Thomas Friedman has discussed his ideas on Globalization and Hyperconnectivity -

Question

Thomas Friedman has discussed his ideas on Globalization and Hyperconnectivity - listen to the 2 videos

Critical analyze and present your perspective on:

Your original post must be detailed and analytical of what you have understood from the Friedman discussions as it applies to the case. What is your own perspective on the subject? What do you base your perspective on?

2 Video

https://youtu.be/lp4znWHvsjU

https://youtu.be/8uY4I7VQRuo

Case Study

Chapter Three Case: Got Milk? It’s Good for You— Unless It Is Contaminated! Dong Lizhong, a farmer and migrant worker dairy farmer in China, bet that being a dairy farmer was his golden ticket out of a factory job. Unfortunately, a contamination crisis shattered his dairy business when babies mysteriously started developing kidney stones from contaminated baby formula. A chemical called melamine—an additive used to make plastic—was discovered in the milk supply of China’s third-largest dairy producer. Tragi- cally, four infants died from the contamination and at least 53,000 fell ill. According to the official Xinhua news agency, officials knew about problems with the milk for months before informing the public. China’s four largest dairy organizations, accounting for nearly half the country’s milk mar- ket, pulled their goods off shelves. More than 20 countries, including France, India, and South Korea, banned not only dairy products from China, but also candies, cookies, and chocolates. “This is a disastrous setback. I estimate that it will take one or two years to rebuild confidence in dairy products,” says Luo Yunbo, dean of the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engi- neering at China Agricultural University. The local milk-collection station in Dong Lizhong’s village has discontinued purchas- ing milk. Farmers are continuing to milk their cows, but they now drink the milk themselves or “feed the cabbages”—pour the milk in their cabbage fields. Dong estimates that he has already lost $1,461, or a quarter of his annual income last year, in expenses to feed corn and fresh grass to his 20 dairy cows. “Unless someone starts buying milk, we’re going to see a lot of cows being slaughtered very soon,” states Dong. Cutting Corners Chinese do not traditionally drink milk. However, as the country has grown more affluent over the past few decades, the domestic dairy industry has skyrocketed. China’s two larg- est dairy companies have greatly benefited from this new trend: China Mengniu Dairy and Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group. Simultaneously, numerous entrepreneurs—from dairy farmers to milk-collection station owners to milk distributors—have jumped into the supply chain of dairy products to make their fortunes. Due to the fierce competition within China’s dairy industry a few companies decided to cut corners to reduce costs, regardless of the consequences. As Mengniu and Yili expanded at breathtaking speed, they found themselves in the unique position where supply could not keep up with demand. According to KPMG, China con- sumes 25 million tons of milk yearly, putting its dairy market ahead of France and Germany. In their quest for more raw milk, Mengniu and Yili have expanded outside their base in the commonly add melamine into the raw milk to increase protein levels in their milk samples, so their milk will be graded higher. Ingesting melamine can cause kidney stones or kidney failure, especially in infants. Matthew Estes, president and CEO of BabyCare, had looked into switching from Australian and New Zealand sources of milk for the company’s infant-formula business in China. Baby- Care did extensive testing of possible suppliers and realized it could not locate a suitable sup- plier in China. “We couldn’t the find quality that met our standards. We chose to not sell rather than take the risk,” he says. Going to Jail A Chinese court sentenced two of the primary middlemen to death and a dairy boss to life in prison for their roles in the milk contamination scandal. The swift trial and harsh sentences show Beijing’s resolve in tackling the country’s stubborn food safety problems and an eager- ness by the communist leadership to move past the embarrassing scandal. Starbucks Corp. has launched a new brand of coffee grown by farmers in China and says it hopes to bring the blend to stores all over the world. The Seattle-based company, which has been closing stores in the U.S. to cut costs, says its new blend is made in China’s southwest- ern province of Yunnan, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. “Our intention is to work with the officials and the farmers in Yunnan province to bring Chinese coffee not (only) to China, but Chinese coffee to the world,” Martin Coles, president of Starbucks Coffee International, told the Associated Press. “Ultimately I’d love to see our coffees from China featured on the shelves of every one of our stores in 49 countries around the world,” he said. A launch date for foreign distribution hasn’t been announced and will depend on how soon farmers can grow enough beans to ensure local and overseas supply. The company has been working for three years with farmers and officials in the province before the launch, and the coffee will initially combine Arabica beans from Latin America and the Asia-Pacific with local Yunnan beans. But Coles said they hope to develop a source of superpremium Arabica coffee from the province, expanding it to new brand offerings in China, and then internationally. The new blend will be called “South of the Clouds,” the meaning of Yunnan in Chinese.

Explanation / Answer

In 1st Video Thomas Friedman had discussed and very efficiently explained that the globalization in world started from point 1.0 where country was globalising like Britain Invaded India and then in point 2.0 companies started globalising rather then countries and then in point 3.0 individuals were started globalising on fast pace. Now individuals started connecting others for business purpose on individual basis.

In 2nd video, Thomas Friedman had discussed the situation of hyperconnectivity where the term global rise was used by him. By giving a great example of 3g network provided by a company in Nepal at Mount Everest wich only means connectivity every where and all this only makes a world where only perfect people, skillful people and well organized people will remain happy and nothing will be left for those who belongs to the below line.

In the above case, the milk in which several discrepancies were found was being sold for many months in China. Milk production is enermous in China where people don't drink milk traditionally. But still they produce milk lot more then any other country in world just to export milk and milk products which shows the impact of globalization and also an example of hyperconnectivity where countries just to increase profits keep on producing things which does not belong to them traditionally.

Companies like Starbucks does not care about the issue of milk in china. They shut down the store in US just to reduce price and going to introduce a new coffee grown in Unan province in China. Now 49 countries will see and taste te coffee made in China. This trend is harmful for the common people where companies see profit only and to gain profit they can be hyperconnected with resources in between countries.

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