Customer Reviews

Internet Business Models and Strategies: Text and Cases

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In June I requested an Advanced copy of Internet Business Models and Strategies by Afuah and Tucci (McGraw-Hill) in order to review it for my E-Commerce and Entrepreneurship class. After having read many books on the subject matter, I was delighted to find this book and have decided to adopt it for my course. The book provides models and frameworks for understanding e-commerce and e-commerce strategies. It incorporates many concepts from basic marketing and management classes as well as one chapter on financing a start-up. This text is particularly appropriate for my class because it not only provides an overview of e-commerce, it also provides information for entrepreneurs on some of the important matters that need to be taken into consideration when starting a company on-line. The authors discuss the problems, opportunities and strategies that can be used for a clicks-and-mortar firm as well as for a strictly dot.com firm. The text provides the reader with basic information on the infrastructure of e-commerce and its associated technology. The text is written in understandable language which will make it easier for readers who have no knowledge of e-commerce technology to grasp the concepts. In addition to providing multiple models in the text to give readers the "big picture", the text also provides multiple cases on some of the major players in e-commerce including: Red Hat, eBay, Netscape, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Hotmail and more. Additionally, the authors provide thought-provoking discussion questions at the end of each chapter. There are many things about this book that I like, but I'll highlight two that I find most interesting and/or relevant. First, the book takes a broad perspective on e-commerce. It does not just focus on a marketing or financial perspective. While there are many good books that consumers/businesses can get their hands on at Barnes and Noble and Borders that are very good at telling individuals "how to", this text gives the reader the big picture for staying competitive in e-commerce in the long run. The second highlight for me (which I'm sure is impacted by the fact that I teach Marketing and Management classes) is the authors inclusion of the 5-Cs (coordination, commerce, community, content and communication) throughout the text. I was at an e-business expo in Minneapolis June 7 and 8 and listened to many speakers. One comment about e-commerce from Tom Kieffer, President and CEO of Agiliti, stood out to me, "it's about communications, not computing". I am not a tech-head, and I was thrilled to hear the president of an ASP emphasize the importance of communication in e-commerce. Technology gives us the foundation for e-commerce, but people must manage the information that is being presented. Afuah and Tucci affirm this idea throughout their book.

In late June I requested an advanced copy of Internet Business Models and Strategies by Afuah and Tucci (McGraw-Hill) to review for my E-Commerce and Entrepreneurship course at Concordia University - St. Paul. I had read many books on the subject, but after reading this one, I decided to adopt it for my class. The book provides models and frameworks for understanding e-commerce and e-commerce strategies. It incorporates many concepts from basic marketing and management classes as well as one chapter on financing a start-up. This text is particularly appropriate for my class because it not only provides an overview of e-commerce, it also provides information for entrepreneurs on some of the important matters that need to be taken into consideration when starting a company on-line. The authors discuss the problems, opportunities and strategies that can be used for a clicks-and-mortar firm as well as for a strictly dot.com firm. The text provides the reader with basic information on the infrastructure of e-commerce and its associated technology. The text is written in understandable language which will make it easier for readers who have no knowledge of e-commerce technology to grasp the concepts. In addition to providing multiple models in the text to give readers the "big picture", the text also provides multiple cases on some of the major players in e-commerce including: Red Hat, eBay, Netscape, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Hotmail and more. Additionally, the authors provide thought-provoking discussion questions at the end of each chapter. There are many things about this book that I like, but I'll highlight two that I find most interesting and/or relevant. First, the book takes a broad perspective on e-commerce. It does not just focus on a marketing or financial perspective. While there are many good books that consumers/businesses can get their hands on at Barnes and Noble and Borders that are very good at telling individuals "how to", this text gives the reader the big picture for staying competitive in e-commerce in the long run. The second highlight for me (which I'm sure is impacted by the fact that I teach Marketing and Management classes) is the authors inclusion of the 5-Cs (coordination, commerce, community, content and communication) throughout the text. I was at an e-business expo in Minneapolis June 7 and 8 and listened to many speakers. One comment about e-commerce from Tom Kieffer, President and CEO of Agiliti, stood out to me, "it's about communications, not computing". I am not a tech-head, and I was thrilled to hear the president of an ASP emphasize the importance of communication in e-commerce. Technology gives us the foundation for e-commerce, but people must manage the information that is being presented. Afuah and Tucci affirmthis idea throughout their book.

This book uses proven business models and applies them to e-commerce. The e-hype many books adopt is avoided here. This book provides good information for making intelligent business decisions.

This is one of the few texts on E-commerce that is both comprehensible and relevant, and useful both to academics and practitioners. In their second edition, the authors have fleshed out several chapters that were rather sketchy in the first edition, and have updated the cases. The study of Microsoft's Xbox is especially interesting, and the Beyond Interactive case, focusing on the firm's efforts to deal with the rapid decline of advertising revenue, is poignant.

Like any text, parts of the book could be improved. I find the treatment of valuation (Ch 8) superficial, despite the inclusion of several equasions, and the authors should have validated the component measures approach recommended in Chapter 9 before presenting it again in this edition. Also, I'm not sure the Porter model recommended in Chapter 11 really fits the dynamic context of the network-based firm. But these flaws are minor compared to the high level of clarity and structure the authors bring to the subject. Highly recommended for MBA classes in e-commerce and seminars in strategy.

Professor Afuah reveals how companies can structure successful Internet business models. He describes buying behavior among early adopters, ways to transfer innovations within a company, ways to reduce uncertainty, and methods of achieving a strong competitive position. The book's case studies give concrete examples that readers can use as a foundation for making business decisions. This is an instructive book for entrepreneurs and product managers who aim to launch products in fast-moving technology arenas. (Note: Bryan Richards is co-author of a case study on Microsoft's X-Box Online that appears in "Internet Business Models and Strategies").

After reading this book, I found this book was very helpfull for me in understanding kinds of Internet Business. Since I don't have "Internet" background in my education, this book is really recommended by me to be your reference book, whether it is for student use or business implementation. Least but not last, it is resourceful, up-to-date, and comprehensive but not too technical also fill with real case studies.

this book really helpful for all students that really interesting with ecommerce.Not really difficult and easy to understand when you reading.Good Words and conceptual.And off course all reference up to date.

This book has proven to be a resourceful reference book in doing research in e-Business Model. As a student doing research on e-commerce this book is very helpful in my study. An up-to-date book content of both conceptual and technical review of e-Business Model.

The book is (or was) an excellent primer to understanding the fundamental concepts of e-commerce. But while there are some business concepts thrown in (i.e. the 5 C's), they do not expand on those basic understandings of the Internet and its businesses. Anyone who had been following the Internet years via other publications would already possess the necessary knowledge that this book provides. If you don't have a good understanding, then at [$$$], there are cheaper alternatives.

A great boost to this book would have been including a CD containing even one of Mr. Afuah's lectures. Mr. Afuah is a brilliant and knowledgeable man who challenges his students to think beyond just the basics. We were not able to get away with trite responses not backed up with data. Since this is hard to do through a book, an interactive CD could at least be somewhat useful.

geez man, this book is unbelievably a hard work to read et alone to understand , but i find this book is a good challenge to take and i predict this book will be able to help the reader to help the reader to understand the subject learned furthermore, yes i find this book a resourceful book but this book will be more useful for people with a base of knowledge in the field,for a college student concentrating in this field i find this book troubling and useful in the same time.
Send me the Hary Potter and The Order of Phoenix book please