In 2005, journalist Thomas Friedman wrote an influential book declaring the
world was now “flat,” by which he meant that the Internet and global communications
had greatly reduced the economic and cultural advantages of developed
countries. Friedman argued that the U.S. and European countries were
in a fight for their economic lives, competing for jobs, markets, resources, and
even ideas with highly educated, motivated populations in low-wage areas in
the less developed world (Friedman, 2007). This “globalization” presents both
challenges and opportunities for business firms