RECOMMENDED BOOKS - INTERNET ENTREPRENEURS

The Virtual Entrepreneur: Electronic Commerce in the 21st Century

This book, which has been referred to as The One Minute Manager of the 21st Century, introduces 5 guiding principles for designing and launching a virtual enterprise.

(1) Benefit from virtual management strategies and practices,

(2) Lock-in a strategic niche and vision,

(3) Build the virtual enterprise around core competencies,

(4) Form productive and enduring strategic alliances, and

(5) Embrace Web-commerce and virtual integration strategies.

Business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs who learn these strategies will be better prepared to reach their entrepreneurial dreams in the 21st century.

Making Money in Cyberspace

The Internet is an increasingly effective place to sell goods or services; yet small and home-based business owners are without consulting giants to navigate the frontier of cyberspace for them. This book tells you all you need to know about starting and maintaining a successful on-line business from scratch--or taking your current business into cyberspace, including these features:

• the four types of goods that really sell on-line;
• what you need to know to design and promote web sites;
• selling services in cyberspace;
• how to take your existing business on-line--and whether you should;
• revealing “case studies” of successful cyber-entrepreneurs;
• the biggest mistakes businesses make in cyberspace; and
• the best ways to get paid on-line.

Packed with stimulating step-by-step instructions, Making Money in Cyberspace is a vital resource for any small business individual who is considering starting or taking a business on-line.

The Clickable Corporation

In business, it has always hurt to “wait and see.” In the vast world of Internet commerce, it’s vital to establish a strong, quality presence — now, say Arthur Andersen Web experts Jonathan Rosenoer, Douglas Armstrong, and J. Russell Gates — before another site starts filling your customer’s needs with a click of a mouse. With the number of potential customers who are connected well on its way to 1 billion, the Internet is at once the greatest opportunity and the greatest threat to established businesses. It’s not enough for a company to be on the Web; the company must be consistently more effective, more accessible, and more exciting than any other site in its category.

Rosenoer, Armstrong, and Gates provide a strategic view of case studies of 25 well-known companies engaged in e-commerce. Their studies reveal how any company can capture meaningful Internet advantage for its stakeholders — whether they are customers, shareholders, or business partners. The authors describe how the achievements of such champions as Coldwell Banker, Federal Express, Bloomberg Financial Markets, Dell Computer, Northwest Airlines, 1-800-FLOWERS, Charles Schwab & Company, and Wells Fargo, as well as Internet-based companies like GeoCities, SeniorNet, and Women.com, can be successfully put to work for any company.

The book identifies the 8 value propositions a company must offer through its site: (1) knowledge, (2) choice, (3) convenience, (4) customization, (5) savings, (6) community, (7) entertainment, and (8) trust; and the book illustrates, with multiple case studies for each, how these are achieved.

This guided tour to maximizing the Internet advantage walks the reader through the steps needed to crystallize a company's missions, goals, and assets; to identify customers and their needs; and to keep 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 require to conquer the Internet.