Internetization

Internetization (or internetisation - see spelling differences) is a word that was coined by Professor Constantine Passaris of the University of New Brunswick (Canada). It describes the pervasive and far reaching influence of the internet and the World Wide Web on all aspects of human endeavour in our contemporary society. Internetization has had a significant influence on the scope and magnitude of the new global economy of the 21st Century.
New economy
The new global economy of the 21st century has transformed the economic, social, educational and political landscape in a profound and indelible manner. The new economy is composed of a trilogy of interactive forces that include globalization, trade liberalization and the information technology and communications revolution. Globalization has melted national borders and redefined economic policy. Free trade has enhanced economic integration and extended the economic architecture. The information and communications revolution has made geography and time irrelevant and enhanced the reach of economic parameters.
Internet connectivity
The advent of the new economy has resulted in the fundamental restructuring of economic society. Electronic interconnectedness is the glue that holds the contemporary global economy together. The new economy is built on a culture of innovation and an emphasis on creativity. Indeed, the signature mark of the new global economy is new ideas, new technologies and new initiatives.
Internetization is a process that is empowered by the information and communications revolution in a world with a tremendous capacity for virtual connectivity. It has precipitated the global communications network that connects billions of people to data, machines and each other. Hardly a day goes by when our individual and collective lives are not touched by some aspect of the information technology and communications revolution. The electronic prefix that is appearing before an increasing number of our daily activities such as e-commerce, e-mail, e-learning, e-entertainment, e-banking, e-business and e-government is a tangible expression of the pervasive influence of the internet.
Economic restructuring
The information technology revolution has profoundly altered the structural parameters and modus operandi of most national economies. Internetization has become the catalyst and the engine that drives the information and communication revolution in the context of the new economy. This takes the form of the digitilazation of information and the creation of the information super highway. Indeed, the transformation from the industrial age to the information age has resulted in the restructuring of the work environment, the creation of new products and a reconfiguration of the macroeconomic system. In this regard, the new global economy has transformed the production process from the economies of scale experienced by the old economy to the economies of scope in the new economic landscape.
The role of information and communications technology in the new economy has been pivotal. This is particularly true of the changing structure of international production. In this context, business enterprises are integrating the production and marketing of goods and services across national borders. International economic transactions that were formerly conducted between independent entities are now being internalized within a single firm or a multinational corporation.

The new technological infrastructure has empowered services to be delinked from production and traded or performed remotely. In this contemporary venue the market for a growing number of internationally integrated but geographically dispersed business enterprises is global, rather than national or regional. Indeed, the collapse of time and space through the medium of the contemporary information and communications technologies has displaced the physical market with the virtual market of the internet for business to business and business to consumer transactions.
Knowledge industries
The new global economy of the 21st century has given birth to a new and vibrant knowledge sector. There is no denying that the emergence of the knowledge based economy was facilitated and empowered by internetization. More specifically, the knowledge based economy is fuelled by technology, human capital and research and development. This synergistic approach contributes to accelerating levels of productivity and economic performance. In short, the fuel of the new economy is technology and its currency is human capital. The product of the new economy is knowledge and its market is the virtual marketplace of the internet.
Multifaceted internetization
Internetization is multifaceted and multidimensional. This has become abundantly clear in the contemporary knowledge driven economy. At the very heart of the information technology applications for the knowledge based sector is the widespread use of computers and robotics. A collateral benefit of this transformation has been the extraordinary scale of research and development in the quest for new applications to the advances in information and communications technology. This has triggered the phenomenal growth of the software industry and related business services. Indeed, the scale of investment in computerized equipment and in the telecommunications infrastructure is unprecedented. In addition, the rapid growth of niche markets for satellite and peripheral industries supplying information and communications technology products and specialized components and services have catapulted the knowledge based sector into the leading sector of the new economy of the 21st century.

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