Chapter 9: Technology and Business

The History of Technology

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Technology Influences Businesses

  • Technology refers to the tools and machines that people have invented to make life easier.
  • Perhaps the most common technology staple in businesses today is the computer.
  • Even the simplest invention can have a huge impact on business.
  • Telephones were so useful that making them became a big business.
    • Companies specialized in making them.
    • Machinists were needed to make parts.
  • There was a constant demand to produce new and more efficient tools.
  • In time, cordless phones, cell phones, and radio telephones became useful tools for business and consumers.
  • Since the invention of the telephone, countless new inventions have changed the way we live, work, and do business.
  • Business and consumers constantly demand smaller, faster, cheaper, and more powerful electronic devices.

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Technology and the E-Workforce

  • The e-workforce consists of people who work with computers while doing business.
  • According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 77 million workers use computers daily.
  • Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, which uses the Internet to do business, means businesses can reach customers directly anywhere in the world.
  • Innovation means more jobs and more people learning new skills.
  • Technology allows people to work easier and faster.
  • A digital workflow links all the steps in a process digitally.
    • Paper workflow, sending information in paper form, requires workers to exchange many pages of paper.
    • By switching to a digital format, less paper is involved.

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E-Commerce

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The Importance of Virtual Business

  • The ease of doing business via the Internet has created a boom in new online businesses.
  • A start-up is a newly formed business that is usually small.
  • Everyone hooked up to the Internet is a potential customer.
  • E-tail is electronic retail.
    • E-tailers sell products over the Internet through e-commerce.
  • This type of company is called a multi-channel retailer.
    • It uses several methods to sell products.
  • Businesses often call their stores and warehouses brick-and-mortar, referring to the actual buildings.
  • Businesses that also use the Internet are called clicks-and-mortar operations.
    • Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble is a clicks-and-mortar company.
  • E-tail benefits include convenience and choices
  • E-tail disadvantages include buying power, additional charges, immediacy, and relying on observation
  • Businesses find that customers want to buy more goods and services online.
  • Using their computers, people can now purchase an e-ticket, or electronic ticket.
    • Approximately 70 percent of travelers in the United States now shop for airline tickets online.

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