Rating: 
Summary: Not terribly original...
Review: Friedman clearly isn't the first to discuss the implications of globalization; others have come before him -- Omaehe (The End of the Nation State), Barber (Jihad vs MacWorld) and Fukayama (The End of History). Friedman's thesis thus isn't incredibly original -- but at least he tells it with wit and spunk. The reading can fun, but consistently interrupted by the introduction of new metaphors. In every other chapter, he tries too hard to coin new terms. There must be more than two dozen spots in the book where he goes... "I call this XXX." It gets painful to read after a while. The fact is, everyone who's plugged into Amazon already has a good idea of how technology has changed the way we buy and sell. Don't get too excited to buy this book. But if you're interested in his coverage of Middle East politics, "From Beirut to Jerusalem" is a fine account.
Rating: 
Summary: Do Fries Go with This Tripe?
Review: If you'd like a sample of what you'll be getting in Friedman's book, here's one of the high points, his "Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention": "...[A]s I Quarter-Poundered my way around the world in recent years, I began to notice something intriguing. I don't know when the insight struck me. It was a bolt out of the blue.... And it was this: No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's." That's what passes for an insight, in what passes for the mind of Thomas Friedman. Now why would a hegemonic world power like America hire ....(Friedman).... as spokesman? As poor old Jimmy Carter used to ask, Why Not the Best? There can only be one answer: because the very stupidity of Friedman's analyses serves America's purposes. The slogans Friedman develops in this book are pure gloating. Like the taunts of a high-school jock after a victory, these taunts don't have to be, aren't meant to be clever. Friedman simply repeats, via many crude metaphors, his triumphalist view that there are only two ways left: the American Way or the highway. He loves to dramatise via metaphor the utter helplessness of the un-American, as with "The Golden Straitjacket"-- his name for the state-model created by Thatcher and Reagan It's an offensive metaphor, and a very crude, simplistic model of the world. But then, that's Friedman's job: to dumb down and shout out the triumph of what he calls "Globalization-Americanization," smugly certain that these are synonyms. It's a job which would make an intelligent, sensitive writer cringe. That's why Friedman is so good at it.
Rating: 
Summary: Thinking in 6D
Review: "... Friedman has set the standard for books purpoting to teach Globalization."-Publishers Weekly. The re is definitely something special about this book as one can enjoy reading it as much as emotional fiction and at the same time receive as much structured knowledge as from a college textbook how to understand and use globalization for one's own benefit. At the very beginning Thomas Friedman shares his own experience of the 6D thinking. He expresses his concern that most of the contemporary spacialists think " in terms of highly sigmented expertise" losing the whole world from their view, which does not work anymore. Friedman strongly believes that "being a globalist[thinking in at least 6D] is the only way to systematically connect the dots, see the system of globalization and there by rder the chaos." His six dimensions include politics, culture, financial market dimension, environment, national security, and technology. Without any exaggeration, he can take credit forthe perfect application of his self-invented strategy: the book is the best example, where in his analysishe follows all of those 6D without omotting any. Thomas Friedman sees the connections, which means he sees the world. "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" is organized in four main chapters. First one is devoted to globalization as a completely new notion and phenomenon, wher the aothour intriduces exclusive categories of classification, necessary for understanding of a new reality, like Electronic Herd , Olive Tree, Golden Straightjaket etc. The second chapter "Plugging into System" he gives succinct prescriptions and guidelines for the countries willing to enter or, better to say, plug into the system. The moral of this chapter is that countries now can choose to be prosperous, there is no other vindication for not being prosparous than than the lack of thegenuine desire. Possible backlash against the new quality of the contemporary world is in the content of the next chapter. And finally, the narration reaches its controversial zenith in the "America and the System". The concept of the Olive tree and the Lexus is a common thread that goes through the whole book, ties pieses of information together and builds a unique prism of new categories, through which the contemporary system is being viewed. Highly systematic approach used by the author and multiple levels of analysis deserve the highest possible praise. Thomas Friedman descends from the supranational level of analysis to the very bottom-individual, and then climbs back, explaining every single issue in this manner. Describing the present state of the global economic environment Friedman introduces such categorical names as Short Horn cattle, alluding to the large segment of private investors who received direct access to the core of the system, creating certain danger of unpredictability; then he examines major qualities of the Long Horn cattle(foreigh direct investment) making a point that the incentives for the direct investment have changed dramatically since the Cold war time. Another distinctive feature of the globalized world is gradual but sure democratization of technology, finance, and information. Thomas Friedman views these three democratizations