ABSTRACT
The development of a computer-based information infrastructure in the United States in the seventies and eighties created an implosion in an economy already being torn apart by the application of computer technology in other sectors. Information is the raw material of the decision-making process in the corporation and the marketplace, and it is an essential prerequisite for political democracy. Databanks and electronic information infrastructures have changed all aspects of the modern organization, from their management and operation to the way they make decisions. Newspapers and book publishers were collecting, processing, and distributing their products throughout the world using computer-based infrastructures. McGraw-Hill, one of the largest book publishers in the United States and the owner of Business Week, was one of these. The company began to diversify throughout the range of electronic and electronic-related financial information and databank services. Dun & Bradstreet is a major player in the electronic financial information services business.
