| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 4, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| COVER STORY -- THE INTERNET AGE -- BUSINESS
A Thumbnail History of Disruptive Technologies Horse-drawn carriages seem romantic today, but the industry virtually disappeared within a decade after the introduction of the Model T in 1908. Radio didn't die when television came along, but our grandparents would hardly recognize how we use it today. When a technology comes along that seems to change everything, the ultimate implications are not always readily apparent. RAILROADS Railroads enabled manufacturers, merchants, and farmers to sell to far bigger markets than ever before. The expanded markets and more efficient transportation in bulk made possible all sorts of other innovations, such as large-scale assembly lines. TELEPHONE It was perhaps the greatest breakthrough in information technology ever. Large-scale, centrally managed corporations --such as General Motors--would have been impossible without it. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE The automotive and truck industry fueled the boom of the 1920s and breathed life into the petroleum, rubber, glass, and highway-construction industries. It also enabled employers to draw on a much larger pool of workers. ELECTRIC POWER Electric power is the classic example of an ''enabling technology,'' also called a ''general purpose'' technology. By bringing power to any point, it makes every part of the economy more efficient. RADIO, TELEVISION & MOVIES Mass communication brought large economies of scale to entertainment and information. These technologies created industries that had no predecessors. JET TRAVEL Like railroads, jet travel dramatically increased the span of markets that companies could sell to. And like the telephone, the rapid speed of jet travel made it easier to control multinational corporations from one headquarters. PLASTICS This was the dawn of the materials revolution. The ability to make new materials to order greatly expanded what could be done in terms of manufacturing. MICROELECTRONICS The invention of the transistor and then the integrated circuit made information processing far cheaper and faster than ever before. The eventual result: the Internet Age. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS The Internet Economy: the World's Next Growth Engine TABLE: A Thumbnail History of Disruptive Technologies TABLE: Outposts on the Net INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
