Friedman's The World is Flat, How Companies Cope, Lesson #7

Outsourcing isn't just for Benedict Arnolds. It's also for idealists.

Triple convergence, has, as Friedman insists, flattened the world. Information can access regional manpower capabilities in ways never before imagined. From an idealist's perspective, one benefit is the ability to enhance the lives of people in 3rd world nations.

Two ex-McKinsey employees started a digitizing company with typists in Cambodia. Those typists were paid twice the country's minimum wage, worked six hours a day six days a week, and went to school for the rest of their workdays. The company now employs 170 people in three offices.

"Our goal was to break the vicious cycle there of young people having to drop out of school to support families," says founder Jeremy Hockenstein. "We have tried to pioneer socially responsible outsourcing."