The Hindu Business Line : Where there's E, there's V

WHEN we are talking about electronic developments, the virtual cousins are not far off. That is why "E-Commerce and V-Business" - as the title of a book by Stuart Barnes and Brian Hunt - sounds so natural as saying Bombay Sisters or Asia Brothers in a concert schedule. The book examines the impact of the Internet and associated technologies on two related aspects of business: electronic commerce and virtual organisation. The authors show "how forward-thinking companies are reaping considerable strategic advantage from exciting new business models in these areas". There is more:

Classical economic theory does not usually address the issue of information, content, or knowledge as a tradable good. The value of information is traditionally seen as derived exclusively from reducing uncertainty. In the Internet economy, however, information/ content is simultaneously a production asset and a good.

For any community to thrive it needs to achieve a critical mass. If the chat rooms and discussion rooms are empty or do not have new content, membership dwindles quickly. Industry.Net was never able to attain the critical mass in time for the community to thrive. Since many businesses adopted a `wait-and-see' approach, the community never took off.

Currently most travel agencies focus resources on providing their customers with a transaction and reservation service. Instead they could try shifting the emphasis to providing an information service. Providing a wealth of information via a Web site with relevant links to other sites could do this.

Interorganisational systems (IOS) refer to the computer and telecommunications infrastructure developed, operated and/or used by two or more firms for the purpose of exchanging information that supports a business application or process.

There needs to be a high degree of trust amongst virtual organisation members and an acceptance and understanding that risk is to be somehow shared amongst those standing to benefit.

The assets of the virtual organisation are not traditional `bricks and mortar', but the ability of human networks to leverage relationships and to reinvent themselves by drawing on rich memory banks and flexible workspace identifications.

Rich with academic inputs plus case studies.

Gates in the box

WELL, this is no ordinary gates, nor the box some `x' box. We're talking about Microsoft and its video game console, the Xbox. They say the video game industry is expected to double in sales over the next five years and that it has `already eclipsed motion pictures to become one of the largest and fastest growing markets in history'. The big gamble that Billy thought of was to enter the gaming industry with megabucks on line, chasing the idea of `the fastest, most mature, most advanced video game console ever'. How did the plan unfold? Dean Takahashi tells the story in "Opening the Xbox". A few snatches:

Because computer images consist of simple polygons that are strung together in complex meshes, the quality of computer graphics is often measured in how many polygons the machine can draw in a second. The PlayStation 2 could process a theoretical maximum of 66 million polygons per second, about 183 times faster than the 360,000 polygons per second for the original PlayStation launched in 1994.

WebTV had been launched with much fanfare about how it might spell the end of the PC era. But the box used a slow modem and had quirks that made PC veterans scoff.

It was hard to judge a game just from a sheet of paper. But Blackley made sure that the process offered some clues; he asked, for instance, that every proposal include a description of everything that happens in 60 seconds of the game. Overall, it was refreshing for Blackley to see how much creativity existed across the entire video game industry.

Since Microsoft was generating $1.5 billion in cash a month from its Windows and PC applications monopolies, it could afford to make big gambles. Sega had been bled dry as it had to borrow more and more money to finance its hardware sales. Sony had $5 billion and Nintendo had $7 billion in cash. And Microsoft was approaching $30 billion.

Most Microsoft teams didn't have real identities of their own in Microsoft's sprawling headquarters. But the Xbox team was able to commandeer a three-storey office building in the Millennium office park. Luke designed the lobby and the main meeting room. He later shifted out of the project to redesign one of the crown jewels of Microsoft, the Windows logo.

Games as they exist now are extremely popular in countries like South Korea and Japan, but in the US they still have some way to go. To capture more consumers, games will have to follow them wherever they go.

So, follow the game.

The story of naughty Netty

INSIDE the Cult of Kibu and other tales of the Millennial Gold Rush" is not a children's book about an African tribe. The book by Lori Gottlieb and Jesse Jacobs is `an intoxicating collective memoir of the American Dream gone wild', taking one through a `tour of the New Economy's most eventful years'. A few excerpts:

There were so many ideas floating around, in fact, that to break through the clutter, each had to be shortened into a recognisable phrase, often cannibalising other successful brand-name startups. The telephone service auction site called Keen.com, for instance, was billed as the "eBay of 900-number calls". A startup that sold only balls, called JustBalls.com, was dubbed the "Amazon.com of Balls". A funeral planning site, HeavenlyDoor.com, became known as the "Geocities of Funerals".

With journalism's cardinal five W's and one H, the digital funding tale can, in its broadest terms, be summed up as six questions: Who's going to fund us? What valuation should we ask for? Where's Paul Allen when you need him? When will this round run out? Why isn't anyone returning our calls? How did we think that?

Meaningless phrases and words gave way to meaningless titles. Jerry "chief Yahoo!" Yang may have started the trend, but by the late nineties, Orwellian-sounding monikers like "media evangelist," "minister of reason," "master of logistics," "chief executive officer, reality," and "manager of first impressions" (adding new meaning to the phrase "glorified receptionist") had become the norm in Net culture.

Getting the word out helps, but not until there's something tangible to promote. Yet many startups with little more than a newly registered URL cried "Web site!" prematurely. Worried that their competitors might be "first to market," they went ahead and pitched their products without - oops - product.

Young or old, hip or wonk - the result was often corporate boneheadedness. It was as if each company chose from a menu called "How to Destroy a Company," when they received their funding. Panic only exacerbated the descent.

Enjoy it as a tragicomedy.

Books courtesy: Landmark. www.landmarkonthenet.com

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