Marketspace

The dimensions of competition in business are changing rapidly. Not long ago, business was conducted principally in the "marketplace" - an environment involving physical products (books) and services (banking) delivered by real people in physical channels (high street bookshops and banks). Now, this physical world of the "marketplace" is only half of the competition in business - and increasingly the less important half. The rapid diffusion of information technology in the economy has created a second world - a parallel universe of economic activity enabled by information technology and made of information - the "marketspace". Companies are moving from merely providing services in the traditional "face-to-face" interactions of the physical world, to managing customer relationships through "screen-to-face" interactions. Such interfaces bring the promise of greater service value to the customer delivered at lower costs. In this practical manual for managers, Harvard Professor Jeffrey Rayport provides a working framework for understanding and profiting from the "marketspace".
He provides case studies of First Direct (telephone banking), Amazon (online book selling), QVC (home shopping) and other companies operating in the new information economy.
 
The dimensions of competition in business are changing rapidly. Not long ago, business was conducted principally in the "marketplace" - an environment involving physical products (books) and services (banking) delivered by real people in physical channels (high street bookshops and banks). Now, this physical world of the "marketplace" is only half of the competition in business - and increasingly the less important half. The rapid diffusion of information technology in the economy has created a second world - a parallel universe of economic activity enabled by information technology and made of information - the "marketspace". Companies are moving from merely providing services in the traditional "face-to-face" interactions of the physical world, to managing customer relationships through "screen-to-face" interactions. Such interfaces bring the promise of greater service value to the customer delivered at lower costs. In this practical manual for managers, Harvard Professor Jeffrey Rayport provides a working framework for understanding and profiting from the "marketspace".
He provides case studies of First Direct (telephone banking), Amazon (online book selling), QVC (home shopping) and other companies operating in the new information economy.