Peter Drucker - The Next Information Revolution (Forbes).pdf

Forbes ASAP (08-24-98): The Next Information Revolution p/98/0824/

The next information revolution is well under way. But it is not happening where
information scientists, information executives, and the information industry in general are
looking for it. It is not a revolution in technology, machinery, techniques, software, or
speed. It is a revolution in CONCEPTS.
So far, for 50 years, the information revolution has centered on data — their
collection, storage, transmission, analysis, and presentation. It has centered on the "T" in IT.
The next information revolution asks: What is the MEANING of information, and what is its
PURPOSE? And this is leading rapidly to redefining the tasks to be done with the help of
information, and with it, to redefining the institutions that do these tasks.
The next information revolution will surely engulf all major institutions of modern
society. But it has started, and has gone farthest, in business enterprise, where it has already
had profound impacts. It is forcing us to redefine what business enterprise actually is and
should be. This largely underlies the new definition of the function of business enterprise as
the "CREATION OF VALUE AND WEALTH," which in turn has triggered the present debate
about the "governance of the corporation," that is, for whom the business enterprise creates
value