as sources, necessities and elephants upholding the disc of Globalization. From " The Lexus and the Olive Tree" one can easily generate a condensed version of doctor Friedman's prescription or in other words, practical manual under the title " How to become a prosperous country." One can strongly disagree with certain statements bt his vision entices a reader by its flawless logic and clear explanation with employment of tons of unique analogies and symbols. He breaks the requirements for the country into he three categories: appropriate hardwae, operating system and software. In these newly designed terms for a new system he analyses the Cold war diversity in the hardware and relative uniformity-free capitalism. The problem that he addresses is the premature globalization, or, in other words, the lack or underdevelopment of software(adequate laws and regulations) amd operational system( degree of governmental interference into the economic sector). In this context, Thomas Friedman looks at a major problem in the transitional society-high degree of corruption or kleptocracy. As a person who spent first 18 years of my life in a system where kleptocracy flourishes, I must confess that he has brilliant insightsinto the nature of phenomenon and impressive undersatnding of the ways taht can lead a suffering country out of this vicious circle. It i very true that globalization aggravatesthe trouble of kleptocracy. If a country is affected by this desease, globalization works against it: before, the robber barrons could not so easily go to the international markets and make fortunes using the stolen funds. At the same time it deprives the country of the opportunity to receive a decent amount of foreign investment. Thus, corruption narrows the opportunities for citizens of the affected country, at the same time, financial criminals have more ways to go. Thomas friedman thinks that globalization can be very helpful in resolving this problem He calles the phenomenon "globalution" or the revolution from beyond. He expalains that due to teh fact that only democracy can guarantee stability, predicatability,and transparency, the countries choosing to prosper will have to become more democratic, which means that they will be forced ( for their own good) to introduce high degree of transparency, general standards for different kind of transfer operations, will have to fight corruption, as it is much more expancive to tolerate it, and freedom of press will have to become an everyday reality. While reading the part about globalution, a formidable desire arises to make some world leaders read a chapter and make them pass a rigorous test. This is amazing how precisely Friedman describes the problem and immediately suggests a solution. However, he realizes and admits that most likely such countries will have to wait untill the millenium generation comes, or, in ortherwords, when most of the old style, obsolete and corrupt government officials and leaders will die out. After castigating corruption Friedman starts comparing countries and companies and comes to the conclusion that they have a lot in common. Using the criteria for successful companies, he challenges states asking them series of sharp questions: How wired are you? How fast are you? Are you harvesting your knowledge? How much does your export weight? Do you dare t be open, How good is your country's brand? Does you country management get it? Two last questions are the most appealing to me. First, I think that in most cases in the newly independent former republics of the USSR, which chose to follow the general trend and plug into system, these two last questions can not be answered in their favor. From what I've seen I deduced that management of of most of the countries does not get it, that is the country's leaders simply lack knowledge. They had been serving in the communist system and since then have not changed their methods. They did not go back to the University to "update themselves, nor have they been able to creat an efficient net of advisors with fresh knowledge and skills, and it is generally very difficult for a young spacialist to get a decent job. As for the country's brand, I must say that some countries are very successful in this sphere, for example Kazakhstan, whose embassy I visited not so long ago. However, I was unpleasantly surprised by the lack of any care about their country image in my own Ukrainian embassy in Washington DC. But as a representative of the millennium generation and a person able to evaluate the potential of my fellow students I am very enthusiastic about the future. Thomas Friedman identifies a new government "trillema": relations between an individual and Internet, individual and Supermarkets, and the latter with government. He sees the vacuum of governance in the sphere of these actors' interaction, which is becoming an additional dimension of national security. There definitely must be some kind and a very reliable kind of governance. One can observe a certain progress in this direction: after the recent hackers' attacks on the major web sites like yahoo, amazon.com, etc., Internet security became a major item on the President Clinton's agenda. At the beginning of May 2000, a major virus hit the system again. The unbelievable speed of the spread and the anticipated dangers alarmed countries all over the world. It is amazing to follow the yellow line on the screen tracing the spread of virus and realize that this was the result of one super empowered individual' caprice. We are the witnesses of the birth of a new aspect in national security-cyberspace security. In this context Friedman mentions common insecurity and unexpected equal vulnerability for all the countries in the system, which definitely adds to the feeling of common
Rating:
Summary: It is on my must read book list.
