I heard a motivational quote the other day by an unknown author “Technology does not drive change — it enables change.” Think about it, back in the days of the Pony Express it would take days or even weeks to get news from one state to the next. Today, all one has to do is login to their Twitter or Facebook account, post an update and it is there for the world to see in a matter of seconds.
The idea of change was a massive driving factor in the election of our 44th President Barack Obama. As a way to help the United States with our economic problems, Obama and his cabinet are pushing for in the improvement of technology in the United States. With this they hope to use technology to create jobs, booster innovation and enable change to get us out of the recession.
The Great Depression was the largest economic downturn our nation has ever faced. That old industrial economy is no where near what our economy is at today in means of technology, yet I read and hear all the time that the recession we are enduring today might just be as devastating as the one our nation faced in the late 20’s throughout the 30’s. I don’t believe this to be true. 1000ventures.com put together an informative chart comparing and contrasting the economy of the 1930’s to the economy of 2009. According to them there are three forces driving our current economy:
Knowledge – intellectual capital as a strategic factor; a set of understandings used by people to make decisions or take actions that are important to the company
Change – continuous, rapid and complex; generates uncertainty and reduces predictability
Globalization – in R&D, technology, production, trade, finance, communication and information, which has resulted in opening of economies, global hypercompetition and interdependency of business.
If President Obama is able to keep his promise on creating a more technological able nation, I don’t see our current recession lasting much longer. Our current workforce is more inviting to change and has the drive to enable it. Below I have recreated the chart put together by 1000ventures.com to highlight the major technological differences between The Old Industrial Economy and The New Technological Advanced Economy:
| Issue | Industrial Economy | Knowledgeable Economy |
| Markets | ||
| Lifecycle of Products and Technologies | Long | Short – customers are always on the look out for the next best thing in terms on innovation |
| Key Economy Drivers | Large industrial firms | Innovative entrepreneurial knowledge-based firms |
| Competition: Name of the Game | Size: The big eats the small | Speed: The fast eats the slow |
| Enterprise | ||
| Key Sources of Innovation | Research | Research, systemic innovation, knowledge management, integration, new business creation, venture strategies, new business models |
| Key Technology Drivers | Automation and mechanization | Information and communication technology, e-business, computerized design and manufacturing |
| Main Sources of Competitive Advantage | Access to raw materials, cheap labor, and capital for conversion; cost reduction through economies of scale | Distinctive capabilities: institutional excellence, moving with speed; competitive strategies |
| Innovation Processes | Periodic, linear | Continuous, systemic |
| Business Model | Traditional: command-and-control | New: refocused on people, knowledge, and coherence |
| Work Force | ||
| Leadership | Vertical | Shared: employee empowerment & self-leadership |
| Work force characteristics | Mainly male, high proportion of semi-skilled or unskilled | No gender bias; high proportion of graduates |
| Skills | Mono-skilled, standardized | Multi-skilled, flexible |
| Education Requirements | A skill or a degree | Continuous learning: It’s not what you know, it’s how fast you can learn |
| Management-Employee Relations | Confrontation | Cooperation, teamwork |
| Employment | Stable | Affected by market opportunity / risk factors |
| Employees Seen as | Expense | Investment |
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