‘How well do GSK balance demands for shareholder value with the need for corporate social responsibility?’

Information Economy

The first industrial revolution happened in the late 18th century and followed after the invention of the steam engine. The revolution was characterized by the replacement working tools within small autonomous workshops with marchinery and an increase in production (History). This was followed by the second industrial revolution, that happened in the 19th century and followed after the invention of electricity. The revolution was characterized by the start of mass production in large scale factories and an increase in urban live (US History Scene). And now we live in the third industrial revolution, where everything is being produced and consumed in the digital cyberspace (The Economist, 2012). In other words, the information economy. Organizations need Information to stay competitive within the market and to be or stay innovative. In other words “Information is power”. There are four elements that distinguish this third revolution from the previous industrial age. The first distinguishing element is the driving role of science and technology for economic growth. The productivity and economic growth of an organization are increasingly dependent upon the innovation of their science and technology, as this increases a company’s competitive advantage. And it’s increasingly dependent on and the quality of their information and management. Information conveys meaning and knowledge, used to support the decision-making process. To make sure that this information is available at the right time, in the right hands at a low costs, information needs to be managed (Adeoti-Adekeye, 1997). For example, when a company knows that customers buy increasingly more chocolate during Christmas times, they can put them on sale around this time to increase revenue. The second distinguishing element is a shift form material processing to information processing. Henceforth, industries within society increasingly rely on information processing to be competitive in their respected markets. Organizations process information into knowledge and use this newly gained knowledge to set themselves apart from their competition (Warschauer, 2001). As an illustration, a company can be more cost-effective than their competition by innovating their supply chain. The third distinguishing element is the emergence and expansion of new forms of networked industrial organization. With attention to the rise of flexible and horizontal organizational networks, which have a more flattened structure and an emphasis on interaction between different departments and a more equal power distribution. As opposed to the integrated and vertical hierarchies, that have a reporting communication and are focused on control over all the departments and maximizing efficiency and value creation. As described in the previous paragraph, the emergence to digitalization resulted in the integration of powerful networks in which anyone can be reach anywhere, at any time. And the last distinguishing element is the rise of a socioeconomic globalization. This new economy is notable organized across national borders and affects everyone. For instance, there are multinational company that produce and sell goods all over the world. Furthermore, they work with local firms to increase their customer group and learn more about the local culture. At the same time, these multinational scare away local competition with their lower prices and/or technological advantages. Besides these four distinguishing elements, the information society is also associated with global economic stratification. Since the rise of the internet in the late 90’s the rich countries have become increasingly richer, while the poor countries have become increasingly poorer. An explanation for this phenomena is that the exports of poor countries are low-valued within the information society, as these goods are non-technological and primary. For instance, the food that is produces in their agricultural sector. In contrast, the exports of the rich countries are high in knowledge and technological advances, which gives them a much higher value within the information society. For instance, the “iPhone” that was designed by Apple in Silicon Valley.

As Castell points out however, networks only include nodes that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their network and discard any nodes that do not. In other words, the nodes need to be valuable to the network. Seeing as networks are global, these networks no longer care about historical and cultural borders. These network only look at the added value these nodes represent for the network. So organization and regions that possess value are included and the rest is ignored. This process of inclusion and exclusion causes a digital divide.

Digital Divide

The digital divide is defined as an unequal distribution between those individuals who are able to access computers and the internet and those who cannot (Harris, 2004). “access to computers” is defined as physical access to a physical computer that has a working internet connection. “Internet access” is being able to visit the internet. The level of “internet access” is determined based on three different dimension. The first dimension is whether the user is able to access the internet anywhere. The first dimension is whether the user is able to use the internet from their place of residence. As this gives the user the chance to use the internet more freely. And the third dimension is whether the user has access to high speed internet at their place of residence. Because high speed internet is needed to gain access to certain graphical content [2]. However, this definition just addresses the physical access, while digital divide is actually a multi-dimensional issue. Just solving the physical aspect of the digital divide, will not improve the situation as people don’t know what to do on the internet(Warschauer, 2001). The digital divide is not simply about the have’s and have not’s, but about the “Never-Betters” (See the internet and information age as the new utopia, and see thi as the highest position people can possibly achieve up until this point), “Better-Nevers” (Think the human race would’ve been better off without the invention off the internet, and think that the dominate institutions have too much power and control), and the “Ever-Wasers” (Think that any moment in time, some innovation and change takes place. And that society has become an ever-changing thing, and nobody knows where it’s going) (Gopnick, ….).

