Ukraine, Russia, the Flat World and How to Keep Your Eyes Above Water

Ukraine, Russia, the Flat World and How to Keep Your Eyes Above Water 

By Betty Bassett

According to Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat, a globalization of technology allows people to collaborate and compete in real time. Intellectual work can now be dissected, distributed, returned, and re-assembled in minutes via email. This caused the global economic playing field to be leveled or ''flattened".  

In the twenty-first century we are tied together by global economic ties, so much so that war between countries means jeopardy of international economic alliances.  According to the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention, no two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell's, will ever fight or engage in armed conflict against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain.  Obviously, we have been proven wrong and we have found this theory not hold in the case of Russia's transgression against  Ukraine.  Economic sanctions from the United States are crippling Russia's economy but the United States is not acting as a Lone Ranger in its rebuke and condemnation of Russia's actions.  Europe and so many other countries are witnessing in real time the atrocities of the war and they too, are deciding to cut business ties with Russia.  Real information may come at a drip to the average Russian because Putin has tight grip over the narrative of propaganda in that country but for the rest of the world, real information from Ukraine is coming out at a flood.  As the conflict between two nations rages, country after country are cutting ties with Russia because who wants to be friends with a bully in the play yard?   There is group judgment for bad behavior and often the punishment is being ostracized and banished.  The long term economic costs to Russia will prove to be heavy and will serve as a warning to China should it consider invading Taiwan.  The Dell Theory of Conflict may not have held in the Russia/Ukraine engagement but the long term brutality of Russia's economic fallout yet to come may still yet prove the Dell Theory of Conflict to hold.

How has the world flattened since WWII?  

Deserts, mountains and oceans  no longer stand to keep nations isolated in the age of the internet. Ideas spread like wildfire globally.  Borders between  countries that in times past had little access to the outside world now hold no constraint. Small companies have an opportunity to offer services that in the past, could only be offered by giants.  Bridging the gap between the large and small means leveling the distance between the rich and the poor. 

This is the argument that New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman examines in his book, The World Is Flat.  Ten forces are leveling  the economic playing field unlike that which we have ever seen before.

1) Netscape and the Internet 

2) Workflow software 

3) Outsourcing 

4) Supply chain management

5) Mobile communications

6) Offshoring and Global Supply Chains 

7) Insourcing

8 ) Informing and Uploading 

9 ) Free Markets and the Collapse of the Berlin Wall 

10 ) The Steroids

1. Netscape and the Internet - The internet  created a platform where people can share intellectual content across the world.  Fiber-optic cable was laid across the Atlantic Ocean after the Dot.com bubble of the 1990's.  The boom  facilitated a 30 billion dollar  investment.  Ninety million miles of fiber-optic cable facilitated the interconnectivity of the internet between continents.  Real time updates caused a decreased need for travel thereby making the world 'flat' and accessible.  People make internet connections globally which can lead to collaboration, advancements and innovations.  

2. Workflow Software - The ability of machines to talk to other machines created a global platform for remote collaboration that allowed work to flow. 

3. Outsourcing - Outsourcing has enabled companies to separate service and manufacturing activities into components which then can be subcontracted and performed in the most economical, efficient and cost-effective way.  Tasks previously performed in-house like call-center operations are now outsourced to other companies in foreign countries like India.  

4. Supply Chain Management - Supply chain management is collaboration between retailers, suppliers and customers to track which item was purchased, when the item was purchased, how many items need to be  produced and when items need to be  shipped to the store so that shelves are stocked in a timely manner.

5. Mobile Communications - Mobile communications refer to mobile phones and instant messaging where content can be shaped, manipulated, and shared instantly anytime by anyone.

6. Offshoring and Global Supply Chains - Different from the concept of outsourcing, offshoring moves an entire operation globally to take advantage of lower labor costs and less regulation.  This creates a more competitive  product that can be sold at a lower cost.  

7. Insourcing - In-sourcing is when small companies provide services to larger ones reducing prohibitive shipping  expenses.  An example of this is when a Toshiba computer is repaired by UPS at one of its hubs rather than getting shipped back to the manufacturer in  Japan.  UPS employees, in this case,  perform services – beyond shipping – on behalf of Toshiba. 

8. Informing and Uploading - "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 with regard to Google and Wikipedia.  Communities are uploading content and collaborating with online projects. 

9. Free Markets and the Collapse of the Berlin Wall - The fall of the Berlin Wall  liberated millions of people from communism.  Economies were no longer centrally planned and took on free-market orientation.  

10.  The Steroids - What Friedman coined as the steroids are wireless, voice over internet, and file sharing. Cell phones and tablets can manipulate videos, photography and text with ease anywhere at any time.

How should the US fight the quiet crisis of a flattening world?  Friedman believes that the workforce should keep updating its work skills.   Greater adaptability, Friedman argues, means greater employability.  Health insurance should be less dependent on one's employer.  The US government should provide insurance that would cover a lack of coverage when changing jobs. Friedman also believes that the fields of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians are under-represented as there has been a decrease in the percentage of those professionals who are American.