Customer Reviews

Fastalliances: Power Your E-Business.

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of a few books I bought in an airport bookstore rather than on amazon, my first thought is that the amazon process really does help--this book is flashy enough to get one to buy it on the fly, but probably would not survive in open competition when alternatives are easily visible in an electronic bookstore.

The author notes that the book was written in 60 days. It shows, and the reader is the one that suffers. I have no doubt that the author, an attractive person by the photo, is a wonderful speaker with many insights to offer. The book, however, is not well laid-out and one has the feeling that 100 different briefings have been sorted into chapter files and dumped into the book. What couldn't be fit into the text was turned into sidebar or text figure.

The book includes a CD-ROM I will never use, as well as a URL for a web address I will never visit. I would rather they had put the money into better editing, more white space, and a much better structure for the book.

My bottom line: the book should not be ignored, but I would recommend that the executive interested in these concepts have a strong younger manager of promise read this as one of 3-4 other similar books, and distill all of them into a ten page memo.

The hybrid title obviously fuses two very important words: "fast" and "alliance." It is Segil's assertion (and I totally agree) that "The e-commerce business world has turned many old rules on their heads....You have to be ahead of the [other] players in this game. FastAlliances can be the tool -- the approach that helps you reinvent a small part of your organizational structure if you are a traditional (not new Internet) company. If you are a new Internet company, the challenge will be to apply some level of discipline while maintaining the velocity you have already created." So the emphasis for all organizations (regardless of size or nature, be it a "traditional" or "new Internet" organization) must be on forging and sustaining appropriate strategic alliances while conducting business at a high rate of speed. How? Segil offers a "unique model" which suggests a seven-step approach:

1. Diagnosis of Your Company, Competitors, and Industry

2. The Up-Front Work in the Creation of FastAlliances

3. Define the Deliverables for FastAlliances

4. Managing Stakeholder Expectations

5. The Essential Characteristics for Business Development

6. Leveraging the Global E-Space

7. Employing the E-Mindshift System

Actually, there is a Step 8: The Deals -- Making, Managing, Adding Value, and Terminating Them. She explains the "nitty-gritty of creating and managing FastAlliances -- metrics, ongoing change mechanisms, and knowledge transfer; tools, tools, tools!" There is a separate chapter devoted to each Step, followed by a final chapter (Chapter 9) in which she discusses "Pitfalls and Opportunities -- Summing Up." This is an especially valuable chapter because Segil addresses a key issue: How to grow a company in e-space by using traditional alliances along with FastAlliances.

In the Afterword, Segil provides her e-mail address, inviting readers to visit her website and thereby gain access to a suite of more than 25 software processes that comprise the Larraine Segil Partner Relationship Management (PRM) System. She also provides her e-mail address with the expressed hope for a continuing relationship with her readers. In other words, Segil continues to seek out FastAlliances of her own which perhaps (just perhaps) may include one with you. I also direct your attention to two appendices: FastAlliance Toolkit and Companies Supplying Weapons and Countermeasures in the War for Web Customers.

I rate this book so highly because its material is substantial and logically organized, because it is very well-written, and because (as Segil herself would no doubt agree) the book enables, indeed encourages each reader to select a combination of concepts, strategies, and tactics which is most appropriate to her or his own organization. Yes, to some extent, this is a "How to" book but it is also a "Why to" book. The seven-step or, for some, eight-step process allows for all manner of modifications to accommodate (a) the unique needs and interests of each organization and (b) changes in that organization's circumstances (eg leadership, resources, or competitive environment). Of course, the value of this book will be determined by the nature and extent of needs to which its ideas are applied, and, the skill with which such application is made. Now more than ever before, organizations need all the friends they can make...and then keep. Segil suggests a practical and comprehensive process to achieve that objective. Now more than ever before, organizations must also be able to maintain the velocity necessary to compete successfully. Segil also addresses that need. It's nice to know where to locate her if and when a FastAlliance with her would be appropriate to you both.

REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO EXCEL IN E-BUSINESS E-business is NOT dot.com business --- It is about supply chain management and customer relationship management. Segil shows readers how FastAlliances can help them stay lean while growing. Her keen insights and expert approach can help any organization use FastAlliances to do the real business of e-business. Readers become armed with the management tools they need to transition from the traditional to the new economy. TRULY GROUND-BREAKING! A MUST READ!

Larraine Segil has proven her business savvy once again by applying her expertise in alliances to the Internet economy. In this book, she explains in her clear and easily understood style, how to succeed at bringing companies together and successfully KEEP them together. This is a must read for anyone who is making deals on the web today. Her virtual business strategies and examples are dead on target, no matter where your physical business is based. I've been building businesses on and offline for the last 10 years and I recommend this book to anyone who wants a better understanding of how to put "business development" deals together.

Larraine Segil's previous book Intelligent Business Alliances was read by several of our partners and became our roadmap for integrating international alliances into our worldwide business development strategy. Now four years later she has given us a whole new way to develop e-business relationships. Continuous expansion of networking is our passport to growth in the global executive search business. Therefore, we have revamped our previously completed 2001 business development plan and have incorporated some of the tools and techniques that Ms. Segil outlines in Fast Alliances: Power Your E-Business. Larraine Segil has had a profound influence on our business model and this book is recommended to any business person who plans to survive in the Internet Age.

For fans of previous Segil books, you will really enjoy this one. What's great about this book is that it's written by someone who has actually had to make alliances work herself and she clearly understands where the pitfalls lie and how to avoid them. Getting up to speed on the internet economy is not an easy task, and Larraine puts business development deals into perspective with her clear analysis and useful set of tools for developing and managing alliances. The book is well written and I found it both interesting and well-paced. I actually think there is a little too much information in here. This could have been two books! So don't plan on finishing this on one plane trip (unless you're traveling to Nairobi on Southwest Airlines :-))

I've already started putting her "Spider Network" tool to good use and its helped me to reconstruct the way I was building business relationships and improve my approach to networking both inside and outside of my organization and my alliance partners' organizations. What I like best about this book is that I got actual tools that I started using right away. I really hate books which talk about a lot of theory but don't give me the practical tools I need to get deals done. There's even a CD included with her book that has some of her tools already loaded on it in software form and it links to her site (www.lsegil.com) which I just went to and was very impressed. I recently saw Larraine speak at a conference I attended and she really impressed me. I highly recommend this book.