FREE ESSAY ON THE RISE OF THE NETWORKS

THE RISE OF THE NETWORKS

Information economy or the other words, knowledge economy is vey hot in the last two years
in China though a lot of people still have no clear idear about this conception. American
economic structure's change gives us a good example. In my personal opinion that the most
part in the world still keep in the production economy, however they also make a change
to adapt new information economy. 
When we talk about the information economy, we couldn't pass the information technology
revolution. It is the material basis for the information economy. Through the advance
technology,the capital ,the information, the market and the lad can be connected making a
global one. 
Also we shall realize that old society's attemp to retool itself by using the power of
technology to derve the technology of power. 
The main charcterof the information economy is that the productivity is based on the
capacity to generate,process, and apply efficiently knowledge-based information. The
information itself to become the product of the production process. First the pure
manufacturing is slowing dwn in the whole economy. It will not be vanished, but is
increasing throughpartly hidden avenues, in expanding circles. Technology,and management
of technology involving organizational change, could be diffusing from information
technologymanufacturing ,telecommunications,and finanical services into manufacturing
,then to business service. 
Obviousely, the services industry in U.S or other G-7 cuntries, such as
telecommunications, air transportantion, increase very fast The dynamics of the economy
growth is not the engery but the information and knowledge based technology. In this
process, the state act as an important role. Since the mid-1980s states all over the
world have also engaged in deregulating markets and privatizing public companies. At the
same time, states make technological and educational policies in order to improving the
power of country's competition. Actually , we can expect the information economy bring us
a new way to organize the world's economy structure. 
How has the third world been effected?
Since the economy became informational and global, every country should adjust the
organization to fit for the trend. How has the third world been effected in new economy?
On the one hand, the unbalance is still serious. If add to the OECD the four newly
industrialized countries of Asia, in 1988 the three major economic regions respresented
72.8% of the worldis manufacturing production, and in 2000, their share still amount to
69.5%, while the population of these three region is only 15.7% of the world population.

The concentration of the resources is even greater at the core of the system. In 1990 the
G-7 countries account for 90.5% of highotechnology manufacturing in the world, and were
holding 80.4%percent of global computer power. The differential in human resources is
critical: while the world avarge of scientific and technical manpower in 1985 was 23,442
per million population, the actual figure for developing countries was 8,263; for
developed countries, 70,452; and for North America, 126,200, that is more than 15 times
the level of developing countries. As for R&d expenditures, while North America accounted
for 42.8% of the worldis total in 1990, Latin America and Africa together represented
less than 1% of the same total. 
On the other hand, the information economy give a chance to the third worlk to try to
different developing styles. The author give a high value to the model of the East Asia.
The developmed Asia is become a main manufacture region in the world by 2000. Furthermore
the importance of this manufacture is in electronic ,the critical sector for the
information economy, and may also take the lead in autombile manufacturing. 
The other important power is Chinese circule. In this area , they experience one of the
largest waves of industrialization. Since this book is written 4 years ago, things
changed a lot now. The developing model of Asia is also proved his disadvantage. The
Finaincal Crisis in south-east Asia hit the Asia so strongly that every Asia country has
to check their organization again. 
Latin America gave us another example. In this area, they tried three different economy
models,but non of them seems very successiful. The first was based on export of raw
material and agricultural production; the second was based on import-substitution
industrialization, The third was based on an outward development strategy. Though they
seemed to be worked in some period, but the first deteriorated in the 1960s,the second
was exhausted by the end of the 1970s,and the third failed by 1980s, leaving the 1990s as
a critical period of restructuring in the relationship of the Latin America to the new,
global economy. 
The failture is artributed to two facts. The structure ;What the growth of manufacturing
exports was concentrated in primary resource-based products and food industries, while
science-based products and specialize-supplierproducts is too limited. It just because
the disablity of high-technology. That is the inportant aspect of the information
economy. So decreasing technology capacity afected negatively the whole productive
structure,undermining productvity and competitiveness in strategic sectors.The other fact
is the gap in the North and South.I means the education, the ablity of high technology
distribuation , the skill of the work lab,etc seems more important in information economy
age than before.What they should do is restructure , open up new market and stimulate
technological diffusion. 
Afican sutiation is more serious. Though it has some inprovenment in the last years, the
conditions of competitives in the new informational ,global economy were too far away
from what could be accomplished in the short term by rather primitive economies. But the
author still give us a hopeful look at this continent.The most hopeful prospects for
future development in Afric comes from the potential role that could be played by the
new, democratic, blcak-majority South Africa, with strong economic and technological
linkages to the global economy. It can also lead his neighbores. 
What does the network society mean?
I thinkthe basic meaning is from the technology. new telecommunication networks; new,
powerful desktop computers; new,adaptive,self-evolving software; new, mobile
communication devices that extend on-line linkages to any space at any time; new workers
and managers, connected to each other around tasks and performance, able to speak the
same language, the digital language. 
But first of all the network is business networks, or on other words, the informational
and global economy. For the first time in history ,the basic unit of economic
organization is not a subject, be it individual or collective. The unit is the network,
made up of a variety of subjects and organizations, underdifferent forms, in different
contexts,and from different cultural expressions.
Family based networks in Chinese societies and Northern Italy: entrepreneurial networks
emerging from technological seedbeds in the milieux of innovation, as in Silicon Valley;
hierarchical, communal networks of the Japanese keiretsu type; organizational networks of
decentralized corporate units from former vertically integrated corporation forced to
adapt to the realities time, and cross-border networks resulting from strategic alliances
between firms.
I think when we say somthing about the networks soceity, we should pay more attention to
the global economy. The technology made it possible that economy become global and
informational. Then the global economy connect the different part of the world like a big
net. They cooperate in global degree and also competition in global degree. That force
constant redefinitons of products, processes,markets and economic inputs, including
capital and information. 
The rise of the networks society is also means the change of the society and culture,
because changes in relationships of production ,power,and experience coverge toward the
transformation of material foundations of the society life,space,and time. Under the
informational paradigm, a new culture has emerged from the superseding of places and the
annihilation of timeby the space of flows and by timeless time: the culture of real
virluality.