To accompany this new language, Berners-Lee created some new co-ordinates for this global web – Universal Resource Identifiers, the most well-known of which is the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). These were a unique character string for identifying web locations. With a common language, common locators and an agreed syntax, the stage was set for the web to spread (as Berners-Lee had originally envisioned) worldwide. At first progress was slow. In June 1993, there were still only 130 websites. But as web browsers became available for home use, the web began to spread exponentially. By 1996, over 15 million users were surfing 100,000 websites. Today, 7 million web sites and around the same number of users are added each week, with over 2 billion web users in almost every country in the world. A common language has been the linchpin. Like all good languages, HTML has had to adapt to these changing demands, with Version 5 currently under development. Since 1994, the evolution and the maintenance of web standards have been overseen by a global organisation – the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). W3C, like GS1, is a not-for-profit organisation, with 346 members drawn from across the globe.9  Measuring the benefits of a common language So taking these two examples, what benefits has a common language been able to deliver? (a)  Improving risk management in firms  Gobal companies face a hugely complex logistical problem. They manage multiple products, in multiple locations, with multiple suppliers operating to multiple time-lines.
Digital publishing and distribution has fundamentally changed this market. Both the books and the shelves are now electronic. Authors can now format books for e-readers in a couple of hours. Sales platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct give access to a worldwide audience with essentially no upfront costs. Supply can close to perfectly match demand as the marginal cost of creating and delivering an eBook is effectively zero. This digital revolution has caused barriers to entry to plummet while simultaneously raising returns to author entry: they now receive as much as 85% of the royalties from an eBook, compared to as little as 10% from a physical book. Previously unpublished authors now sell millions of books. The incumbent middle men – book publishers, distributors and retailers – have found their lunch devoured in one sitting. In effect, they have been disintermediated by technology and (in a delicious irony) a common language. This pattern has been replicated in the music industry. For half a century or more, the music supply chain was unchanged. New acts were discovered by large record labels who distributed physical goods (vinyl, tapes or CDs) to retailers for sale to the public. Over the past decade, the costs of copying and distributing music have fallen to close to zero. As in publishing, barriers to new artist entry have plummeted. The middle-men – music production companies and distributors – have seen their piece of the pie eaten. And as a direct result of this industrial transformation, the pie itself appears to have grown.