IST 1100 Module 9

It is amazing to me how big international companies run and how they are able to orchestrate their constant supply demands and order fulfillments. Thomas Friendman’s experience of buying a Dell laptop and tracking where all of the parts came from is astounding. There are a few key elements to Dell’s order fulfillment symphony that allows it to work. It really is alike a big clock with many different gears and cogs all working together in harmony. First Dell has a workflow system in place that partners with Visa, and I’m sure many other major credit card companies. Once the order is finalized and payment is received, it is released to Dell’s production system. One of six major Dell factories that are located all over the world receives the order. An amazing fact I never would have know is that each of Dell’s factories is surrounded by what are called supplier logistics centers. These centers are owned by the various suppliers of Dell parts. If you are a supplier for Dell, your job is to keep these Logistic centers full so that when the factories need your part you can truck it over within minutes. That is so amazing to me, what an awesome and impressive system! Dell sells on average 140,000 to 150,000 computers a day, as of 2004, I wonder what that number is today. Part of this process as a side note is the constant evolution of the parts as to stay up to date. That is a huge process in itself, Dell has designers that are constantly working on new models for their computer lines, each new model will use new state of the art components. Each component in each computer can come from various suppliers, that way if something goes wrong with a part Dell can still fill the order. There are multiple companies they use for each part in their PC’s. All in all the process involves many different hands and an order could come from many locations all over the world.

We live in a great world with amazing opportunities and technologies that we can utilize. we also however live in a scary world full of extremists and radical diluted idealists. Thomas Friedman talks about Al-Qaeda and their use of the flattened world. He says that instead of using the tools to create products and profits, they create mayhem and murder. He says,”The flat world-unfortunately-is a friend of both infosys and Al-Qaeda.” Terrorist groups do have supply chains, they are used for destruction not profit. instead of investors they use donors and recruits and ultimately victims. These groups use all of the tools offered by the flat world, they use uploading to recruit followers and raise money. They use digitally distributed propaganda through social media and the internet to stimulate and raise interest in their cause. They use outsourcing to train recruits, and supply chaining to distribute the tools and the martyrs needed to accomplish terroristic missions. The flat world is as much a friend to them as it is to the honest and civil. Like so many things, it is a two edged sword.

It’s very interesting to think of oil as a curse, I mean we use it every day to fuel our cars so we can drive to work, visit friends, go shopping, and take vacations. We use it in planes so we can travel all over the world! Companies use it so they can have something we ordered from them arrive at our door in only a few days. It powers machinery that creates the items that we use on a regular basis. Our world runs on oil. The truth is though that for every person out there using oil and its’ byproducts are leaving a footprint, a footprint that negatively affects our planet. How is this tied to the flattening of the world? Well, a big aspect of the flattened world is the widespread access of information from virtually anywhere on the planet, the ability for countries to progress quicker and “catch up” to more advanced countries like America. As countries advance and more and more individuals are able to start participating in a global economy, it creates greater wealth, and with wealth the individual’s want what American’s have, refrigerators, cars, microwaves, toasters etc. So more and more people begin using more and more oil and a bigger carbon footprint is left on the world. Oil is a curse because we need it, but at the same time it is hurting our planet.

IST 1100 Module 8

I decided to go back to school at the end of 2011 after an extensive period of indecisiveness and confusion about my future. I had gone to a few semesters of school several years before this time and had taken all of my classes on campus. When I decided to go back things had changed quite a bit and more and more classes were offered online. I purchased a very nice computer with the intention of using it for school. Over the past several years I have gotten more use out of it than I ever thought I would, it is definitely one of the best purchases I ever made.

Since then I have extensively implanted myself in the Google way of life. They offer just about everything I would ever need, in regards to school and personal productivity and entertainment, as a cloud service. I write every paper for school on Google Docs, I have google spreadsheets I use for various things, and it is all accessible from any computer I pull up my account Google on. It really is quite amazing.

Taking courses online is really a dream come true for me. I love the ability I have to be able to sit in the comfort of my own house and watch a lecture online. If I need to get up for something I can pause it, or if I miss something I can rewind it. I can read and re read everything that is given to me by a professor and I feel like I am in more control. Plus I don’t have to make the long and expensive commute to school several times a week and park half a mile away from the building where my class is.

So in a nutshell, my entire education, at least since I have taken it very seriously, has been on my personal computer, and as an extension my iPad and my phone. Without a powerful computer and high speed internet, my educational life would be much different than it currently is.

