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Pushing the Digital Frontier
Book

Pushing the Digital Frontier

Insights into the Changing Landscape of E-Business

Nirmal Pal and Judith M. Ray
AMACOM, 2001
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

The Wild West days of the dot-com craze are behind us, but e-business strategy remains a largely uncharted frontier. In fact, e-commerce seems more bewildering than ever, now that many of the strategic maxims that the Internet bubble was built on have been proved false. To help you get a handle on the revolutionary technology that has survived the collapse, Nirmal Pal and Judith M. Ray have collected articles by researchers and executives, including many from their home base, the e-Business Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. This anthology constitutes a solid and well-researched book, which has sufficient gravitas (and jargon) for an academic and enough practical information for an entrepreneur. The multiple authors sometimes overlap as they dissect various e-business approaches, but all offer worthwhile ideas. getAbstract recommends this book to executives at any company, since Internet technology is now ubiquitous, and distinctions between old economy and New Economy are fast falling by the wayside.

Summary

Life in the Digital World

In today’s digital world, change happens at warp speed and events occur at the pace of e-mail and Web site connections. Changes underway include:

  • Expansion-minded leaders are using more information technology, digital content and digital networks to speed up core functions. New e-leaders need to direct and respond to changing alliances, opportunities, financial conditions and organizational structures.
  • Companies are opting for co-opetition, in which two organizations alternate between aggressive competitors and partners in strategic partnerships or alliances.
  • Knowledge workers are independent, often deciding to act as free agents, selling their professional and knowledge services to the highest bidder. This undermines organizational hierarchy, in that these well informed workers are better able to make unilateral decisions.
  • The growth of teams and alliances reduces the need for hierarchy.

E-business has spurred an increase in the numerous types of electronic marketplaces or bazaars, which enable participants to use dynamic pricing, complex auctioning and sophisticated negotiation strategies with multiple...

About the Authors

Nirmal Pal  is executive director of the e-Business Research Center at Pennsylvania State University, which fosters research in e-business strategy, management and marketing to improve business profitability. He has worked for 38-years at IBM, including directing IBM’s e-business consulting practice worldwide and working closely with Fortune 500 clients on e-business strategies. Judith M. Ray  is a senior research associate at the center, where she has been involved in developing and executing research and networking initiatives. She has also been a systems analyst and senior instructional designer for Penn State’s Smeal College of Business Administration.

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