Robert Salomon submits:
I have enjoyed reading Thomas Friedman’s work over the years, but I have to say that I am not a big believer in the Flat World hypothesis. Although intellectually appealing in many ways, it is not supported by scientific evidence. Decades of international business research has demonstrated that companies that span national boundaries face enormous risks and challenges. Moreover, a casual glance at the popular press on just about any given day provides countless examples of companies whose international expansion efforts have foundered because they failed to account for the additional costs imposed by institutional distance (for background, see my posts So You Want to Do Business in a Developing Country, Tata and Jaguar, Tesco’s Venture into the U.S.).
In fact, just this week I received an email from Mike Malone of ABC News calling my attention to a recent article addressing the Flat World debate (see Navigating a Flat and Bumpy World). Mike writes: