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From the bestselling author of Blur
-- a defining book of the Information Age -- comes a startling
glimpse into the near future and the emerging economy that
awaits us. It's Alive foretells the jolt the world
is about to receive as the science of molecular evolution
races out of laboratories and into the business world.
Think back to the early 1970s. Imagine the
opportunities for your business, career choice, and investments
had you received an advance report on the ways in which
computer and information technology would revolutionize
the world. It's Alive provides that opportunity today:
a realistic and persuasive look into the future -- the molecular
economy -- and how it is starting to overtake and reshape
the Information Age. Today's gene mapping and molecular
engineering are equivalent to the introduction of transistor
radios at the advent of the information economy. Solid-state
technology moved from the lab into the business arena, providing
in turn the transistor, the microprocessor, and the modem
-- and the information business. During the next ten years,
molecular technology will follow the same pattern, moving
from the lab and into the basic operation of the corporation
itself.
Chris Meyer and Stan Davis are our guides
in understanding this new future. They show that not only
biological systems evolve. The rules of evolution help explain
the process of change in biology, business, and the economy,
thereby providing a management guide to the business world
around the corner.
It's Alive is not science fiction
or futurism. It bases its insights and predictions on the
impact the molecular economy is already having in such diverse
business environments as manufacturing, financial services,
and energy. Through in-depth case studies of Capital One
Financial, the U.S. Marine Corps, British Petroleum, and
the biotech firm Maxygen, Meyer and Davis show how adaptive
behaviour works in the real world. As the rules of evolution
combine with the connected economy, our business world will
become unpredictable, volatile, and continually adaptive
-- in other words, alive.
Christopher Meyer is the director of
the Center for Business Innovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
a business research and consulting group supported by Adventis
and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. He is also a founder of
the BIOS Group, a firm created to develop adaptive software
solutions for management, and the coauthor (with Stan Davis)
of Blur and Future Wealth.
Stan Davis is an independent Boston-based
scholar, consultant, and public speaker and a senior fellow
of the Center for Business Innovation. He is the author
of Future Perfect
and coauthor of 2020 Vision.
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