Diploma Thesis from the year 2003 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, University of Phoenix, language: English, abstract: Only a few short generations ago, the global economy was predominated by agricultural and tradesman businesses. Consumers frequented businesses that were close to their physical location, as limited transportation gave them little other feasible choice. Tradesmen provided customizable goods made specifically for their clients needs, on small or individual scales of production. The life cycle of a product, during this era, typically began with a customer order for a product. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, this quickly changed.