Thomas Friedman, “Foreign Affairs” columnist for The New York Times and winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, has written a book entitled “The World is Flat.” Many members of the Liberate Magazine staff are in the process of reading this book.

In the book, Friedman “explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt,” as described on his website.

He covers globalization and the impact it is having on the world and business. Globalization is often referred to as the process of unifying people of the world into a single society. The end result is economic, technological, social and political ideas that become more normalized over time.

Globalization has created opportunities for businesses to interact with each other across the globe. The internet has become the gateway. Outsourcing is now very prominent. Outsourcing involves subcontracting a process, product or service to a third-party company. Outsourcing is often the result of companies downsizing or making decisions to produce the same goods at lower cost through finding a cheaper alternative across the globe.

Globalization and outsourcing are making an impact on the world. It is important to understand what they are and how these two terms have changed the very nature of the way we conduct business.