Competing on Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape & Its Battle with Microsoft [Hardcover]

David Yoffie (Author), Michael A. Cusumano (Author, Draft Writer), David B. Yoffie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1998

When Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark founded Netscape in 1994, they were the first to envision how the Internet could revolutionise conventional ways of using computers, distributing software, communicating with other people, and conducting business. In this penetrating analysis of strategy-making and product innovation in the dynamic markets of commercial cyberspace, bestselling authors Cusumano and Yoffie draw vital lessons from Netscape and how it has employed the techniques of 'judo strategy' in its pitched battle against Microsoft. Through on-site observation and in-depth interviews, the authors construct a blueprint detailing how this hugely successful software company has competed on Internet time. They suggest that by designing products that run on multiple operating systems and staying flexible, they have forced Microsoft into an immovable and therefore less competitive position. Managers everywhere will want to absorb these valuable lessons from the fastest growing software company in history and put them to work in their organisations now - before the competition does!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

No other business rivalry has captured the public imagination quite like the one between Netscape and Microsoft. And for good reason. It pits the world's richest corporation against a relatively recent startup. The implications of this battle--for everything from electronic commerce to network communications--extend well into the next millennium. Competing on Internet Time, by Michael A. Cusumano and David B. Yoffie, is the definitive blow-by-blow analysis of Netscape's battle with Microsoft, starting with the founding of Netscape in 1994 through the summer of 1998, just as Microsoft was about to enter the courtroom with the Justice department over its alleged monopolistic practices.

Based on a series of interviews with Netscape employees and others, Competing on Internet Time is more than a breathless corporate biography. Rather, the authors draw lessons from the mistakes and victories that both Netscape and Microsoft have suffered and enjoyed in their war for 'Net turf--in terms of browsers, server software, and portal space. The authors come up with some surprising conclusions. For example, in examining the competitive strategies of both companies, Cusumano and Yoffie conclude that Microsoft, more than Netscape, exhibited what they call a "judo flexibility." Here they point to Microsoft's now famous December 7, 1995 Internet Day announcement of the company's embrace-and-extend strategy and its subsequent sacrifice of MSN in a deal with AOL--prime examples of how Microsoft redefined the battle in a way that avoided a direct confrontation with Netscape but nevertheless placed them center stage in the fight for Internet mindshare. The authors also go into fascinating detail about how each company operates--from the hiring of staffers to the conception, development, and marketing of products.

But this book is more than just about the conflict between Netscape and Microsoft. Anyone interested in how network-based businesses grow and change will find Competing on Internet Time a glimpse into the not-too-distant network economy. It belongs on the bookshelf of every Internet junkie and entrepreneur. --Harry C. Edwards

Review

Competing on Internet Time is a scholarly, well-researched report that sizes up Netscape Communications Corp.'s battle with Microsoft Corp. and analyzes the errors made by both sides.... Read the book before turning to the court testimony to get the complete, unaltered story. -- Upside, Karen Southwick

No wonder Microsoft_s antitrust lawyers subpoenaed the source material for Competing on Internet Time. Time and again in this microscopically detailed account of Netscape_s four-year roller-coaster ride, company executives candidly point out their own blunders in fending off Microsoft.

For anyone who hopes to avoid similar pitfalls (are you listening, Rob Glaser?), the book will surely fascinate. For instance, Marc Andreessen sums up his early dismissal of Netscape.com_s profit potential as a _billion-dollar mistake._

But some chapters will require patience, unless, of course, you like reading about UNIX and Java VM. Still, the unadorned narrative is often intriguing, as the authors recount Netscape_s sometimes nimble, sometimes misguided attempts to battle the Microsoft beast. All the pivotal moments are here, such as Bill Gates_ _Pearl Harbor Day, 1995_ announcement that Microsoft would _embrace and extend_ the Net.

Through voluminous interviews with top industry insiders, the book lays bare Netscape_s arrogance and miscalculations. But the authors never let you forget that the mistakes of this tough, creative competitor would probably have gone unnoticed if it weren_t locked in a _life-and-death struggle_ with Microsoft.