Multi-dimensional Issue Digital Divide

There are five dimensions of inequality within the digital divide, that need to be addressed before the digital divide can be solved. The first dimension of inequality lies in technical means. These provide the hardware and software necessary to gain access to the internet. User that lack the needed hardware and fast internet connection, are unable to access a large part of the content available on the internet. The second dimension of inequality is in autonomy while using the internet. Not all the users have a computer at home, and are unable to freely make use of the internet. The third dimension of inequality is the skill level of different internet users. Van Dijk proposes four different digital skills needed to make full use of the internet (Van Dijk, 2010). The first set of skills are operational skills, which entails being able to make full use of the internet browser and search engines. The second set of skills are formal internet skills, that makes the user able to navigate the internet using links. The third set of skills are Information skills, which make the user able to find information on a certain topic on the internet. And the fourth set of skills are Strategic skills, which enable the user to get value out of using the internet. The fourth dimension of inequality relates to availability of social support for users that need help performing certain tasks on the internet. In the richest area, users can help each other to complete certain tasks, something rarely possible in other areas. And the fifth dimension of inequality is in variation of purpose of making use of the internet, amongst users. Seeing as not everyone possesses the same skill level on the internet, users that don’t possess the required information retrieval skills, cannot make full usage of the possible functionalities the internet offers. So their online experience is far less gratifying than the experience of seasoned users [2]. Comment by Don de Lange: Specify the dimensions Done Comment by Don de Lange:

Internet as a social Product

The internet is a social product that is subject to the use and misuse of its power [1]. As there are spatial inequalities in access to the cyberspace. This gap reflects the gap between First and Thirds world countries, because the variation in internet access in these regions varies immensely, even though you can gain access to the internet almost everywhere. The global access is conditioned by density, reliability, and affordability of telephone systems. So you can say that global access is economically constrained, as telephone access is more expensive in economically regulated areas. In addition, global access is politically constrained, as governments fear the internet for it emancipatory abilities. To prevent this, they usually monitor the communication within the country, which prevents the internet from being inherently emancipatory. It’s also used to further politically agenda’s and for reactionary purposes. Furthermore, the content available on the internet largely contributes to Americanization [1]. Which is the spreading of the American culture on the internet, while minor cultures barely get presented. The internet originates from the U.S., and they still produce a bulk of the displayed content.

Why “Creativity” is a key aspect of Digital Economy Act

“Creativity” refers to the means that innovate or change the way we do or see things and adds value to the network, through inspirational contributions. Before the internet, creative outputs never had any real value, and now we are building an entire industry around it. The reason the UK uses creativity as a key aspects, is too secure their future as a powerful player within the newly emerged information economy.

The first aspect of implementing “creativity” is creating policies that include every citizen in the digital cyberspace. One way the UK government tries to reach this, is by connecting every region and citizen to a fast broadband connection of at leat 10 mb/s. This is needed to load all the multimedia content that is available on the internet. This gives these citizens a change to communicate from anywhere within the UK, to start a digital business while living in the rural areas, and to reap the further advantages of the internet. (Commons Debate Broadband, 2015).

The second aspect of implementing “creativity” is encouraging the creation of online content amongst all the different demographics within the UK. By enabling everyone to post their creative persuits and abilities, we create participation online between groups of users with similar ideas or interests. Now, participation is heavily determined by the user’s demographics. For example, people with a college degree are far more likely to post their creative ideas online, than people with just a High School degree.needs reference One way the Act tries to promote the creation of intellectual content, is by protecting the intellectual rights of every user on the internet. To illustrate, the act heavily criminalizes the illegal copying of someone else’s content. The increased participation is needed in this “new” economy, where knowledge is the main driver (Tapscott, 1996). Organizations need innovation to keep up with the market, and human capital and creativity are the main drivers for this (Hargittai, 2008). In addition, the more wider creation of content can close the participation gap that is on the internet right now.

