Amazon.co.uk Review
Ever wondered how Cisco became the poster child of the Internet age, while 3Com fell by the wayside? With literally hundreds of tales of Internet strategies gone right and wrong,
From .com to .profit argues that any business can learn the lessons of those who have already ventured online. The tales of failure--especially given 2000's stock market crash--are compelling, particularly those of once strong companies such as Delta Airlines and Kmart. The winners, the book argues, illustrate that success in today's business environment means using the web as more than a place to replicate offline business. Instead, these companies have used the Internet to redefine their business, by cutting costs, improving products and services, and improve collaboration and relationships.
More worrying are the companies that missed the Internet boat, and cast themselves adrift from the competition. US retailer Kmart allowed Wal-Mart to seize the lead in electronic supply chain management--and never recovered. There are, the authors claim, a thousand other potential examples: "What if Stelios opened an Internet café next to a Virgin Megastore? What if he then installed personal jukeboxes capable of downloading and storing music? What's to stop people going into Virgin, browsing CDs and then walking straight past the till to download the music next door?" The examples are compelling, provided you can wade through the Hewlett-Packard sales talk. One of the book's authors, Nick Earle, is president of HP's e-services division, which focuses on offering services on the Internet. He is well placed to comment on reinvention--HP is in the midst of its own transformation into web giant. The second author, consultant Peter Keen, is an advisor to the US Government on technology, and has written almost 20 books on the Internet business.
If nothing else, From .com to .profit provides great anecdotes, but potentially offers far more--a starting point for creating your own Cisco, eBay or Amazon. --Sally Whittle
Review
"This book provides the solid business basics that companies need to move from the old era of .com to the next era of .profit."(Euro Business, March 2001)
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