$100 Laptop-Response-Americas Profound Impact on The Rest of The World

As an assignment for entrepreneurship class our class was told to read the Harvard Business article Marketing the “$100 Laptop” (A) for a class discussion. The article explains how Nicholas Negroponte,  the founder and Chairman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, came up with an idea in 2002 to supply children in developing countries with a laptop (1). The idea soon became a nonprofit organization called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) (1). He planned to sell the laptops to developing countries at only $100 each, thus the of the article Marketing the “$100 Laptop”

Education is The Key to Success 

After reading the article I was able to make connections to the information I was learning in entrepreneurship and also the information I was learning in economics and world economy. The article made me think about globalization and Americas impact on the rest of the world. One thing I recently learned in economics is the convergence hypothesis theory. The  “$100 Laptop” article is a perfect example of the convergence hypothesis theory. The theory explains that poorer economies per capita incomes will tend to grow at faster rates than richer economies and that there GDP will tend to get closer over time rather than separate. In other words America’s GDP and third world countries GDP will always be close to each other. Simply because countries trade and communicate. New technology in America will eventually get to developing countries, like the “$100 Laptop”, America has had the advantage of the internet for decades now but in 2002 Nicholas Negroponte, came up with an idea to introduce it to developing countries. The “$100 Laptop” is also an example of globalization, which is to bring world economies closer to one another. This also made me think of Americas influence on the rest of the world. Some say that America is helping the rest of the world by innovating and providing countries with needed living necessities and technology. On the other hand other some people believe that America’s innovations and strong economy come at the expenses of developing countries. In other words America is stepping on other countries and is the superpower of the world, and the distribution of power should be more spread out. With new discoveries in technology improving communication like the internet, the distribution of power and quality of living should be more spread out. Phones and the internet have been in America for decades now, but just in this last decade they are starting to make there way to developing countries. American private companies donate a lot of money to third world countries, but they need be innovative and create innovations in education to help these developing countries in the long run.



Above is a picture of the $100 Laptop 

Is America Afraid of Globalization?

Americans standard of living are dramatically higher than almost every other country. Even the poorest people in America are still wealthy compared to the rest of the world. Despite this America donates and provides new medicines to developing countries all the time, but that is not going to help these countries in the long run. Nicholas Negroponte’s “ $100 Laptop” idea will help developing countries in the long run. These laptops provide internet, and the internet has all the information anyone could possibly need. With these laptops citizens in developing countries will be able to educate themselves, and create innovative ideas for their own country. And as a result produce a higher standard of living for themselves. Rich Americans are always donating large amounts of money to causes like clean water, aids, and other needs. But I think these other countries problems will be solved quicker, if America made an effort to help developing countries educate themselves, and I think this is possible now with the internet. In turn this will create a better standard of living for everyone, not just Americans. Instead of America providing third world countries with new technology and consuming the third world country's resources, these less fortunate countries will be able to provide the U.S. with new innovations in technology. The poorest Americans make around $6700 a year while a quarter of the population in India lives on $1.00 a day (2). Americans are extremely fortunate, and in turn donate to other countries but they need to donate to the right cause. Education is the obvious solution to these developing countries problems yet America feels they help them enough by providing medicine and basic necessities. Maybe America is spoiled and wants all the power to themselves, and is afraid that a higher standard in living in other countries will lower theirs. But in reality this is not true globalization is a positive thing for the world, and benefits the whole world. Technology is improving innovations in communication, with this in mind there should be more exchanging of technology through different countries, but instead there remains a huge gap between the standard of living and quality of life between the United States and most other countries.

Works Cited
1. Quelch, John A. "Marketing the “$100 Laptop” (A)." Harvard Business. N.p., 28 Sept. 2008. Web.2."The Haves and the Have-Nots." Economix The Haves and the HaveNots Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-the-have-nots/>.