Another very important role that computers have played in my education is the ability to access the world's resources by means of the internet. I think even as a kid how we would have a giant stack of encyclopedias and look up a specific topic to write a report. They would become outdated so quickly, and they weren’t cheap. Now with online dictionaries and the constant flow of updated information, the world is so different. Everyone is so connected, everyone can be as smart as they want to be, or learn as much as they want to learn. I can look up any topic on anything and read about it for days, I have the worlds information literally at my fingertips. It almost seems like magic, if we explained this concept to someone from several hundred years ago they would probably think that witchcraft was involved.

We have been reading The World Is Flat, I can’t help but think that it’s more like the world is tiny. I could take a trip to China and post everything I do on Facebook, it’s like all of my friends and family are there with me. Two hundred years ago a trip from Utah to China could have taken half a year.

I am very grateful to live in such a technological age and have the tools I have to further my education and improve my life. I don’t know how I ever got by without my computer, Google, and the internet

IST 1100 Module 7

Part of the Flattening process in the world economy was for individual countries to find their comparative advantage and exploit it.  Perhaps some countries didn't actively look for it, maybe they just fell into it.  Either way there are several factors that can give one country an edge in certain areas of international commerce over another.  Without this comparative advantage, or competitive edge, there wouldn't be a need for international trade, outsourcing, or offshoring.  The whole reason for these things is because one country can offer something that no other, or few other countries can.  So the question is "Why are some countries or regions better at doing some things than other countries or regions?"  A big reason for this that Friedman mentions is a countries, or cultures, openness and willingness to change and evolve.  This gives them an advantage and can make them better than the competition.  He uses the example of generations adapting to getting higher levels of education.  There are geographical advantages, certain crops can only be grown in some places of the world, so that gives them an unprecedented advantage in that area.  Culture can make a difference, what are individuals expectations for monetary compensation?  If a country will do the same work for less money, that gives them an advantage.  Government regulations and taxes can hurt or help countries in their thrive to compete.  If the country doesn't accommodate small business growth and innovation, it doesn't matter how smart the residents of that specific country are, talent and brain power will be wasted because of foolish politics. Some advantages will come naturally, others must be worked for, this is the nature of comparative advantage.

The idea of the self-directed consumer is really wear commerce is going, at least e-commerce and large portions of every day sales interactions.  A self-directed consumer is in essence an employee of the company, at least a temporary employee that does some of the work for the company.  With electronic payments and internet browsing a company can just list all available products on a website, kind of like a big buffet of goods set before us.  Instead of needing a waiter to come and be the middle man we choose what wee want, how we want it and pay for it, all without ever having to interact with a single soul.  Things were very different before the flattened world came around.  things are much more efficient and slick, on both the part of the seller and the buyer.

The last question was if globalization meant Americanization?  That is an interesting question, I think the simple answer is no.  I mentioned comparative advantage, if countries became American clones, there wouldn't be the diversification needed to create a healthy international economy.  However, America is the greatest Country on earth with the most opportunity, so as countries develop and enter the flattened world they are becoming more like America in many ways.  So I don't think this is a cut and dry question, it can be looked at in a few ways.  I think the more "Americanized" the world becomes, the better off all of earth's inhabitants will be.  I still feel that unique cultures and strengths is what makes a powerful world trade system.  

IST 1100 Module 6

I had never thought of free trade as potentially being something negative before. I figured, free means freedom, and the ability to do things openly without restrictions always allows for greater innovation and accelerated advancements in many markets. Free trade is the unrestricted sale and purchase of goods and services between countries without restraints or restrictions brought about by tariffs, duties and quotas. Reading The World Is Flat has definitely given me a new outlook on free trade and some of its’ pros and cons. The cons boil down to issues like outsourcing with other countries doing American jobs for a cheaper price. So much labor is outsourced to China and India now that it has become a major topic of discussion. Friedman makes some good points though. He says that although there is some negative impact with outsourcing and free trade, overall the impact is very positive. Free trade transforms the world into a global market and a global economy. we increase the knowledge pool and it allows countries to focus on what they can offer and what they do best, competitive advantage, and perfect it.

I feel that free trade is a wonderful thing and that in the big picture everyone benefits. individual countries grow and become wealthier, as well as their citizens. Friedman makes a good point though, for free trade to really work, countries need to step up education levels so that individuals will become more competitive in the flat world. The more open our global trade is, and the more markets that open up, the more demand for goods will increase which will spurn the creation of more jobs and everyone will benefit. The good definitely outweighs the bad.

