Competitive advantage comes from an organization increasing efficiencies or effectiveness in the value chain over and above competitors. This book has provided you with all the tools and models for you to diagnose how networked and Internet technology can assist your organization in this process.

One of the most interesting aspects of the advent of this technology is the depth and spread of both its opportunities and its threats. For some industries it holds the key to competitive advantage alongside the key to decline. Even in the most traditional products, the Internet is lowering international boundaries and enabling new entrants to come in more easily.

They can support, add value and reduce costs across the whole value chain. They can enable you to gain competitive advantage or obliterate your position in the supply chain. Within the organization, they can improve morale and productivity. They can enhance all aspects of communication and most of all they can help you re-engineer the way that you conduct business today.

This book has provided you with ideas and conceptual models to think about how your organization fares in the hostile competitive forces model shown in Figure 6.1. But the picture is constantly changing and as organizations smarten up the way they work and communicate both internally and externally, they are using this technology to re-engineer their organizations - to reinvent themselves. Your industry will constantly be changing in this regard.

Figure 6.1: Competitive forces acerbated with Internet technology

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