BY 1995 ABOUT 10,000 American corporations were on the Internet, with an estimated 50 to 100 new companies going on-line each day. The Internet is changing the way business managers and workers do their jobs by making it possible to communicate and to manage information in new ways.

The information economy

It takes more and more information to produce goods and services in today's economy. Consider a company that makes a product such as children's toys. The company will probably have a research department that keeps track of new developments in toy design, engineering, and manufacture. There will be a legal department that has to make sure products do not violate federal or state safety regulations. The marketing department will conduct regular surveys of potential customers (parents and children) to determine which toys are likely to be most popular. And, of course, there will...