The first half of the twentieth century emphasized mass production, the rise of manufacturing plants, and the intense rivalry of U.S.-based businesses competing against products from other nations. By the 1990s, however, car parts for both Japanese- and American-based firms were being manufactured in plants all over the world. The transition to this new cooperative global economy actually began taking shape back in the 1950s—a period in which the machines that drove the Industrial Age changed gears for the new Information Age. With offices displacing factories as major work sites, centralized mass production declined and often gave way to internationalized, decentralized, and lower-paid service work.

As part of the shift to an information-based economy, various mass media industries began marketing music, movies, television programs, and computer software on a global level. The emphasis on mass production shifted to the cultivation of specialized niche markets. In the 1960s, serious national media consolidation began, escalating into the global media mergers that have continued since the 1980s.