MetaCapitalism: The e-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st-Century Companies and Markets [Hardcover]

Grady Means (Author), David Schneider (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471393355 | ISBN-13: 978-0471393351 | Publication Date: June 22, 2000 | Edition: 1st

The period 2000--2002 will witness the single greatest change in global economic and business conditions ever-the realignment from traditional corporate structure to Internet-leveraged styles of brand-owning, customer-focused companies. This realignment is occurring now, even as you read these words. In MetaCapitalism: The E-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st-Century Companies and Markets, Grady Means and David Schneider-two of today's most influential and innovative global strategists-gather and make sense of the many changes the e-business revolution has fostered. Case histories and examples, from major corporations like Cisco Systems and major industries like the automobile industry, reveal how market leaders today are accelerating economic growth and value creation by capitalizing on the following:

Global expansion of market access
Better leverage of capital
Significant advances in operating efficiency
Improvements in the efficiency of capital markets
Dramatic unleashing of human potential and capital

It isn't a question of if your company will transform to an e-business model-it's a question of when. By 2002, virtually every major company in every sector will, by necessity, transform from a conventional to an e-business model. MetaCapitalism sets out the strategies and impacts of this fundamental change and introduces the new concepts that will become a natural part of the business lexicon in the near future. In this new era of outsourcing and diminishing physical capital base, how will companies be valued by the markets? Can "brand-owning" companies-as opposed to manufacturers-maintain sufficient controls and systems to guarantee that their network partners are well integrated with each other and the marketplace? How will "value-added communities"-both horizontal and vertical-support brand owners in dramatically reducing costs, increasing quality, and responding rapidly to customer demand and market shifts? MetaCapitalism answers all these questions and more, backed by the trusted experience and leadership-and market-driving innovation-that have always characterized the PricewaterhouseCoopers team. This thought-provoking book presents a template for success in the rapidly developing world of business-to-business e-business-a world which tomorrow's leaders must begin to understand and master today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In Opinion

If the authors of the new book "MetaCapitalism" are correct, the world will undergo a business revolution before 2003.

Companies will become more effective and efficient by decreasing their capital expenses and increasing the number of functions they outsource. And the value of the global market could increase tenfold, from $20 trillion this year to as high as $200 trillion within 10 years.

Sounds pretty good, huh?

Unfortunately, that growth isn't gratis.

A company can't just utilize the Internet; it must immerse itself in it. Or as PricewaterhouseCoopers CEO James J. Schiro says in the book's foreword, "Companies must either adapt or perish."

B-to-B the key

Authors Grady Means and David Schneider,consultants for PricewaterhouseCoopers,
present their case concisely, though the ever-present charts and graphs detract from the readability, which is average to begin with.

But their message comes across. The companies who embraced the Net five years ago by anticipating the b-to-b concept lead their sectors.

In light of this, it's no wonder that the authors express approval for companies like Cisco (CSCO) and Nortel (NT), which are well on their way to containing their businesses within the scope of the Internet. That is, they are reducing their capital expenses (such as factories, equipment and personnel) and increasing their presence and reliance on the Web.

More surprisingly, traditionally capital-heavy companies like General Electric (GE), Honeywell International (HON) and Wal-Mart (WMT) have begun allocating available resources toward creating a larger Internet presence.

The authors call this transformation away from a reliance on physical capital and toward more flexibility in the supply chain "MetaCapitalism."

But Means and Schneider readily admit, "The more compatible the existing business model with the emerging b-to-b e-business model, the less the organization must change to succeed in the "New Economy".

Read: If your competitors are far from conducting their companies entirely online, you might have more time than the strict two-year period offered by "MetaCapitalism."

Playing catch up

But the opposite is also true: In many industries, the laggards must now play an exhausting game of catch up.

What must they do? The authors say: Utilize the Internet by outsourcing departments not directly related to the product (accounting, human resources, customer service) or by moving those departments online; create a single information system that ties together each division of the company with customers and suppliers; concentrate on establishing your brand; and stop relying on physical capital.

And if you bathroom soap dispenser manufacturers think this book wasn't written for you, surprise. Means and Schneider say you better get in the game, too. Because once your competitors create a b-to-b division or exchange that tackles the supply chain and fills its orders faster, it's probably too late.

However difficult it might be for a factory or retail store to alter the way it's been organized for 50 years or more, the companies who are really going to have a hard time meeting Means and Schneider's extreme schedule are the foreign manufacturing
companies.

According to the authors, the United States is well on its way to being prepared for "the e-commerce revolution," but Germany, Japan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia will have a difficult transition to the new model.

In short, it will be much easier for the largest and most flexible of the b-to-b companies to dominate in the next several years. All others better start running.

Candice McFarland is a copy editor at UpsideToday. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor regarding this story, email [e-mail].

From the Inside Flap

The period 2000-2002 will witness the single greatest change in global economic and business conditions ever-the realignment from traditional corporate structure to Internet-leveraged styles of brand-owning, customer-focused companies. This realignment is occurring now, even as you read these words.

In MetaCapitalism: The E-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st-Century Companies and Markets, Grady Means and David Schneider-two of today's most influential and innovative global strategists-gather and make sense of the many changes the e-business revolution has fostered. Case histories and examples, from major corporations like Cisco Systems and major industries like the automobile industry, reveal how market leaders today are accelerating economic growth and value creation by capitalizing on the following:
* Global expansion of market access
* Better leverage of capital
* Significant advances in operating efficiency
* Improvements in the efficiency of capital markets
* Dramatic unleashing of human potential and capital

It isn't a question of if your company will transform to an e-business model-it's a question of when. By 2002, virtually every major company in every sector will, by necessity, transform from a conventional to an e-business model. MetaCapitalism sets out the strategies and impacts of this fundamental change and introduces the new concepts that will become a natural part of the business lexicon in the near future.

