Globalisation on a flat world

Don Perrin just sent me a copy of the intensely interesting reflections of Thomas Friedman in his article The World is Flat, After All, in which he describes a rapidly changing global economy, where a vast number of knowledge experts from previously disadvantaged nations now have access to our markets and are in a very good position to compete.

Friedman's notes really got me thinking about the economic revolution we have only begun to experience. I know I have even experimented with outsourcing animation work to Indian designers in my own learning resource developments. If it had of worked (in that if I had of found someone able to do what I was needing) apparently a good rate in India for such work is US$8 - $10 per hour!

Most people think of sweat shops, worker exploitation, and job loses when they hear of this stuff, but that may not always be the case. A couple of years ago, I was even considering moving myself into an economic region where I could compete back home from. In other words, from a yacht in the Black Sea at US$10 per hour developing rich media learning resources for Australian projects...

Friedman's article, or that keynote speech from John Seely Brown are thought provoking accounts of what is actually happening within and throughout our increasingly globalised economies.




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