Place to Space Migrating to Ebusiness Models

As the second wave of the e-business revolution plays out, traditional firms-not ephemeral dot-coms-will do the hard work of making e-business both viable and profitable. But while established companies no longer question why they must migrate from traditional marketplace businesses to a combination of offline and online presence, most still struggle with how to do so. An indispensable e-business guidebook for established firms in all industries, Place to Space provides a simple but powerful strategic framework for analyzing, choosing, and implementing successful e-business enterprises. Based on several years of research and a detailed study of fifty online initiatives in a variety of traditional firms, authors Peter Weill and Michael R. Vitale describe eight atomic business models that they argue represent the core building blocks of all e-business ventures. Using powerful real-world case studies of international companies including Lonely Planet, GE Supply Company, Cisco, Reuters, and others, the authors illustrate each atomic business model- direct-to-customer, full-service provider, whole-of-enterprise/government, intermediary, shared infrastructure, virtual community, value net integrator, and content provider -in practice, and reveal the strategic objectives, sources of revenue, core competencies, critical success factors, and necessary IT infrastructures required for implementation. The authors also introduce a new diagnostic tool-the e-business model schematic -and show how leaders can create company-specific schematics that empower them to assess their current business models, identify the atomic e-business models that best suit their organizations, and combine those models to create powerful and customized value propositions for customers. The first book to provide a structured, practical approach for traditional firms migrating to the Web, this hands-on book will give leaders in all industries-from CEOs and senior managers to marketing and IT executives-the insight and confidence they need to operate successfully in both place and space.