During the iron age the most successful companies were those that exploited iron, during the silicon age its companies that most successfully exploit information. That seems somewhat logical to me.
As a species we're driving the costs out of creating things so everything becomes a commodity, and the value isn't in the making, it is in finding the one which meets your requirement in a sea of things that are all very similar, hence the value is in the finding, aka advertising (and to a lesser extent information distribution).
As a species we're driving the costs out of creating things so everything becomes a commodity, and the value isn't in the making, it is in finding the one which meets your requirement in a sea of things that are all very similar, hence the value is in the finding, aka advertising (and to a lesser extent information distribution).