Who Ate My Lunch?

By Eugene Roberts

The Digital Revolution is transforming the world at an astonishing rate. In 1990 there were only 12 million cell phone subscribers. By 2012 there were 6 billion. In 1990 there were only 2.8 million Internet users. By 2012 there were over 2.4 billion.
Globalization and the Internet swept aside geographic boundaries and allowed companies in developed countries to out-source and offshore blue-collar and white-collar jobs overseas in an effort to drive down operating costs in an increasingly competitive global market place. Then the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 unleashed financial havoc around the world and devastated the retirement savings of many Baby-Boomers.
Now China and India are keen to move up the technology chain. By 2020 they will account for 40% of all tertiary education in OECD countries, while the USA and Europe trail at 26%.
This book looks at how the world has changed, identifies the jobs most at risk, and looks at ways we can protect our jobs, incomes and savings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eugene Roberts
• Release date: Feb 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311842572

Eugene Roberts

Eugene Roberts is a graduate of Economics and Business, and has been fortunate to have experienced a wide range of job opportunities in a number of locations around the globe.From Sydney to London, New York to Sao Paulo, he has observed both the challenges and the opportunities that confront workers in today's rapidly changing world, and the problems they have to face and endure.This book is his take on the Information Revolution and where this new age is taking us.

Book preview

WHO ATE MY LUNCH?

The Internet Revolution, Globalization, and the Global Financial Crisis created the perfect storm

Are Your Job, Income or Savings Now Under Threat?

——by——

Eugene Roberts

Copyright 2013 Eugene Roberts

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About the author

Eugene Roberts is a graduate of Economics and Business, and has been fortunate enough to have experienced a wide range of job opportunities in a number of locations around the globe.

From Sydney to London, New York to Sao Paulo, he has observed both the challenges and the opportunities that workers confront in today’s rapidly changing world, and the problems they have to face and endure.

This book is his take on the Information Revolution and where this new age is taking us.

Eating someone’s lunch … when someone outwits, takes advantage of, outperforms, or decisively beats you in sport, business, or any other competitive venture or exercise.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Globalization and the Internet transform the world

Chapter 2. The bright side of Globalization and the Information Revolution

Chapter 3. The dark side of Globalization and the Information Revolution

Chapter 4. Which jobs are most at risk of offshoring?

Chapter 5. Which jobs are at medium risk of offshoring?

Chapter 6. Which jobs are least at risk of offshoring?

Chapter 7. Facts about the New Global Economy

Chapter 8. Threats from outsourcing and foreign workers

Chapter 9. Jobs lost or most at threat from new technology

Chapter 10. Are Baby-Boomers eating Gen X’s lunch?

Chapter 11. Top 10 ways to protect your job

Chapter 12. Others who might eat your lunch

Chapter 1.

Globalization and the Internet transform the world

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"This is a very exciting time in the world of information. It’s not just that the personal computer has come along as a great tool. The whole pace of business is moving faster. Globalization is forcing companies to do things in new ways."

Bill Gates, Microsoft

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The Agricultural Revolution began in the 15th century and freed mankind from the historical cycles of famine and food scarcity through increased productivity and improved farming techniques. The Industrial Revolution followed in the mid-17th century marking the next major turning point in history. Hand production of goods and wood burning were replaced by steam, coal, bio-fuel driven machines and chemical manufacturing.

The current Digital Revolution started around 1980 and, spurred on by an Information Revolution and rapid Globalization, began transforming the world at a faster rate than anything seen before. John Perry Barlow (American poet, essayist, and one time lyricist for The Grateful Dead) describes the effect of the Internet:

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"With the development of the Internet… we are in the middle of the most transforming technological event since the capture of fire. I used to think it was just the biggest thing since Gutenberg*, but now I think you have to go back further."

*Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and movable type, which started the Printing Revolution around 1439 and played a key role in the Renaissance.

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The Digital Revolution

The Digital Revolution is transforming our world at an astonishing rate. It took radio thirty-eight years to reach an audience of 50 million, and television thirteen years to do likewise. The Internet took just four years.

In 1990 there were only around 12 million subscribers to cell phones (around 0.25% of the world population). Twenty-two years later the number had increased to 6 billion subscriptions (86% of the global population)... nearly one for every person on earth.

In 1990 only 2.8 million users were on the Internet (barely 0.05% of the world population), yet by 2012 that number had multiplied to 2.4 billion users (around 35% of the global population). In 2010 there were over 250 million websites... three years later there are over 600 million websites, or an average around 154,000 new websites added every day.

2012 ... facts on cellphone use

• China alone accounted for over 1 billion mobile phone subscriptions.

• India was second with 865 million.

• The USA came third with 330 million.

• Brazil was in fourth place with 263 million users.

• Russia came next with some 256 million.

• Indonesia was sixth with 237 million subscribers.

• In many developing nations first access to the Internet is now by phone due to affordability issues.

• Mobile phone subscribers outnumbered fixed or wired users two to one.

• 87% of American adults owned a cell phone, and 45% a smart phone.

• Only 12% of Americans over 65 years owned a smart phone.

• 29% of Americans did their banking online.

2012 ... facts on Internet use

• North America led the world with a penetration rate of 79%.

• Oceania/Australia was next with 68%.

• Europe came third with a penetration rate of 64%.

• Latin America/Caribbean had reached 43%.

• The Middle East came in at 41%.

• Asia had 28% penetration.

• And Africa came in last at 16%.

• China had the largest number of Internet users at 540 million.

• The USA came second with some 250 million.

• Then came India (139 million), Japan (103 million), Brazil (90 million), Russia (69 million), Germany (68 million), Indonesia and UK (around 55 million).

There can be no doubt that what we are witnessing is a knowledge, information and communication revolution that has spread with amazing speed and connected people as never before. And the economic impact of this digital revolution has been huge.

Removal of geographic boundaries

Globalization and the Internet have dramatically increased business productivity and performance.

Mobile phone networks combined with Internet access has resulted in unprecedented universal access across national borders to consumers and businesses in every corner of this world.

People from various cultures can conduct social communication with family, friends, and colleagues instantly. Conversations can be carried out face to face on Skype. Language barriers are being removed with the aid of computer applications like Google Translate which convert text from one language to another, and also provide accompanying audio coaching.

More importantly, knowledge and information are now within the reach of so many more people and promise to improve their standard of living, educational opportunities, and help in protecting their human rights. And under-developed and emerging nations can use this new technology to leapfrog the earlier stages of development by jumping on-board and taking advantage of the Internet Express.

For businesses, direct access to the majority of the world’s consumers is now readily available in this new economy. Using the tremendous amount of data that is now being collected and mined, consumers can be found and targeted to better assess their needs and wants. Small and medium business innovators in this new idea-based world are competing on a global as well as local scale with the capital rich old economy companies.

The dawning of the 21st century has ushered in incredible changes driven by the convergence of Globalization and an Information and Communications Technology revolution. And the pace of change is only going to get faster. The challenge for business today is how to increase the ‘share of wallet’ of their increasingly savvy customers.

What others think about the Digital Revolution

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"Access to computers and the Internet has become a basic need for education in our society."

Kent Conrad, former US Senator

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"The Internet is the Viagra of big business."

Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO General Electric

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"It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity."

Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General

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"The new information technology… Internet and e-mail… have practically eliminated the physical costs of communication."

Peter Drucker, US Management Consultant

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"The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small