eダーウィニズム

by Evan I. Schwartz

Over the last few years, the big bang of the World Wide Web has shaken the realm of commerce. Today on the Internet, you can get everything from phone numbers and dancing babies to golf clubs and custom-built computers. Some of these Web sites are businesses that found their genesis in the advent of the Web itself, while others are longstanding companies trying to adapt to the reality of this new digital marketplace. Who will survive and who will be rendered extinct? That's what Evan I. Schwartz tries to answer by dipping into the Internet's "primordial soup" to discover the characteristics of the winners that will eventually emerge. In Digital Darwinism, Schwartz identifies seven strategies that will separate the winners from the losers. These include building a brand that stands for solving something, elastic pricing, affiliate partnerships, and integrating digital commerce with every aspect of business. Schwartz buttresses his arguments with analysis of dozens of companies already competing on the Internet, including Yahoo!, Peapod, Priceline, E*Trade, Dell Computer, and Recreational Equipment, Inc. Schwartz views these early years of the Web as largely "irrational," but anticipates a general rationalization. He writes, "As each successive generation of Web commerce passes, there will be more rational companies and fewer irrational ones, more fit business models and fewer unfit ones. In the future, there may be no such thing as an Internet company. The Internet is becoming so important that all companies will eventually become Internet companies."

Like his previous book, Webonomics, Digital Darwinism is succinct and easy to read. His analysis of the current state of Internet startups, their stock prices, and their probable fate is provocative, especially when viewed from a Darwinian perspective. For managers, investors, and anyone interested in Internet commerce. Recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

Tankobon Hardcover

First published June 8, 1999

About the author

Evan I. Schwartz writes about history, innovation, tech, music, and media.

He is the author of The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television (HarperCollins), named by Amazon Books as one of “100 Biographies & Memoirs to Read in a Lifetime.”

His book Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story (Houghton Mifflin) is a narrative about the origins of a cultural icon, The Wizard of Oz.

His first book, Webonomics, was the #24 bestselling book on Amazon.com for the year 1997 (when only geeks bought stuff on the Internet), and his second book, Digital Darwinism, was a New York Times bestseller. Both are published by Broadway/Random House.

His 2021 book, REVOLVER: a novel, was issued as a free paperback, direct by mail, from the Concord Free Press, a 501c3 that promotes generosity through reading.

Schwartz has taught writing at Boston University and Tufts University.

Reviews

[Lori Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

An optional-read book on managing technology strategy for managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.