Module 3: The World is Flat (pages 137-199)

Offshoring entails that a company be established in two different countries.  According to “The World is Flat,” offshoring is defined as not just moving a task or a job to another entity, but either establishing a factory and office or relocating a factory and office to a different country.  Outsourcing is different than offshoring in that outsourcing only sends tasks and jobs to different companies; then in turn, the different company completes the tasks or jobs and sends the information or product to the requesting company.  Offshoring is establishing or relocating a factory for the same company outside of the country; thus, the same company has multiple locations, inside and outside the country. 

Offshoring has advantages and disadvantages.  Some of the advantages include: having your company inside a country that can leverage labor and health benefits to the advantage of the company; which in turn, increases revenue and makes it possible to channel more resources to research and development.  Another advantage to offshoring is the company can send work that may be tedious and the jobs, perhaps, many would deem unfavorable.  I think probably the best advantage is having your foot in a country that has a massive manufacturing capability with costs at a manageable amount.  The disadvantages are jobs that leave the country.  Many American people lose their jobs to low paid personnel with little to no health benefits included.  The result includes higher unemployment rate, and in many instances, when the unemployed find employment, their wage can be considerable lower than their previous job. 

            Friedman describes supply chain as a system for a company that moves a product or service from a supplier to a customer.  Wal-Mart has come to grips with the reality of harnessing such a powerful tool.  Wal-Mart is the first company to send private information to their suppliers.  When an item is sold at a register at Wal-Mart, a notification is sent to their supplier to ship another to Wal-Mart’s distribution center. This process greatly decreases the duration when an item is “out of stock” at a Wal-Mart location.  Wal-Mart also barters with their vendors and suppliers to have the best quality at the lowest price; thus, decreasing cost.  Also, Wal-Mart has implemented software that greatly enhances their efficiencies.  When one of their trucks unload merchandise at a distribution center, that truck is then sent to a nearby supplier to receive a shipment; the truck is nearly always loaded with some kind of merchandise, which increases efficiencies in the logistics department.  Wal-Mart has also had their suppliers tag the merchandise.  These RFID (radio frequency identification microchips) tags are attached to pallets and assist Wal-Mart employees to identify what is in the box.  The RFID tag stores information like the manufacturer, expiration date, temperature needed, color, and type.

Supply chains are a powerful tool that increases efficiencies in companies.  Through a supply chain costs decrease, efficiencies increase, and executives are happy.  Through Wal-Mart’s people, information technologies, resources, activities, information, and organizations; Wal-Mart has taken charge of their supply chain.  Since Wal-Mart has an outstanding supply chain, inventories are kept low, out of stock items are replenished quickly and efficiently, costs are at a minimum, relationships of trust are made between supplier and Wal-Mart, and maybe the most important to customers, savings are passed to consumers.

Google has really made possible, the impossible.  Before the internet and the World Wide Web, we had to go to a library to discover and read about new things; but now, we have the world library at our fingertips.  Through services like Google’s search engine, we can search through millions of documents and the most relevant pages and document appear at the beginning of the search results.  Through Google, businesses can find addresses, get intelligence on future and current employees, translate into a foreign language, find suppliers, and many more services.  The only negative impact is that Google stores the information you look at.