9: RELATIONSHIP TECH

Start with Technology, End with Trust

The central economic imperative of the industrial age was to increase productivity. Every aspect of an industrial firm--from its machines to its organizational structure--was tailored to enhance the efficiency of economic production. But today productivity is a nearly meaningless byproduct in the network economy.

The central economic imperative of the network economy is to amplify relationships.

Every aspect of a networked firm--from its hardware to its distributed organization--is created to increase the quantity and quality of economic relationships.