The New Industrial Revolution

This article outlines a new framework for understanding the current period of global restructuring, focusing on the relationship between technological change and organizational change. After reviewing the major approaches in the debate over future pathways to industrialization, a new perspective for understanding the ‘new industrial revolution’ is presented. At the core of this revolution is the emergence of a series of powerful new industrial technologies, which is giving rise to new forces of production and a concomitant transformation in production organization. A new shop floor is emerging, in which innovation and production, intellectual and manual labour are increasingly integrated. As this process of industrial restructuring evolves, success will depend on organizational forms which effectively harness and mobilize collective intelligence.