25 Of The Best Business Inventions Of All Time And Some Fun Facts
As long as humans have been on earth, they have been trading among themselves. In those ancient times, trading meant wearing bear skins in exchange for stone axes. Without the world-changing inventions described in today’s writings, we might still be in the same condition as ancient times.
25 Of The Best Business Inventions Of All Time And Some Fun Facts
1. Taka (3000 BC)
For the first million years of the beginning of trade, trade was simply referred to as ‘barter’. Basically, one thing was exchanged for another thing in barter system. And traded goods had to be exchanged hand to hand.
On the other hand, when something is bought and sold using money, only its value is transferred. Due to the arrival of money, there was no need to exchange goods for other goods. As a result, it was possible to sell a large amount of products for money.
Fun Fact: The largest coin in circulation in the history of the world was made of stone and weighed over 4 tons.
2. Abacus (2700 BC)
The invention of money made large-scale financial transactions possible. Therefore, there is a need for a quick and easy system to account for traded goods and money. From that demand the first abacus was invented in the Sumerian civilization. But the abacus was perfected in China.
Fun fact: Up until the 1950s, anyone skilled at operating an abacus could outsmart an accountant. Even with the help of an ‘adding machine’ (a type of calculator), the accountant couldn’t keep up with people using an abacus.
3. Commercial Act (1772 BC)
Before King Hamburabi invented his law, there was no guarantee of receiving money owed from buyers. The sellers then had only one option, to attack the buyers with their own soldiers and extort the money.
Fun Fact: The Old Testament’s ‘Book of Genesis’ contained a small section of Hamburabi’s Law.
4. Stock (100 BC)
The first public stock market was established in the Roman Republic. Citizens of Rome were allowed to buy and sell shares in private companies that provided public services. After this invention, the common people also got the opportunity to share in the great treasury of Rome.
Fun fact: The first stock market crash happened just days after the first stock market was invented.
5. Usury (27 BC)
If consumers spend only the money they have, economic activity will cease. The invention of stocks as well as interest made Rome the center of economic activity at that time. Much like Wall Street in America today.
Fun Fact: Lending money in cash or balance was very important to the expansion of the Roman Empire.
6. Kaguje Taka (Year 960)
Till this time money meant metallic coins. The value of a coin was equal to the value of the metal used to make that coin. But paper money makes the value of money more abstract or fictitious. From that time precious metal coins started to be stored centrally in a specific vault.
Fun Fact: Up until the mid-20th century, money could be exchanged for its equivalent metal.
7. Banking (Year 1129)
The ability to deposit money in one place and withdraw it from another place gave the Crusaders a great advantage during the war. There was no need to drag their weapons and goods from Europe to the “Holy Land”.
Fun Fact: The world’s first bankers were originally a Christian sect, who called themselves the “Templars”.
8. Double Entry Bookkeeping (1494)
Renesas’ time is best remembered for the invention of the printing press. But undoubtedly the most important innovation of the period was when entrepreneur Luca Pacoli devised a method of recording company profits and losses on the same page.
Fun Fact: The “Balance Sheet” as it is known in the corporate world has not changed much in the last 500 years.
9. Adding Machine (1642)
Only addition and subtraction could be done with an abacus. However, the mechanical calculator invented by Blaise Pascal could be done many times over. As a result, multiplication and division were also possible with its help.
Fun fact: Pascal spent most of his life pursuing theology.
10. Typewriter (1714)
Immensely popular for 150 years, this machine was available in many shapes and sizes and was used everywhere in business.
Fun fact: The largest English word you can make with the letters on the top row of the keyboard is ‘Typewriter’.
11. Trade Unions (1818)
After the advent of trade unions, things like the 40-hour work week rule and workers’ health insurance were introduced. It is this trade union that curbs the ‘laissez faire’ or free market economy of capitalism.
Fun Fact: Autoworkers in Germany get paid more than autoworkers in the U.S. because they are unionized. But German car companies still make more profits than US companies.
12. Telegraph (1823)
When people were able to send information instantly from one place to another using the telegraph, the information age undoubtedly began.
