e-Strategy, Pure & Simple: Connecting Your Internet Strategy to Your Business Strategy [Hardcover]

Michel Robert (Author), Bernard Racine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2000

This text offers a blueprint for a business model where the Internet is used as a strategic weapon. It shows managers how to develop an Internet strategy that combines with their business strategy, and provides ten pointers that can be applied to any business: demand aggregation; build to order; customer self-service; producer direct; channel integration; informatics; product rebundling; market exchanges; dynamic pricing; and portals. These pointer or "e-Drivers" can be used to construct a coherent strategy that optimizes the use of the Internet to support the business direction of a company.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The fact that the Internet has become today's most powerful strategic tool is old news to executives. What is new to many, however, is understanding the capabilities that the Internet brings and how they can best be utilized. And e-commerce is changing the rules every day­­assets may now be liabilities, brand loyalty is no longer an advantage­­making it even tougher for brick-and-mortar companies to assess the impact the Internet will have on their business and develop strategies for survival in the new economy.

e-Strategy Pure and Simple demystifies the Internet, providing a comprehensive framework for developing Internet strategies that dovetail with an organization's overall business strategy. Leading strategy experts Michel Robert and Bernard Racine show you how to break free of the constraints of the traditional business model and adopt e-commerce practices that will help you add value to your products and services, enhance your customer relationships, and keep pace with­­or step ahead of­­your competition in the Internet arena.

Based on two decades of research and international consulting experience at more than 400 companies, the e-strategy model comprises numerous e-nablers that correspond to key business strategies, including:

• Demand aggregation for obtaining better prices
• Customer self-service
• Direct customer access for manufacturers
• Build-to-order services that allow customers to configure products to their specifications
• Dynamic pricing

Using real-life examples and interviews with CEOs from a variety of industries, the authors describe how each e-nabler works and offer ways you can combine them to make optimal use of the Internet.

This important resource reveals how you can employ strategic thinking in order to integrate the business and Internet strategy processes. You'll get sure-fire tips and expert advice on ways to:

• Overcome "strategic fuzziness" to formulate and deploy a successful business strategy
• Stand toe-to-toe with the "killer.coms" that can put business models of dominant enterprises into jeopardy overnight
• Identify the critical issues you need to manage and resolve in order to make your strategy viable
• Change the rules of play to your favor with the e-Strategy process
• Envision the future for your organization and utilize your resources appropriately to get there

The e-Business revolution is here to stay­­will you be able to say the same about your company in the next five or ten years? Get e-Strategy Pure and Simple­­and secure your position in the marketplace before the competition clicks you out of existence.

Leverage the Internet as a strategic weapon!

To ensure longevity in the new economy, your company needs more than a successful business strategy­­it also needs a coherent Internet strategy. But many executives have yet to grasp the tremendous opportunities of the Internet and realize their company's necessary transformation into a true e-business.

Now, two leading strategy experts provide a blueprint to their new e-strategy business model­­designed to help you clarify your business strategy and develop an Internet strategy that supports it. Featuring real-life examples and advice from CEOs in various industries on how to adopt strategic thinking, e-Strategy Pure and Simple delivers the tools you need to:

• Determine what role the Internet should play in your business strategy
• Ascertain your company's strategy quotients and the work necessary to achieve your goals
• Identify the driving force of your business and build your e-strategy around it
• Connect with customers and meet their needs in Internet time
• Envision the future business arena and anticipate change

About the Author

Michel Robert is founder and president of Decision Processes International, Inc., an internationally renowned consulting firm which has 60 partners in 15 countries. His clients include such major companies as Caterpillar, 3M, and Gatx. A noted speaker and author, his writings have appeared in many business magazines and journals. Bernard Racine is director of R & D for Decisions Processes International where he works with clients from all over the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 173 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade (December 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071371788
• ISBN-13: 978-0071371780
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,865,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Basic business strategy with some interesting nuances, June 13, 2001

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: e-Strategy, Pure & Simple: Connecting Your Internet Strategy to Your Business Strategy (Hardcover)

There is nothing new or Earth-shattering in this book - it's about employing strategy within the context of e-commerce. The authors' agenda, from the preface, is to "... demystify the Internet ... which then empowers CEOs and their key executives to design their own Internet strategy and control their own destiny."

The central theme of the book is wrapped in three imperatives: (1) clarify your business strategy, (2) construct an "e-strategy", and (3) integrate the business and e-strategy.

While the ideas and approach are straightforward and basic, the real gems are contained in the interviews with key executives who have creatively conceived of viable (and innovative) e-strategies and have successfully integrated them into their overall business strategy. In my opinion the most interesting interview was with Philip C. Kantz (CEO, TAB Products). TAB Products makes folders, labels and other commodity items. Not the sexy stuff of e-strategies, but that's exactly what this executive crafted and it transformed his entire business. Not surprisingly the creative part of the strategy was minor compared to the leadership abilities that were required to transform a vision into action and results. This interview alone summarizes the entire message of the book. Each of the other four interviews provides insights about the creative, leadership and technical challenges of devising and implementing an e-strategy.

As you read this book don't be so quick to conclude that it is only stating the obvious. There are some wonderful ideas to be gleaned, inspiration and encouragement from executive interviews, and some subtle nuances in the authors' approach. The structure and message of the book puts e-strategy and the Internet into the familiar framework of business strategy 101. You'll benefit from the interviews, and will have a path marked with familiar landmarks towards implementing an e-strategy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What's your business strategy?, April 3, 2001

By 

Dave Kinnear "Executive Leader Coach" (Lake Forest, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: e-Strategy, Pure & Simple: Connecting Your Internet Strategy to Your Business Strategy (Hardcover)

A concise and easily read book on how to watch for the micro, macro, and mega changes that are coming our way. 

The obvious goal is to get you to use the consulting services, but still, there is solid information about re-thinking business models to accommodate the internet world.

Perhaps the most important advice given is to make sure you have a clear business strategy to begin with, update that strategy to be pertinent in this information age, and formulate your Internet strategy to further your business goals. "The Internet is another vehicle to help a company deploy its business strategy. Unfortunately, because of its pervasiveness, the Internet cannot be ignored."

There are several good pieces of information to use as you're thinking about your IT investment, such as: "Eighty-four percent of IT projects are late, over budget, or canceled. The cost to U.S. corporations is over $184 billion per year. Completed projects achieve only 60 percent of their objectives.

Charts, drawings, and lists help to make clear the authors' intent. Plenty of white space makes the book easy to read (even on a bouncing aircraft!).

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars False Advertising, February 19, 2001

By 

Jr Altfeld "Management Consultant" (Burbank, California USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: e-Strategy, Pure & Simple: Connecting Your Internet Strategy to Your Business Strategy (Hardcover)

If you read Robert's other book, The Power of Strategic Thinking, there is absolutely no reason to read this one. He (and McGraw Hill) put out the same book under two separate titles. Based upon its title, I was expecting the book to focus entirely on e-strategy and provide some innovative, insightful and applicable information. Instead, there was little or nothing "new under the sun" imparted in this book that he didn't already tell us in The Power of Strategic Thinking - which by the way is the much better book of the two. If you want information on e-strategy, save your money and look elsewhere. Jim Altfeld, Altfeld, Inc. Strategic Corporate, Marketing & Sales Planning.