In this new era of outsourcing and diminishing physical capital base, how will companies be valued by the markets? Can "brand-owning" companies-as opposed to manufacturers-maintain sufficient controls and systems to guarantee that their network partners are well integrated with each other and the marketplace? How will "value-added communities"-both horizontal and vertical-support brand owners in dramatically reducing costs, increasing quality, and responding rapidly to customer demand and market shifts?

MetaCapitalism answers all these questions and more, backed by the trusted experience and leadership-and market-driving innovation-that have always characterized the PricewaterhouseCoopers team. This thought-provoking book presents a template for success in the rapidly developing world of business-to-business e-business-a world which tomorrow's leaders must begin to understand and master today.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1st edition (June 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471393355
• ISBN-13: 978-0471393351
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,238,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overview of e-Markets & PwC Advert, December 6, 2000

By 

Prof David T Wright (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MetaCapitalism: The e-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st-Century Companies and Markets (Hardcover)

Aimed at business leaders, `Meta-Capitalism' offers an attractively presented, concise but unrefenced/supported PwC view of e-business markets.

Chapters span: B2B decapitalization revolution; Metcapitalism marketplace dynamics; B2B process models; Intelligent behavior of markets; B2B anecdotes; performance measures; and organizational transformation.

Strengths include: positive tone and brevity of descriptions; very attractive diagrams & tables; and a useful timely synthesis of content. The core message is: branding ("anti- Cluetrain Manifesto"), value-adding communities ("pro-Cluetrain Manifesto"), standard interlinking systems (processes; backoffice; SCM; CRM etc..) between end-customer through value chains to tiers of suppliers (products & services), and some basic financial ratios/measures. The author's also offer the formula e(b)= M(C)*2, representing B2B model= management (change times courage), emphasizing the energy of the new metamarketplace.

Weaknesses include: lack of referencing/ support for much public-domain anecdotes; superficiality of analyses & case studies; rather abstract theoretical discussions; numerous technical errors (some e.g.s include: description 90s manufacturing actually 80s; problems with granularity in figures including 2.14; JIT 80s not 90s; SCM superficiality (no emphasis forecasting problems, data accuracy, prioritization, APS, Kanban etc..(Prof Towill at U. Cardiff has much to say on this)); and CRM & intelligence confusion despite emphasis); numerous cliched "pop-culture" references (many movies covered) quickly dating content; summary & repetition from of author's other book (Wisdom of CEO); and an ultimate message seemingly a sales pitch for PwC consulting services (where those who succeed will have embraced ERP & CRM & business processes).

Overall, `Meta-Capitalism' is a good book needing more science & rigor (and better grasp of technology & operations in e-marketplace context), and case studies/support to be amongst the best. Useful as a discussion starter, perhaps with Deise et al's PwC 'Executive Guide to E-Business' (ISBN 0471376396); and Tyndall et al's Ernst & Young 'Supercharging Supply Chains' (ISBN 0471254371); and any operations management text by Wild, Mullins, or Slack for operationalizing & analysing markets, operations, and strategy.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce Models, August 10, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: MetaCapitalism: The e-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st-Century Companies and Markets (Hardcover)

From the book's foreword comes the context for this book: "A fundamental transformation of the business model is under way, to which the central precept of Darwinism applies: Companies must either adapt or perish."

This book's lessons are framed in terms of the large company of today that has historically used a traditional business model, such as an automobile company like GM or Ford. The book then shows what strategic models the company should migrate towards, and describes key aspects of that migration. This is expressed in terms of being effective in business-to-business electronic commerce, the fastest growing part of the Internet.

The fundamental transition is from a company primarily managing physical and working capital, with a human resource focus on production, and sales-oriented branding to a brand-oriented company that focuses on customers to meet their needs and manages a system of relationships that produce the goods and services involved on an outsourced basis.

The discussions are built at a level of abstraction one level above the normal strategy of a business model. For example, the book looks at the structure of delivering customer value and satisfaction, but says little about what the basis of that value and satisfactions should be other than more speed in developing new products and responding to customer desires and needs.

These abstractions are made more concrete by comparing diagrams of old and new business models. Typically, the authors simplify these comparisons by inverting existing business model diagrams, and by creating linkages among various models.

People who are very conceptually-oriented will like this book very much. People who like things simpler may find so much conceptualization too abstract.

Companies with existing business-to-business strategies will find this book a useful way to test their thinking. For companies struggling to develop a strategy, this book can provide useful questions to start with.

The authors make some very sweeping predictions: "The period from 2000 to 2002 will represent the greatest single change in worldwide economic and business conditions ever, and most of the impact will occur in the next 18 months." In the next 10 years, the authors also predict that the global market values for public companies will grow from 20 to 200 trillion dollars.

Cisco is the basic model for much of this thinking, as it exists today. However, the book goes on to look at how companies are evolving in many different traditional industries.

One of the things I liked about the book was that it also looked at the systems' transitions that will be required to participate in these outsourcing value-added communities and MetaMarkets.

The book was also very good in providing the key underpinnings and assumptions for the insights. For example, the stock market increase is based on changes in business structure that will accelerate earnings growth while also providing more flexible ways to grow. The assumptions are documented both for earnings and for price/earnings expansion.

Overcome your stalled thinking that you can continue to do business in the old ways without business-to-business electronic commerce in an older business with this excellent book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book holds no water, October 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: MetaCapitalism: The e-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st-Century Companies and Markets (Hardcover)

This book is merely a sales pitch written by PwC executives looking to drum up e-business sales. It is full of "e" cliches and flies in the face of accepted business theories -- such as transaction cost economics. This type of thinking by top PwC partners is clearly the reason why that firm is currently merging with IBM Global Services.