David Merkel
There are other technological changes, but the biggest one recently in business terms is the Internet. The creation of the Internet has changed the way people search for information. World Book Encyclopedia was owned by Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.A Quote - Cramer on BRK.A - Stock Picks), which thought it had a pretty good franchise until Microsoft(MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks) and others came out with their own cheaper encyclopedias on a CD-ROM. Now even these are getting competed away by Wikipedia.
Who else is being harmed by the Internet? Newspapers are under threat from all sides. Classified ads have been marginalized by eBay(EBAY Quote - Cramer on EBAY - Stock Picks), Craigslist, Monster(MNST Quote - Cramer on MNST - Stock Picks), etc. Regular advertising has been siphoned off by Google(GOOG Quote - Cramer on GOOG - Stock Picks), Yahoo!(YHOO Quote - Cramer on YHOO - Stock Picks) and others. What cultural changes are most driving your business now? Cultural changes affect demand for products. As more and more women entered the workforce, demand increased for prepared foods and dining out options. Demand decreased for Tupperware parties and things sold door-to-door. Cultural changes can also lower the costs of an operation. Outsourcing has lowered costs and improved time coverage for call centers, computer programming and many other service functions. The willingness of nations to embrace the cultural change of capitalism creates new markets that previously did not exist.
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