Digital Darwinism –

This book talks at length about the fact that in the world of business as in the naturalistic world there is a rule that the strong survive and their practices and genes are passed on to the next generation of business. With the advent of interconnected high-speed technologies the rate and breadth of those transformations have increased to the point that we can now witness the development and dissolution of a business idea in the span of several years. No longer do those that are fittest have the time to enjoy the fruits of their labors. In today’s economy even the most successful companies must constantly be evolving to survive.

In his book he discusses 7 strategies to survive in today’s fast paced business environment. Those ideas are:

Strategy	Definition
Build a brand that stands for solving problems	This is the realization that any new idea must solve a customers problem in a new way and in a way that is valuable to the customer or it will not be sustainable
Allow your prices to fluctuate freely with supply and demand	Many fear that the internet is driving out profits. That is only true when a firm takes a low pricing approach and will not be a sustainable business in a competitive industry unless they are the low cost provider. Firms should try dynamic pricing strategies recognizing that there product has different values at different times and that you can often unload unused capacity at a lower price through a third party and increase profits without destroying your brand.
Let affiliate partners do your marketing for you	The idea of viral marketing. With our new society there is connectedness by issue frequently and not geography. Sites have appeared for almost any particular interest. These sites develop on-line communities that share the same interests. Many of these sites are very willing to refer their members to a complimentary site for a referral fee. The fee that the firm pays for that referral is often much less than that paid for banner ads and the customers are often more valuable. There are other ways that you can like creating media that people will mail or post that refer them to sites linked with that media that can also accomplish this type of marketing at a very low cost to the firm that is marketing.
Create valuable bundles of information and services	If people value one or two services in a bundle they will usually purchase the whole bundle. That allows the firm to make more money on the bundle than they would on selling these services individually. Also, if a firm wishes to continue to prevail they must increase their service offering which will help them to retain the customers that they have and attract new ones on the future. This increases the perceived value of their bundle.
Sell custom-made products online and then produce them	With the level of information sharing that we are able to do in today’s society we have a more direct relationship with our customer and a greater amount of control over our supply chain. We are now able to find out directly from our customer exactly what they want and relay that information immediately to our suppliers. This allows us to retain very small inventories while at the same time giving a greater value to our customers. Also, in manufacturing because we have better communication with our suppliers we are able to get them to do much of the fabrication of parts and the manufacturer frequently is responsible only for design and final construction.
Add new value to transactions between buyers and sellers	If you are an intermediary between buyers and sellers you must make it easier for them to meet while giving them service in the new economy that makes you indispensable. This could be information in a fragmented industry or adding speed to the transaction that they won’t be able to replicate.
Integrate digital commerce with absolutely everything	If you are a brick and mortar operation and you integrate your web site seamlessly with your brick and mortar operations you gain a substantial advantage of virtual only stores. Customers frequently want to be able to return goods at a storefront or be able to pick them up there. As we move towards mobile commerce make sure that your virtual presence supports and embrace many of the advantages that you can receive from these new technologies.