The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-2

Part 1, Chapters 3-4

Part 2, Chapters 5-7

Part 2, Chapters 8-9

Part 3, Chapter 10

Part 4, Chapter 11

Part 5, Chapters 12-14

Part 6, Chapters 15-16

Part 7, Chapter 17

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

The World Is Flat

World “flatness,” the most significant theme of the book, is a way of referring to globalization. But Friedman distinguishes it as “Globalization 3.0.” Two previous versions of globalization, he writes, helped to make the world a little smaller, figuratively speaking. The first focused on nations and the second focused on companies. This third version of flat-world globalization is focused on individuals, and it has shrunk the world to a “tiny” size. Starting at the end of the 20th century, many barriers began to fall away, and more areas of the world opened up. More people around the world now have the opportunity to participate in the global economy thanks to the spread of computing tools, the Internet, and the digitization of information.

Flatness refers to the lack of barriers keeping the world from connecting. Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani inspired the term when he told Friedman that technology and connectivity was leveling the playing field for workers in India (7).

Friedman uses the idea of a flat world metaphorically in his introduction. He contrasts his travels eastward around the world to report on the world’s figurative flatness with Christopher Columbus’s 15th-century westward sea voyages that confirmed the earth was round. From there, Friedman uses the metaphor throughout the book to refer to the new set of circumstances and technologies that have so drastically changed the world in the 21st century. For example, he writes that “Southwest Airlines understood that the world was flat and that it could interface differently with its customers, and vice versa, to improve its productivity and lower its costs” (208). He also adds anecdotes to the book by asking many of the people he interviewed when they first realized that the world was flat.

The Weaknesses of “Vanilla” Businesses

Friedman uses the word “vanilla” to mean basic or average. He applies the word to products or services that are indistinguishable from ones that someone else could easily make or provide. Because of the flat-world spread of technology, vanilla products and services will migrate to wherever they can be produced in the most cost-effective way possible. Sustainable business and growth will instead exist in areas where value can be added to transform a vanilla product or service into something unique. He uses vanilla ice cream versus more flavorful ice cream sundaes as metaphors to illustrate this idea. For instance, in Chapter 1, Friedman describes how American accountants began outsourcing some of their basic “vanilla” accounting work to MphasiS, an Indian business services firm. This strategy allowed the American accountants to provide their clients with more consultation time and more specialized services. According to Friedman’s metaphor, such services constitute the “toppings” that turn plain vanilla ice cream into a sundae.

Competing with Imagination

Friedman frequently mentions the idea that, in a flat world, companies and individuals must compete mainly with their imaginations. In Chapter 11, for example, he states: “Because we are in a world where whatever can be done will be done, the most important competition today is between you and your own imagination” (447). This is because the tools of a flat world enable companies to do so much on their own. No longer will it be enough to produce something more cheaply than competitors or make a variation of an existing product. The cutting-edge work will be dreaming up products and services that don’t exist yet, and this is easier than ever before in a flat world.

He applies the same idea to individuals in Chapter 13 when he writes, “If it’s not happening, it’s because you’re not doing it” (492). Whether it’s founding start-ups like Digital Divide Data or challenging large corporations with an online campaign, individuals can do virtually whatever they dream of doing. Friedman again refers to individuals’ imaginations in the book’s conclusion when he writes, “There is one thing, though, that has not and can never be commoditized, and that is imagination—what content we dream of creating” (609). He notes that imagination can be used for both creative and destructive ends, and he argues that we need to ensure that more people around the world are inspired to use their imaginations creatively.