Term
| Flattener 1. Collapse of the Berlin Wall |
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Definition
| The event not only symbolized the end of the Cold war, it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream. |
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Term
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Definition
| broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium to something that made the Internet accessible to everyone |
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Term
| Flattener 3. Workflow Software |
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Definition
| The ability of machines to talk to other machines with no humans involved. Friedman believes these first three forces have become a "crude foundation of a whole new global platform for collaboration." |
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Term
| Flattener 4. Open Sourcing |
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Definition
| Communities uploading and collaborating on online projects. Examples include open source software, blogs, and Wikipedia. Friedman considers the phenomenon "the most disruptive force of all." |
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Term
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Definition
| Friedman argues that outsourcing has allowed companies to split service and manufacturing activities into components which can be subcontracted and performed in the most efficient, cost-effective way. |
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Term
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Definition
| The internal relocation of a company's manufacturing or other processes to a foreign land in order to take advantage of less costly operations there. |
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Term
| Flattener 7. Supply Chaining |
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Definition
| Friedman compares the modern retail supply chain to a river, and points to Wal-Mart as the best example of a company using technology to streamline item sales, distribution, and shipping. |
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Term
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Definition
| Friedman uses UPS as a prime example for _______, in which the company's employees perform services--beyond shipping--for another company. For example, UPS repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub, by UPS employees. |
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Term
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Definition
| Google and other search engines are the prime example. "Never before in the history of the planet have so many people-on their own-had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people", writes Friedman. The growth of search engines is tremendous; for example take Google, in which Friedman states that it is "now processing roughly one billion searches per day, up from 150 million just three years ago". |
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Term
| Flattener 10. The Steroids |
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Definition
| Personal digital devices like mobile phones, iPods, personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and voice over Internet Protocol |
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