The World Is Flat Study Guide

Friedman opines that companies willing to change and accept change are more likely to do things than have things done to them. In profiling Jill and Ken Greer, creators of Greer&Associates multimedia company, we learn of their experience with the rise of freelancers as their competition, as well as the fact that technology that should have simplified their operations made it more difficult by requiring more of them.

We look into commoditization in a wide range of industries, where everything is the same and supply is plentiful. Clients are flooded with options and everyone becomes the same. Each company is driven to be more creative and innovative, or risk falling between the cracks. At this point we meet Fadi Ghandour, cofounder and CEO of Aramex, a home-grown package delivery service. His web-based global network cut costs and allowed him to compete with the biggest in the business and come out ahead. We see through other business models that globalization forces the big to act small: case in point, Starbucks learning from their customers to use soy milk in their coffees. We learn that companies must be willing to collaborate and focus on niche markets, doing themselves what they need to do to stay in front of their customers and outsourcing the rest. The best companies use outsourcing as a method of growth, not to shrink their workforce. Outsourcing allows them to provide more and better services more efficiently.

We also explore socially responsible outsourcing; giving the outsourced workers a good wage and opportunity within their own country that they would not have otherwise.