Historically, a constant feature of UK business has been change: change brought about by the need to improve productivity resultant upon competition from other business enterprises. Technological development has increased productivity and extended the work carried out by machines rather than people. These changes have profoundly affected people's lives. We can see this in many industries: for example, old industries, such as coal mining, shipbuilding and the textile industry. Each of these industries shows a pattern of change which is repeated in newer industries which originate in the late twentieth century.