Mastering the Digital Marketplace : Practical Strategies for Competitiveness in the New Economy

Rating:
Summary: Vacuous doubletalk from yet another management consultant
Review: This book is an overblown, empty text. Mostly nonsensical -- the only practical parts are painfully obvious.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the read..
Review: This book is definitely not worth the read. It should be noted that it is written by an AT Kearney dude and as an ex-EDSer I can see the resemblance of the consultants that made all consultants look bad. It had no substance but choose to use big words and complex evolved scenarios to provide the pretence of intelligence. It is everything bad about a pompous consultant roled into a book. Please note that the positive reviews of this book are all from the Dallas / Fort Worth area which is home to the AT Kearney legions. I gave it a 2 only because all reading is positive and it started off good.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the read
Review: This book is NOT about eCommerce explicitly. Rather it is a sound work on the threats and opportunities presented by the all pervasive and ever expanding world of technology. Thankfully, it is not hysterical in tone urging you to rush out there and engage the nearest management consultant you can find, (the authour is one) but rather the book goes to great lengths to make the point that, if the technology is available to add value, then you'd better take advantage of it because your competitors will. The theme of adding value "as perceived by the customer" is really the major issue for the first half of the book. To substantiate this warning the book outlines the major themes of adding value to goods and services with several examples of how to do so. I felt the best section was on the importance of company structure and alignment along core competancies - the Value Based Organisation and how to achieve it, esp. Ch.9. The book is full of real-life and fictional case studies to illustrate each point it makes. It is written in plain english and is mostly jargon free. Do I have a criticism? Yes - Within Ch.9, one of the action points is for a company to have, or have had ABC - Activity Based Costing, the text makes a minor inflection that ABC is tough to implement - I have worked on a project putting in ABC - it is an utter nightmare! But all in all, very sound, accurate and GVFM.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the read
Review: This book is NOT about eCommerce explicitly. Rather it is a sound work on the threats and opportunities presented by the all pervasive and ever expanding world of technology. Thankfully, it is not hysterical in tone urging you to rush out there and engage the nearest management consultant you can find, (the authour is one) but rather the book goes to great lengths to make the point that, if the technology is available to add value, then you'd better take advantage of it because your competitors will. The theme of adding value "as perceived by the customer" is really the major issue for the first half of the book. To substantiate this warning the book outlines the major themes of adding value to goods and services with several examples of how to do so. I felt the best section was on the importance of company structure and alignment along core competancies - the Value Based Organisation and how to achieve it, esp. Ch.9. The book is full of real-life and fictional case studies to illustrate each point it makes. It is written in plain english and is mostly jargon free. Do I have a criticism? Yes - Within Ch.9, one of the action points is for a company to have, or have had ABC - Activity Based Costing, the text makes a minor inflection that ABC is tough to implement - I have worked on a project putting in ABC - it is an utter nightmare! But all in all, very sound, accurate and GVFM.