Most Helpful Customer Reviews
88 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Searching for the intersection of Strategy and Information, January 14, 2000
By A Customer
Your reaction to this book will depend very much on the training and perspective you bring and why you want to read it. If you are much like Charles Ferguson, the author of the excellent "High Stakes, No Prisoners," you already have intimate knowledge of this industry and its players, AND you have a strong grasp of both technology and economics. The marginal gain from this book will be de minimus, but you will appreciate its clarity and scholarship. I think I understand more about business strategy than an average bear, but I also believe that a bunch of children are creating a new reality that is destroying those models, and I began reading some books--this was one of them--to help me try to understand what that will mean for business strategy. I found the book valuable. While I think some of the authors' opinions--consider the hypothesis at the top of page 107--beg to be tested empirically, the references are both current and relevant, the book is clear, and I found it thoughtfully done. You don't have to be an academic to read it. The authors don't use much jargon that they don't explain, and they go to some lengths to avoid using words like isoquant. I'd contrast this book with the very popular "Killer App," which I found trivial. "Blown to Bits" is superior in its clarity and breadth, and in the quality and relevance of its cited source material. I mention the contrast only because you may tend to listen more carefully to people who know a lot about what they are talking about, and my impression is that Evans and Wurster do. If you are reasonably well-trained or experienced in business strategy, but feel like you need to better integrate the transformation to an information-based economy into your models and your thinking, I recommend this book.
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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Ideas, Bloated Prose, January 31, 2000
This is no doubt a timely and insightful book. It does suffer from what many management/consulting books suffer from, convoluted sentences and polysyllabic word choices. Evans and Wurster, economists by training, and now BCG consultants, do have something to offer, however. Their analysis of many industries is piercingly accurate as to their value chain and profit zone (e.g., auto, brokerage). The material areas the authors revolve the economics of things v. economics of info (when the former is sold it's gone; when the latter is sold, it can be sold again and again at a negligible cost); (2) the idea of reach v. richness seems to be the linchpin of their profound tome and is perfused throughout the book. This of people that can share a piece of information is inversely related to the quality of that information. Witness a salesman's pitch v. a direct mail letter - the former has greater richness and adaptability, while the latter has greater reach but less richness. The book ends with some advice for businesses. According to the authors, the new digital game involves the application of applied economics, refined segmentation, and the analysis of value chain information flows. The authors encourage businesses to be contrarian, pre-emptive, and experimental. I agree that the HBR article is more parsimonious and lucid. Nevertheless, this is a solid book in the genre, and the authors clearly know this developing area. A worthy read overall.
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44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book -- not the Bible., July 5, 2000
Scenario: You go to the Museum of Modern Art and you've heard everyone talk about Monet's Water Lilies. You've looked around at a lot of the art and by the time you finally see the painting it doesn't seem spectacular so you're very disappointed. Well a lot of folks seem to have a similar reaction to this book. They've heard so much in the press and from supposedly "in the know" colleagues that when they finally read it they don't get what the hype was all about. I'm of the opinion that while it isn't as revolutionary as some books that have received similar hype (Innovator's Dilemma, Competing for the Future), it is an excellent read. It has some strategic insights that are very useful for leaders and aspiring leaders in the developing economy. It helps motivate those in start-ups to aggressively pursue stodgy corporate America, while giving corporate America the kick in the pants it needs to shape up or lose out to these young guns. Two knocks: it is difficult reading at times which while not neccesarily a bad thing (James Joyce isn't easy either) is a negative for time-constrained executives. Secondly, some of the middle chapters were seriously deficient in value. Suggestion: skip chapters 5-8 and the book becomes an enjoyable 130 page read. Chapter 4: "Deconstruction" and Chapter 11: "Monday Morning" are both excellent.
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