Selling is tied no longer to production but to distribution.
E-commerce is to the information revolution what the railroad was to the industrial revolution. The railroad mastered distance—e-commerce eliminates it. The Internet provides the enterprise with the ability to link one activity to another and to make real-time data widely available, both within the company and to outside suppliers, outside channels of distribution, and customers. It strengthens the move to disintegrate the corporation.
But, the great strength of e-commerce is that it provides the consumer with a whole range of products, no matter who makes them. Examples include Amazon.com and CarsDirect.com. E-commerce separates, for the first time, selling and producing. Selling is tied no longer to production but to distribution. There is absolutely no reason why any e-commerce facility should limit itself to marketing and selling one maker’s products or brands.
ACTION POINT: Is your business the equivalent of Amazon.com or the local bookstore? If the latter, determine how you can use e-commerce to fight back.
Managing in the Next Society
The Next Society (Corpedia Online Program)
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker