Customer Reviews

Evolve!: Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow audio cassette

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Rosabeth Moss Kanter is one of our finest thinkers about organizational change. In Evolve!, she has taken on a very large challenge. She attempts to help the young and the old, the e-hip and the offline, the techies and the nontechies, and those in new economy and old economy companies understand one another better so they can cooperate for greater results through using the Internet as an enabling medium. She also takes a look at beneficial cultures separately from the perspectives of pure dot com companies, dotcom-enablers (like Sun Microsystems), and wannadots (already-established companies seeking to add the Internet to their businesses). In the process, she provides lots of helpful examples of what NOT TO DO, as well as what TO DO both in terms of what kind of organization to create and how to get there. I found that the book added a great deal to my storehouse of case histories about what has been working and what has not as companies have sought to develop and improve Internet-based business models. Unlike most books about the Internet, this one was primarily based on lots of research with people at companies rather than lots of experience in using cool Web sites.

The book is divided into three parts. The first section looks at how the Internet affects every business and person, the role of young people to date in advancing the changes, and why companies have to do more than just open a web site to be effective. Basically, the Internet means a fundamental change in at least part of every company's business model. For some companies, this is a complete change. For others, it is a partial, but significant change. Cisco Systems provides a good example. You can be a major provider of high technology products while having very little manufacturing youself. Dell Computer is another helpful example. You can have negative receivables and no inventory while manufacturing products to order in minutes. Anyone would like to be able to move profitably in these directions.

The second section identifies the qualities that allow a company's culture to work well in e-commerce. Professor Kanter focuses here on the need to create generations of rapid change each of which is well received by the beneficiaries, how to create truly supportive and effective networks of partners, reconfiguring the business and organizational structure to improve the business model, and attracting and retaining the top talent needed to make these improvements.

The third section looks at initiating and enabling the change process towards the model of e-effectiveness. The roles of leaders, organizations, and of individuals are identified . . . as well as the sources of friction and resistance.

I thought that the book was exceptionally well done. It's weaknesses come from having taken on such a large topic and challenge. But Professor Kanter succeeds in most areas quite well.

Those who work in dot com companies that are facing bankruptcy will not find enough here to help them sort through their issues. Those who want to establish a new dot com from scratch also will find this book to be useful, but not a complete resource for that purpose (as Professor Kanter warns in the book). The book was primarily researched while the dot com companies were flush with cash and valuations on the stock market were still quite high. So, although there are references to stocks falling after March 2000, the book reflects in many ways a world that doesn't exactly exist right now for dot com companies.

For dotcom-enablers, they will get a few ideas about how to satisfy the need to keep revitalizing their business model. But most of this will not seem new to them, if they have been at all successful.

For wannadots, this book will help lift the veil of how to get from here to there. The main benefit will be to help avoid problems that others have experienced. You can save tens of millions of dollars and start delivering benefits to your customers much sooner if you follow the change lessons here. The senior executives in these companies should be the prime beneficiaries of this book . . . the Harvard B-School grads of a few years ago, or more.

Metaphors are very helpful for understanding new subjects. The metaphors here, although apt, are ones that many readers will not find to be very much within their experience. For that reason, the points will be a bit lost. For example, the idea of continuing innovating and creating rapid improvements is linked to what improvisational actors do. I have had some improvisational training, so this made sense to me (see Robert Lowe's book, Improvisation, Inc.). I do not know many corporate executives in large companies however who do have this experience. I suspect this metaphor will be lost on them. Some of the other metaphors also lack an experience base for most readers, as well.

A potential weakness of this book for some readers is that they will not get enough information for how to identify ways to create more profitable and sustainable business models. To date, most Internet innovations have led to lower profits . . . not higher ones -- whether they came from dot coms, dotcom-enablers, or dotcome wannabes. If more skill is not applied in this important area of conceptualizing what the new structure of the business should become, you may evolve . . . but not into any place where you want to be.

Reading this book today, you'd have to say that if you are not going to be a dotcom enabler, you'd better watch out.

