A New World Balance

The Second Industrial Revolution was marked by major technological innovations and the systematic application of scientific knowledge to industrial production processes. It also involved new forms of company organization to deal with the increased size and complexity of emerging sectors, which became the leading industries in the most developed economies. Industries used electricity, a source of energy with a vast range of applications and a profound impact both on production systems and on daily life. These constitute the pillars of the Second Industrial Revolution, which led to a shift in the world's economic balance of power in the last decades of the 19th century. Businesses exploited the new networks to reach wider markets, relying on a constant relationship of trust with suppliers and customers, and re-organising their own internal systems of production and distribution, based on established and regular routines.