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Saint John-based Ambir sees Atlantic Canada as an IT hub for global economy Matt McCann Ian Cavanagh wants people in the province to realize the world is flat
Struck by Friedman's metaphor of a flat world and a hope that the concept could help the Atlantic region's economy, Cavanagh wondered if he could register flatworld.com for his business. A quick online search determined that it was already taken, but there was no actual website there. So Cavanagh emailed the domain owner asking if he could have the name, and received a negative response from someone living in South Korea. Though his co-workers told him to give up, Cavanagh, who has worked in South Korea, knew better. "For folks who haven't worked in Asia, you have to appreciate the cultural differences," he said. "Sometimes it's all about the art of negotiation. The mere fact that he responded was indication that maybe we could at least have a conversation." He sent a note back thanking the person for their response and asking if there were any set of circumstances under which they would consider selling the name, but they still said no. Finally, Cavanagh sent a message asking how much it would take to buy the name. "They responded with a number that was shocking," Cavanagh said. "I sent another note back saying 'we're not prepared to pay that, however, we are prepared to pay this'." Eventually, Cavanagh got what he wanted. "We bought flatworld.com over the internet, from a person that we never met in South Korea, and paid thousands of dollars for it," he said. "So lo and behold, that's how the flat world operates." Cavanagh has since trademarked the term Flatworld in Canada, the U.S., the E.U. and South Africa, with it pending in some other Asian countries including China and India. "Many times we in Atlantic Canada jump to the reasons why we can't," he said. "Historically, we've not always been good at selling. I think it's something we need to get better at to be successful in the flat world." Cavanagh said he would love to see New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada embrace IT as an opportunity to help propel the region forward in the new global economy. "Our belief is that in order to achieve our long-term goals of being sustainable in the region, we have to contribute to our local economy. That means bringing work here." ©Telegraph-Journal 2009 |
As CEO of Saint John-based IT company Ambir, Cavanagh, who has plenty of experience working within our globalized economy, said the region needs to start seeing itself as part of this flat world. Conceived by author Thomas Friedman, the term flat world refers to the idea that globalization has levelled the economic playing field between countries, thanks to forces like technology, the internet boom and bust, as well as geopolitical differences and our ability to travel.