ABSTRACT
The title of this chapter is a combination of the title of a television series of the 1980s, The Shock of the New, concerning the quest for the ‘new’ age from the late nineteenth century onwards, and the work of the economist Danny Quah who claims that the new or ‘weightless’ economy has created de-materialized products, for example, software (Quah 2001). This chapter argues that these claims for the existence of a new ‘eEconomy’ and its weightlessness are excessive. Many economic activities are still rooted in producing manufactured goods that are to be sold in shopping malls and high streets, and also in services that do not require the intermediary of a computer for their production and delivery. One of the most enduring, and possibly global, industries is motor manufacturing. Most leading businesses in the world are still large, bureaucratic entities, displaying hierarchical organizational characteristics (du Gay 2000). What has changed, or what is possibly new, is the deeper and wider use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the production, exchange and distribution of products and services. These technologies speed up time to market and initiate new organizational possibilities, for example supply and value chain management.
