Hyperwars: 11 Strategies for Survival and Profit in the Era of Online Business

Amazon.com

With the Net's ability to boost business now apparent even to the most skeptical of observers, books that purport to unveil the commercial secrets of cyberspace will continue to proliferate. Few, though, can present observations and recommendations about e-commerce as well as HyperWars, by Bruce Judson with Kate Kelly. Cofounder of Time Warner's pioneering Pathfinder Web site and author of 1996's bestselling Net Marketing, Judson has already proven that he knows what he's talking about when he talks about online business--and in this book he turns his attention to the tactics that, he believes, start-ups as well as established companies must employ to stay ahead of their competition. After analyzing the general implications of today's increasingly wired corporate infrastructure, Judson elaborates (using a wide variety of examples) on specifics like "Speed Is Everything," "Get Personal," "Market Relentlessly," and "Never Stop Looking Over Your Shoulder." He closes with a "HyperWars Audit"--"designed so that in a quick and handy fashion you can see for yourself how prepared your business is to survive and prosper in the emerging hypercompetitive environment." --Howard Rothman

Book Description

The effects of the online revolution are being felt far beyond Silicon Valley, and now all businesses -- from start-ups to established companies -- face "survival of the fittest." A company or product can be an industry leader one moment and obsolete six months later. Entire industries, ranging from computer sales to stock trading, are being thrown into chaos as consumers and businesses shift buying patterns to take advantage of the convenience and cost savings that are available over the Web.

For companies, this pressing need to continually create new, different, better products to stay one step ahead of the competition defines the new reality of business today, the world of "HyperWars." To stay afloat, business managers need practical guidance, and they need it fast. Drawing on extensive research and his pioneering experience in e-commerce, industry innovator Bruce Judson outlines eleven practical strategies for thriving in this hypercompetitive environment. Including "Use the Internet as the World's Most Sophisticated Telephone" and "The Magic in 'Free,'" these visionary strategies are illustrated with hundreds of examples of Internet initiatives real companies -- from pool suppliers to major businesses like Cisco and Chrysler -- are implementing today. Not just for companies selling products over the Web, HyperWars explains how the Internet can and must be incorporated into all of a business's operations, to do everything from cutting procurement, marketing, and communication costs to deepening customer relationships.

Both a wide-ranging analysis of the massive changes the Web is bringing to all industries and a crucial, groundbreaking redefinition of business strategies, HyperWars provides readers with the essential tools they need to survive and profit in the new competitive era.

Customer Reviews:

By businesspeople, for businesspeople.......2006-02-16

This book is about business, not the internet. This book offers eleven strategies for survival and profit in the era of online businesses. It is written by businesspeople for businesspeople.

The realm of e-commerce provides all companies with an environment where the survival of the fittest is the golden rule. The authors see the internet as providing challenges to all businesses, regardless of how well established or large these businesses may be.

This book works to explain these eleven strategies:

1. Use the internet as the World's Most Sophisticated Telephone.
2. Speed is everything. Buy resources, find partnerships.
3. Cut costs and increase efficiency using the web.
4. A great product today requires something more.
5. Get personal. Learn to recommend and to customize.
6. Create the "Total Solution."
7. Market relentlessly through the internet.
8. The Magic is Free. Understand the importance of free value-adding offers. Also know when not to offer free products or services.
9. Business plans are more essential than ever.
10. Flexibility is key. Companies must be prepared to change at a moments notice.
11. Never stop looking over your shoulder.

Old hat with a few new frills.......2000-03-18

What a disappointment! I could not beleive that this was actually written in 1999. Unless you have been asleep for a couple of years most of the stuff in this tape would be familiar.

The tape starts with a few bits of information such as the quote from Fortune: "On the web you are either fast, or last." And then goes on to talk about channel conflict stating that this is the most widely reported problem that businesses face. Well neither the author nor these businesspeople have read customers.com because Patricia Seybold has a solution (in fact so does Judson in strategy 10).

I did not like his telephone analogy for the web. Trouble always comes when something new is described using nice comfortable familiar concepts. His strategies are on the whole disappointingly stale: speed, flexibility, efficiency, personal service and paranoia. Judson seems to borrow his ideas from everyone (including Grove and Gates).

However, if you have been asleep for the last two years, you are panicking because you are about to be disintermediated and you want a primer in e-commerce, this is probably for you.

Why three stars? Well I did not throw it out the car and it did remind me of everything I had heard before.

