Ten Tips: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Economy
Words of Wisdom for Today’s Business Executives
"There is no such thing as e-business. There is simply business. Think of e-business as a set of possibilities that allow you to improve and reinvent your business. Don’t push e-business out of your enterprise by spinning off your e-business ventures. Instead, bring it in, and make e-business part of the plumbing of your enterprise."
Q&A
What are some common misconceptions about e-business?
Sawhney: The belief that there is a neat distinction between online commerce and offline commerce. These are just channels, not separate businesses.
Who is the most influential person in the new economy?
Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers.
What is the biggest change the Internet has brought to business?
The Internet has connected companies with partners far more deeply and has made partnerships one of the most important factors in a company’s success.
Curriculum Vitae
McCormick Tribune professor of e-commerce/technology at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University
Heads the Technology and E-Commerce (TEC) group at Kellogg
Contributing editor and advisory board member of Business 2.0, and editorial board member of Context and Silicon India magazines
Consults at companies such as Amgen, Andersen Consulting, Baker & McKenzie, Bank of America, Dell Computer Corp., Eli Lilly and Co., General Mills, USA Networks and Xerox
On the board of directors for divine interVentures, Edmunds.com, EthnicGrocer.com, HealthCite, MyPotential.com and Vest@Capital (Europe)
On the strategic advisory boards of more than 15 e-commerce and technology startups, including Asera, Autodaq and Biztro
Fellow for the World Economic Forum
Books
The Seven Steps to Nirvana: Strategic Insights into eBusiness Transformation (McGraw-Hill, 2001)
Photo Wars (Prentice Hall, 1999)
Contact
Sawhney is available for speaking and consulting. He can be reached at www.mohansawhney.com, mohans@nwu.edu or 847 491-2713.
Michael Schrage
Innovation
Claim to Fame
Schrage writes prolifically on innovation and the new economic order. He also directs The Merrill Lynch Forum’s Innovation Grants Competition, which rewards creative approaches to commercializing PhD research.
Words of Wisdom for Today’s Business Executives
"In the 19th century, a French economist by the name of Le Play observed that ’the most important product of the mines is the miner.’ In today’s post-industrial economy, it should be clear that the most important product of the network is the networker."
Q&A
What are some common misconceptions about innovation?
Schrage: That behavior and design are squishy and soft subjects. The reality is that technology makes the trade-off associated with difficult decisions hard and explicit.
Who is the most influential person in the new economy?
The flip answer would be Alan Greenspan, Joel Klein, David Boies or Bill Gates. The real answer is that what makes the new economy new is that there is no such person.
