The Impact on Your Business
Revolution or Evolution
The Internet caused a paradigm shift so severe that even Bill Gates missed its significance at first. The folks at Microsoft thought that the Net was just a plaything for academics, college kids, and military-industrial establishment spooks. Now they are betting the future of their company and their stock options on this worldwide communications phenomenon.
There is nothing evolutionary about the Internet. It is not the natural outgrowth of the telegraph or telephone or even television, although it shares some common characteristics. The Industrial Age is dead, and it has been replaced by the Communications Age. Note: It's not the Computer Age even though it is powered by computer technology.
And the Communications Age, like the Industrial Age, entails a revolution in how the folks earn a living and exchange goods and services. It disrupts and re-shapes markets and the very lives of those fortunate to be able to live through it.
When we talk about the new economy, we're talking about a world in which people work with their brains instead of their hands. A world in which communications technology creates global competition - not just for running shoes and laptop computers, but also for bank loans and other services that can't be packed into a crate and shipped. A world in which innovation is more important than mass production. A world in which investment buys new concepts or the means to create them, rather than new machines. A world in which rapid change is a constant. A world at least as different from what came before it as the industrial age was from its agricultural predecessor. A world so different its emergence can only be described as a revolution.
Source: Wired, Encyclopedia of the New Economy
Or as one former president put it: "It's the economy, stupid!"
The Impact of Electronic Commerce on Rural Areas
Communications technology is inherently space-adjusting technology. Distance is no longer a deciding factor because communication shrinks distance. Not only distance but also time is affected; so that contacting folks in Alexandria, Egypt is as easy and fast as contacting folks in Alexandria, Minnesota.
Rural businesses can engage in worldwide commerce cheaply and effectively—particularly if they have a niche product. They can't compete with CUC or Wal-Mart on the number of items they sell, but they can make the experience more satisfying and personal. Companies in rural Minnesota can even capitalize on the vision that folks at a distance have of the state, particularly, the image of a pristine border lakes region.
Wallys W. Conhaim notes:
Electronic commerce is emerging as an important tool for rural economic development as small, specialized firms are able to find international customers they would not have found through direct mail or otherwise.
Source:LinkUp, " E-Commerce"
Organizations that serve rural businesses, from the local Chamber to the Extension agent, from the regional economic development office to the public library, need to be prepared to render assistance and advice. Local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) need to understand ecommerce and offer technical assistance or referrals.
Recommended reading :LinkUp, "E-Commerce" by Wallys W. Conhaim. Part One and Part TwoThe Impact on Your Business
The rise of electronic commerce is going to affect the way you do business and how profitable your business will be in the future. To prepare for these changes you need to:
- Be prepared to radically change the way you do business: from paper-handling to banking
- Know that electronic commerce can cost a little or a whole lot
- Recognize that online revenues do not always mean online profits
- Be patient—it takes time to establish and market an online presence
- Understand that your customers, employees, and suppliers will need to adopt new methods of doing business together
- Monitor the progress of electronic commerce technological development and government regulation
- Keep in mind that electronic commerce is more about e-business than e-tailing
