Description

The second industrial revolution lasted from about 1875 to 1930. It was powered by

inventions such as electricity, the telephone and the internal combustion engine and

automobile, as well as new synthetics and alloys and new applications of steel and

oil. These advances were made possible by the unprecedented availability of capital

and the creation of the modern business organization. Among the revolution's many

socio-economic effects were greater mobility, a growing middle class and the

beginnings of more widespread leisure time5.

Although different in many ways, these industrial revolutions shared certain

characteristics. First, each was founded upon one or more new technologies that

fundamentally changed manufacturing processes in a number of industries. Second,

the adoption of these new technologies made it possible for manufacturers to

improve productivity, which ultimately resulted in greater purchasing power and

higher standards of living for broad segments of the population. Finally, these new

technologies exerted profound and lasting effects on how people worked, socialized

and used their leisure time.

Today the Internet is at the heart of a third industrial revolution. Made possible by

technological advances in computer hardware, software, and telecommunications,

the Internet has forced companies everywhere to reinvent themselves and the way

they do business. This transformation in business practices has fueled

unprecedented gains in productivity, generated both by improvements in efficiency

and the creation of new markets. At the same time, the Internet is profoundly.