Friedman talked about “The New Middle” in The World Is Flat. This is an interesting concept that basically illustrates the change in mediocrity, and to survive you have to be more educated and more unique than in previous generations. He uses the example of he and his daughter. He was told as a child to finish his dinner because there were starving kids in China and India. He thought to himself years later while watching his daughter do her homework, “Finish your homework, there are kids in China and India starving for your jobs.” In a flat world we have a lot more competition, a lot more to make us need to step up and be different, be something more than we used to have to be to get by. Friedman lists several skills and personality traits needed to make a “New Middle.”

Great Collaborators and Orchestrators - people who can create interaction with other companies and learn to branch out and work with others. The flat world is all about collaboration and utilizing the technologies that flattened the world.

Great Synthesizers - Individuals who will think outside the box and bring disparate things together in new and inventive ways.

Great Explainers - people who can take the newly synthesized information that may be complex and innovative and be able to simplify it and help others understand it.

This is a few Friedman listed, a few additional characteristics would be people that can innovate while being environmentally conscience. People who are adaptable, also people that are problem solvers. The bottom line is that the new middle is going to require skills and adaptive abilities unlike any other generation

Friedman says that in a flattened world, intelligence, or IQ is still important but he feels that a kid with passion and curiosity will out do a kid without these traits that has a higher IQ. Curious and passionate people are self starters and are motivated and that’s what drives innovation in the world today. I believe that a less intelligent person with drive and ambition will go farther than a lazy intelligent person. Intelligence without drive is all but wasted.

IST 1100 Module 5

A fundamental element of technical advancement and evolution in the world is that it takes time. Just because Edison developed a working light bulb, it didn't mean that the world was lit up over night. The progression of technology in the world is a process and it involves countless people and countless ideas. The triple convergence Thomas L. Friedman talks about in The World Is Flat is a good example of this long process with many elements that ultimately culminates in a complete shift of how the world functions.

The triple convergence is made up of three individual convergences, each building upon the previous to create a shift in the technological world. The first convergence was when all of the ten flatteners Freidman talked about in his book came to be. Each flattener was one step closer to a flattened world and once all were established, businesses and individuals could do things no previous generation in the history of the world could have imagined doing.

The second convergence was the process of businesses around the world adapting to the new available technology as outlined in the flatteners. Companies started to shift the ways they did business, utilizing outsourcing and offshoring, taking advantage of workflow software, better networking, going digital, etc.. There were so many things companies began to do and the world started to change.

The third convergence began with the wall coming down and the decline of communistic ideology. An entire new group of people, billions of people, suddenly came onto the playing field from India, China, and The Soviet union. With so many more minds and so many more countries participating in this flattened world economy, the world again changed forever, it converged.

The triple convergence is so important because it has defined the way human beings interact and trade. We all share this planet and we all require certain things ie. food and shelter. What would our world be like if we still lived like cavemen and we didn’t try to improve the world around us? This is why the triple convergence is important, because it marks a huge push forward for mankind. We can communicate so quickly and efficiently, we can all have nice things if we want them. Apple mass produces its’ iphone and millions of people around the world are able to buy it and do so many things with them. Would we still survive without them? Of course, but do they, and other products like them, help us enjoy life a little more? Or a little differently? The triple convergence has improved so many millions of people’s quality of life.

The India-Indiana story is a very interesting one. At first I was thinking how awful it was that the project was outsourced and that jobs were being taken from American workers. And how ironic it was that they were updating the unemployment system. But then Fred points out that from the other side of the argument, the state was saving millions of dollars that could be used to build schools and create jobs, and it would benefit Indiana tech workers. It really is not as cut and dry as it first seemed. So who was exploited? And who was the exploiter? The Indiana government exploited the money saving option of outsourcing the job to an Indian company. India exploited the fact that they knew no one would be able to outbid them. It really is just the nature of the system. It makes sense from certain viewpoints, but also at times seems unethical.

The last section I wanted to talk about is the importance of intellectual property. We live in a large world, and a smart world. there are always new ideas and new products and services hitting the world’s markets. The problem is that there are people out there that instead of coming up with their own ideas, they wait for the opportunity to copycat someone elses idea, their intellectual property. Without this official term and definition, individuals ideas are not safe. The people that copy ideas are very efficient at it and could really ruin anyones chances of coming up with something unique and introducing it to the world. Because a person can declare something their intellectual property it helps protect them and their ideas. If someone take that idea, it is like stealing, they have taken your property.

IST 1100 Module 4

I conducted my interview with my brother, Paul Anderson. He is a system administrator and a help desk supervisor for a trucking brokerage called England Logistics. The company facilitates shipping via semi trucks for various clients. My brother is one of the IT specialists for this company.

