Customer Reviews

The New Industrial Revolution: The Power of Dynamic Value Chains

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A compelling read. The authors state the term revolution has two very distinctive meanings, a radical change and a full cycle. Tracing the evolution of manufacturing technology from the first industrial revolution the authors provide insight how the current trends in the electronics industry are both a radical change and a full cycle, and how these can be applied to other industries. History repeats itself, but always with a twist and the authors provide thought provoking insights to current trends such globalization or outsourcing. A must read.

Provides a overview of how the IC evolution combines with globalization enables a redefinition of the consumer electronic space. Discussed how consumer electronic design is changing by IC suppliers enabling manufacturers to specialize in sub portions of a project and by this driving to overall product cost down.

Detailed description of how the forces are at work and discusses what to expect from other industries, where similar development could be foreseen.

On top of this it provides a detailed overview of the history that paved the way for these events.

The book does make one think again about outsourcing and how and what can get affected by global outsourcing.

It's one thing to read about history, in this case The Industrial Revolution. It's another thing to be shown that you are living through the creation of the new history, The New Industrial Revolution. Benny Madsen and Rob Brownstein explain to us what has been going on right in front of our eyes -- the changing landscape of industry. How things are done in the world utilizing the new technologies has made it clear that industry will never be the same.

Take the time to read this clearly thought out and extremely insightful book and you can surely apply the lessons learned to your business. Or simply be able to view the world with a better understanding of how you are affected by the new world order.

I especially liked the history lesson, which is filled with the who did what and when of so many things that I lived through. Fascinating stuff.

Highly reccommended.

Marc S. Axelrod

Broadcast Professional, University Associate Professor, Writer

Rob and Benny have created an excellent book chronicling the parallels between the first industrial revolution and the "new" industrial revolution (enabled by IC technology and the web) and impacts to the value chain. Using the rise of modern consumer electronics the authors compare and contrast the first and second industrial revolutions and their impacts on consumers, companies and the global economy.

This is a must read for managers and students of the history of technology. The authors prescribe that the modern consumer electronics value delivery chain is enabled by disaggregation of large vertically integrated companies into confederations of smaller specilized companies around the globe that leverage standards, modern IC's and the internet to deliver more complex new products faster and cheaper. They explain by example how many of the changes in the consumer electronics value chain are leveragable to other industries value chains.

The book is well written and walks the reader through the history of electronics in the last 50+ years. I would highly recommend managers and workers inside and outside of the electronics industry read this book to better understand how the changes in this business are and will continue to impact other businesses.

History goes in circles, or at least in the industrial world. The New Industrial Revelation provides not only fundamental information that any aspiring businessman would need to know, but also offers a look at the steadily changing industry with an innovative perspective. Not only does it cover a lot of valuable information, it holds some interesting facts and examples. If all business owners had a copy on their bookshelves, there might be more Googles in the marketplace today.

I found this under 200-page book to be very educational about how the products we've desired over our lifetime have been shaped, designed, made, and sold and how they will be in the future. I was astounded at the endless cascade of facts the Misters Madsen and Brownstein presented as they took me from the value of trade-ability in the pre-industrial world and to current day of off-shoring, outsourcing, and global markets. It's a worthy read.

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Great read for those interested in learning how today's electronics industries have learned to decrease development and production times while lowering costs. The advancements in technology, their application, and the changes in product lifecycle that make this possible are described in a manner that is enlightening and easy to understand. It is clear that many other industries could benefit greatly by applying these same principles.

This book gives the reader a great overview of the history of industrialization.

Reading The New Industrial Revolution provided me with a knowledge about the past and the future of industrialization that I had never heard of before. I can highly recommend reading this book!

The New Industrial Revolution is very informative, entertaining, and encouraging. Not only does it refresh my memories from the past 20 years, it also reveals lots of astonishing aspects I never though of before.

It's about history. It's about technology. It's about the future. Frankly, I have not read as well written and interesting a non-fiction book since I read Tom Friedman's The World is Flat. Friedman told us what was happening, this book explains how and why. Now I understand how it's possible for a Nokia or Samsung to create new models of cell phones, in months rather than years, and do it profitably within a six-month product life cycle. The book is full of information but my eyes never glazed over even once.