Review: When I teach leadership to executives, I hand out a "must read" list. Lexus and the Olive Tree is on that list. Great guide to gobalization--in easy to read form.
Rating:
Summary: Lost in Cyberspace
Review: Thomas Friedman was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. He actually believes that people would pay attention to what he has to say, even if he weren't a columnist with the New York Times with rich and powerful friends. The basic thesis of this book is very simple and not terribly original: the Internet and other forces of globalization are breaking down barriers in an uncontrollable process. The unfettered market, with billions of consumers and tens of millions of producers are calling the shots. The days of government control are over. While Friedman has concerns about this future, he sees the basic picture in a positive light. The real problem is the people who want to turn back the clock, the wallbuilders. According to Friedman, these are people who would try to erect trade barriers to slow the process of globalization. In doing so, they hope to maintain a greater degree of economic security. The villians Friedman has in mind are largely unions that try to preserve decent jobs and wage for auto workers, steel workers, textile workers and the like. But, according to Friedman, these types of protectionist barriers are futile in the days of globalization. While Friedman can express sympathy for the plight of these workers, he won't shrink from his conclusion that their efforts at protectionism are misguided, and harmful to the most needy people in the world, the poor in developing nations. Friedman's arrogance on this point is difficult to stomach, since it is so thoroughly encased in ignorance. Friedman is a man who makes his living entirely as a result of the existance of "walls" or protectionist barriers, specifically copyrights. If the heavy hand of the state were not there to enforce Mr. Friedman's copyrights, no one would pay for his books. They could freely xerox them, or better yet, download them off the Internet. Similarly, the New York Times would not fare particularly well without copyright protection. Anyone could instantly reproduce any or all of its content and sell their own ad space (at a much lower price) in a New York Times clone. Remarkably, while engaging in tirades against the African-American or Hispanic women who want to protect their $8 an hour textile jobs, Friedman never seems to recognize that he profits immensely as a result of a much more inefficient form of protectionism. Tariff barriers or quotas in the United States rarely raise the price of an item by more than 15-20 percent. By contrast, copyright raises the price by several hundred percent. We all know that copyrights provide an incentive to engage in creative work, but there are other, more efficient ways to create such incentives. Friedman's professed concern for the poor in the developing world is directly at odds with his silence on this issue. A major thrust of recent U.S. trade policy has been to enforce U.S. type copyrights and patents throughout the developing world. This will be a huge drain on the economies of developing nations, as it will drain tens of billions of dollars in royalty payments and licensing fees from the world's poorest nations. Even worse, it will be a death sentence for millions of people suffering from AIDS and other diseases, as patent protection raises the price of life-saving drugs well beyond the means of the poor in the developing world. If you want to hear the main argument in this book, find some Yuppie male, buy him a few beers and ask him about the state of the world. You'll get all the main points, but in a manner that will probably be more cogent and succint. If you really feel you need to read this book, in the interest of simple justice, do not buy it. Borrow a copy from a friend or the library. Get it scanned into your computer, and then read it on screen or print it out. Also, e-mail copies to friends who feel a similar need to read the book. A man who is so anxious to see the forces of the Internet and globalization tear down barriers, should not be allowed to profit from those barriers.
Rating: 
Summary: Money can do no wrong
Review: Friedman is the perfect cheerleader for the unbridled exercise of financial power. This viewpoint has no sensitivity for national histories, sovereignty, and the rights of peoples to order their collective lives as they choose. Furthermore, it's all "inevitable". You're just an Luddite Ostrich with your head in the sand if you're concerned about the loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. This point of view insists there is a labor shortage in the U.S.--when there is only a shortage of wage slaves willing to work at Third World poverty levels. This book is not an attempt to understand global trade. It is a polemic designed to discredit pro-labor and nationalist viewpoints.