He has always been very good with computers and from a young age we figured he would probably do something computer related for his career. A few years ago he went to Salt Lake Community College and received several technical certifications that allowed him to look for jobs in a corporate IT position.

At England Logistics, Paul is in charge of everything technical related. There are a myriad of things that can go wrong in a big company and it’s important to have an experienced team always ready to help out. Paul has become one of the supervisors and oversees a group of technically proficient individuals.

One thing that I have had to deal with at the company I work for is getting email setup on my phone. It is a common thing with people who work for corporations to need to get a secure access to their work email on their phone. This is one thing Paul deals with regularly. With the explosion of smartphones in the past few years as well as there being several popular mobile platforms, Paul has to be acquainted with various operating systems for smartphones to be able to help people effectively.

Paul takes calls throughout the day from anyone and everyone needing help with their computers. Anything from poor performance to congested hard drives to network issues, all are under his responsibility. Large companies like CR England, who England logistics does IT for, have a large intranet and a host a company servers. These must be maintained and regularly cared for. Company networks are prone to issues, they can either be hardware or software related. Hardware related issues can be anything from issues with someone's personal computer to something with the server or network hub or switches. Some of the Network specifics are dealt with by the service provider but many of the issues must be handled by the IT support team.

The server Paul deals with is actually a virtual server. A virtual server is a server that is at another physical location but can be accessed by the technical departments of multiple locations and manipulated as if the the server was at their location. Paul has access to this virtual server and has to regularly access it to make sure that it is functioning correctly and that the right people have access to the right files.

Paul’s job requires a broad array of knowledge and expertise. He must know phones, servers, networks, Windows, Mac OS, how to build and repair computers, and the physical layout of corporate networks. It is a good thing there are technical people like him in the world that keep us connected and up and running. Large companies nowadays rely completely on their Workflow software and networks to interact and be productive. IT departments and essential to a company running efficiently.

IST 1100 Module 3

I had always heard the terms outsourcing and offshoring and assumed they were in essence the same thing. It was interesting and informative to learn how the two differ and ways in which companies use both.

Outsourcing is when a company takes a function of their business operation they are doing in house, whether it be marketing, advertising, call centers, research, it could be an number of things, and they have another company do it for them. The process that is outsourced is then reintegrated back into the overall process. This is why there are advertising companies in the world that just do advertising for other companies, they are good at it and it is more efficient for other companies to just let them do it. The same goes for the example of 24/7 in India and all of the customer service they do for American companies. It is cheaper for the work to be done in India by 24/7 than to be done on American soil by the company themselves.

Offshoring is a completely different type of business strategy. With outsourcing someone else is doing the work for you, offshoring is doing the work yourself but in another place. Taxes, labor laws, and minimum wage are just a few things that vary from country to country. Things in China are drastically different than they are in the US. A company might decide they want to take their production factory and move the entire process to China, they could hire Chinese workers for a fraction of the cost that they would pay American workers and get tax breaks they wouldn’t get here.

Another thing that was explained in The World Is Flat that I wasn’t clear on was what a supply chain is exactly. I used to just think of Wal-mart as a supply chain, as in they are a chain of stores and they supply things to the public. It is a lot more than that and it is actually quite complicated. A supply chain is the entire process that gets products from development and manufacturing into a consumers hands and all of the steps in between. With the digital age and high speed internet, supply chaining has become even more efficient and useful by big store chains like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a beast in the supply chain world, It utilizes it like no other. There is a sophisticated tracking process that alerts a manufacturer or a distributor as soon as an item is sold in a store and preparations are made to ship another so that that item will be available as often as possible without the need of overstocking. Think of how much overstock and wasted inventory there would be if an effective tracking system tapped into the supply chain wasn’t in place for a company like Wal-Mart. When all of the moving parts of manufacturing, distribution, and retail are weaved together it makes for a much more efficient sales process and supply chain.

Google has become one of the biggest names in the digital world. This book points out the effect that google has had on the world and more specifically in the business world and it was written several years ago. Now Google has their android operating system on over a 1.5 billion devices worldwide, each integrated with google search that has pushed google to be even bigger than they were. Google has put the world at our fingertips. So much information is now available and it is available so readily and quickly. If businesses can maintain an online presence and do what it takes to show up at the top of search results, it can make a huge difference in the type of business they can drive. Another thing Google does that affects businesses is their ability to track individuals buying and click habits while they are online and advertise to them accordingly. Now people are getting ads for things that Google knows they will be interested in, thus being able to focus their advertising efforts and thereby helping companies that do business with Google be even more efficient.