Very good & practical ideas of how to leverage the Internet.......1999-08-25

I have recommended, and bought, this book for many of my friends. It has very practical and useful ideas of how to leverage the Internet to produce incremental sales and reduce operational costs. Must read if you have, or don't have, an Internet business strategy.

Good book for managers wanting to get their feet wet.......1999-08-09

Filled with simple, easy-to-grasp advice, backed up with many real-world examples.

Some readers will be disappointed in this book because it is not a how-to guide to making a website or marketing products on the Net. But it IS a comprehensive strategy guide for managers who want to see if (and how) the Internet can help their business. This book was an invaluable help to me during my own research.

Our Company Handbook.......1999-05-29

Hyperwars is right on target with today's ecommerce trend, extremely insightful, and very well written. As an internet-related company, we have made Hyperwars our handbook and required reading by all employees.

Customer Reviews:

Open-Door Empire.......2006-12-23

"The New Empire" is a classic of "revisionist" diplomatic history. Published in the early 1960s, the book contends that American elites were deeply shaken by the depression and labor upheavals of 1893-97, and emerged from the experience persuaded that the cure for domestic woes lay in overseas commercial expansion. LaFaber traces this theme through several diplomatic episodes, including the annexation of Hawaii, the Venezuela crisis of 1895, open-door diplomacy in China, and, in particular, the run up to the Spanish-American War of 1898.

His book is well-written and packed with information. Although scholarly, it feels like a "young man's" book, designed to shake people up and get them to think. Granted, LaFeber sometimes pushes his thesis harder than the evidence will bear. In the case of the Spanish-American War, for example, economics was clearly only one factor framing our Cuba policy; and with regard to Venezuela, it is unclear whether our policy had anything to do with overseas markets at all. But these are relatively minor complaints. The bottomline about "The New Empire" is that it's a mind-expanding book about expansionism. It should be read by any deluded American who thinks that our foreign policy is altruistic or that America rose to world power in a fit of absent-mindedness.

So why did I give it four stars? For a book that argues that foreign policy was driven by economics, there is little analysis of the American economy and no demonstration that it depended on overseas expansion in the late 19th century. LaFeber's account of the 1893-97 depression is reconstructed from contemporary speeches and newspaper articles, not from economic data -- and I would defy any reader to make sense of tariff policy, the gold standard, or the bimetalism debates on the basis of his text. This is a bizarre lapse in an otherwise excellent book.

Readable but not so brilliant book.......2005-11-30

Walter La Faber author of this book is a reputed academic.Here he traces the growth and expansion of American empire.While doing so he questions traditional interpretation of American expansionism.Liberals view America inherited an overseas empire inadvertently,in a fit of absent-mindedness.This ,according to the author, is debatable.

It must be remembered that period between 1880-1900 America was continually subjected to economic turbulence.The country was assailed by frequent bouts of depression.What caused this?
Industrial revolution unleashed powerful economic forces.American market was inundated with goods which its population found it difficult to absorb.This led to slowdown in production and subsequent economic stagnation.

Factories went bankrupt causing massive unemployment which in turn led to widespread social discontent.Now continued prosperity of the country was at stake.This prompted American businesmen to seek overseas markets for their surplus goods.The situation was further aggravated by the fact 'Frontier' had already closed down as relentless expansion across continental United States took Anglo-Saxons to the Pacific sea board.Further writings of Fredrick Jackson Turner ,Brooke Adams,Alfred Thayer Mahan provided necessary rationale for leaders like Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Clevland,William McKinley to embark upon this course of action.Thus author has argued that economic self interest made American empire inevitable.

However I wish to add the above development could have been reversed.This brings me to highlight an important feature of Capitalism.Capitalist economy to survive requires mass consumption for which a common man needs sufficent purchasing power.This can effected only by empowering labour class.Elites who control means of production refuse to do this as this would bite into their profits.Hence goods produced could not be absorbed locally and so the need to find foreign markets.

We know from History quest for foreign markets is mostly done through violent means.This has been the rootcause for American aggression world wide.Washington forcefully broke open Japan's door and brought it to the outside world.War with Spain followed which led to the seizure of Cuba,Puerto Rico,Philippines.This ensured American control over Latin and Central Americas and strategic domination of Caribbean.Simultaenously expansion across the Pacific saw America establishing foothold in China much to the annoyance of other powers particularly Imperial Japan.US-Japanese rivalry to control Far Eastern markets consummated in Pearl Harbor.

