TABLE OF CONTENTS It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.
(The Red Queen, in Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll)
Global, fast, cheap, communication technologies coupled with new, innovative, management practices bring both new opportunities and threats. For many organizations the threats rapid market change, new and more agile competitors and diminishing control over organizational changes outweigh the opportunities which themselves require a dynamic approach to change. An organization that is responsive to change and capitalizes on new alliances, better customer and supplier relationships and new markets, products and services needs to have a different strategic planning and management process in place which is associated with an effective value measurement system. The majority of measurement systems imply static value measurements based on financial returns and do not reflect the holistic view of an enterprise that is needed to support the transition to a virtual organization.
Before considering the specific application of an e-business plan, each organization seeking to gain advantage from the emerging ICT and Internet tools should strive to gain an understanding of its current and potential position in the universe of business. There are many ways of doing this, and many ways of translating the results into action, several examples are given throughout this book at appropriate stages. This doesn't mean that there is one right model, or that you should necessarily move from one model to another when considering systems thinking and needs at different levels. Rather that...
