Module 13

I have become very appreciative to the many different interpretations of the various views of our economic global society by intellectuals.  Although, I might not always agree with Mr. Thomas Friedman I still though, value his hard work and dedication of explaining our world transformation into the different phrases of globalization though I believe that “The World is Flat” has some anachronisms.

Nevertheless, Mr. Friedman has nicely categorized the stresses of technological forces in the last century within his book.  I believe I can take much of what I’ve learned from this class into my business going forward and understanding the eb and flow of technology.  There are technological forces that can only be seen if one understands what one is looking for.  There are thousands of market data points daily that are thrown at us to interpret of what they mean to us personally of course in business as well.  However, it’s extremely difficult to decipher if you don’t know what you’re looking for that affects you and your family. I suppose in today’s world it’s the easy way to understand and we have been accustom to is waiting for the local news tell us in a few seconds of what it all means which I feel it very unfortunate. This class has given me an understanding from a macro perspective to see the relationship between the market data points which within itself is exciting for me to see on a micro level. The challenges for me now are how to keep up with this new globalization that has an enormous appetite for growth.  I was around for the last few economic bubble’s that blew up and for the most part I also fell victim to it on a personal level.  The most unfortunate was last financial bust in 2008. I was well aware of it in late 2006 - far in advance but the problem was that how I should react to it and how I should position my business against this horrible event.  Nevertheless, the wave engulfed me and my business which was extremely devastating. This time around I feel that there is another new wave emerging bubble’s that are currently forming in the near future again.

It’s often very difficult to get to know other class mates in an online class and I only wish that there were a better way of getting more dialogue with other students in an online class.  I thoroughly enjoyed the class and I look forward to utilizing my new skills of foresight as I prepare for the next phases of the globalization. 

Module 12

Bill Joy describes of 21st century technologies—genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics, (GNR)—will extinguish human beings as we now know it, Mr. Joy found this notion extremely disturbing. These technologies have untold promises of making our world a better place to live, however, the technology maybe also be an uncontrolled element that has already been introduced to us. In other words the genie in the bottle has already been set free.

Mr. Joy says “robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology - pose a different threat than the technologies that have come before. Specifically, robots, engineered organisms, and nanobots share a dangerous amplifying factor: They can self-replicate. A bomb is blown up only once - but one bot can become many, and quickly get out of control.” 

I personally believe that we humans have a more complex form of consciousness and as a result we have evolved into what we are today.  Nevertheless, I suppose the fears of Mr. Joy are somewhat justified but I really don’t buy in the doom and gloom theory.  I understand that in some respects technology has and is the dominant force in our daily lives – I’m still confident that we as humans are still in control…a least for now. 

We have marveled at our technological advances for the last century and wondered of the future possibilities to human kind.  In our continued search of new technology there are definitely dangers unseen and mistakes will happen.  Regardless, technology will continue at exponential rate that we have ever seen in our history of the world. Yes, we need have learned much from our past successes and failures, but its lessons are not necessarily the ones Mr. Joy suggests.  Insomuch, I’ve become to believe that if are winning more than losing – we are on the right track of technological progression. 

Module 11

It’s been many moons ago since I’ve had a chance to watch Wargames.  I suppose that now that the movie is nothing in comparison with the modern day CGI shows and enhanced 3D effects.  Nevertheless, the concept of accessing military computers via a phone connection was just science fiction to mainstream Americans in 1983.  Most Americans back then did not have personal home computers that we have today, so I suppose the show to the general movie-goers in the 80's was just pure entertainment. 

The movie Wargames begins with the problem of humans not launching missiles but not just any human rather professional soldiers trained to follow orders to launch Intercontinental ballistic missile, (ICBM) that would start World War III.  As a result the military implements the difficult decision to launch ICBM process to a single computer that will not hesitate to launch against any perceived enemy.  In the movie David (Matthew Broderick) is a teenager who has a personal computer that hacks into his high school computer to change his grades. Well David also decides to hack into a toy company, seeking to access new games, however, he eventually figures out the password to another computer instead of the toy company, he connects to the War Operation Plan Response (WOPR) system that is located at the North American Aerospace (NORAD) in Colorado.  Unknowingly, he now has access to the military network that controls all of the worldwide military weapons operation.  David wants to play a game but not any game - he wants to play Thermo War game between USA and the Soviet Union.  David soon discovers that the computer is playing for real and the United States of America is changing its military safe guard condition to DEFCON 1 that means that nuclear war is imminent and this is the highest condition of readiness against any threat toward the United States. 

