Ralfie Vistan E-Business 1 (885-B)

Digital Darwinism by Evan Schwartz

Sometimes it is difficult to imagine that we are in the midst of the so-called digital

revolution. We read about it in books, newspapers and hear about it on television. I think

we’ve all heard the hype that the internet is changing the way we do business. But as business

students, we should not be content on just accepting all this information as gospel truth. There

are essential questions that need to be answered in order to determine what types of e-commerce business models will survive the competition as well as the test of time.

In the past few months, we have begun to see that the investment community no longer

simply looks at the novelty of a dot com idea or the promise of sales revenues. Investors now

dig deeper to determine the bottom-line projections of a company. Not only is profitability once

again a viable measure but liquidity and cashflow as well. This leads us to the “natural

selection” stage in the evolution of e-commerce where only the feasible business models will

earn the attention of the analysts as well as the diminishing share of capital allocated to such

business ventures.

Of the strategies discussed by Schwartz in his book, his last can probably be considered

the most encompassing. Integrate digital commerce with absolutely everything. It is important

to keep in mind that for a business to succeed in the wired world, managers must not think of

their internet strategies as separate from the rest of the company. Schwartz tells us of his

forecast that someday there will no longer be the term “internet company” as all companies will,

in one way or another, be running their companies off their web-based incentives.

However, I believe it is much easier said than done. I think for a manager to doubt the

business trends resulting from the emergence of the internet would be very short-sighted. On

the other hand, we are at a time when the full potential of the web is at our fingertips and

whether a manager can truly predict its total effects on his business seems so far from reality.

But I guess that is the real challenge that the web presents for managers of businesses of all

shapes and sizes. For dot com start-ups, the challenge is to find a product or service that will

actually solve a problem or fill a gap in the market and ensure that the business model is one

that is unique, profitable and defensible. For brick and mortar enterprises, the challenge is how

to integrate already complex systems and relationships to take advantage of the benefits of the

web, at the same time staving off the attacks of their leaner internet rivals to be able to go

forward as a player in the unfolding new economy.