I recently watched a presentation by Thomas Friedman, the author of the book "The world is Flat."
Friedman described the 10 ways he believes the world has become flatter and how this will effect us in the coming years and decades. Friedman discusses how countries, the companies, and now individuals have gone global.
Friedman's ideas have been influential in the business community and shed light on new issues that companies must learn to face in order to remain successful in the "flatting world."
These facts are relevant to inventory management because of the continued growing network of suppliers and customers all over the world. "Work in progress" and "finished goods" inventory are now located all over the world, in transit to the next location, and beings stored waiting on demand. Managers must be aware of this inventory, and control the risks associated with holding large amounts of inventory.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
"The world is flat" came up with version 3.0.
I strongly encourage you to read it when you have some free time, not just for inventory management concepts, but for a general business understanding that has changed dramatically in the 21st century.
I also watched the discussion with Thomas Friedman, which was very invigorating.
I think that his book has initiated many valuable discussions related to business and specifically to inventory management. As we become managers with responsibilities for our company's inventory policy, we must be keenly aware of how the business world is changing in terms of globalization.
Andrew Freeman
To initiate a counterpoint discussion on Friedman's "The world is flat", I would like to recommend a small, but interesting book,by Aronica and Ramdoo, "The World is Flat? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman's New York Times Bestseller," which offers a counterperspective to Friedman's theory on globalization.
Interestingly enough, the book written about two years back, discusses in the following chapters,
"Debt and Financialization of America"
"America"s Former Middle Class"
"A Paradigm Shift for America" with prescriptions for the future
the debt ridden American society, deregulated financial institutions, mortgage crisis and other related issues, with clear pointers to the economic crisis gripping US today. For more information regarding the same, check this out: mkpress.com/FlatExcerpts.pdf
This is a small book compared to the 600 page tome by Friedman, and aimed at the common man and students alike. As popular as the book may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman's book is dangerous. The authors point to the fact that there isn't a single table or data footnote in Friedman's entire book.
"Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution," says Aronica.
You may want to see www.mkpress.com/flat
and watch www.mkpress.com/flatoverview.html
for an interesting counterperspective on Friedman's
"The World is Flat".
Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html
There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
www.mkpress.com/extreme
http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html
Post a Comment