I found Evolve! by Rosabeth Moss Kanter to be a fascinating look at how the Internet has changed the business world. As someone in his mid-20's working at a company that is stumbling into the Internet age, I know that Kanter's insights are right on target.

The best part of the book is its case studies. Kanter's extensive research enables her to give the reader behind-the-scenes stories of businesses struggling to succeed (as well as businesses struggling with success). These stories are fun and easy to digest -- I seriously couldn't put it down once I started reading it. The stories are woven together seamlessly, and each one is just as fascinating as the last. They uncover the inner-workings of business, which makes an understanding of familiar companies like E-Bay, IBM, BarnesandNoble.com, and Sun Microsystems much richer.

This book is also particularly good because it reveals the benefits and drawbacks of the "dot-com style." We have all been attracted to this type of work environment (no dress code, cool office spaces) and Kanter understands this -- but she has a fresh perspective on the extent to which this style can enhance or cramp an organization. She also explains the demands that the Internet has placed on businesses to be quick to move, network, improvise, and take chances.

As an employee myself, I found one of the best lessons to be that there are ways of making your job more meaningful, and there are ways of making your company feel more like a community. Some of it involves peppering the "dot-com style" around the company, but that is just a tool -- it has more to do with communication and teamwork.

Overall, this book is a great source of insights all told in Kanter's enthusiastic, animated narrative. I have recommended it to my friends and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in understanding the real story behind how e-business has impacted and will continue to impact all types of businesses, from the inside-out.

As a long-time strategy consultant who has worked with hundreds of companies and now as an entrepreneur establishing a new company in Asia, utilizing the Internet, I find Evolve! to be packed with extremely useful ideas and powerful lessons. I recently spoke at a forum on the major challenges facing businesses in Greater China over the next ten years. Having just read Evolve!, I centered my talk around the new environment, new culture and new rules affecting businesses throughout the world, as a result of the Internet. These changes and their implications are certainly revolutionary, but they are also evolutionary. The attendees unanimously agreed that mastering this topic is a key success factor for their businesses.

Evolve! provides excellent perspectives on how the web acts both as a stimulus for new organizational culture and as a facilitator for change -- allowing this culture to change in an orderly and timely manner.

The extensive research done for this book provides fascinating case studies, anecdotes and insights for those readers who already have considerable experience with the Internet world. For readers who have less firsthand exposure to the key elements of the Internet and all that it implies the book provides, in an easy to relate to manner, excellent insights into understanding how the workplace of today needs to evolve in the future.

Moss Kanter's book is over-hyped from the cover onward. Three problems: 1) the book starts with the obligatory writing of 2 sections filled with gross generalizations with little data to support many of the statements (despite professing to have major data to support her conclusions), 2) The book was clearly started back during the Internet Hype days before the bubble burst. I will admit that there do appear a few last minute editorial insertions referencing the March 2000 start of the meltdown but her praise of companies without substantive business models betrays the age of the text. 3) I know it is bad to spoil the endings of books but I have got to, Moss Kanter finally, in the last third of the book, gets to the point of outlining how dumb organizations can evolve in this way cool internet era. However, if you look at her recipe endnote you will see that she is digging up a basic organizational change model that she introduced in the early 1990's and has simply churned it through Internet start-up war stories. E-volving? Hardly. New and invigorating? Doubtful. Relevant? Only if you have been asleep for the last 4 years. Having been hard on the book, I do think it has a 3-star place on my bookshelf but clearly it won't be equal to my often referenced, dog-eared copy of "Competing for the Future" or "The Knowledge-Creating Company."