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional analysis of the new forces shaping the world
Review: This is an exceptional analysis of the forces shaping the world. Thomas Friedman brings his unique and diverse experience together to address the issues that Countries, Governments, Companys, and individuals are facing in the "post cold war" period. A very compeling analysis. Friedman has taken a very complex subject (Globalization) and developed a straight forward frameword through which the reader can view our new world.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Book
Review: This is more than a good book. It is an important book. The brilliant and insightful Thomas Friedman gives context to the rapid global changes that we are experiencing today. He presents a balanced and enlightened view of global markets, technology, information, the environment, cultural traditions and social issues, and how they all (can) fit together. After reading this book, you will read the newspaper with a new perspective and will approach business and cultural issues with added dimension. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and comprehensible
Review: When dealing with a subject as broad as globalization, operational definitions can rarely communicate its scope. In May of 1997, The International Monetary Fund attempted to define globalization in World Economic Outlook as, "the growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services and of international capital flows, and also through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology." Although this definition is operationally sufficient, it does not remotely begin to convey the primacy that the subject matter deserves in economic, political, environmental and social circles today. Fortunately for those of us that are not globalization experts, Thomas L. Friedman has penned what, quite possibly, might be the best book that has been published on the topic to date. In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Friedman uses may analogies and illustrations from his travels as the foreign affairs correspondent for The New York Times to fashion a layman's understanding of the globalization process. Friedman initially notes that: "Globalization is not a phenomenon. It is not just some passing trend. Today it is the overarching international system shaping the domestic politics and foreign relations of virtually every country, and we need to understand it as such" (p. 7). The author argues that as a result of the end of the cold war, the world order has turned to globalization due to "the democratization of technology" (p. 41), "the democratization of finance" (p. 47), and "the democratization of information" (p. 54). Friedman goes on to point out that: "When it comes to the question of which system today is the most effective at generating rising standards of living, the historical debate is over. The answer is free-market capitalism... When your country recognizes this fact, when it recognizes the rules of the free market in today's global economy, and deciddes to abide by them, it puts on what I call 'the Golden Straitjacket' "(p. 86). It is the use of these clever analogies that makes the book so easy for Everyman to comprehend. By turning complex ideas into unforgettable memory aids, Friedman effectively makes the economic and political theories he examines intelligible. Although Friedman spends the bulk of his 378 pages of main text purporting the benefits and advantages of globalization, he does a splendid job of reporting the downside of the process. Friedman cites: "There is no question that in the globalization system, where power is now more evenly shared between states and Supermarkets [Wall Street, Chicago Board of Trade, major foreign stockmarkets, etc.], a certain degree of decisionmaking is moved out of each country's political sphere, where no one person, country or institution can exert exclusive political control... Clearly, one of the biggest challenges for political theory in this globalization era is how to give citizens a sense that they can exercise their will, not only over their own governments but over at least some of the global forces shaping their lives" (pgs. 161-162). In addition, Friedman tackles the dissident arguments of "homogenization" of cultures (p. 238), that "income gaps between the haves and have-nots within industrialized countries widened noticeably" (p.248), and "instead of popular mass opposition to globalization, [what has been occurring] is wave after wave after wave of crime" (p. 273). Ultimately, however, the author concludes that: "Because we tend to think of globalization as something that countries connect to outside themselves, or something imposed from above and beyond, we tend to forget how much, at its heart, it is also a grassroots movement that emerges from within each of us. This is why we always have to keep in mind that... there is a groundswell of people demanding the benefits of globalization" (p. 286). In my opinion, the most relevant truism in Friedman's work comes in the introduction. While explaining his feelings on the subject of globalization, the author states, "I didn't start globalization, I can't stop it... and I'm not going to waste time trying. All I want to think about is how I can get the best out of this new system, and cushion the worst, for the most people" (p. xviii). After reading this definitive work on the subject, one would have to conclude that Friedman succeeds in his goal.
Rating:
Summary: It's the efficiency,.....
