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Lisa Gutowski
Evolution of Business
Introduction to Business
May 24, 2016

Abstract
I never really thought about how things were invented or when and how the world got to be the way it is today. But I am like every
other person alive today that just goes with the flow. I do not think about yesterday and how generations before me did without and
got by. We take the little things for granted. We forget how things were made by hand and how people walked were they had to go. We
rarely write letters, anymore. We pick up the phone or text to say hello. Who would of thought that while speaking to someone
thousands of miles away you can actually see their face at the exact moment they are speaking. We have been to the moon and back.
We have phone with no cords and we can do surgery with robots. Who would have thought that business has done so much to make
the world what it is today? Not I.

Post Civil
WarIndustrial
EraCOTTON
GIN

Pre-World
War IIWomen in
the
WorkforceAUTOMOBI
LE

Post -World
War IIDepression
-Television
POST CIVIL WAR

The change that took place in American business following the Civil War involved far more than a change in industrial
techniques or productivity. Business organizations expanded in size and volume There was an increase in factories and their
production. Before the Civil War most businesses were owned and operated by individuals or a group of people. One person usually
oversaw the daily business operations. At the beginning of the Civil War, there were only 400 millionaires in the United States. By
1892, the number had risen to 4,047. The emergence of the modern corporation was accompanied by many positive developments.
Through mechanization, standardization, and economies of scale, economic productivity soared. Between 1890 and 1929, the average
urban worker put in one less day of work a week and brought home three times as much in pay. The proportion of families confined to
the drudgery of farm life declined by half. Families enjoyed comforts and conveniences that were unimaginable before 1890. By 1929,

21st Century
-TechnologyComputers

Also the 21st

Century 9/11Internet Safety
Issues

nine out of ten Americans had electricity and indoor plumbing; four-fifths had automobiles; two-thirds had radios; and nearly half
refrigerators and phonographs. At the same time, infant mortality fell by two-thirds, and life expectancy increased (Copyright 2016
Digital History, May 25, 2016).

An invention of that time era that changed business is the cotton gin.

There are many organizations and departments in business world today. Large corporations have a multitude of people running and
supervising them. Very few people rely on farming as their main source of income. With new medicines and healthcare evolving life
expectancy has increased even more.

WORLD WAR II
During the war 17 million new civilian jobs were created, industrial productivity increased by 96
percent, and corporate profits after taxes doubled. Over one-third of the output of industry was due to the
war., but the expanded productivity ensured a remarkable supply of consumer goods to the people as well.
America was not the only one that saw an expansion of consumer goods despite wartime rationing. BY

1944, as a result of wage increases and overtime pay, real weekly wages before taxes in manufacturing
were 50 percent higher than in 1939. The war also created entire new technologies, industries, and
associated human skills.
The war brought full employment and a fairer distribution of income. Blacks and women entered the
workforce for the first time. Wages increased; so did savings. The war brought the consolidation of union
strength and far-reaching changes in agricultural life. Housing conditions were better than they had been
before (THE AMERICAN PROSPECT, GOODWIN, DORIS, FALL 1992, MAY 25,2016).
An invention that changed business in the automobile.
Women and the black community are considered equal and have the right to have the same
advantages as anyone else.

POST WORLD WAR II

The Great Depression began to unfold due to an under-regulated private banking system, a legacy of Andrew Jacksons long-ago
war on central banking, had managed to wobble its dysfunctional way into the modern era. Some twenty-five thousand banks, most of

them highly fragile unitary institutions with tiny service areas, little or no diversification of clients or assets, and microscopic
capitalization, constituted the astonishingly vulnerable foundation of the national credit. As for governmentpublic spending at all
levels, including towns, cities, counties, states, and the federal government itself, amounted only to about 15 percent of the gross
domestic product in the 1920s, one-fifth of which was federal expenditures. Ideology aside, its very size made the federal government
in the 1920s a kind of ninety-pound weakling in the fight against the looming depression (CROSBY, 2007).

Some people feel that we are now going through a depression. But after doing this research we are nowhere close. Yes, there are
homeless and people who need more food to eat but we are not even close to the devastation that occurred during that time period.
An invented that changed business is the television. From black and white to televisions that are not even an inch thick. Never would
of imagined.

21st CENTURY
1- The Internet was in style. Entrepreneurs saw potential in online business. However, online business was really in its infancy.
Everyone was talking about a "new economy" which referred to an Internet-driven economy. Most of the dot.com stocks, like
Yahoo.com, were listed on the NASDAQ. In January of 2000, the NASDAQ closed above 5000. The NASDAQ is now trading around
2100. Investors were getting rich off unprofitable stocks with high prices and higher price/earnings ratios - firms like software
companies and all things computer and Internet. Cisco Systems, for example, traded at more than 150 times earnings in March of
2000. In April of 2000, an inflation report caused the speculative bubble to burst and there were huge investment losses. (BIZ
FINANCE, MAY 25 2016).
The internet has changed the world in so many ways. You can look up anything and everything, even yourself. Now there is so
much criminal activity on the computer that one must be very careful especially our children.
Another event that happened is 9/11
The 9/11 terrorist attacks were the events that helped shape other financial events of the decade. After that terrible day in
September 2001, our economic climate was never to be the same again. It was only the third time in history that the New York Stock
Exchange was shut down for a period of time. In this case, it was closed from September 10 - 17. Besides the tragic human loss of that
day, the economic loss cannot even be estimated. Some estimate that there was over $60 billion in insurance losses alone.

Approximately 18,000 small businesses were either displaced or destroyed in Lower Manhattan after the Twin Towers fell. There was
a buildup in homeland security on all levels. 9/11 caused a catastrophic financial loss for the U.S. (By Rosemary, Peavler ).

Besides affecting businesss, it has had an impact on everyone in the regard of being safe. Are we safe in the land of the free and
home of the brave?

REFERENCES
(Copyright 2016 Digital History, May 25, 2016).
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3165
(THE AMERICAN PROSPECT, GOODWIN, DORIS, FALL 1992).
http://prospect.org/article/way-we-won-americas-economic-breakthrough-during-world-war-ii
Crosby, A. (2007, Summer). The Columbian Exchange. History Now 12. Retrieved May 25, 2016
from http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/

BIZ Finance retrieved May 25,2016

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From http://bizfinance.about.com/od/currentevents/tp/Top_Ten_Fin_Events_Decade.htm