Module 9

                In chapter sixteen, Friedman explains how his dell laptop was built. He explains how dells supply chain works and I had no idea that it was as redundant as it was. The laptop he ordered had the possibility of getting parts from over 30 different suppliers and shipped from nearly anywhere in the world. This gives Dell the advantage of literally never being supply blocked. If one supplier is unable to deliver the product they need, there are multiple other suppliers ready to ship the parts needed to complete the laptop. I found it very interesting how Dell is also able to control their supply chain through the use of promotional offers. The example the book gives is so many people order a 40GB HDD (Hard Drive) that the supply chain cannot keep up. Dells response to this is to offer 60GB HDD's for $10.00 more for a limited time only. This changes how many 40GB HDD's are ordered and ensures that the supply chain will not hit a stopping point. Whenever I by a computer part or I am just simply looking at the deals online, it never occurred to me why certain deals exist. It makes more sense to me now, I can imagine the majority of the deals we find online are a result of something similar to Dells HDD example.

                Chapter sixteen also covers how the terrorist group Al-Qaeda uses global supply chains in order to recruit more people and spread their ideas and thoughts throughout the world. The flattening of the world has not only made it easier for businesses and manufactures thrive, it has also allowed other organizations thrive as well. Al-Qaeda uses the flat world to recruit new people and spread their word through the use of the world wide web. This unconcerned medium allows them complete control over the message they want to deliver without having to get any attention from local media and news casts.

                "The Curse of Oil" is the term Freidman uses to describe the problems and issues countries have with their government and economy. Because of the demand for oil, governments often let the power run to their head when they are the ones who are in charge of it. The curse of oil comes when the ones in charge of the oil focus solely on themselves, knowing that they can get anything they want through selling their oil at a high price. They don't rely on the people to produce products and export them to make their economy thrive. A direct result of the curse of oil is under developed communities, cities, countries, etc. They are neglected because they are not needed. The money from the oil is not used for the people as it should be.