Overview
Hello All,
I picked up an old acquisition that I have yet to complete the other day. This was a book, The World is Flat, written by Thomas L. Friedman (2005), a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner for the New York Times. Considering the book was written 20 years ago, I found some insightful information that has direct relevance to our trends in B2B discussions.
Friedman (2005) begins with an instruction made while preparing to tee off on a golf course while he was reporting in Bangalore, India, “Aim at either Microsoft or IBM” (p. 3). These were two buildings off in the distance, the significance of which became the substance of the entire book. Using the metaphor of Columbus’ discovery voyages, Friedman embellished his idea of how Microsoft and IBM relate to a flat world. (I was beginning to see the expansive mind of Friedman and to appreciate his recognition as winning Pulitzer prizes. He has a superb knack for making the arcane obvious).
Columbus headed west, seeking riches as hardware in mineral wealth, and named his indigenous people Indians after the continent for which he was to find. Friedman’s personal journey was eastward, involving Indians of a different sort, appropriately named, and seeking to find the source of riches in this continent as software (Friedman, 2005).
Friedman (2005) further engages in simile, describing the influx of American companies’ presence in India as a contrary discovery to Columbus’ voyage. The world is now flat. We call this globalization. What a fascinating trick to engage the mind on Columbus's continental discovery of America in 1492.
Ok, so much for the intro. What was revealing in Friedman’s research was the global reach of international commerce. He theorized that global commerce had occurred in three phases. The first, Globalization 1.0, from 1492 to around 1800, shrank the world. Countries were the force that broke down barriers to trade and commerce. In Globalization 2.0, from 1800 to 2000, the forcefield shifted to multinational companies. Consider the British and Dutch East India Companies.
Finally, in Globalization 3.0, “the thing that gives it its unique character is the newfound power for individuals to collaborate and compete globally” (Friedman, 2005, p. 10). Software drives the change. Software, along with incredible communication capabilities that allow us to watch the Olympics in full color in real-time.
Later in the text, Friedman (2005) offers his insight into rules that promote globalization 3.0.
"Rule #1: When the world goes flat - and you are feeling flattened- reach for a shovel and dig inside yourself. Don’t try to build walls….
Rule #2: And the small shall act big…One way small companies flourish in the flat world is by learning to act really big. And the key to being small and acting big is being quick to take advantage of all the new tools for collaboration to reach farther, faster, wider, and deeper” (pp. 340-345).
I was intrigued by the correlation of these rules to our B2B research trends on innovation (see Rule #1) and the surge of digital technologies in AI, IoT, social media, etc. (see Rule #2).
For a fascinating and deep dive into the beginnings of Globalization 3, I recommend Friedman’s The World is Flat. I have no doubt it will enhance our understanding of B2B marketing through a much larger lens.
Thoughts?
Comments?
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