My personal memory of the 80’s is slowly diminishing but I still do have some memories bouncing around in my brain that are alive and well.  I do recall several headline news stories of teenagers hacking into high school networks or banks and some trying to access military networks back then.   I’m sure the same thing goes on even today.  I’m sure the movies like Tron, Short Circuit, 2010, and Terminator inspired wanna be hackers or even real hackers. During this science fiction genre it has become apparent that a good handful of the technology back then has become more or less a reality today.   The technology of computers has definitely evolved and changed to enhance our lives to be more efficient and more productive in how we function in our daily activities.  Perhaps, letting our computers make difficult decisions for us has made our lives a little easier? For example the simple tasks of finding addresses or phone numbers, I use to hate to do but now I can find those tasks by simply asking “Siri” via my I-phone or devices that have those same functions.  However, on the flip side I suppose it also brought on elements of fear of how much technology will/has control of our daily lives in other words maybe this is the first step of losing our own humanity?

Module 10

A 1946 comic science-fiction story, A Logic Named Joe, by Murray Leinster- I believe his story was the template for future science-fiction movies that I loved.  One of the first thought I had when reading this story was 2001 Space Odyssey a 1968 science fiction film about an American spaceship Discovery One that was bound for Jupiter.  On board were astronauts that were wakened from a cryogenic hibernation. The main computer that operates the ship is named "Hal" the ship's HAL 9000 computer.  Very much like Joe the computer goes a little crazy. 

I suppose that the story is very much prophetic and perhaps a lot more forthcoming than the story was intended to be for the typical science fiction reader in the 1940’s as a “just another science-fiction story.”  My first initial thought about the story was when it mentioned punching in keys into the logic to be hooked to the tank reminded me of today’s search engines e.g., Google, Yahoo, and Aol.  Perhaps the most prophetic within the story was the query process of crafting new ideas via the tank.  It is very interesting that the author spent a lot time intergrading human behavior based on greed and murder.  Searching out how to counterfeit money, murdering someone or even make millions of dollars via the tank is concept that is still alive in today’s world - unfortunately.  Nevertheless, I’m sure to the reader back then this was purely science-fiction and just another good story. In my opinion it is a sad irony today that this type of searching is done daily but unlike the story no one person cannot simply put the computer into the basement and forget about it.

I find myself in the same position of frustration of my logic at times and want to take an axe to it when it doesn’t function the way I want it.  However, most of the time I simply just turn it off and step away but I know that civilization will continue with or without me and technology stops for no one.

The story has many of its strengths from its details of the operation of the Logic in the story.  Within this science fiction story it is interesting how society and how the civilization becomes more dependent on the Logic’s ability to perform its function.   It is also interesting to find that once the tank becomes too big to handle and there is a belief to shut it down but then realizing it’s too late that the tank is already involved in every aspect of the human daily life.  Perhaps, this process hasn’t happened yet and maybe in some distance future we will have to consider this option?

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the whole Dell’s computer manufacturing process is the end users the “consumer.”   We simply visit Dell.com to initiate our computer desire via their website – which usually takes only a few minutes to hours or maybe days.  No matter, just the fact we had made a final decision on the bells and whistles that we might never use in the computer that we had just built.  I know this process because I have done this same process several times over the years.  Nevertheless, I didn’t have a clue on the process after my final decision was made.  This is the where the real wonder begins with a least a hundred thousand plus other daily emails of purchase orders.  Dell has six global factories from Ireland, China, Brazil, Tennessee, Texas, and Malaysia.  The Malaysia notebook factory receives a purchase order email to begin the building process of laptops.  The parts are then requested from the Penang factory which is Dell’s supplier logistics centers (SLCs) they are global staging areas for the company.  The process operates 24 hours 7 days a week’s 365 days a year.

