The Clickable Corporation: Successful Strategies for Capturing the Internet Advantage
Authors: Jonathan Rosenoer, Douglas Armstrong
Venue:  (1999)

:In business, it hasn't always hurt to "wait and see." But the experience of companies engaged in the fast-moving world of Internet commerce strongly suggests that it's vital for businesses to become involved -- now, say Arthur Andersen experts Jonathan Rosenoer, Douglas Armstrong, and J. Russell Gates -- and capture a strong advantage as customers and business partners integrate new Internet technologies into their day-to-day activities. Users are adopting the Internet at a very rapid pace, and the Internet stands today as both the greatest opportunity and the greatest threat to established businesses. It's not enough for a company simply to commission a Web site; the company needs to focus on strengths that it can leverage into an Internet advantage and strive to be consistently more effective, more accessible, and more exciting, than any other site in its category. Eight value propositions Rosenoer, Armstrong, and Gates present case studies of 25 well-known companies engaged in e-commerce, including details on how some initially stumbled and then recovered. These studies reveal how any company can capture meaningful Internet advantage for its stakeholders -- customers, shareholders, or business partners. The authors describe how the achievements of enterprises such as MSN Expedia, Marshall Industries, Federal Express, Dell Computer, Northwest Airlines, 1-800-FLOWERS, GeoCities, Charles Schwab & Company, and Wells Fargo can be successfully put to work for any company. They isolate each of the eight value propositions a company can offer online: information, choice, convenience, customization, savings, community, entertainment, and trust, and illustrate, with multiple case studies for each, how these are achieved. This guided tour to maximizing Internet advantage walks the reader through the steps to crystallizing a company's mission, goals and organization, customer identification and needs assessment, as well as interaction with business partners. The authors focus on keeping ahead of competition through discerning emerging Internet business standards, online positioning, and foreseeing impending competition from new technologies. A final chapter sets forth the skills managers need to capture the Internet advantage for their own companies. About the Authors: Jonathan Rosenoer is Director, Electronic Commerce Readiness, in Arthur Andersen's computer risk management practice. For the past decade, he has developed commercial online systems and concentrated on associated business risk and process issues. He is the author of Cyberlaw: The Law of the Internet. Cyberlaw, which began as a monthly newsletter for computer users in 1990, was rated by MacWorld magazine as one of "18 Great Mac Resources" in 1994. He has also written for Wired magazine and numerous other journals. Douglas E. Armstrong serves as Director of Marketing and Digital Communications for Arthur Andersen's Knowledge Enterprises. He directs the marketing and business development activities for KnowledgeSpace, Arthur Andersen's electronic knowledge services, and the Virtual Learning Network. He also leads the Web design and development of www.knowledgespace.com and www.arthurandersen.com, the Firm's global Internet sites. Doug regularly consults with organizations about how they can achieve their business objectives through Internet technology and interactive media. J. Russell Gates is a partner in the Chicago office of Arthur Andersen LLP and leads the Firm's Computer Risk Management practice in North America. He is also the worldwide head of Arthur Andersen's Electronic Commerce Risk Consulting and Assurance initiatives, developing and coordinating service offerings relating to various aspects of e-commerce. In addition, Russ is the co-author of Arthur Andersen's Information Security Framework, a tool for assisting organizations in implementing information and network security policies, processes, and technologies to meet their specific business needs.