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The Electronic B@zaar

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The Electronic B@zaar

From the Silk Road to the E-Road

Nicholas Brealey Publishing,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

If you believe that the web won’t affect your business, that the Internet is over-hyped, that your business can prosper without a web presence or that the Internet is just a fad, you are in denial — a very dangerous (and not very profitable) place to hide.

Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Comprehensive

Recommendation

Author Robin Bloor makes it pretty clear: Either get your business involved with the Internet or prepare for your enterprise to die. Bloor’s credentials are fairly impressive. He turned his business, Bloor Research, into a Web business that actually makes a profit, or so it says on the jacket blurb. Bloor is pretty straightforward about the book’s focus: mass media communications history, the current Internet and the World Wide Web’s future potential. This in-depth read (good and gripping, though the writer’s constant use of the @ symbol can be annoying) takes us from Guttenberg all the way to a future filled with smartcards, micropayments and data privacy. The most interesting element is Bloor’s speculation on how future media might affect future political systems - because as the information society gives us more data about political happenings, we might want more control over our governments. getAbstract finds this stuff pretty interesting, but then we’re already on the Web. Are you?

Summary

Get Real

The electronic economy is gradually absorbing all of the world’s national economies. In fact, as you examine the modern Internet and ask where it will lead, you may find that your corporation needs to plunge in - if it hasn’t already - and build its own Web sites and computer systems, just to catch up to the marketplace.

Not being involved in Internet commerce right now is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. If your business isn’t already involved with the Internet, "Your ship is on a collision course with an iceberg." The Internet has already arrived and the greatest danger to businesspeople is that they are in denial about what is happening. Are you making these ten statements that define Internet denial?

  1. The Internet will not affect my business - Not true. Soon the Internet will pervade every business.
  2. The Internet is over hyped - It is deeply under hyped and its overall effects have just begun to be glimpsed.
  3. We are manufacturers, so we will not be greatly affected - Wrong. The net will force manufacturing to change.
  4. We are not retailers, so we won’t be affected much...

About the Author

Robin Bloor is the CEO of Bloor Research, a major European IT analysis organization. Bloor is also the author and publisher of a series of industry reports on corporate computer strategy including The Enterprise by Other Means. His Web address is www.TheElectronicBazaar.com

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