Thus, the Information and communication technology (ICT)—i.e. electronic communication gadgets, computerized machinery, fiber optics, communication satellites, the Internet, and other ICT tools—became an important part of the world economy. the development of microcomputers greatly changed many businesses and industries. (Wikipedia)
ICT had narrowed down the parochial economic system with the internet and gadgets, territorial boundaries had collapsed virtually, opening doors to globalization. Thus, outsourcing had become possible. In the past, the economic fate of an individual was tied up to his own backyard, city, community, nation. With globalization, the economy without borders had become trendy. This allowed even the third world countries to compete with the first world in terms of job placement.
During this era, one of the most disturbing concerns is the replacement of human labor by computers. Thus, displacing the blue collared workforce, shrinking the economic possibilities for the handy work. As a result, the manual laborers had to upgrade themselves to enable themselves to join the “intellectual workers” or white collared (e.g. teachers, engineers, architects, artists, writers, lawyers,scientists, executives, journalists, consultants), who are able to compete successfully in the world market and a relatively high wages.
Common business capitalization during this era is “knowledge” based and technological know how.