The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril In The Age of Networked Intelligence [Paperback]

Certain the internet and communication technologies will effect the economy, and anyone trying to get any real insight here, beyond that it will make the world a better place and lots of people are going to make more money (stated over and over again), will be greatly let down.

The effects of technology on economies is better described elsewhere, such as "The Innovator's Dilemma" and other books that understand both economics and the relevant technology, something a "visionary" such as Tapscott has no time for.

Beyond providing insight into internet/technology mania of the mid to late 90's, I see no reason to invest time to read this book.

He was one of the first authors to introduce the idea that communications, computing, and content were all converging into new media. His business transformation through new media model wherein the effective individual leads to, the high performance team which leads to, the integrated enterprise which leads to, the extended enterprise which leads to, the inter-networked business which leads to ..., clearly anticipated the current eBusiness model rage, where the integration/collapsing of the supply chain is the road to competitive advantage.

Even though (at the moment) New Economy thinking has fallen out of favor, Don will be proven correct on many fronts and this book will stand out as one of the most relevant portraits of this (still) emerging landscape.

The convergence of computing, telecommunications and content is a real revolution, giving access to a networked economy working in real time and without knowing distances. This means that boundaries are exploding. Learning is becoming a continuous process and part of our day to day work it is why Digital Economy is often called Knowledge Economy. Customer is integrated in the production process and organizations are moving from a vertical integration to extended networks including customers, suppliers and more and more often competitors. We are far from the industrial hierarchical organizations where we are working now.

Don Tapscott is helping us to understand the New Economy 12 themes supported by the 10 technological shifts and the move from individual effectiveness to the internetworked businesses through high performance teams, integrated organizations and extended enterprises. But finally he is convincing us that as part of an internetworked leadership, we are collectively responsible to achieve the transformation of our businesses for a better life promised by the New interactive Economy.

Don Tapscott is also helping us to evaluate impact of the Digital Economy on our business work, on our education systems, and on our governments. The interactivity is transforming the media industry and asking a new leadership for our businesses.
Don Tapscott doesn't forget to discuss the peril of the Digital Economy from privacy protection to electronic democracy.

Digital Economy is a real knowledge spring where you come back regularly to improve your understanding of the surrounding growing New Economy.