12 E-Commandments - Softcover

In the world of e-business there is no such formula as e = mc2. This is still an evolutionary entity: it lives, it develops, it expands, it reproduces. It exists in an environment with other trading means and interacts with them like any other ecosystem.

The Ecademy's mission is: 'To provide the knowledge that drives e-commerce by sharing information, developing careers and uniting people'. Our core activities are focused on four areas: e-commerce education, training, networking and career development.

This book came about to complement those activities, by providing practical examples of how successful companies have developed their own strategies and applied them to the marketplace. It is not a book of answers to every question about building an e-business. No book can ever provide all the answers.

Neither is it a statement of my personal vision. That has already been covered in part in my earlier book, Battle of the Portals (Thomas Power and George Jerjian, 1999). Rather, it is a distillation of the practical wisdom and experiences of people and companies deeply involved in e-business at all levels.

This book does not claim that the principles which it embraces are a total approach to e-business. Indeed, in some respects, I disagree with some of the comments made by people we interviewed and whose views are reflected here. In the field of education the views, ideas and visions of one educator or team of educators should be taken in conjunction with the ideas and theories of others, and in this case with the business schools of the world's universities and the training divisions of the great internet-related companies.

In any research, the truth resides in Nature. Nature, in this instance, is in the marketplace. What The Ecademy has done is aggregate information on all possible types of business, profession and organization that are directly involved in the internet markets. They have been split into different bins. Many of the bins shared the same qualifications, so they were grouped under what we now call 'Principles'. For this book, George Jerjian and Thomas Power interviewed executives from 48 companies, four from each principle. That provided an overall framework within which to work. Using this framework the book addresses one of the components necessary for the completion of the e-business jigsaw, that of learning a new language. For the sake of clarity, wherever possible, the complexities of technical language have been avoided, or explained by the use of common analogies. For the executive who has remained aloof from information technology, this should provide a primer to that new language, sufficient to give a new perspective and understanding of the words and concepts with which they may be faced by the technologically educated. In turn, this is the language with which they can communicate with customers, shareholders, employees, partners, competitors and the world at large. Economic growth is a function of connectivity or connectedness.

In the USA in 1956, during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower, Congress passed the Highway Act. Over the next 25 years 48,000 miles of highway were constructed across the country. These highways caused both the gradual death and the gradual birth of many communities, because the growth of community and commerce is a function of being connected or linked. Today, instead of roads, fibre optics (internet) and radio waves (mobiles/cell phones) connect us. One strand of fibre, the thickness of a hair, can provide the tarmacadam on which 40,000 telephone calls can run.

Fibre optic cables, bunched together and laid under the ground and under the ocean floor, will eventually connect every television set, personal computer or other internet-linked device. This will inevitably cause the gradual death of traditional business practice as it has existed and we will see the emergence of new businesses wedded to a non-stop, never-closed world. All wars are said to be about economics and it is no coincidence that in this book the maxims of arguably the most authoritative figure ever to write on the principles that underlie war are used as a theme. However, could it also be that all economics is about war?

On the one hand, when there is no further new land to fight about, fights occur on existing land that belongs to someone else. Witness the hundreds of small wars that took place last century and continue into this one. On the other hand, when there is new land, battles ensue for domination. Witness events in history, especially the struggles of the European powers to colonize the Americas in the 18th century and the rest of the world in the 19th century. Witness the struggles of the USA to win the world by economic means in the 20th century and to colonize it in the 21st century through the power of the internet. The internet is new land, carved out of mathematics (0s and 1s) and right now we are witnessing a land grab and a rush for the gold that the land contains. Yet however much the media suggest it resembles the California 'gold rush' of the mid-1850s, it would be unwise to dismiss it as vapor or a phenomenon that will vanish as the gold runs down.

A correction will come—indeed, we have already seen the start of it. But after it the internet and its electronic business proposition, like a rose garden that has been weeded and trimmed, will grow more bountiful and beautiful.

It is to this end that we at The Ecademy have targeted our sights.

This book is for those who are prepared to leave their comfortable, well-paid, secure jobs, knowing that there is little mileage left in the old economy and invest or risk their time and difference in pay to learn and grow in the new economy. It is also for the young who have nothing to forget or abandon and everything to learn and gain.

The distinction between e-business and business is blurring post-haste. Soon the majority of business will be e-business, as e-commerce goes mainstream.

Yet the rush to exploit the potential of e-business is countered in many firms by a fear of the unknown and a lack of experience. We need this vast arena to be broken down and distilled into the language of business rather than the language of technology. E-business to the power of 12 does this.

This book is designed to complement education, training, networking and career development by providing examples and case studies of how successful companies have developed their own strategies and applied them to the marketplace.

The 12 e-principles are a framework in which an e-business can find solutions to its operation. This is not an answer to all the questions on how to build an e-business, but rather a distillation of the practical wisdom and experiences of people and companies deeply involved in e-business at all levels.