In college I studied Greek Philosophy. I particulary enjoyed learning of Heraclitus,who's theory of "Flux" espoused everything is in a constant state of change. I couldn't help being reminded of this when reading Professor Kanter's wonderful book, Evolve!. I felt I was back in a classroom learning from another great philosopher,of the influence of change. Her insight, deduced from extensive research, into the Digital Culture of today is extremely helpful to those of us who wish to learn,live and thrive in this new economy.Congratulations and thank you Dr. Kanter

In the genre of e-commerce handbooks Evolve! does not give all the answers. There is no blueprint step by step process to Internet success that is outlined in her writings. Rather, the book presents a view of the correct culture, and outlook of a successful e-business. Social interactions are modified, and conflict is encouraged. In the end the focus is then shifter to the individual who is reading the book. Attention is given to the qualities of an effective leader in a fast changing internet environment where one must be a salesman and visionary while keeping track of concrete deadlines. Evolve! also has a large collection of research to back its claims. The Author, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, is a Harvard professor with a multitude of graduate students at her disposal. This gives her book a large amount of data and research into the various companies that have shaped the Internet and the world of e-business. It divides the players into the categories of Dotcoms, Dotcom Enablers, and Wannadots. It also shows the mistakes, and changes that occurred when the market leaders were first developing their focuses and strategies. To me the greatest aspect of the book is the in-depth historical perspective on the last four years in Silicon Valley. Big players, and company insiders give valuable information on their struggles to become the market leaders. The information is current, the background information is informative, and its message is useful.

While this book offers great insights and anecdotes from the business world, social sector leaders ought to sit up and take notice -- our world has changed too. EVOLVE! offers important lessons for nonprofit managers and government executives charged with organizational strategy and everyday management.

One other fact worth mentioning -- Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a great writer -- easy to follow, witty, interesting, and smart. While this is a big volume backed by lots of research, it is a quick read and one that will leave you excited to apply what she's taught.

I have recently held several positions working in e-business units at some major companies in the New York city area. I am a 20-something "computer guy," but have a strong interest in business management. At my last couple of jobs, I have witnessed so many senior managers make major blunders as they have tried to move away from their antiquated, old-school business management formulas into e-business. It seems like only a few companies have found the right mix of on- and off-line strategies. These concepts all came together for me while reading Kanter's "Evolve." She makes more sense of everything that has gone on since the rise of the Internet than anything else I have read. Her research is extensive, thorough, and interesting -- and her writing is really quite good. Her enthusiasm makes this book a page-turner, as corny as that may sound. But I recommend it fully, because it helped me think through all of the things I have been witnessing. If the managers I worked for had read Evolve and taken some of Kanter's lessons to heart, I might still be working there. There is a lot for everyone to learn in this book -- for managers, staff, and just people interested in what happened to the dot-coms.

Evolve by Professor Moss Kanter at Harvard Business School has transformed my way of thinking about the dot-com revolution. I worked on changing my unit of a traditional bricks-and-mortar business into an e-business. Moss Kanter had incredible foresight. Her ability to grasp the big picture, and translate a variety of business changes into easy-to-understand lessons is truly remarkable. Not only does she explain the roots of the dotcom revolution and its enduring lessons for the future, but she predicts the dot-com bubble bursting. This should be required reading for business managers in any industry.

This book combines an outstanding read with a serious wake-up call. It lays out clearly how established companies must address the revolutionary changes the internet has brought. It is one of the few texts on the new economy which is based on extensive research. The wisdom is rooted in fact and not fancy. If you are in an old-economy company (not a dotcommer) it makes for frightening reading. The internet provides a new imperative for change - to Evolve. However, compared with the re-engineering change programs of the 80's and early 90's this new imperative is insidious - the need for change is not so obvious - not driven by some foreign enemy or some financial downturn. The internet changes the basis for competing - but many companies cannot see the danger.

In this book, Rosabeth Kanter clearly lays out the need for change. However, she goes much further, providing working examples of what has worked and what has not. She explains the good news - that the fundamentals of business, and in particular change management remain the same. However, she also articulates the dangers for those who do not embrace this new revolution with as much drive and energy as the crises which drove large change programs in the past. As a manager in an old-economy company, this book both frightened and excited me. Fear that we will not embrace the new dawn and excitement at the prospects if we do. It should be compulsory reading for managers at all levels throughout the established economy.