Customer Reviews

E-Volve-or-Die.com: Thriving in the Internet Age Through E-Commerce Management

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Without a doubt, the first stage of the advent of electronic commerce is now over. Unfortunately, it lasted about two months longer than it should have. In the initial stage, the all to common and inaccurate perception was that it was different from "traditional" business. The emphasis was on building brand recognition and establishing large numbers of visitors, relying on the "inevitable" time when commerce largely moved to the Internet. Pure Internet companies seemed to be the future and many of the stodgy old bricks and mortar stalwarts seemed to be in serious trouble. It is clear now that that appearance was little more than a Potemkin village of false fronts.
Like the sound business entities they are, Wal-Mart and K-Mart spent the time to get their online structures right and are now pushing aside those whose only presence is online. There is now a two track movement. Those pure Internet companies that still exist are building physical structures or partnering with others with physical structures. Many traditional physical retailers are partnering with or acquiring Internet companies. In either case, the end result is a traditional company with an Internet presence. In other words, business as it has always been done as the core with the added step of doing it through a new medium.
The two paragraphs above summarize the theme that courses throughout this book. Two types of companies are headed for extinction, the pure Internet and those with no Internet presence. As the quote goes, "There is no such thing as e-business, it is just business." However, the consequences of the move to the Internet are not to be underestimated. Messages can now travel through the Internet almost as fast as a virus can propagate. Therefore, a dissatisfied customer now has a great deal of potential power, simply by publicly voicing their displeasure. While this power is of course to be feared, it can also be used to your advantage if the planning is done correctly. By understanding that the spending to maintain customer satisfaction is now more significant than ever, it is cost effective to keep every avenue of customer touch points operating at peak efficiency. To succeed in business, the motto must be exemplary service all day every day. This point is explained in detail, with many different ways of coping with this new power structure put forward as solutions.
With the majority of Web users now outside the United States, the emphasis is now shifting to the World part of the WWW. Furthermore, as the purchasing power of this majority rises, it becomes even more imperative for any company with a web presence to understand that the interaction is now multinational whether you intend it to be or not. This is a very complex endeavor, and many of the problems and possible solutions are put forward.
Most of us say good riddance to the high-flying glory rush days of the Internet. Many fortunes were made and lost, although most were probably not really made to begin with. The good news is that it is now possible to use the Internet to build stable long-term business value, based not on hype and fluff, and this book will show you how to do that.

Too bad that many of the CEOs of now defunct dotcoms didn't have this as required reading in their business school classes. What I like best about this work is the roundtable feel of the discussion. Mr. Levy acts much like a moderator as well as an analyst in this edition. With so much changing so fast in the B2B industry, the true lasting power of this book will be determined by its relevance five years from now. I'm going to bet it's still around and useful at that time.

Mithchell is one of the leaders in the emergence of the Fortune 1000 using the Internet to improve business.

As I walked through a book store yesterday, I saw a title "Dow 35,000" another was named "The Top 100 Internet Stocks" (many now at 5% of the price quoted in the book). I almost bought them for history sake and then realized that I could probably pick them up in the near future for 1/10 of their price (still better than the performance of many of the stocks!).

This book stands in contrast. It contains some of the hype that evereyone was imersed in. However, it mostly describes how to use the Internet and network computing to improve your business. Hype will come and go. The Internet and e-commerce is here to stay.

This book will help IT executives make very valuable strides in the essential process of turning their business into a business web.

This book taught me how my E-commerce comprehension was restricted, and let my eye open to fundamental idea of e-business. Mitchel Levy has global idea of business strategy and management in Internet age, and he was building a key to success in this uncertain period. I could gain very practical metrics to solve my business problems in very simple but well refined words.
Recommended to all people living in e-business age, from beginner to advanced,in any nationality and any generation.

What sets this book apart from others of the same subject, is that no statement is made without an example. This is not just another guru telling us what is right or wrong with businesses that are attempting to do business online. This is instead a guru saying this is the way it is, check it out online. In addition many top names in industry are agreeing with the author's deductions and are quoted throughout. Overall, the extensive research that was obviously needed to write this book shines, to make this book stand apart from the multitudes of others.

This book was different. I like this book because, rather than just rehashing that the internet changes everything, it gave me ways to think about what might change next. And how it might impact my business. And how I might take advantage of that. I found that the examples were useful. Overall the book was easy to understand and thought provoking. I liked it. I ordered a few for my friends at other companies.

As someone who is earning a small but steady profit from the "dot-bomb" fallout -- no, we haven't hit bottom yet -- I am continuing an effort to slog through this book.

Never in my career have I seen so much self-aggrandising "humility" & mutual back-patting set to type & put between covers. This volume reads like a cross between an Internet-besotted Sears catalogue & the 1999 Enron report to shareholders.

The reason I'm still reading it is not so much that it's using big words or abstruse concepts (it isn't, actually), but that I am forced to keep running to look up yet another freshly dropped name on a search engine. The "high tech" names dropped herein read like a sampling from F***EDCOMPANY.com, which you'd think that one of the other "tech-savvy" reviewers of this book would've noted.

If you aren't a direct victim of the flameout, & you don't really read much on the industry, but you read "E-Volve or Die," then the best advice I can give is to immediately administer a strong purgative -- anything by Christopher Locke ("Gonzo Marketing" is good, though you might need a fast dose of "The Cluetrain Manifesto" to regain perspective, or "The Bombast Transcripts" if you've been deeply affected), & if you're experiencing a toxic degree of optimism, reach immediately for Kaplan's "F'd Companies".

Okay, that said, it's not really a BAD book, though the use of "e-" whenever possible is so cutesy as to make the book worthy of shredding, as you'll probably agree by page 20 or so.

Self-aggrandising? Oh, I almost forgot: this tome has no less than >12< Forewords. Thankfully, most of these companies are now dead, & the authors have faded back into the marketing woodwork.

This could be a decent 200-page book if the self-serving rah-rah nonsense were excised. Two stars for hope of a brighter (& intelligence-infected) e-future.

I found Mitchell Levy's book enlightening and thought provoking. The many examples given throughout the book show the author's vast experience and makes you want to understand more. As you read the book questions evolve. The historical scenarios he writes about helps to close the loop...

A great read. Mitchell is a visionary but with a deep sense of practicality. Mitchell Levy's book is very timely as many technology companies look back at the carnage and retool themselves.

I found the comments and experiences of other companies particularly insightful. This is one book from which you walk away with a number of nuggets that can be immediately implemented in our companies.

Mitchell Levy found a brilliant way to tell everybody that Internet is here to stay. Companies can not think anymore in should I jump into the Internet water, yes or not, they have to.

I found e-Volve-or-Die a very easy-to-read, fresh, with real cases and straight forward way to say it.