– Alex Lash -- From The Industry Standard

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 361 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1st edition (November 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684853191
• ISBN-13: 978-0684853192
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,665,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, with a joint appointment in MIT's Engineering Systems Division. His research focuses on technology management and strategy, especially in the software business. He received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in production and operations management at the Harvard Business School. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and a Japan Foundation Fellow at the University of Tokyo. In 2009, he delivered the 13th annual Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies at Oxford University and was named one of the most influential people in technology and IT by Silicon.com. Professor Cusumano is a director of a leading Indian IT services company, Patni Computer Systems (NYSE: PTI, www.patni.com), and of an interactive voice communications provider, Eliza Corporation (www.elizacorporation.com). He is also an advisor to FixStars Corp. (www.fixstars.com), which builds high-performance computing applications for clusters of Sony Playstation consoles and other multi-core processor blade servers; and Buzzient (www.buzzient.com), a social media analytics and integration firm. He is the author or co-author of 8 books, including The Business of Software (2004), Platform Leadership (2002), Competing on Internet Time (1998), and Microsoft Secrets (1995).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars chalkboard analysis, January 9, 2000

By 

Arnold Kling (Silver Spring, Md USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Competing on Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape & Its Battle with Microsoft (Hardcover)

This is a well-written, interesting book. However, in my opinion, it tells only part of the story. It looks at how Netscape formulated its strategy, but not at how (or whether) this strategy was executed.

This is like explaining a football game entirely on the basis of the diagrams that the coaches drew on the chalkboard. What actually happened on the field gets no attention.

For example, the authors claim that one of Netscape's strategies was to leverage Internet standards. However, the reality is that with its browser Netscape thumbed its nose at Internet standards, particularly when it dominated the market. Even today, its browser generally is seen as less compliant with standards than is Microsoft Explorer.

Another alleged Netscape strategy was to "eat your own dogfood," which means using your own products. The reality is quite different. For example, Netscape released a production version of Enterprise 3.0 and kept its own web site on Enterprise 2.0 for several months afterward.

In 1996, a key component of Netscape's web server was something they called LiveWire, which provided scripting and database connectivity. I adopted it for my web site in the second half of 1996. However, after several months of trying to get it to work reliably, we had to abandon it, moving to Java servlets instead.

Meanwhile, as of late 1997 (when I stopped following it), Netscape's web site still had not adoped LiveWire. They let other users suffer with the bugs and problems in LiveWire, while they ran their own site using the older technology of CGI/Perl. That means they spent at least 1-1/2 years in real time (multiply by 7x to get Internet time) NOT eating their own dogfood. In contrast, Microsoft used their competing Active Server Page technology immediately on their sites.

To return to the football analogy, my epitaph for Netscape is that it is a company that told the press and its shareholders that it was aiming to play in the Super Bowl, but disdained to practice blocking and tackling.

While Netscape's executives were formulating these nifty strategies, Sun and Microsoft were getting their code in shape. In my opinion, that is most of the story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now I understand what happened to Netscape!, August 23, 2000

By 

Howard Aldrich (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Competing On Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape And Its Battle With Microsoft (Paperback)

I found their description of the evolving routines at Netscape (and Microsoft) amazingly complete for researchers who had to do the job "after the fact." Indeed, it reads like an ethnography, which I think is the highest compliment I can pay a book that depended on interviews with key participants, rather than actually sitting in on meetings. They really captured the tension, ambiguity, and uncertainty involved in a high growth start up.

The book fits very well with an evolutionary view of how routines & bundles of routines develop within organizations. I recommend it to people interested in evolutionary theory.

The authors supply a cold dose of reality for anyone who thinks that managing a knowledge intensive high growth start is easy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great analysis on successful large software firms., May 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Competing on Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape & Its Battle with Microsoft (Hardcover)

Wow!!! This stuff is priceless for an exec in the software world. The discipline involved in these places is good (i know, i'm a software engineer in a shoddy operations environment). Not a great business book (like Microsoft Secrets) but a great sector specific analysis of great software development. Any Cusumano book is a must read for the intelligent high-tech exec.