The battle between the old and the new

What side of history do we want to be on?

How do old and new industries deal with changing industries

“We will build an America where ‘hope’ is a new job with a paycheck, not a faded word on an old bumper sticker” – Mitt Romney, US Republican Presidential candidate

“What immediate measures can be taken to protect jobs?”French President Nicolas Sarkozy

“We want to be countries that made cars” – Kim Carr, Australian Minister for Manufacturing

Around the world the forces of protectionism are stirring to shield fading industries, businesses and fortunes from economic reality.

The most immediate target in this battle are the new industries that threaten the old.

It’s no coincidence US lawmakers want to introduce laws that will cripple the Internet in order to favour music distributors, that the US and New Zealand governments work together to shut down a cloud sharing service or that failing Australian retailers call on their government to change tax rules in order to prop up their fading sales.

The old industries appear to have the advantage; they are rich, they have political power and – most importantly for politicians – they employ lots of voters.

We shouldn’t under estimate just how far the managers and owners of the challenged industries will go to protect their failing business models, unwanted product lines and outdated work methods, which isn’t surprising as their wealth and status is built upon them.

Eventually they will lose, just as the luddites fighting the loom mills and the lords fighting the railway lines did.

The question for society and individuals is do we want to be part of yesterday’s fading industries or part of tomorrow’s economy.

We need to let our political leaders know where we’d our societies to go before they make the wrong choices.

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Author: Paul Wallbank

Paul Wallbank is a speaker and writer charting how technology is changing society and business. Paul has four regular technology advice radio programs on ABC, a weekly column on the smartcompany.com.au website and has published seven books.

2 thoughts on “The battle between the old and the new”

  1. Embrace change or perish. That seems about right. Early adopters can make inroads before the laggards catch on. Darwinism applied to our modern existence.

    This particular transition could be long and bloody. The status quo forces are large, loud, well-funded and well-connected.

    Against this backdrop was the PM’s speech yesterday with seemingly countless “new economy” references. Was it a call for change or a smokescreen while the forces rally?

    1. The status quo certainly are well connected, Chris. We should have no doubt that change will be long and bloody, particularly if we see the incumbent refusing to acknowledge reality as we see with the TV Now case.

      What bugged me with the PM’s speech was how there were all these references to the “new economy” and the high dollar but no real answers on how governments are going to deal with these.

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