Review: As I read the Lexus and the Olive Tree, I was reminded of the story of the blind men each of whom described what an elephant was like from his own limited perspective. The one who happened upon the tail knew the elephant to be like a rope; the one who walked into its side found the elephant to be rather like a wall, etc. Friedman has written this book much like a blind reporter might have interpreted and written about the stories these blind men told. But instead of an elephant, the subject of misunderstanding in this book is globalization. Friedman is able at reporting moments of keen insight from those with first hand knowledge of the impacts, drivers, and scope of globalization, for example: p. 10: quoting James Suroweiecki, business columnist: "[M]ost people prefer some measure of security about the future to a life lived in almost constant uncertainty... We are not forced to re-create our relationships with those closest to us on a regular basis. And yet that's precisely what...is necessary to prosper [today]." p.45, quoting former NBC president Lawrence Grossman: "Printing made us all readers. Xeroxing made us all publishers. Television made us all viewers. Digitization makes us all broadcasters;" p. 76: quoting Robert Shapiro, Chairman of Monsanto: "any hierarchy that bases itself on denying information to its citizens or employees is not going to work;" p. 110: quoting Yousef Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian Minister of Economy: "In the old days you panicked in a room with a hundred bankers, now you panic everywhere. Panic has been democratized." p. 299 quoting venture capitalist John Doerr: "it is OK to fail and in fact it might even be important that you failed before on someone else's money;" p. 304: quoting Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers: "The only thing we have to fear is the lack of fear itself;" He really misses the whole point of globalization with his little vignette about a Vietnamese woman (p. 285) who charged him a dollar each day to weigh himself, a service he found inaccurate and not informative. Yet he continued to purchase the service. Somehow he viewed this as a 'groundswell' of free-market capitalism. I think it more clearly demonstrates a lot more about Friedman than it does about that woman's impact on globalization. He's easily sucked in, and not just for a woman with a defective scale. Although he mentions it over and over, he never seems cognizant of the fact that globalization is about one thing: efficiency. The rewards go to the efficient. The motto isn't: (p. 285): "Whatever you've got, no matter how big or small - sell it, trade it, barter it, leverage it, rent it, but do something with it to turn a profit." That's just what the blind man sees. The visionary knows the Fast World is the hierarchy of efficiency. It's motto is "Beat Entropy!" Friedman is a reporter, and many reporters pride themselves on not losing their objectivity by gaining too much knowledge of an issue. Friedman points out that (p. 293) "sometimes the news is actually in the silence." Likewise, the truth on a subject can be in what the blind man misses. Friedman is technology blind. Technology is the root of efficiency improvement, that's why the internet is so important to globalization: it improves efficiency, dramatically. Friedman only knows technology like a blind man knows an elephant. He doesn't even know what entropy is, let alone how you beat it (or that you can't). There's a line that Harrison Ford says in the movie the Mosquito Coast that explains the relationship between the science of thermodynamics and society: "Ice is civilization." The ability to produce and use ice demonstrates an understanding of how to beat entropy in a way that allows civilization to occur. In that same way, the internet is globalization. What is irritating in Friedman's writing is his condescending, sometimes preachy, sometimes smug style (p. 294: "let me share a little secret I've learned from talking to all these folks: With all due respect to revolutionary theorists, the 'wretched of the earth' want to go to Disney World"). He also exposes the obvious as if it is somehow profound, and then labels it with some cutesy buzzword (p. 62: "Microchip Immune Deficiency Syndrome;" p. 83: "Golden Straitjacket; p. 90: "Electronic Herd;" ), as if the regular terms of everyday use that describe the concept much better are somehow inadequate. It's as if he knows that buzzwords sell books and help on the lecture circuit. Moreover, Firedman's practice of self-aggrandizing, name-dropping, and taking the liberty of making ethnic slams - jokes? - I found a little distracting if not outright annoying. He's no bigot, but if he really were the celebrity he holds himself out as, and made these backhand ethnic comments, he'd find himself in the same hot water that John Rocker, Kerry Collins, and many real celebrities before have. (p. 316: "To be a French-educated Arab intellectual is the worst combination possible for understanding globalization. It is like being twice handicapped"). Without a doubt though, his most annoying literary practice is putting words in people's mouths who never said them, and attributing ideas to people who never expressed them. (p. 288): He tells the story of a woman who wasn't wearing shoes who said she had invested in a local bank that failed. He proceeds to speculate a series of wide-ranging unrelated questions to explain this contrast, and then concludes "something tells me" one of his questions is the right question, from which he somehow thinks that supports his following statement: "That's the groundswell at work." (p. 93): Part of a three page rant directed at Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad attributed to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin: "excuse me Mahathir, but what planet are you living on?"). Myself, I imagine Robert Rubin reading this, and calling Friedman on the phone and saying "Excuse me Tom, but are you writing fiction or non-fiction?" Irritating style, isn't it?
|
