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Summary: An interesting, multifaceted view of world interactions...
Review: Friedman does an excellent job of caputring the differences and similarites between cultures that continue to keep us apart in the face of accellerating globalization. Although I don't agree with all of his points, it's an interesting read. There are some points in the book when I wish he would go into further depth to explain how things will change in the future rather than just explaining the past and present. Overall, a recommended book if you're trying to understand how the world operates as an interlocking system of socio/ethnic/economic forces.
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Summary: MUST READ to understand the modern global economy
Review: Friedman uses wonderful symbols to explain complex trends in the global economy. The "golden straight-jacket" the "electronic herd" etc., etc.. Friedman has a definite theory on what the global economy is and where it is going. He explains it clearly, concisely, simply and artfully. Friedman explains his theories using wonderful quotes and poignant discussions with world leaders and movers. His access to the power people in the world is impressive. Wonderful.
My one criticism is that I think he fails to criticize the big financial speculators like George Soros for their questionably unethical manipulation of the worlds markets...especially the emerging markets.
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Summary: Great read
Review: He does an outstanding job of bringing together the basic drivers of today's economy: technology, finance and information. In this new global world we live in, he provides good enjoyable reading but lacks specific opinions on how to tackle them. Presenting some thoughts is fine, but I think Tom should also focus his work on solutions and not just stating history. I would really recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the dynamics of globalization.
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Summary: Required reading
Review: Globalization is a new international system with its own rules of logic, pressures and incentives that influence politics, environment, business, and economics in virtually every country; it is the dominant world system that shapes everything else. The new rules are so different from what has gone before and the different threads are intertwined in such a complicated manner that few understand them. Who would have thought that the 1997 collapse of the Thai currency would ultimately lead to the collapse of Long-term Capital Management in the US where two economists had won the Nobel Prize the previous year for their contribution to managing risk? The global market place has become an electronic herd of anonymous traders and investors connected by screens and networks; a herd that knows only its own rules and that will crush any one - and even governments - that stand in its way. Globalization is not a choice but a reality, but the problem is that no one is in charge. Globalization is not new. Round I of globalization took place before World War I and was founded on cheap transportation. There was a period of relative calm until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism triggered Round II which is founded on cheap telecommunications. We can now reach further, faster, cheaper and deeper than ever before. Previously non-tradable services such as accounting, telephone answering and engineering design can now be transferred to low wage countries; production, research and marketing can be located where strategically most advantageous. The Berlin Wall did not just fall in Berlin; other walls came down in other countries at roughly the same time. Three changes caused the walls to fall - how we communicate, how we invest and how we learn. These changes allowed Thailand to move from being a low wage rice producer to the world's second largest producer of pick up trucks and the 4th largest manufacturer of motor cycles in 15 years. These changes give individuals more power to influence markets and nation states than at any time in history - as occurred when investors brought down Indonesia's Suharto in 1998. These changes allowed Jody Williams to win the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for an international ban on land mines by organizing human rights groups by e-mail. These changes allow us to tune into almost any public or private TV station worldwide so we can now see and hear through almost every conceivable wall. These changes allow a company like Cisco to close its books within an hour and to operate without paper. Lexus in the title stems from a visit to a Toyota car factory where 66 people and 310 robots produce 300 Lexus sedans daily. Lexus represents our drive for improvement, prosperity, modernization, and innovation. The Olive tree stands for stability, family values, and a sense of belonging. The anonymous, transnational, homogenizing, standardizing forces of the Lexus are the biggest threat to the olive tree. Our challenge is to find a healthy balance between the two while recognizing that competitive pressures oblige us to build a bigger and better Lexus every day. Globalization can be likened to a race that you have to run day after day after day. However many times you win, you still have to run again next day. If you lose by a fraction of a second it is as though you lost by an hour. By just entering the race you threaten the very existence of your own olive tree. By not entering the race you may not even be around to enjoy your olive tree. We cannot hope to understand and manage globalization without reference to all its components and how they interact with each other. Friedman has provided us with a guidebook giving the various components of globalization and suggestions on how we might go about managing globalization. This book is essential reading whether you want to be a Lexus or an olive tree.
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Summary: Indispensable for Those Who Want to Understand Globalization
Review: In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman invites us to understand globalization as a system that imposes a type of order in the world, just as its predecessor, the cold war system, imposed order. Whereas the cold war system ordered the world by dividing it and building barriers, globalization involves integration and breaking down barriers to allow free markets to operate more efficiently. While Friedman sees what globalization has to offer, he also sees why it has vocal detractors. Globalization is driven by the aspirations of many to improve their standards of living. These supporters see the free market ideology of globalization as offering faster improvements than the relatively corrupt and static political systems that dominate their own countries. Yet, globalization alienates many others: it takes power away from political elites, it hurts countries and individuals that cannot adapt quickly to market demands, and it contributes to a homogenization of culture. Friedman makes prescriptions to reduce some of globalization's ill effects, and to help protect the environment from the type of short-sighted exploitation that free market systems may encourage. These prescriptions are not the strongest part of the book, in my opinion. At best, I see his prescriptions as ideas that could gain some traction in the mid- to long-term future, after the material well-being of people in the developing countries has sufficiently advanced. There is a hierarchy of human needs, and people who are not adequately fed or sheltered will not of their own volition sacrifice material progress for culture or for the environment. Friedman is an engaging writer with great sympathy for the people he writes about. As his other book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, also shows, he is also a great explainer of complex phenomena, without tending toward oversimplification. This is an indispensable book for those who want to understand globalization.
