Module 9

Jayden Nyman

IST 1100

Module 9

            The building of a Dell Laptop consists of many different parts. First off production of the laptops are run throughout different countries to be built before they are shipped off to the United States. The first process of the building of Dell laptop consists of the customer going online to pick out their desired laptop with the specifications desired. After choosing the laptop of choice the customer will call a Dell sales representative, or complete the order online. Once the order complete and paid for it is shipped off to Taiwan to begin the building process. Once the Dell laptop is built it is then shipped off to the United States to be processed and sent to the customer’s home. Friedman explains that we are collaborating with different countries to successfully build the laptops. He also states that if we ended up going to war with these countries there would be major geopolitical damages. I definitely agree because going to war would shut down many of our countries ways for distribution, because almost every company now days relies on another country for the production of their products. If you think about everything you buy and how many of the products are made out of the United States it is almost all of them. Most everything I own was made in a different country. I think that we should make more of our products within the United States.

            Al-Qaeda does have a supply chain like we do in the United States. They use their supply chain as a way to create products of terrorism, which is pretty scary if you think about it. How affective supply chaining is results in good things for the United States, but it could used to produce terrorism against the United States with terrorist groups like al-Qaeda using supply chaining to their advantage. Even Friedman states that al-Qaeda uses all the functions of the flat world to their advantage. Al-Qaeda uses the flat world to send terrorism threats over video or message using the Internet. A perfect example of the flat world being used to send threats is just recently with ISIS. This terrorist group sent the United States a video of a new reported they had held hostage. Not only did they just show the news reporter, but sent a video of him being decapitated. This is disgusting and we need to find a way to stop things like this from happening, but with the flattening of the world their will always be a way for terrorist groups to send gruesome content to whomever they please. Knowing that terrorist groups are using the flat world to their advantage is a very scary thing.

            The curse of oil stated by Freidman is when the leaders of a country take advantage of the money coming in from drilling for oil instead of “drilling” the natural talents and energy of their people. Doing this keeps them in control, and or in office forever. The leaders use the oil money as a way to control all things used to create power. They do this so that they don’t have to share the power. This is where our country is so much different than the others. These other countries do not tax their people because of the ways that the leaders run things. This being why “the curse of oil” exists.