From the book lists at Adware Report:

 All information current as of 19:16:53 Pacific Time, Monday, 21 February 2005.

Unchained Value: The New Logic of Digital Business

   by Mary J. Cronin

  Hardcover:
    Harvard Business School Press
    15 January, 2000

   US$29.95 

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Editorial description(s):

Book Info
Introduces a new model for organization called the digital value system, which focuses on dynamic, external relationships that take full advantage of the digital arena, including the Internet. Defines four essential factors that define this new system and uses case studies and data from companies to show the need for the digital value system. DLC: Electronic commerce.


About the Author
Dr. Mary Cronin is Professor of Management at Boston College and has done extensive research in the development and implementation of Internet business strategies. She works as a consultant to Fortune 500 and multinational companies and serves on the board of several Internet-based companies.


Book Description
You Can't Build Digital Businesses with Industrial Age Models

The Internet Revolution has been broadly advertised-yet despite the onslaught of warnings about what companies need to do to transform themselves, most corporations, large and small, remain completely unprepared for the long-term demands of the digital economy. While they publicly embrace e-everything, most managers have done little more than patch Web initiatives onto their existing business structures as online start-ups boldly claim the electronic marketspace.

In Unchained Value, Internet expert Mary Cronin argues that these corporations will fail at e-business as long as they continue to use the traditional value chain as the strategic model for the enterprise. She introduces a radically new model for organization she calls the digital value system-focused not on static, internally focused "chains" but on dynamic, external webs of relationships that take full advantage of the power, flexibility, and opportunity of the digital arena. According to Cronin, four factors define the new value system of digital businesses: (1) collaborating with multiple players outside the firm based on real time information pooling; (2) mastering dynamic pricing for digital marketplaces; (3) establishing customer trust and lifetime increasing returns through a proactive balance of privacy and personalization; and (4) providing essential, relationship-based online services that can be delivered to customers on the fly.

Using compelling data and case studies from dozens of online companies and innovative multinational corporations, this book identifies the new realities every company has to reckon with in the shift from internal value chains to Internet-based value systems, and illuminates who wins and who loses when processes traditionally controlled within the firm are optimized for an open, networked digital environment. Examining core business functions from supply chain management to product design and production, from sales distribution to customer support, Cronin describes how companies must align the entire business with the Internet, and details the challenges and rewards of implementing and expanding a digital value system successfully.

Whether a company is dealing in bits and bytes or bricks and steel, Unchained Value offers a much-needed framework for assessing the impact of the Internet on sources of business value and competitive advantage. Helping managers at all levels develop and analyze e-commerce strategies, this invaluable book will provide readers with the strategic firepower to totally rethink their businesses and benefit from the opportunities of the new economy.




Reader review(s):

A Great Disappointment, December 5, 2000
This was a great disappointment. It says nothing new, it is a rehash, boringly written, and uninteresting in the way the book is laid out. It made me angry that I had been duped by the publicity. I would have returned it if I could be bothered. To be avoided!!

Looking to transform traditional businesses over time?, April 13, 2001
While the New Economy has forced businesses, large and small, to re-evaluate their core value proposition, few have been able to truly leverage the internet to enable greater economic value. It seems that managers are promoting all things "e", but internet initiatives rarely yield any added value. In Unchained Value, Internet expert Mary Cronin argues that these corporations will fail at e-business as long as they continue to use the traditional value chain as the strategic model for the enterprise. She introduces a new model based on the Traci model for organizations which she calls the digital value system -focused not on static, internally focused "chains" but on dynamic, external webs of relationships that take full advantage of the power, flexibility, and opportunity of the digital arena. According to Cronin, four factors define the new value system of digital businesses: (1) collaborating with multiple players outside the firm based on real time information pooling; (2) mastering dynamic pricing for digital marketplaces; (3) establishing customer trust and lifetime increasing returns through a proactive balance of privacy and personalization; and (4) providing essential, relationship-based online services that can be delivered to customers on the fly.

This book will be useful to those executives who are looking to transform traditional business over longer cycles than perhaps the usual 'must do it now or die' hype. But for those who have read most of the books around on the e-revolution , skip this one you won't learn much new.

For thinkers, visionaries, strategists who can look ahead, April 2, 2001
This is NOT another hindsight view of everyone's embarrassing faith in a New Economy or in eCommerce goldmines. You already know that dumb business ideas are likely to fail. Read this and you might begin to see what will WORK.

Successful business models will use internet technologies to transform how companies operate (not just how they buy and sell goods or services). Cronin's book is not going to tell you how to build the Next Big Thing, but it will help you recognize when you're in its vicinity. My own new venture already fits Cronin's "digital value system" factors. Maybe that's why our investors believe we'll become a billion-dollar company...
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