Prologue

The world is in the midst of what an economic historian of the future is going to call the third industrial revolution (steam being the first and electrification the second). This revolution is based upon technological leaps forward and interactions among six key technologies — microelectronics, computers, telecommunication, new man-made materials, robotics, and biotechnology. In revolutionary periods strategies have to change but, more importantly, the way that firms think about strategies has to change.