In any complex organization the operation processes are essential to having the organization flow seamlessly, therefore, it takes a great deal of logistics that needs to be in place for the organization to operate effectively.  For years Al-Qaeda’s operation has had a somewhat of success in its supply chain organization.  Early on in Al-Qaeda’s history they have had unfortunately successes as a result of its supply chain operation.  Within their supply chain operation there are a large number of different variables from the planning of an operation to the execution of their terrorist’s activities.   Overcoming issues of communication and suppliers there needs to be a formal supply chain management to be successful, therefore, the answer to the questions of if Al-Qaeda has a supply chain?  The answer is yes.

The curse of oil is mostly an issue of balance of power or the lack thereof.  As a result of our addiction to oil this has played right into the part of the curse that has plagued citizens that are ruled by dictators and monarchs.  Countries have used their own oil revenues to adversely influence all the levels of their state, including the police, the army and their own government infrastructure.

As a result of their activities they do not need to be transparent for the mere fact that they don’t tax their people, and when they don’t tax their people, they don’t need to be accountable on how they allocate their funds from oil.

Module 8

I’m a little slow with new technology and wasn’t introduced to computers until I was a senior in high school in 1986.  One of my classes had a very cool Commodore 64 computer that had 64 kb RAM + 20 kb ROM plus a 8 inch floppy disk  - back then that was a big deal…”we had computers!”   I personally really didn’t do much with our high school computer and most our class mates really didn’t have an opportunity to learn the uses because the computers were new our school in 1986 but given the chance we would rather play Pong or Dungeons & Dragons.  I suppose that computers during those days were mostly just a wonder for the mere fact that we would only see one in schools or a business.  Gaming devices like Atari or Play Station dominated the teenage market.  Of course, I was mostly interested in playing games than using a regular computer during the 80’s.

My real application of computer usage for me and my education started to emerge in the early 90’s.  During this era the computer industry was beginning to find its own legs to market to mainstream Americans and to new global markets as well.  There was definitely a huge frenzy in 1992 with Microsoft’s release of Windows 3.1 or at least I remember it being a big deal back then.  Unfortunately, at the time my wife and I wanted to purchase a new computer but we had a new baby and house which made it hard for us to make that kind of investment even for school.  We had to make do with what we had which was my wife who had an old IBM from the 80’s that took most of the room in our new home.  Nevertheless, years later the price of computers really didn’t drop but the technology had jumped leaps and bounds from our last research.  I really needed to upgrade our old computer for school and now my job required that I purchase a computer/laptop too.  It was a very exciting time to shop for new technology and all of the different type of computers that were now on the market during the mid - 90’s. Of course, I wanted to have the greatest and latest technology for school and for my business.  We finally purchased a Compaq that had Windows 95, 8 mb of memory, 1 gigabyte hard drive with 33 MHz processor plus a 28.8 internal modem.  We were both very excited of our new acquisition but probably just me.  We filled half of my truck bed up with our new computer stuff.  I was going to be the best college student ever – I thought as I signed my life away with a hefty bill of just shy of three thousand bucks.  I didn’t finished school but did start a new business during this time.

I returned back to school after a fifteen year hiatus and discovered that there is no way to function in school without access to internet with a computer.  A lot has changed since my last experience in college and now computers dominates the whole college experience.  My son who currently attends Arizona State University seems to believe that he needs to purchase new computers every year that he is in school.  Of course dad needs to pony up and buy because he claims that his classes require that he have certain software and hardware for him to stay up to date with his classes.  I found out the main reason why he needs a new computers is the gaming programs that he “needs to have access to.”  Perhaps I have to realize that this is my new reality as I return back to school.  I definitely understand now that the atmosphere here at Weber has changed.   Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead as I continue to finish my education. 

Module 7

I suppose that we all have certain skills that we have acquired over the years by either trial and error or you might just have a gift.  So the argument is in what environment do these skills flourish?  Let’s take the question to the next level - in what country do these entrepreneurial opportunities grow that can create innovation freely.  There are nation states that encourage innovation and I believe one might say that maybe it’s their culture to be that way. 

However, the reality is that there are countries that produce certain products or even specialize in textiles.  If the country has a comparative advantage in textiles, it could specialize in textile production.  For example China can produce certain items at a lower cost than most countries and still make a profit for everyone from the production to the sale to the end users.  Nevertheless, having a comparative advantage does not necessarily mean that you have quality products but simply a product that was produced a lower cost and/or cheaper cost than other countries.