The third aspect of implementing “creativity” is teaching all the UK citizens digital skills needed to get advantage from the internet. The Uk expects that within 20 years, 90% of the existing jobs will require digital skilled workers. In order to secure their vision and future employment, the UK needs to make sure that the citizen have the needed digital skills, beside the physical access. There are four key barriers that they need to overcome before they can be classified as skilled internet users. First, there needs to be physical access to the internet from anywhere within the UK. 82% of UK adult citizens use the internet daily in 2016. Only 80% of all households in the UK have access to internet and only 75% has access to the internet on a mobile device in 2016. The Digital Economy Act solves this by promising all its citizens a minimal broadband speed of 10 mb/s in all of the UK. Second, all the UK citizens need to be taught the minimal digital skills. Particularly operational, formal, information, and strategic digital skills. In 2017 9% of UK adult citizens lack the digital skills needed to use the internet to their advantage. And In 2013 only 74% of the UK adults had complete faith in their digital skills. Simply giving information about digital skills won’t increase their skill level. They need to be able to utilize their digital skills in a meaningful way (Warschauer). Third, UK citizens need to be confident that they can trust the internet with their personal information to gain an advantage. In 2013 50% of Uk adults that access the internet use it to find a job online. In 2015 93% made use of the email service to communicate online, 73% used social media to build up a network to improve their social status and build a career, and 74% of UK adults chatted online. And fourth, UK citizens need to understand why the internet is relevant and useful and be motivated to make use of it. They can only gain this understanding if they can access and use the internet to it’s full capability and just let their creativity lose. Simply telling them why it’s useful doesn’t work. Otherwise everybody would use it by now. Comment by Don de Lange: Reference: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-digital-strategy/2-digital-skills-and-inclusion-giving-everyone-access-to-the-digital-skills-they-need Comment by Don de Lange: Reference: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-inclusion-and-skills-policy/digital-skills-and-inclusion-policy Comment by Don de Lange: Reference: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-inclusion-and-skills-policy/digital-skills-and-inclusion-policy

As illustration, the creative industry that thrives on using knowledge in creative ways. The industry is composed of the following sectors: Marketing, Architecture, Product design, Entertainment, Computer services, and Art. The value of this industry was 91,5 billion pounds in 2016, a 7,6% increase as opposed to 2015. It created 3,05 million jobs in the UK, as an illustration, 1 out of 11 UK workers, works in the creative industry. A number that is likely to increase even further. In 2015, the creative services export was worth 21,2 billion pounds. Which is 9,4% worth of the total worth of services the UK transports. This export had a 44,3% growth between 2010 and 2015, which shows that it’s likely going to increase even further. Politicians also agree that the creative industry is important for the economic growth of the UK. As it increases the value of the economy and it creates more jobs for UK citizens. They also agree that the creative industry will increase the positive reputation of the UK overall. To keep on growing and thriving further, however, this industry requires its workers to have digital skills needed to be competitive in the internet. In addition they are sometimes required to provide creative content. The creative industry is the perfect example of the new economy and that it requires a new kind of worker to keep innovating and keep competing with other countries and organizations. Comment by Don de Lange: Reference: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/creative-industries-economic-estimates Comment by Don de Lange: Reference: http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/resources/infographics

In conclusion, we live in a globalized digital network, as Castell’s puts it, where the emergence of the internet changed the way we do things. For starters, we can communicate with anyone in the world, from anywhere in the world, at any time. This paved the way for mass self-communication where the masses can communicate with the masses, with the use of multimedia, text, and voice in real-time. In addition, our products and services have also been largely digitized. As a consequence our economy changed to an information economy with information as the main driver. The economy further distinguishes itself with the driving role of science and technology, information processing, emergence hierarchical networked organizational structure, and the rise of socioeconomic globalization. The emergence of this new digital society lead to a digital divide however, as not everyone has equal access to the internet. This equality is social, economical, political, and technical, even though it’s usually treated as just a technical problem. DiMaggio identified five dimensions of inequality; technical means, autonomy in usage, skill level users, social support, and variation on purpose. Given that a large part of today’s society has been digitized, those who do not participate in the digital cyberspace, effectively don’t participate in society. The UK government tries to close the gap by treating creativity as a key aspect in policy making. Creativity is about creating policies that aim to include every UK citizen in the digital cyberspace and give them all a equal to participate in a manner of their choosing. These policies include the encouragement of creating content on the web and teaching UK citizens digital skills. By doing this, the UK could secure their participation in digital market.

Creative Industries