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Book Review of Blueprint to the Digitial Economy
Edited by Don Tapscott, Alex Lowy, and David Ticoll; Associate Editor: Natalie Klym Copyright 1998 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Number of Pages: 400
There is a tsunami approaching which few have noticed. This tidal wave results from the intersection of the technology revolution and a demographic revolution that I call the Net Generation. Due to their wired environment, they will change the approach to learning, the nature of work, the kind of play, the pattern of consuming-in short, the culture of their people (p. 2).
Variations upon Don Tapscott's themes of a 14 tsunami" and a "technology revolution" are repeated throughout the book Blueprint to the Digital Economy, a profound collection of essays offering forged visions and interpretations of the Internet's future impact on technology, society, and industry. It was written by prominent business, government, and academic leaders, along with many other influential professionals, all of whom had participated in a research and consulting program conducted by the Alliance for Converging Technologies. A brief biographical sketch of each author precedes the book's Introduction.
The editors acknowledge that although the word Blueprint in the book's title may at first appear antithetical to the fluidity associated with the Internet, ". . . there is indeed an underlying logic and order to the emerging digital organization form." The essays throughout the four parts of the book resound common themes of the Internet's logic and order. Some of the themes focus on e-business, disintermediation, outsourcing, consumer empowerment, aggregation, value chain, globalization, research and development, universal knowledge, and customization.
Part One entitled "The New Rules of Competition" outlines strategies for business success in an uncertain future. In the first essay David Ticoll and Alex Lowry, both co-founders of the Alliance for Converging Technologies, and Ravi Kalakola, Chair Professor of Information Systems at Georgia State University, address the nucleus of the digital economy-e-business communities. These communities consist of a long-term network of customers, suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors who share ideas and information online and in real time in order to make robust and timely decisions for the benefit of all its members. To aid strategists in determining the most effective designs, rules, and types of governance for their e-business communities, the...