Digital Enterprise : How to Reshape Your Business for a Connected World (A Harvard Business Review Book) [Hardcover]

Nicholas G. Carr (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Harvard Business Review Book | Publication Date: July 1, 2001

With this bold collection of cutting-edge "Harvard Business Review" articles, the magazine's executive editor explores the fundamental changes that are happening in business as a result of the Internet, digital communications, and ubiquitous connectivity.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What business owner or manager isn't constantly wondering how the onset of the Internet age will impact business in the months and years to come? The Digital Enterprise, a collection of perceptive articles on various aspects of the technological revolution originally published in the Harvard Business Review, provides an insightful base of information that leaders can use to help sort out the possibilities and prepare for the challenges ahead.

Edited by the Review's executive editor, Nicholas G. Carr, this book "explores the form and economics of the new digital infrastructure and considers its influence over the day-to-day decisions executives and entrepreneurs need to make" through writings of such authoritative sources as John Hagel III, Adrian J. Slywotzky, Gary Hamel, and some 18 others.

Divided into three parts, The Digital Enterprise offers a close look at ways technology is "Remodeling Business" (including "how the value chain is constructed, how individual companies determine their positioning and scope, and how interactions between companies are carried out); "Remaking Markets" (by "altering the buying process, both in consumer and in business-to-business markets"); and "Reimagining Management" (through "operational implications of the Internet and... practical advice on how to organize and motivate people"). Individually, the 13 articles cover the current spectrum of thought on the Internet and business. Collectively, they offer as astute a picture of the overall relationship and where it might be headed as today's curious businessperson is likely to find. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

Recent articles from the Harvard Business Review are here divided into three sections. In "Remodeling Business," authors explore corporate reconfigurations for greater efficiency and identify potential profit centers (e.g., FedEx now sells its logistics expertise to other firms). In "Remaking Markets," writers examine how the Internet affects selling to both businesses and consumers. Essays on "Re-imagining Management" address the response at the helm. Pitched to senior management, the pieces effectively frame the debate about the future.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 249 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Press (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578515580
• ISBN-13: 978-1578515585
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,694,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A useful collection, with a slightly misleading title., February 25, 2003

By 

Bill Godfrey (Mt Stuart, TAS Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digital Enterprise : How to Reshape Your Business for a Connected World (A Harvard Business Review Book) (Hardcover)

This is a collection about the reshaping of the business enterprise. Whether the underlying driver of change is 'the digital revolution' or whether it is simply the emergence of new perspectives on business is probably not a profitable argument. Certainly some of the best articles in this collection have little to do with the Internet as such and a lot to do with rethinking business models.

Carr's introduction is particularly good - and is the one part of the book that subscribers to HBR will not have had the opportunity to read already.

In Part 3, there is a very engaging article by Ricardo Semler, best known for Maverick! It is essentially a description of how an entire enterprise has set itself up as a powerful forcing bed for developing and supporting every individual and group within the organization to act as entrepreneurs. By extension it is a powerful condemnation of the loss of potential creativity - and profit - in 'conventional' organizations.

Part 1 ends with a truly startling article entitled 'Transforming Life, Transforming Business: The Life-Science Revolution'. It is startling not for what it says, which is that genetic engineering in all its forms offers enormous business potential, but also carries with it great difficulties, both technically and of acceptance. The startling thing is that there is no mention - not even the whisper of a suggestion, either in the article itself or in the appended note by the Editors of Harvard Business Review - that there are ethical issues to consider and resolve. If this article reflects the thinking of those engaged in the genetic engineering industries, it is no wonder that they have a problem!