The World Is Flat

The World is Flat (2005) is a book written by Thomas L. Friedman that provides (his words) a "brief history of the twenty-first century." The principal theme of this books is the flattening or the leveling of competition and capability around the globe. The author argues that this flattening of the world is being accelerated by an intersection of technology advances and social protocols (e.g. cell phones, Internet, open source software, etc.) and that the rapid pace of change and emerging abilities of countries around the world forces American business to drive stronger to establish the “value added” service and products since all industries will leverage the increasingly competitive commoditization available in emerging markets (India, China, etc.).