If there is an enough time research via the internet I would consider myself a self-directed consumer.  Sometimes, I believe that there is overabundance information that is thrown at us as the consumer concerning products and/or services to purchase.  The problem that I find now is having the time to decipher which is reliable and true for me to make the right decision.  But my reality is in most cases I’m pressed for time and I primarily look for conveniences in my buying process.  Therefore, I wish I was a more a self-directed consumer but unfortunately I’m a non-self-directed consumer…shame on me.

I believe that most of the world thinks that today’s globalization mean Americanization depending on who you are speaking with around the world.  I travel quite a bit for my business and meet folks around the world.  I was really excited from my last trade conference that I attended a week ago.  During the conference I had a several opportunity to meet with potential clients from Australia, Germany, England, China, India and Singapore.  One particular encounter I had was with a reporter from the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), I wanted to share my new knowledge from this class concerning Thomas Friedman flat world theory.  We had a pleasant discussion on globalization according to Mr. Friedman’s point of view of our flat world.  She didn’t agree with Friedman’s point of view or maybe it was my delivery of the concept – probably a combination of both.  However, I was very interested in listening to her perspective of America influences in her part of the world.  Much to my dismay I was unsuccessful to articulate Mr. Friedman theories after a lengthy conversation Ms. Ming from (SPH) was still convinced that globalization means Americanization.  I discovered that I should probably keep my mouth shut when it comes to globalization debate until I finish this class. 

Module 6

They are many advantages of Free Trade and I believe that we all have benefited as a result of no artificial barriers between participating governments to restrict the flow of goods and services on a global basis.  One of the main functions of free trade has been the increase of production of goods and services because of the advantage of efficiencies generated from governments around the world that specialize in a particular production and/or labor to meet the global demand of their output.  I believe from a macro approach is it a Win-Win strategy for everyone that can part take of the flat world system.  So it is hard to argue with anyone that free trade is a bad idea.  However, on the flip side which Mr. Friedman I think fails to really mention are the problems of the separation of third world countries from developed countries. The third world countries have extremely poor and uneducated population that can’t compete nor even know that there is a present of free trade.  One of the major concerns with free trade are the exploitation of labor and cheap production are ever present on this flat world platform. 

I recently read that Apple’s main supplier Foxconn plant that is located in Chengdu, China is under fire for its treatment of their employees.  Apparently, the employees are committing suicide because of the working conditions within the plant.  I found this appalling that now Foxconn has installed nets to catch employees that decide to jump around their facilities as an answer to the problem.  Apple sales continue to rise and recently sales rose 73 percent to $ 46 billion in their fiscal first quarter.  This is the dark side of free trade that most of us don’t see or even think about when we purchase goods or services on this flat world.

Finding someone with skills that can collaborate and orchestrate horizontally on our flat world would be categorized as a “new middler.”  The ability to communicate and sell within a local market is definitely an added value to a new middler.  A person who has an ability to be versatile learning how to adapt and change to any business situation is a competitive advantage. 

“CQ+PQ>IQ” is the curiosity (CQ) and passion (PQ) for business success in our flat world and are more significant than intelligence (IQ).  In creating innovation and/or new ideas are driven by curiosity the ability to find out how new innovation can make things better for all of us that have been discovered by entrepreneurs and obviously the passion is the execution of ideas into reality.  Intelligence is also very important but is not the main function of innovation.                        

Module 5

I’ve always considered myself old school I generally don’t embrace change and/or new innovation very quickly…I’ve believed that the old innovation is so much simpler to use.  To this day I still break out my vinyl records or my old 8 track tapes I know most of you don’t what I mean but I still enjoy having some control of my music.  Nevertheless, now days I need to worry about updating my I-phone, my kid’s droid cell phones, the family computers and laptops, changing all my passwords to guard against hackers, viruses, worms and internet spammers now updating my car computer that has GPS satellite and internet access the lists goes on and on. I believe that Thomas Freidman’s understanding of the triple convergences has created more problems for some of us but I do understand the importance of it as well.  However, an old guy like myself is still trying to find my place in this new platform that we all live in now.  I’m still trying to rid of all of my old cell phones chargers from the pre TC (Triple Convergence). Yet, ironically I’m very grateful of the post TC to have one cell phone charger that works for my kids droid phones…finally.  But still in my opinion - sometimes I don’t want to meet these new players in this new playing field of the horizontal collaboration for the mere fact I really don’t know who is a friendly or a potential foe.  Lastly, as I check my in box daily I tell myself “I really don’t want to meet single living in my area or some Russia or Hungarian gal named Ulga that is anxious to meet me.” “ or do I?”  I got bigger problems in my life than to worry about that kind of stuff.  Now days I have hard enough time just remembering my new password at weber.edu.    

