Customer Reviews

21st Century Business: Managing and Working in the New Digital Economy

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It is the first time I'm reading a book from James W. Cortada and I can say that it was not an easy reading for me. The author is writing in the preface "The chapters help to catalog and rationalize the changes underway and how work must be done", but too much use of cataloguing and rationalizing is harmful for the reader who is losing his way in all the firsts, seconds, thirds, etc. at quite every page. It makes difficult to follow the thinking of the author.

Main idea developed in 21st century business is that change "is occurring more in an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary manner" and that "we must manage in an environment rooted in the past and yet stepping forward into a new future." This duality gives possibilities to build our future on past sound well chosen practices even if some "old knowledge and practices increasingly are competitive disadvantages as firms move from the Second Industrial Age into portions of the new Information Age."

James W. Cortada is showing us that the Information Age is more than technology and that managers need to understand that the sources of profit are changing. They need to understand how profits are made and to understand the effects of globalization and digitization within a context of emerging political realities. Information is becoming an important part of a new value proposition and must be leveraged by developing networks, learning organizations, and knowledge-workers.

Based on the evolution concept the author develops how to use best practices, benchmarking and process management approaches to give us the assets to understand how waves of change work and to create a virtuous circle for developing learning organizations.

But learning organizations are networks of knowledge workers, which are increasing in number with the emergence of information-based economy. That means that knowledge management is becoming an important part of a manager's job. To understand that knowledge management is operating within a business ecology, which can be described as an environment of enablers, inhibitors, and drivers is crucial to be able to leverage knowledge to generate profits in business or efficiencies and quality of performance in governments.

The use of Internet, which is a low-cost way of moving information around has a big impact on knowledge management, but also on work organization by enabling collaboration and alliances without constraints of space and time. This allows closer partnerships with suppliers, customers and even competitors, making organizations' traditional boundaries more flexible. But Internet is also an interactive tool with the impact on organizations moving from Second Industrial Age mass production to Information Age mass customization, when not made-to-order.

"The most important use of Internet today is in the fundamental redesign of supply chains", which "are making it possible to squeeze out inefficiencies, improving productivity while allowing firms to connect in new ways to suppliers and customers." The author is sharing with us IBM's interesting practical experience in this field.

The final chapter is showing us how we can manage the change to enter in the New Digital Economy, because "we have more control over the future of our enterprises than we realize."

This book is finally replacing the move to the "New Economy" in a context we are leaving in, and wants to convince us that we already have many tools in our hands to enter properly the Information Age. Some Great Reading at the end of the book consolidates the evolution approach demonstrated by giving us roots in the past literature.

I found this to be an insightful read with lots of ideas to ponder. Cortada hits on several hot buttons of the new economy--technology, continuous training and best practices, knowledge workers and knowledge management, the Internet, and supply chain management. He makes the important distinction that the changes going on today represent more than just technology. He talks about the search for the new value proposition, globabilization, how to leverage knowledge workers, the preeminence of the supply chain, and lots more. His book is not just descriptive. In several chapters he includes an "implications and actions" section that is very helpful in thinking about "what now?" The book also includes useful diagrams to illustrate his points.

At under 250 pages, it's a really good summary of what's going on in the new economy, and I highly recommend it.