Drawing on his e-Commerce consulting experience with leading businesses, Ravi Kalakota, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Electronic Commerce at Georgia State University, has recently authored the nation's first book on the subject of e-Business, titled "e-Business: Roadmap for Success."
Available on Amazon.com and at major book retailers, "e-Business: Roadmap for Success" offers managers a framework for mastering a successful transformation to an electronic commerce enterprise. The book includes real examples of strategies that Web savvy companies, like Amazon and Cisco, have employed to succeed in smoothly transitioning to this emerging business model. According to Kalakota, in order to become a successful e-business, companies need to ask themselves:
* Who are my customers?
* How are my customer priorities shifting? Exactly how has the customer changed?
* How will the e-business model reach all of the identified customer segments? Who should be my preferred customer?
* How can I add value to the customer?
* How does the customer make decisions about buying my product or service? How can I become the customer's first choice?
* How can I retain the customer and deepen the customer relationship?
* What is my current business model? What is my cost and revenue model?
* Who are my real competitors?
* What is my toughest competitor's business model?
* What capabilities do we have today? What capabilities and resources do we need to execute?
"e-Business: Roadmap for Success" is the first book I have read which captures in any depth the full spectrum of business processes that are being re-defined and improved by leveraging the Internet and its associated technologies," said David M. Alschuler, vice president, e-Business and Enterprise Applications, Aberdeen Group, Inc. "Equally important, it relates these re-defined processes to underlying business objectives and benefits. This book is going to stimulate a lot of thinking in corporate boardrooms and executive suites."
E-commerce among businesses is expected to reach $250 billion by the end of 1999 and hit $1.2 trillion by the end of 2003. Other online commerce statistics include:
* $8 billion in airline tickets by 2002
* $1.1 billion for insurance by 2001
* $614 million in stock purchases (1997)
* $600 million in car purchases in 1997
* Online banking: 16 million households by 2000
Other books written by Kalakota include "Electronic Commerce: A Manager's Guide" and "Frontiers of Electronic Commerce," both available on Amazon.com. According to critics, his work is considered a "must-read for managers" and a "best book for e-Business decision makers." In addition, he has consulted exclusively in e-Commerce for Fortune 1000 companies.
"e-Business: Roadmap for Success" was co-written with Marcia Robinson, president of e-Business Strategies, an e-Commerce consultancy. In addition to his work as an author, Kalakota is director of the Center for Digital Commerce at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. The Center specializes in the research, study and practical application of electronic commerce.
With 7,300 students, the J. Mack Robinson College of Business is one of the nation's largest accredited business schools. In 1999, GSU's part-time MBA program was ranked 6th best in the nation and the MIS program was ranked 17th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, a recent Forbes magazine listing of the "800 Most Powerful CEOs" included six Georgia State University alumni, a record matched by only a few universities in the Southeast.
###
For more information, contact:
Bruce Brooks, 404-651-2645 External Affairs, J. Mack Robinson College of Business [email protected]
Ravi Kalakota, 404/651-0933 Georgia State University [email protected]
Matt Coleman, 404-880-5264 Cohn & Wolfe [email protected]
RSS