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Summary: ABC OF GLOBALIZATION
Review: This is the greatest book I have ever read on globalization ! There is nothing else to make this book better than it is now. A comprehensive guide to globalization. Even the man on the street can talk in depth about globalization after reading this magnificent book.
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Summary: Fascinating Overview of Globalization
Review: Not being experienced in business, finance or global-living I found this book a compelling introduction to globalization as an idea. If not a quick read, it's pleasant & lots of fun. As an intelligent lay reader I felt I learned a tremendous amount. His frequent use of stories from leaders and others all over the world contributed to my interest & the believability of his arguments.
While I don't find myself critical of the arguments, I do wish I had someone to talk to about this book. I thought the presentation was fairly balanced but left me with questions about many of the (somewhat alarming) concerns he raises about stability, environmental sustainability, cultural variety, quality & depth, vulnerability to superpowered individuals and lack of intelligence at the controls.
A great book for someone just begininning to look at these issues.
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Summary: Entertaining, but lacking insight
Review: The most appealing quality of the book is Friedman's optimism. He believes that the inevitable sweep of globalization, and American leading role in it, will bring about positive change for the peoples of the world. There are at least two aspects to this process. First, with greatly increased communications (satellite TV, Internet, cellular phones) people are going to know the details of life in other countries. And it is Friedman's belief that having learned about a much higher quality of life, people are going to promote the governments that increase their standards of living. Second, the increased international economic activity (foreign investments, foreign trade, cross-border corporate ventures etc.) will create more economic opportunities. So the countries that open themselves to globalization will ultimately benefit from it economically. They are likely to have better labor laws, better finance regulations, more competitive and transparent companies and more qualified workers. Which will all lead to the raise in the quality of life. In addition, globalization is going to help protect environment. With increased transparency, corporations are less likely to engage in environmentally harmful activities, while consumers, now able to coordinate their actions through email, can force ecologically reckless companies to change their practices. The second most enjoyable aspect of the book is the stories. Friedman talks about his conversations with many people in various countries who shape globalization and with the ones affected by it: from ministers, heads of state and CEOs to street vendors and taxi drivers. Unfortunately, the globalization cheerleading of the bubble era leaves no room in the book for some critical thinking. In its current form, globalization is hurting quite a few people. And it is not just Americans loosing their jobs to Indians and Chinese. Take cotton farmers in Burkina Faso who are put out of business by sub-production cost American cotton supported by the enormous American cotton subsidies. Or consider South African sugar farmers who face imports from Europe, the worldwide largest sugar exporter, at 50% of the production cost. The famous "Golden Arches" statement of the book, pointing out that no two countries hosting a McDonald's have ever been at war with each other, fails to provide insight. The fact that economic advancement and a strong middle class lead to a more stable world is intuitive enough. And McDonald's itself is not the answer to the world's antagonisms. Russia, with more than 100 McDonald's restaurants, has been waging the disastrous war in Chechnya. And the tragic 9-11 events were in a way mad people's reaction to a lot of what McDonald's represents. The book fails to seriously address effects of globalization other then economic. When a South African girl does not want to be educated in her mother tongue but only in English, is it a sign that some part of her cultural inheritance is being lost? And when 85% of the movie audiences worldwide watch American movies, would a reasonable response be along the lines of France's "cultural exception", when through quotas foreign competition is limited? To summarize, the book is rather descriptive than analytical or forward-looking. And from a reporter of Friedman's caliber one would expect more, especially considering that the NYT editorials, published on the opposite page from his column, are so opinionated about the future.
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Summary: An Important book
Review: Rather a terrific book, this - One that I will have my son read. It provides a terrific framework into which world events can be placed and interpreted.
It remains interesting throughout. I predict this book will be long remembered as one of the best of its kind from our era.
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Summary: Interesting Ideas
Review: The points that Thomas Friedman raises, and the ideas he presents, are very interesting ones. As a whole, the book does provide valuable insights into international relations and globalization, any serious student of that subject (or someone particularly interested in it) should definately read it. The only drawback is that Friedman's writing style is much better suited to writing column-length compositions (his usual fare) than books, and sometimes it feels a little bit like a series of columns strung together. The other pique is that a number of his ideas aren't fleshed out fully - although given that this was written as an _introduction_ to globalization in layman's terms that is not surprising.
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