We are getting to the point in the reading where everything is coming together. Where the flatteners are becoming tools to revolutionize the world. We are talking about the triple convergence. Also in the reading some of the conflicts with outsourcing particularly the India and Indiana case. Also we learned about intellectual property.  

The triple convergence starts with ten of the previous flatteners coming together and being used together. Next is companies changing and or adapting to these new changes. The last part I would say is to maintain the changing and adapting of the new flatteners, stay up to date, keep training people for it. Hire new people to do some of the new work that comes along with it. So why is the triple convergence so important, Friedman uses the example of when they first introduced computers to the work force, they thought that it would be an immediate jump in productivity. That was not so, the people had to learn what they were doing, they had to change how they worked. Just because you have the tools doesn’t mean better results if the people using them don’t know how to use the equipment or software or whatever it might be to the best of their abilities? This requires training and keeping everyone up to date on updates.

            When the state of Indiana decides it’s time to upgrade the computer system, it needs to contract the work out. They receive the bids from the potential companies. The lowest company is offering 8.1 million dollars lower than the rest of the companies. It seems the obvious choice, but government gets involved and wants to keep the work local instead of using the cheaper way which would have saved so much more money. You wonder who was exploited here, the people who are now paying probably more than that 8.1 million to divide the work load and divide it among smaller companies, or the companies that just spent all the money training people to the best way of how to upgrade and having no work for these people to do now. The problem both sides lose, no one is winning, the state government just wasted all that money, and India just lost the contract. The problem is I think if we are going to commit to outsourcing just commit. It will save more money make us more productive here at home in our own fields of study. When we play this game of politics and switching because of public opinion all we are doing is losing money that could have been better spend elsewhere.

            Intellectual property is your idea on software. Such as an app, or even your e-mail. This is important because this is where it all starts. We need to make sure that people share their ideas and work together while at the same time protecting the original inventor of the idea. We don’t want people being closed off with their ideas. Ideas that could potentially be the next success. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing my ideas with other people knowing that any one of them could take the idea and try and change it or make it better then what I was doing because they have better resources.  We need to be able to trade mark and idea. Which would prove to be very difficult.