How technology will change the way you do business

Technology has been shaping and driving human behaviour since the advent of flint axes. But we are on the cusp of technological changes that undermine central assumptions of doing business. Revolutions in mobile, cloud, data, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things are coming to bear on many of several inter-related costs that inform business decisions – marginal, transaction, distribution and opportunity costs. Without these costs as a guide for efficiency, or acting as barriers for new ventures, a lot of strategic thinking will need to change. Basic economic theory states that businesses should set their prices at their marginal cost – the cost of servicing each incremental customer.