Net Profit: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Internet Business [Hardcover]

Peter S. Cohan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0787944769 | ISBN-13: 978-0787944766 | Edition: 1

The recent Internet stock crash has caused investors and managers to throw the baby out with the bath water. The gloom surrounding many publicly traded Internet companies makes objective evaluation of their performance difficult. In Net Profit, author Peter Cohan breaks down the complexity of the Internet market by answering two basic questions: Who makes money on Internet-related business? And how do they do it? His incisive analyses of leading Internet companies, their competitors, and their chances for continued growth pinpoint the factors that investors and managers in Internet business must examine to ensure future success.
For excerpts and more detailed information on Net Profit, click here.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With all the uncertainty and hoopla around the Internet, how can investors and business managers hit the right financial buttons? In Net Profit, Peter S. Cohan, a premier Internet consultant and stock picker, analyzes the trade's top companies--including Yahoo!, Amazon.com, America Online, and Cisco Systems--and offers some compelling insights for investors and businesses on the Web or those considering it. "This book is about the companies that are working to make economic sense of the Web," Cohan writes. "And it is about a search for the business strategies that distinguish the market leaders from their peers."

Cohan identifies nine segments of the industry--infrastructure, consulting, venture capital, security, portals, e-commerce, Web content, Internet service providers, and commerce tools. He judges each of the leading companies in the nine fields on its management, breadth of customer service, and most critical, ability to deliver a product that is so scarce and important that it carries a high price. Most Internet companies fail to meet all of Cohan's strict standards. Portal leader Yahoo!, for example, lacks economic clout over advertisers because of tough rivals in the traditional media. Cohan gives high grades to technology consultants like Gartner Group, venture capital firms, and network builder Cisco. He loves Cisco because it controls 80 percent of the router market, keeps customers by providing other network components, and shows a knack for acquiring smaller companies. Easy to understand, Net Profit features some key strategies for competing on the Internet. Cohan also helps companies evaluate whether it makes sense even to offer services on the Web. --Dan Ring

Review

"Net Profit clearly shows how to distinguish companies with successful Internet strategies from those that will be left behind in cyberspace. It is must reading for investors, executives, and anyone who wants to understand how to analyze or develop an Internet business model." (Fred M. Gerson, vice president and CFO, Marimba, Inc.)

"Why are portal companies, with only hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, valued at tens of billions of dollars? And is this valuation justified and sustainable? In Net Profit, Peter Cohan explains why those who use the Internet to communicate with their customers will flourish, and those who do not will perish." (Roger Sippl, general partner, Sippl Macdonald Ventures)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787944769
• ISBN-13: 978-0787944766
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,703,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Net Profit, December 14, 1999

By 

William J. Arnone (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Net Profit: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Internet Business (Hardcover)

This is the most lucid, sensible analysis I've read thus far of the likely implications of engaging in e-commerce from different strategic perspectives and business models. Cohan provides a valuable framework and applies it to scores of real cases. I find myself returning to his book time and again to apply his methodology. His only off-base advice: don't invest in companies led by folks over 35. I'll forgive him that one. The rest of the book is a real gem. It should age well.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A clear articulation of how the Internet Economy works, November 2, 1999

By 

Robert T. Marcus - See all my reviews

This review is from: Net Profit: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Internet Business (Hardcover)

Cohan has written a solid book in which he clearly articulates the building blocks for the Internet Economy. Part industry analysis, part case study, and part inside story, the author has managed to get his hands aournd an incredibly broad, fast moving segment of the new economy. Having read way too many business books in my time, I found Cohan's straight forward, common-sensical approach to the subject matter refreshing. He combines well known cases like Yahoo with lesser known ones such as Mecklermedia that often prove to be even more informative. His clear writing style lacks the buzz-words and sales pitches which plague so many other books. The purpose of this book is to inform and it does so admirably. I recommend the book to anyone seeking a roadmap to the pitfalls and opportunities, the innovators and key players of the Internet. I have used the book with a number of clients in order to help them begin to understand the development and opportunities of this new marketspace.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Cohan has "got it"!, November 11, 1999

By 

Ellis Traub (Davie, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Net Profit: How to Invest and Compete in the Real World of Internet Business (Hardcover)

Whatever combination of education and experience Peter Cohan has accumulated that would permit him to so clearly and intelligently dissect the wild and wooly world of Internet business, they certainly have played in concert to produce "Net Profit."

The field is complex and misunderstood enough as it is. And Cohan has done the impossible---stepping into the shoes of the investor, the E-Commerce businessman, and the non-E-Commerce businessman to make sense of this recondite world from the perspective of each, and producing a valuable resource for each.

A must read for those that think that "dot.com" is the key to the kingdom.