Differences between types of economies

There are three main types of economies in the world according to the types of business they do: 1. Agriculture based economy – This is the oldest form of economies in the world. The economy by its nature has small firms and has a limited economy of scale. The economy is usually prevalent in third world countries like Vietnam 2. Industrial economy – An industrial economy is stronger than an agricultural one, due to the larger size of firms and higher society will tend to have large firms, as industry has a substantial economy of scale.

Mnay of the countries started their developent stages from this type of economy 3. Service Economy – A service-based economy has its size dependent on the types of sevices it provides. This means not all industrial firms will be huge in size, and yet they cannot be considered as an economically weaker section. (Plexico n. d. ) Examples of all of these can be seen in the world, but the more advanced countries of the world are moving or have already moved from the first through the second to the third.

The US was the first country to become predominantly a Service economy (Plexico n. d. ) Impact of Computers on Business “Computer science is at a stage at which it can do more for the economy, more for the way business is done…” (Gates 2004) Many people believe that the single most important change in the society in recent times has been brought about by the introduction of computers. The three types of economies which were described in the earlier section have all been significantly affected by the invention of computers.

Initially Business used computers for only keeping track of accounts, money, or items that they need, but things changes at a lightning pace. It can be said that the speed, accuracy, the ability to do repetitive tasks – are the backbone of today’s research, manufacturing and production units. These characteristics also brought about the advent of the present Age of Information. The development of the World Wide Web …is a major breakthrough in the advancement of communication (Ayers 2007). The information age brought about the concept of global markets to the industrial and agriculture section.

While the prior age concept of ‘trade’ sounds pretty close, the difference is in the nature of open-markets, which are possible only because consumers know what is there for sale practically everywhere in the world. While for service sector too the open markets mean the wider scope for selling, the services themselves can be performed at much lower rates in different parts of the world. The open markets have in turn brought up the standard of product and service quality, as now the consumers have many options available for their purchases.

There are newer ways of buying and selling available to consumers, like the e-businesses, where one can practically shop or sell without leaving his home. In fact many economists believe that due to the advent of computers, the business has changed from being selling oriented – where consumers had to buy the products closely resembling their needs, to being consumer oriented – where consumer’s needs are the base for making newer products, and companies then design elaborate marketing plans to pamper the consumers so that they actually buy the particular product or service.

Speculation about the future impact of Computers on Business Computers have affected the business methods so much that many people consider that area is saturated. This is however not the case, according to the point of view of many scientist and engineers. The argument given here is that, while the computers have improved a lot from the time when it was the prerogative of a few select scientists and researchers, to the present usage by hundreds of millions of people – the interface needs to be brought much closer to the common man, especially in third world countries.

The first major impact would be when the computers would have perfected the art of conversation. The ability to speak to our computers is a critical part of the interface we will end up with (Ayers 2007). This would make the computers seem more ‘human’ to people. Another major improvement would be a perfect translation capability, which means people would no longer be hampered when they are interacting with a prospective buyer or seller from a different culture. Some other possible uses would be a cheaper single interface which would connect a person to his office, vehicle and home all times from any part of the world.

This would mean, there would no longer be any formal office locations. This possibility is a very real one, with many people already subscribing to the this work from home or any part of the world concept, however it is still not a part of the popular culture As is seen the computers have and would still continue to impact the way business is done. The technical advances have been phenomenal and would continue to be at the same pace, bringing the world closer. However, to integrate these technologies to modify ways of business would be up to the members of the business community.