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The biggest, most important issue in business today -- becoming
digital -- touches not only traditional enterprises but
the most avant-garde of Internet companies as well.
Old-economy companies must take steps to
avoid becoming victims of capitalism's creative destruction,
the unofficial system that flushes out the old to make way
for the new. For dot-com companies the question is whether
or not they are flash-in-the-pan businesses with no long-term
prospects of profitability and customer loyalty.
Most of the early efforts to answer the
question "How digital is your business?" have
been shrouded in techno-speak: a veritable Tower of Babel
unconnected with the real needs of business. Slywotzky and
Morrison show, first of all, that becoming digital is not
about any of the following: having a great Web site, setting
up a separate e-business, having next-generation software,
or wiring your workforce.
What they so creatively demonstrate is that
a digital business is one whose strategic options have been
transformed -- and significantly broadened -- by the use
of digital technologies. A digital business has strategic
differentiation, a business model that creates and captures
profits in new ways and develops powerful new value propositions
for customers and talent. Above all, a digital business
is one that is unique.
How Digital is Your Business? is
a groundbreaking book with universal appeal for everyone
in the business world. It offers:
- Profiles of the future: the in-depth
story of the digital pioneers -- Dell Computer, Charles
Schwab, Cisco Systems, Cemex.
- Insight into how to change a traditional
enterprise into a digital business: the stories of GE
and IBM.
- An analysis of the profitable dot-coms:
AOL, Yahoo!, and eBay.
While How Digital is Your Business?
has great stories and case studies, its most invaluable
central idea is that of digital business design and the
array of powerful digital tools it offers for use in creating
a digital future for your own company.
Adrian J. Slywotzky is the author of
Value Migration and the coauthor of The Profit
Zone and Profit Patterns. Mr. Slywotzky is a graduate
of Harvard College and has an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business
School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is vice president
of Mercer Management Consulting and was recently selected
by Industry Week as one of the six most influential
people in management.
David J. Morrison is the coauthor of
The Profit Zone
and Profit Patterns.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he also holds an engineering
degree from Princeton and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Morrison is vice chairman of Mercer Management Consulting
and head of MercerDigital, the firm's e-commerce practice.
Karl Webber is a writer and editor specializing
in business and current affairs.
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