IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
Impacts of Technological Advances on Businesses
George S. Shara
West Bloomfield High School
Author Note
4925 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48323
1
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
2
Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to look at how technology has changed overtime and how it
has had a major impact on many big businesses now and even back then. Many businesses, such
as Apple, use technology on a day-to-day basis. Businesses also use technology in order to think
of faster and more efficient ways to do production. Some of the biggest entrepreneurs in United
States history, such as J.P. Morgan, J.D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Andrew
Carnegie, used the technology of their time period in order to establish their magnificent
products that their business to strive for success. I will be talking about many of the different
kinds of technology that was used in the past by these entrepreneurs. Furthermore, I will be
discussing how businesses in today’s society use programs, such as Excel and PowerPoint, on a
day-to-day basis for business planning, production, etc... I will also briefly be discussing about
how these programs were created and who created them.
Keywords: Technology, businesses, Excel, PowerPoint, Entrepreneurs (J.P. Morgan, J.D.
Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Andrew Carnegie).
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
3
Impacts of Technological Advances on Businesses
Businesses are always striving to be the best in what they do. They do this through new
inventions and technological advances. Businesses are always competing with one another in
order to dominate the market. Competition between businesses encourages them to be more
efficient through breakthroughs to eliminate the opposition. Competition in businesses has been
around since the business age with Andrew Carnegie, J.D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan up until
this very day with companies such as Apple and Samsung.
Carnegie Steel
Andrew Carnegie is and will always be remembered as one the best and most successful
entrepreneurs in American. Andrew Carnegie grew up in a poor family and he was forced to
start working at the age of twelve (Channel, The Men Who Built America, 2012). When
Carnegie was younger he established a goal for himself. He wanted to grow up and not follow
the footsteps of his father. He wanted to create a great future for himself and wanted to be
wealthy. At one point in his life he was asked to build a bridge across the Mississippi River.
Carnegie knew he would need to use something strong in order to build the bridge. He worked
with many scientists in finding out a new product that would be able to hold the bridge. That is
when they found the idea of using steel to build the bridge because of how strong it is. As a
result, the bridge that was made out of steel was a complete success as he was able to show the
people that steel building was a success with an elephant that walked across it (Chanel, The Men
Who Built America, 2012). This was when he came to the conclusion that steel would be the
future of America. He finally came up with the idea of Carnegie Steel and that is when America
was changed forever.
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
4
Andrew Carnegie’s steel making business became a global market success. He became
the biggest producer of steel in the world and one of the richest people in the world. In America,
he was for providing steel for the production of bridges, skyscrapers, factories, railroads, and
weapons. Carnegie’s new invention of steel in America overpowered all domestic and
international competition as he was always looking to expand his business and never gave up in
doing so. Today, steel is still being produced here in the United States and many other places all
over the world (Boselovic, 2001). Carnegie Steel transformed America from a post-Civil War
dump, into the fastest growing country in the world (Chanel, The Men Who Built America,
2012).
Rockefeller’s Oil 1
Andrew Carnegie could not build America up to what it is today all on his own. John D.
Rockefeller is arguably the most successful entrepreneur in United States history. Rockefeller
comes from a pretty wealthy family. He saw oil as a necessity and the future of America.
Rockefeller eventually decided to create an oil company. In 1870, he founded Standard Oil
Company which changed the lives of the American people for quite some time (Wikipedia,
2015). He was able to completely dominate and master the petroleum industry.
The main purpose and use for John D. Rockefeller’s oil was to provide light in homes all across
the country. People would use the oil in lamps as a way to light up the inside of their houses.
Oil then became a necessity for the American people and they were all forced to buy it or else
they would have no light in their homes. This made Standard Oil Company one of the biggest
growing companies in America and John D. Rockefeller the richest man in U.S. history with a
net worth of three hundred thirty six billion dollars in today’s economy (Wikipedia, 2015).
Rockefeller was smart with how he did business and made sure he canceled out all competition.
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
5
This made him the largest producer and distributer of oil in the world. In a way, John D.
Rockefeller could be considered a hero to the American people as he was able to provide the
people with light in their homes. As a result of Standard Oil Company, oil is one of the biggest
products consumed by consumers and producers. There is a rough estimate of about thirty-four
billion barrels of oil used every year and each barrel contains forty-two gallons of oil (FAQs:
Oil, 2015).
