Globalisation Report: Analysis of Friedman and Ghemawat's Perspectives

This report analyzes the concept of globalisation through the viewpoints of Thomas Friedman and Pankaj Ghemawat. It begins by exploring Friedman's perspective, detailing the three eras of globalisation, the concept of a 'flat world,' and the implications of the 'iron rules' governing global interactions. The report then examines Ghemawat's counter-perspective, which questions the extent of globalisation and the perceived levels of cross-border integration. The assignment includes an analysis of Friedman's ideas on the power of individuals in a globalized world, the uneven distribution of globalisation across the world, and Ghemawat's insights on the discrepancy between perceived and actual levels of global integration. The report concludes by synthesizing the two viewpoints, acknowledging the validity of both perspectives in understanding the complexities of globalisation and its impacts on the global economy.

Running head: GLOBALISATION
Globalisation
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1GLOBALISATION
Table of Contents
Executive Summary:........................................................................................................................2
E learning activities:........................................................................................................................3
Activity 1: Thomas Friedman on Globalisation; 3 Eras of Globalisation; World is flat:................3
Section1:..........................................................................................................................................3
Section 2:.........................................................................................................................................3
Answer to question 1:..................................................................................................................3
Answer to question 2:..................................................................................................................4
Answer to question 3:..................................................................................................................4
Activity 2: Pankaj Ghemawat on Globalistion:...............................................................................5
Section 1:.........................................................................................................................................5
Section 2:.........................................................................................................................................5
Answer to question 1:..................................................................................................................5
Answer to question 2:..................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................7

2GLOBALISATION
Executive Summary:
The aim of the assignment is to study globalisation and its implication in the modern
world divided into two activities. The paper takes into account two videos by renowned
professors, Professor Thomas Friedman and Professor Pankaj Ghemawat. The first activity
revolves around the oration by Professor Friedman on the three eras of globalisation, flat world
and the iron rules of globalisation. The second activity considers the speech of Professor
Ghemawat as its crux and delves into the impacts and perception about globalisation around the
world.

3GLOBALISATION
E learning activities:
Activity 1: Thomas Friedman on Globalisation; 3 Eras of Globalisation; World is flat:
Section1:
Thomas Friedman pointed out to three eras of globalisation and their impacts on the earth
in his first speech. The first era or globalisation 1.0 started in 1492 and continued till 1800s
during which the industrially advanced countries of Europe like the United Kingdom, Spain and
Portugal colonised different parts of the world like India and east Asia. The people of the
countries experienced globalisation through their countries and that shrunk the world from large
to size medium. The next era globalisation 2.0 was characterised by companies expanding
globally in search of markets and labour. This phase lasted till 2000s and the world shrank to
smaller under the impact of corporate globalisation. The latest trend in globalisation is dominated
by individuals which is terrifying yet excited. Today individuals compete, connect and
collaborate to the run the flat global economy. Friedman in his speech elaborated the impact of
growing power of individuals and globalisation. He said that today the iron rule is what can be
done will be done because people have too much resources, power and ideas. Today the iron is
either do something and watch someone else do it. He then went to narrate the story of his friend
who discovered Peruvian dishes and went on to make them cheaply available in China.

4GLOBALISATION
Section 2:
Answer to question 1:
Some of the key drawbacks or risks of residing in the flat world of globalisation is that
individuals have too much power and resources which is exciting and terrifying. The professor
has hinted towards the risk of terrorism and global security in his speech. According to Friedman
the iron rule of this flat world is that individuals are capable of impacting the whole world with
their actions. They connect, communicate and collaborate to run companies, countries and in fact
the very global economy(Benería, Berik and Floro 2015).
Answer to question 2:
Friedman’s iron rule of flat world which says that what can be done will be done by
individuals is agreeable. His opinion is agreeable because today people have the excessive
resources, knowledge, ideas and power to do actions to impact the whole world. Fried over here
described this as exciting and hinted at the entrepreneurial ventures around the world.
Simultaneously he described this increase of access to vast resources at levels as frightening and
hinted at growing threats to the global economy like terrorism. Thus, it can be inferred that
Friedman’s iron rule of flat world is agreeable(Fukuyama 2014).
Answer to question 3:
The level of globalisation is not uniform across the world. There are nations like the
United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom which have developed markets and
are home to several multinational companies. There are economies like India, China and Brazil
which are emerging into global economies and have fast developing markets characterised by
increasing productivity. These countries have their own multinational companies and experience