 Undoubtedly, there are always unintended consequences in this new horizontal platform when it comes to business competition on a global scale.  The bidding process was of course meant to be fair to all interested parties that wanted the business and the State of Indiana wanted the best firm to do a certain tasks - of course trying to get the biggest bang for their buck.  It is unfortunate to have State of Indiana that wanted to save money by awarding a firm that is best qualified to perform the contract but later to have politicians step in and dictate fairness after the fact.  Leave to the politicians to create more barriers and triple the costs and provide such a disservice to the State of Indiana.  I believe that both parties are guilty of being exploited and the exploiter in the same situation.

Intellectual property (IP), is one the last real property that can be protected in this digital world…one would think that would be the case.  However, today’s flat-world platform it seems that there are no real borders that separate individuals from using, stealing, copying etc., other innovators hard work.  In our digital world is getting harder to find out who the real owners are when it comes to purchasing, using, products via this flat world. 

Module 4

In recent years the proliferation of renewable energy has been in the minds of the general public.  The main reason for this is the high cost of combustible fuels that we use on a daily basis.  This problem of high energy costs has been a motivating force that Mr. Darin Long has struggled with.  Mr. Darin Long is the CEO of Millennial Research Corporation a new technology research / renewable energy company. Mr., Long who holds a Thunderbird International MBA, possesses a strong marketing, SCM, cross cultural negotiation skills and emphasis on supply-chain management.  He has identified that conventional internal combustion engine and electric motor technologies are inefficient and based on century‐old technology. 

Mr. Darin Long has over 20 years of international and domestic experience in a wide range of executive and managerial roles within several domestic and international businesses. Mr. Long has consulted in computer networking and supply-chain management and has led the development and launched dozens of product lines that have achieved global sales. Mr. Long has started and run a multi-million dollar company.  He has lead OEM "original equipment manufacturer" products from R&D to commercialization ranging from power-sports and sporting goods to house wares, one of which earned a Field and Stream Best of the Best Award in 2007. These products were sold globally through big box stores e.g., Costco, Wal-Mart etc. plus smaller regional retailers throughout the United States. 

Mr. Long discovered that his supply-chain management skills were the discovery that the power-sports industry was highly inefficient in the sources of energy used and there was a better way to run a combustible engine.  He and his friend/partner who was a Mechanical Engineer have developed a more efficient way of running a conventional engine by developing a new motor that is called a “Magnetronic motor.”  Conventional motors and generators use iron to transmit the alternating magnetic fields that cause the motor to rotate. Iron‐based motors get hot (heat = waste). Magnetronic motors do not use iron but rather magnets therefore do not get hot (cool = efficient). 

Mr. Long mentions that the most important advantages of Magnetronic products is the reduced cost. Magnetronic products are less expensive per horsepower than competing motor technologies. This advantage is substantial in medium-sized motors; however, this advantage multiplies significantly in larger motors or generators, whether for industrial equipment, large vehicles (large trucks or buses, for example), or power generation applications.

Efficiency Advantage;

Electric vehicle owners want more miles per battery charge. Millennial motor designers have achieved high efficiency over a far broader range of RPM and performance conditions than conventional motors. Conventional motors have narrow range good efficiency and poor efficiency outside of optimal operating conditions. Magnetronic Motors have very broad range of power while maintaining high efficiency.

Comparison Factors;

There are hundreds of types of electric motors for various sizes and functions currently on the market. According to research, Magnetronic Motors outperform them all!

