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    Wednesday, October 15, 2008

    "The World Is Not Flat" - Pankaj Ghemawat



    Interesting read from Harvard and IESE Business School, Prof. Pankaj Ghemawat. Take a look at his blog too, where he explains his view of the world in a concrete and clear way.

    As a criticism to Thomas L. Friedman, and the World is Flat theory, Mr. Ghemawat states that the world should be understood as partly globalized, or "semiglobalized." This has a big influence in the strategies that global companies should undertake: "Strategies that presume complete global integration tend to place far too much emphasis on international standardization and scalar expansion [...] While identifying similarities from one place to the next is essential, effective cross-border strategies will take careful stock of differences as well." 

    2 comments:

    1. Yes, I liked two books which counter Friedman's arguments about "Flat" world.

      One is the Harvard Professor, Pankaj Ghemawat's latest book, "Redefining Global Strategy," is more academically inclined. I read an article of his published in the journal, "Foreign Policy", where he argues that the world is, at best, only semi-globalized. His argument being that Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic aspects of a nation come in the way of total globalization from taking place and cites examples of the same.

      The other small, but interesting book, is by Aronica and Ramdoo, "The World is Flat? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman's New York Times Bestseller," which offers a counterperspective to Friedman's theory on globalization.

      Interestingly enough, the book written about two years back, discusses in the following chapters,
      "Debt and Financialization of America"
      "America"s Former Middle Class"
      "A Paradigm Shift for America" with prescriptions for the future

      the debt ridden American society, deregulated financial institutions, mortgage crisis and other related issues, with clear pointers to the economic crisis gripping US today. For more information regarding the same, check this out: mkpress.com/FlatExcerpts.pdf

      This is a small book compared to the 600 page tome by Friedman, and aimed at the common man and students alike. As popular as the book may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman's book is dangerous. The authors point to the fact that there isn't a single table or data footnote in Friedman's entire book.

      "Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution," says Aronica.

      You may want to see www.mkpress.com/flat
      and watch www.mkpress.com/flatoverview.html
      for an interesting counterperspective on Friedman's
      "The World is Flat".

      Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html

      There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
      www.mkpress.com/extreme
      http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html
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      ReplyDelete

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