While I Was Sleeping

Outsourcing is not all Bad
Like many others, my initial thoughts on outsourcing were unenthusiastic. I felt that we were losing too many jobs for the mere sake of cutting costs. I did not comprehend how low costs would benefit a nation full of jobless individuals. I never took the time to rationalize the benefits that outsourcing has created for us. First, there is the improved customer service. I know we have all had a bad experience with a call center but that is not what I am referring to. I am speaking of what is happening to service here. The example used in the book is perfect. With accountants outsourcing the grunt work of tax preparation they have more time to focus on creative and complex tax strategies. So essentially, we are getting a higher level of service at a lower cost. Another positive result of outsourcing has been the dramatic increase in exports of merchandise and services to India. So even though some service jobs are being lost American business are growing because of it. It follows that new jobs must be created as businesses grow. The number of jobs created may not offset the number outsourced but the results are still relevant. For now, outsourcing is here to stay so we must first accept it and learn to use it to our advantage.

Technology and Terror
The first chapter points out how many factors have come together to make the world flat and how many organizations are using this to their advantage. Like Friedman, a sense of dread washed over me when I considered how terrorist organizations could use this to their advantage as well. I had never fathomed the impact that the flat world could have on terrorism. Any and every terrorist organization has the ability to communicate and operate more efficiently on a global scale. Does this mean we will see the amount and scale of terrorist activity rise over time?

The Flat World=Loss of Diversity
I am afraid I do not agree fully with the statement that new jobs created in India allow the Indian workers to be more Indian. It is true that instead of having to leave their country to work with a large corporation they get to stay in India. However, at the same time they are teaching them to speak without their accents and to use regional dialects. They also force them to adopt random names like Ivy Timberwoods. If that same employee were to take a position with a company in Georgia, would she be forced to learn a southern accent in order to get the job? Would she be asked to change her name? The answer is no. Think about how you would feel if everyday you went to work you became Nitu Somaiah forced to speak the dialect of Bangalore, India. How can you claim to be protecting cultural identity when you ask people to be someone they are not everyday?