For example, AC induction motors are inexpensive and efficient, but lack good power to weight ratios and have limited RPM ranges. DC motors are more expensive and have a wider operating RPM range, but have limited efficiency. Electric motors are considered to have longer lives when compared with gas, diesel and steam engines, but in conventional motors, a single broken wire can require weeks or months to repair/replace.

This is the future of more energy efficient uses and I believe that we see these new technology/motors in the near future.  This is very exciting to see real innovation in motion.

Module 3

The two terms are often interchangeable.  However, the concepts of offshoring and outsourcing are extremely different for the mere reason of just distance. Offshoring is moving your business and its processes into a new country.  In other words, offshoring is moving your whole LA office to the Philippines for the cheap overhead and most likely the labor as well.  The outsourcing process is keeping the LA office and staff in the US and using products and/or services in Philippines for the cheap labor and products.

I believe that Wal-Mart Empire has become of much like the Dictator’s and Emperor’s we have seen in the past.  However, Wal-Mart is a corporation and of course not a country but much its leadership and the way it conducts business is very much like a country ruled a by ruthless leader’s.  They have the coined the term “everyday low prices” but what are the unseen costs to achieve this day in and day out? Well it’s simple - squeezing the heck out of your suppliers and employees like Stalin did in his day but now you have this business concept draped over with the flag of capitalism.  Don’t get me wrong I love the process of competition but you have storm troopers in Bentonville, AR, headquarters of Wal-Mart, controlling suppliers’ way of doing business.  Nevertheless, if a supplier wants to have the pleasure of having their products shine in Wal-Mart stores worldwide they have to cut their profit margins to fit within the Wal-Mart’s supply chain business model.  Wal-Mart not only wants to flatten the world they want to put a crater into it.

I purchased shoes laces several months ago - no big deal right.  My good friend was along for the ride.  He, a loyal Wal-Mart disciple – Informed me that Wal-Mart would be my best bet and he was right on the price.  The shoe laces were only .99 cents, a bargain for any savvy shopper.  Only week later the shoe lace broke and again I went back to Wal-Mart purchase another.  Well the same result a week later.  I finally ended up in Target and paid 2.50 for a pair of shoe laces and to this day I have the same laces.  Somewhere in the supply chain Wal-Mart found the cheapest way of mass producing shoe laces from suppliers in other countries…just for me come back again and again.  By the way I ended up spending more each trip to Wal-Mart a little milk here soda there and so on.  They know what they’re doing and now I know what they’re doing.

The world is never going to be the same ever…the mighty Google is everywhere and I mean everywhere.  Google is global and knows you better than you probably know yourself.  Just type your name in Google I bet you will be surprised at what you find.  I don’t think that any business can hide from this Mammoth of a company.  I use Google on a daily basis for my online business and other research I do as well.  However, one might have to be very careful of the content on Google or other search engines. I still believe there is a fundamental flaw in trusting too much information that search engine provides all of us.  The information via the internet might be very wrong or incorrect so searchers beware.

Module 2

I thought initially that this new internet platform that we all currently enjoy will continue to evolve and feed our unquenchable thirst for more content, more technology.  For the most part I believe we have marveled for the last two decades at our accomplishments in the world - Everyone on the same platform to conduct a new way of business relationships.  This new way of business is amazing and has made our daily lives better to communicate and work more efficiently on this new global environment.  Nevertheless, I pose a simple question, are we too eager to embrace this new internet revolution?  Or should we ask ourselves to slow down and look at what we are doing to ourselves in this new environment?  My understanding of workload software is the processes of efficiencies when operating in this digital world.  However, I’m going to attempt to explain this process/concept in how our bodies incorporate this same system efficiency or the lack thereof.

A few years ago I took my son on a road trip.  It was my first time traveling alone with my son.  I was really excited because my wife couldn’t make the trip and this was a “guy’s only trip” (no one to tell us what to do or eat).  At the time my son was only five years old and I told him on every stop we made on our 7 hour trip “to get anything you want” of course, he was very excited and picked everything he wanted, candy of every kind and drinks of any favor.  It turned to be a very fun the first two thirds of our trip.  Oh I forgot to tell you, we were traveling in the winter time that- will make more sense later.  On our last two hours of the trip my son became uneasy from the massive feast of indulgence and turned to me.  His face covered in chocolate.  I looked over and said “oh no are you okay? Do you want me to stop – do you feel like throwing up?” Before I could say anything…my son preceded to unleash an ungodly amount of previously eaten snacks all over in the front seat of my car!  The point I would like to express is that workload processes works only efficiently on what it is fed but the outcome might be very different than what we intended like my son indulging too much on the wrong input and not realizing the outcome, no pun intended.