John D. Rockefeller vs. J.P. Morgan. Even though John D. Rockefeller and his
Standard Oil was one the biggest companies in the world, Rockefeller’s will be put to a test. In a
growing America, there will always be technological advances and people always coming up
with new and more efficient inventions. J.P. Morgan came into the American market and made
an immense impact on Rockefeller and his oil company. J.P. Morgan came up with the idea of a
new way to light the homes of many Americans across the country. This is when he came to the
idea of electricity. He saw electricity as the future of America which is why he invested all he
had into it.
J.P. Morgan obviously could not do it all on his own as he worked with a man by the
name of Thomas Edison, who was a scientist that helped developed the idea of electricity
(Peterson, 2012). J.P. Morgan was right when he said that Electricity would be the future of
America as it was a huge break threw for the American people as people all across the country
started to use it to light their homes, and even businesses. Today, electricity effects every person
in the world in some way. In the United States alone the annual electricity consumption by an
individual is 10,908 kilowatt-hours a year, with an average of 909 kilowatt-hours a month
(Frequently Asked Questions, 2015). If it was not for J.P. Morgan and his amazing idea of
electricity, and the creation of it by Thomas Edison, who knows when electricity would have
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
6
been created. Morgan’s electricity company practically put Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company
out of business since everyone was turning to electricity. This is what caused Rockefeller to look
to a new invention that would assist in the invention of another American inventor and change
America, and the world forever.
Henry Ford and J.D. Rockefeller Start To Get Along. In the early 1920s, a new
entrepreneur by the name of Henry Ford came into the market. The 1920s and a little later on
after that was a horrible time for America as it was when The Great Depression broke out across
the whole country. At this time many people in America were extremely poor and could not
afford anything. Then Ford came along with the idea of his automobile car. He knew that
people very tight on money which is why he invented the first affordable car. His new
technological advancement and being able to make the automobile car more affordable changed
the lives of many American. Despite The Great Depression, the American people were able to
afford Ford’s cars. Today, Ford Motor Company is still considered to be very nice car while at
the same very affordable. Now all of this could not have been without the assistance of John D.
Rockefeller. As I mentioned earlier, J.D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil business started to go out of
business so he had to think of alternative. This is when he started to think about what he could
do with byproduct, kerosene that was created from the oil. He worked with a group of scientists
and found that the kerosene could be used to make gasoline and that could be used to power
motors, factories, and even Henry Ford’s automobiles. Gasoline stations were put all across the
country and were used to run the affordable automobiles that Ford made. With Rockefeller’s
invention of gasoline, he was able to make Henry Ford’s cars run and business was amazing for
both of them. (Channel, 2012 )
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
7
Technological Advancement Overtime. Technological advancement has had an enormous impact
on the aspect of operations for businesses. One of the biggest technological advancements that
affected operations in a business was Henry Ford’s idea of the assembly line. The assembly line
is a system of operations that focusses on a specific part of a manufacturing business and makes
mass amounts of the part. With the assembly line, Henry Ford was able to go from making a car
in multiple hours to ninety minutes (Paterson, 2012). The assembly line completely changed the
way operations in manufacturing works is used by almost every manufacturing company in the
world. This system of operations made production cheaper and more efficient. Also, things such
as cell phones have had a major impact on employer and employee relations. Back when there
was no cell phones if an employee wanted to contact their employer it was quite difficult because
they would have to find out where they are in order to talk to them or send them a letter which
takes a long time. Now if an employee wants to contact their employer it can be done almost
constantly with a cell phone. Instead of having to go through all that trouble, with a cell phone
they can immediately just call their employer and there is no wait or delay. This has made
employer and employee relations more efficient and communicative. Business laws have also
been immensely impacted by technological advancements. The biggest and most effective
technological advancement was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This changed business laws all
across America as businesses were no longer to discriminate against people based on their race,
color, sex, religion etc… Lastly, media is probably the biggest technological advancement in
today’s society as it affects consumer buying behavior. Businesses are always trying to
influence consumers to buy their product through social media such as Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook. They also trying to influence people through television commercial, newspaper ads,
and on the radio. All of these factors play a huge roll on whether consumers want to buy their
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
product or not as it convinces them whether it is or is not the right product for them. (Channel,
2012)
8
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
References
Boselovic, L. (2001, february 25 ). PG News . Retrieved from post-gazette.com : http://old.postgazette.com/businessnews/20010225ussteel2.asp
FAQs: Oil. (2015 ). Retrieved from International Energy Agency :
http://www.iea.org/aboutus/faqs/oil/
Frequently Asked Questions. (2015, February 20). Retrieved from U.S. Energy Information
Administration: http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=97&t=3
Peterson, J. (Director). (2012). The Men Who Built America [Motion Picture].
Wikipedia. (2015, May 5). John D. Rockefeller. Retrieved from Wikipedia.com :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller
9