ABSTRACT

The advance of industrialization was not high on the world’s agenda after World War II compared to the challenge of restoring war-torn economies and preventing another depression. The world’s third phase of the industrial revolution had several primary facets. First, there were a number of major new industrial revolutions. Expansion started slowly, with particular focus on the Pacific Rim. But by the 1990s a number of huge economies, including India and China, pulled into the process. The international implications of the industrial revolution emerged ever more strongly from the 1950s onward. New industrial revolutions combined with the steady expansion of the industrialized economies added up to more industrialization around the world. The greatest organizational innovation associated with the contemporary phase of the world’s industrial revolution centered on the development of multinational corporations. The third phase of world industrialization also saw a new movement of labor from less-developed societies to the highly industrialized nations.