I recently started an internet business.  I found that I could start my business with a minimal amount of funds.  Years ago I attempted to start my business via the internet but the cost to start my new business was in the thousands of dollars.  Unfortunately, I decided that I didn’t want to attempt this. Today, I started my internet business for just a few hundred dollars thanks to open source software like WordPress. 

I understand the concept of outsourcing is utilizing the talents and resources from all parts of the world.  However, I believe that Mr. Freedman fails to comment on the down side on and how this concept can turn horribly wrong.   I was in financial services for the better part of life.  I started in the banking business in the early 1990’s.  The mortgage business only had two main players in the mortgage business FANNE MAE and FREDDIE MAC also known as Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.  A few years later private banks got into the game of purchasing mortgages.  In early 2000 as Mr. Friedman notes the new converges and one of the flatteners was the new way of doing business which resulted, in my opinion, the start of the housing disaster.  I credit our political geniuses in our government that decided to deregulate mortgage derivatives as a result Wall Street decided to get more involved in the mortgage business by selling mortgage securities globally.  I believe that outsourcing gives only a small piece of the pie of accountability to a very few.  I believe the danger behind that concept of outsourcing is who will take ownership of the whole pie when all the pieces of the pie are reassembled?  Back to my trip with my son without my wife – it seemed like everyone in America was taking out home loans and obtaining credit because it was so easy to obtain.  Back in 2005 at the peak of our excess almost anyone who had a heartbeat could get a loan no matter what your obligation was and the bank didn’t really care if you paid your loan back or not.  The economy was growing at a record pace there seemed like there was no end to the party.  Everyone was making money buying and selling real estate.  However, in late 2007 the mortgage business – like my son- got extremely sick and barfed.  I still believe that technology is awesome but I think that we need to stop and observe what it is doing in our daily lives.

Module 01

Mr. Thomas Friedman is an absolutely an innovator of recognizing the global opportunities of business.  It is very interesting to see the view of globalization of being flat and not round as most of us see it today.  Globalization 1.0 was the early days of global discovery that started in 1492 with Columbus. The next Globalization 2.0 started in 1800 narrowing the gaps of communication and business commerce this was beginning of real international commerce. However, today Globalization 3.0 is the leveling the global economic playing field.  This is the world that we live now – where anybody anywhere can compete on a global scale. I believe that other countries are taking advantage of our lack of ability to identify this new globalization is quite disheartening to say the least.  This new concept of work flow revolution is amazing to witness on a daily basis around the world.  This new platform of uploading content from my home and being able to communicate and create commerce globally is very exciting.  The convergence of all of this new technology into a single but very large horizontal platform that brings value to almost everyone that does any communication via the World Wide Web is very unprecedented.

In November 9^th 1989 - was I living in Europe at the time when the Berlin Wall fell. The atmosphere in Switzerland was sensational people were so excited to see that communist rule was ending.  I was very fortunate to witness this event first hand.  Of course, I had really no idea at the time what it really meant for me personally.  Looking back now - I believe I wasn’t alone.  However, there were mega opportunists that capitalized greatly as a result of the fall of the Berlin wall.   

I remember when I use to get free Aol and Netscape CD disks in the mail urging…no begging me to get connected to the internet. These were very interesting times in the early years of the internet. Netscape was the catalyst of the dot com boom in the 1995 went the company went public.  Today, I find it very fascinating to see my two teenage boys growing up in this world not knowing anything but the internet.  This is for me interesting to view from my vantage point of them interacting with folk globally without any borders.  They have friends worldwide that they speak with frequently and for them this is normal and at times that are able sell products from here in Ogden, UT.  They send packages to their customers off sometimes daily but mostly weekly around world.  I love the comment of “content is being developed by you or to you.”  That is very inspiring to me to be more innovative in finding my place in the global economy. 

            Mr. Friedman is very insightful in providing a roadmap for the rest of us to see the possibilities to be a part of this new revolution.