Great insights to help us understand the flattening of the world caused by technology!

This book seeks to bring forth the role that technology is playing in opening up doors for communication and international business. The book demonstrates how the emerging economies of China and India are increasingly challenging the rest of the world and the established economies, thanks to the prevalent penetration of technology.

I think Friedman has some of the best insights into the immense role that technology is playing to change the dynamic of the world economy. He does show how technology has become an inevitable part of doing business and that any company or nation that fails to embrace this will be overtaken by the imminent changes. I like the fact that he gives good examples of how real-life companies are making use of technology and staying competitive. This is a good read for any entrepreneur, regardless of your field or location, managers and executives will find this book immensely insightful.

My only criticism is that Friedman fails to address the setbacks and challenges that the increasing prominence of technology may play. He only mentions this in passing when he talks about terrorists using technology for their own purposes. He also does not talk about the censorship issues in China and the gaping matter of net neutrality. It would be great to see an updated version of it as since its publication in 2007 so many things changed.

The premise is that due in large part to technology the world is becoming flatter.  Thomas Friedman clearly thinks this is a great thing with very few drawbacks. In fact, he doesn't address any drawback except in passing (other than the random aside that terrorists can use the Internet to network too) until the penultimate chapter.

This is clearly meant to be a book about how globalization affects the individual. Friedman tries to show this by sharing anecdotes and interviews but nearly every single person he talks to and every story he shares is about a founder or head of a company and the few that aren't deal with people who are no more than 3 levels from the top of the company. Hardly "everyman." The book has a lot to say about what CEOs and entrepreneurs can do to stay competitive (mainly keep innovating, not exactly a new idea) but there is very little about what the rest of us can do besides "continue to try to make ourselves employable."

He proposes that companies make sure their employees are employable and in return employees give their loyalty. This seems unrealistic given today’s business climate.

He views the Internet as a great leveling force, but mentions the censorship in China only in passing and doesn’t discuss how it affects his theory. I believe he thinks the situation is temporary but as major companies seem happy to cooperate with filtering, I don't see change in the near future.

Friedman is also very big on the idea of globalization as an economic equalizer. He goes on at length about how it's a force for good because it dramatically raises the standard of living in developing nations, particularly India, but it isn't until the penultimate chapter that he admits that's only true for about 2% of India's population. And while he's busy talking about what a great opportunity it is in terms of income and how Indians no longer have to emigrate to have a much improved standard of living and that even those abroad can have access to hometown newspapers ,etc. he doesn't seem to realize the contradiction when he mentions a man who started an elementary school for India's Untouchable class, hoping to prove that with the right education they can be just like the higher castes but who then must to move elsewhere after they are educated because their last name reveals their caste. While he was trying to argue that the Internet will eventually bring more income equality it seemed to me that it made the rich richer and the poor were still left behind. (And never a word about the exponential difference between CEOs and the lowest paid employee). It’s good that high caste Indians have a better standard of living but we're still seeing the standards improve for the people at the top and not much change for everyone else.

He talks about Wal-Mart’s "just in time" model of business and in his penultimate chapter he does address some of the problems. A global supply chain can be decimated by war, disease, or natural disaster and if things are only delivered "just in time" companies can be completely screwed. The advantage of this is that it makes countries think twice about going to war (specifically countries like India/Pakistan and China/Taiwan) because they know if they screw up the global supply chain companies will be extremely wary of ever investing in that country again. But Friedman extols the virtues of Wal-Mart's use of RFID technology without mentioning the concerns of privacy advocates.

I think one of Friedman's biggest failings is that so much of the book is about the Internet as a great equalizer and there is not one word about Net Neutrality. The book was updated, revised and re released in April of 2006 so Net Neutrality was a known issue.

Having said all of that, the book was still an interesting read. I learned a lot of random things about various companies.

There are some people in the world who are born cynic. They are too fussy about everything they are (most often NOT) expected to express views on. They can give an hour lecture on the emptiness of a half-filled glass and still won't be tired of it.

Now, there is another category of men, who are exactly opposite of them. They are more than required positive. The half filled glass looks to them as a lake of chilled coconut milk. They are at awe at everything and talk excitedly exaggerating everything that cuts their view. I don't know what you call them. Born appreciator? Whatever! I think you got the point.

Many business people fall into this category. No No. Not the salesmen. They just appear like those. But internally they might have a facet of a cynic. I am talking about those who are high up, who make up their day by picking some key words and relentlessly going on and on about how great they think about those.

In my opinion, Thomas L. Friedman, the famous author of "The World is Flat", is also one of them.
"Now, Technology has shrunken the world. Changing perspectives have enabled the businessmen to take their businesses out of their regional boundaries. Financial decisions are more profit oriented than driven by nationalism." - with this premise Friedman has written an entire book with so much zeal and research, that it has become like text book material for many people who never forget to mention that they have done a Masters in Business Administration during their introduction.

Regarding the book, it is a good read. You will find yourself nodding, just like me, with what is written most of the time. Initially I thought my nodding was a token of appreciation, later it turned out to be the result of dozing.

Anyway, the book is very well written and hence, a good read. With so much data, anecdotes, experiences, you would love to agree with it more often than otherwise.

Repetitive. Just read the dust jacket. Globalization is leveling the playing field. Example, repeat catch phrase, rinse.