Fun Fact: Before the advent of the telegraph, it took at least 10 days for news to reach the West Coast of the US from the East Coast.
13. Programmable Computer (1837)
The first programmable computer was the ‘Analytical Engine’ developed by Charles Babbage (1791-1871). It was then that the future computer age and innovative computer companies like ‘IBM’ were speculated. And now computers and computer manufacturing companies are the backbone of the business world.
Fun fact: Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, helped develop the idea of a calculating machine in the 1880s, long before computers were invented. The United States Department of Defense named a new computer made in 1990 as ‘Ada’.
14. Credit Card (1887)
In Edward Bellamy’s novel Looking Backward published in 1888, there was a description of a thing called a ‘credit card’ for shopping. However, this plan was fully implemented in 1921, when Western Union introduced this service to their best customers.
Fun Fact: Credit card fraud has decreased significantly with the advent of plastic cards.
15. Minimum Wages (1894)
New Zealand was the first to introduce a minimum wage. Currently, 9 out of 10 countries in the world have a minimum wage.
Fun fact: Australia’s minimum wage is almost twice as high as the US.
16. Sales Process (1904)
Economist PW Searles in one of his essays suggested a controlled approach to making sales work more organized, predictable and repeatable.
Fun Fact: Early sales manuals specified how salesmen should move their hands while speaking.
17. Sales Training (1916)
Representatives of these 3 organizations ‘Ford’, ‘Burroughs’ and ‘NCR’ participated in the world’s first sales training conference. At this conference, salesmen had to pass a test to see if they had the “mental alertness” to sell products.
Fun Fact: Also at the first conference was a phrenologist (who analyzes character by looking at the structure of the human head) who insisted that the best sales reps must have high foreheads!
18. Business Psychology (1926)
The book ‘The Psychology of Personal Selling’ was the first to highlight the relationship between man’s pent-up desire for business, i.e. shopping.
Fun Fact: The book had a correct assumption that when people decide to buy something, their brain neurons change.
19. Photocopier (1938)
When physicist Chester Carlson invented the “photographic printing process,” he probably had no idea that the invention would one day lead to the deforestation of paper.
Fun fact: The first commercial photocopy machine printed on microfilm, not paper.
20. E-Commerce (1972)
The first online trading was between students at Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They used a network called ‘ARPANET’ at that time. This network is considered to be the predecessor of today’s Internet.
Fun Fact: Ganjika was the first product to be sold online.
21. Mobile Phone (1973)
When you left the office before mobile phones, you could also leave the office mentally. In other words, you didn’t have to return home with the burden of work on your head or on your mobile phone. But after the invention of the mobile phone, everyone can now find you whenever they want. Because of this, you may not be able to spend your holidays like before.
Fun Fact: Mobile phones play a role in between a third and half of all robberies.
22. Selling Problem Solving (1975)
The American company ‘Wang Laboratory’ changed the concept of sales. Earlier, salesmen used to flash their memorized quotes in front of the customers and ask them to sign on certain parts of the paper. But the Wang Laboratory brings new possibilities and opportunities to sales. The idea that the solution can be provided according to the needs and requirements of the customer, starts with their hands.
Fun Fact: Numerous books have been published on the topic of solution selling.
23. IBM Personal Computer (1981)
Before IBM’s personal computer hit the market, businesses used mainframes and minicomputers that lived in data centers. But within a decade, personal computers were on the desks of almost all businesses.
Fun fact: There are more than one billion personal computers in use in the world now.
24. CRM—Customer Relationship Management (1993)
Various software companies have been trying to create something like this for decades. However, in 1993, a company named ‘Seibel Systems’ was able to create a ‘Customer Relationship Management System’ for the first time for sales team employees. Currently, the Seibel company is a part of an organization called Oracle.
Fun Fact: More than half of companies that try to use CRM software end up failing.
25. IPad (year 2010)
Many companies, including Microsoft, were trying to create usable tablet computers. But finally, the iPad became the first tablet that was truly usable. So it is very popular among people.
Fun fact: No other company can make as many personal computers as Apple makes iPads.
(Pictured is the early calculator device ‘Pascaline’ invented by French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal in 1642.)