5GLOBALISATION
heavy flow of resources to and from the developed markets(Pieterse 2015). There are countries
like the African countries which are underdeveloped and cannot even meet their basic
necessities. The markets of these countries depend on the developed and the developing
economies for their development. This shows that the level of globalisation is not uniform all
around the world.
Activity 2: Pankaj Ghemawat on Globalistion:
Section 1:
Professor Pankaj Ghemawat in his speech raised a very pertinent question about the
actual meaning of globalisation. He pointed that some people support globalisation while others
are against it. He said that the first group called proglobalisation group actually believe that
globalisation has taken place while the second group view it as ways to wreck the future life on
earth. He mentioned that today people live in a world where national boundaries have become
blurred and the cross border integration of countries is almost achieved due to globalisation. He
stressed on the fact that the people including students, delegates and even learned men like
Thomas Friedman perceive that rate of globalisation higher than it actually is. The world is often
considered flat due to over exaggerated rates of flow of people, capital and money. He pointed
out that the world is not actually flat and is in fact spherical where cross border exchange of
resources like capital and human resources are far less than perceived(Kraidy 2017).

6GLOBALISATION
Section 2:
Answer to question 1:
The perceived view of globalisation of mine has changed considerably after listening to
the speech of Professor Pankaj Ghemawat. He agreed that cross culture integration is almost
complete and that national borders between countries have blurred. He pointed out that
globalisation is characterised by immense flow of information, capital and resources across
nations. However, he also pointed out that the people around the world often perceive this rate of
cross border flows of resources to be far higher than reality. Thus, Professor Ghemawat clearly
pointed out that though the world has shrunk in size but still the rate of flow of resources from
one country to the other are often overstated (Altbach 2015).
Answer to question 2:
People have fear about globalisation and its impact on the world. They fear that cross
border integration has reached its potential. People in certain places feel that globalisation has
threatened their existence like, the people of France fear that 24 percent of French population are
immigrants. The actual data show that merely 8 percent of French population are immigrants
compared to the perceived fear of 24 percent.
These fears may subside with the realisation of the fact that the integration between
countries have not reached its full potential. There are still areas where countries can integrate
their resources to bring strengthen globalisation and world economy(Baylis, Owens and Smith
2017).

7GLOBALISATION
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that both Professor Friedman and Professor Ghemawat are right in
their respective speeches and opinion. Professor Friedman’s claim of flat world and globalisation
is appropriate. This is because his speech clearly point out the increasing power of individuals to
mobilise resources and influence the world economy with their activities. Again Professor
Ghemawat is right because he is able to point out that this rate of globalisation is often perceived
far greater than it is.

8GLOBALISATION
References:
Altbach, P., 2015. Higher education and the WTO: Globalization run amok. International Higher
Education, (23).
Baylis, J., Owens, P. and Smith, S. eds., 2017. The globalization of world politics: An
introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press.
Benería, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M., 2015. Gender, development and globalization: economics
as if all people mattered. Routledge.
Fukuyama, F., 2014. Political order and political decay: From the industrial revolution to the
globalization of democracy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Kraidy, M., 2017. Hybridity, or the cultural logic of globalization. Temple University Press.
Pieterse, J.N., 2015. Globalization and culture: Global mélange. Rowman & Littlefield.
YouTube. 2017). What Thomas Friedman means when he says "The World is Flat". [online]
Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2BguxRSyY [Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].
YouTube. 2017. Thomas Friedman's Three Eras of Globalization. [online] Available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4znWHvsjU [Accessed 19 Aug. 2017].