The Ten Flatteners (continue)

The remaining flatteners which have benefited from the first three flatteners:

#4 Uploading
It gives the power to the community to develop and share information among each other. We as are users also benefited from this. It was started with shareware and freeware of some useful software. It also encourages community to post or share the answers for questions posted. Individual also can as a freelance reporter. You and I can upload news and commentary in the blog (like this blog). Finally, a compilation of data which can be made available as a result of community’s contribution. One useful portal these days: Wikipedia.

#5 Outsourcing
It has been known that most of the US companies outsource their IT support to India. This was due to large pool of IT engineers available there with lower hiring cost.

#6 Offshoring
Manufacturers produce their products in offshore (outside their own country). For example PCs are made in China by US company. The ultimate purpose is to gain overall low cost for their production which enable lower retail price and higher profit margin.

#7 Supply-chaining
There’s no precise word to define supply chain. The best way is to look at example of Wal-Mart and Dell. When consumer placed an order for dell computer, the order was directed to the manufacturer plant. This information will then disseminate to the component suppliers. At a defined period, suppliers will deliver the component for assembling. This network of supply chain ensures no disruption of the delivery. At the end of the day, the PC is shipped out to the customer which is in another location.

#8 Insourcing
Some companies like UPS provide service which we are not aware of. This includes servicing the consumer product. For example, if you have a faulty camera, you will lodge a complaint to the camera maker. It will then direct you to send your camera to UPS. You thought UPS will deliver the camera to the maker but in reality, UPS hires people to do the job. Talking beyond the courier service.

#9 In-forming
This is the era of information technology. Thanks to Google, Yahoo! and MSN web search. We can easily access the information and news with just a click.

Source: The World is Flat

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Kumano Kodo - Day 2

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