V.I Lenin the founder of now defunct Soviet state highlighted this obnoxious aspect of capitalism in his seminal work'Imperialism-Highest Stage of Capitalism'.It seems author while writing this book has either ignored or forgotten to consult Lenin's work.Though La Faber has spoken against established opinion he can in no way be called a revisionist.Throughout the book author sounds mild,apologetic while interpreting American policies. I think a Marxist historian would have treated the subject differently.But then ,I feel, Marxian thought is a taboo in America.

Foreign Policy as conspiracy.......2002-12-17

The unstated thesis of Walter Lefeber's book is that an expansionist foreign policy was a conspiracy that "the great and the good" fostered on an unsuspecting American public. Apparently there was this rather unfortunate tendency that arose after the Civil War toward emprire building and that there was an almost "illuminati" type approach by the "wise men" of American foreign policy to see that an empire was obtained.

The problem with this line of thought is that it bears very little relation to the truth. Empire building was not quite the new thing that Lefeber makes it out to be, rather these sentiments should be viewed as a continuation of manfest destiny. Once the US took the continent from the French and Spanish, eyes turned elsewhere. This was not quite the 40 year process that Lefeber makes it out to be. It was much more complex than that.

The other problem is that Lefeber, with his conspiracy approach to foreign affairs, seems to miss that the people who were apparently working together to build this overseas empire, did not really like each other that much. Theodore Roosevelt did not much care for the Adams brothers Henry and Brooks (though they were distantly related) who in turn thought him insane.

I cannot quarrel with Lefeber's scholarship and would recommend reading this book but with the proviso that at times he appears to be viewing American foreign policy as one vast conspiracy which simply is not true.

A penetrating study of a forgotten yet crucial era.......2002-05-17

This book, written almost forty years ago, offers an important, fact-filled overview of a very important era in American history, one that is largely forgotten today. The New Empire does a more than credible job of filling in the huge gaps in our collective history of 1865-1898, and it turns out that something indeed happened between Reconstruction and the Spanish-American War. First, LaFeber provides a worthy overview of American expansion in these years. Next, he describes the development of expansionist ideas by examining critical policy makers and pundits such as Fredrick Jackson Turner, Henry Adams, and Alfred Thayer Mahan. Finally, he delves into the history of events and policy decisions chronologically. While his information on the 1870s and 1880s is good, it mostly serves as a springboard for his assessment of expansion and commercial imperialism in the 1890s. The final decade of the nineteenth century is a crucial time in American history. Wracked with the Panic of 1893 and the terrible depression of the following years, America first stepped out on to the world stage, largely in an effort to protect the very viability of the nation from labor unrest and anarchy. LaFeber describes all of the international issues the U.S. addressed in this era: revolutions in Latin America (and America's steadfast enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine), the strong push by both businesses and/or government for foreign markets, the question of annexation of Hawaii, the Philippines, and Cuba., and the fluid relations between America and the European powers. The depression of the 1890s convinced many influential men that America could not survive economically without developing new commercial frontiers in which to unload its surplus agriculture and, in particular, manufactures. Antiannexationist voices were muted by the late 1890s; the only debate was one of annexation vs the establishment of protectorate status to the likes of Hawaii and the Philippines.

LaFeber contends that economic issues largely explain the development of America's new imperial policy. This is argued most forcefully in his investigation of the origins of the Spanish-American War. The most important economic issues at the time were the Cuban revolution, the dangers of losing access to Chinese markets due to the machinations of countries such as Germany and Russia, the establishment of defensively important outposts in the Far East, and the construction of an isthmian canal in Latin America. He does a wonderful job of describing the wavering opinions of policy makers and businessmen in the 1890s and of America's reorganization of political alliances with the European powers, Russia, and Japan. He makes a forceful argument for his economic explanation of the war with Spain in 1898. McKinley was not alone in trying to avoid war, but he and many other leaders came to realize that America could not compete economically without establishing foreign markets and that stability and guaranteed access to such markets would require annexation of strategic areas and the development of a strong navy with which to secure and maintain access to foreign ports.

This book is a wonderful source of information on American foreign policy from 1865 to 1898. It is rather easy to point to the Spanish-American War as the herald of America's transformation from isolationism to globalism, but LaFeber proves that the U.S. began to aggressively pursue a policy of commercial imperialism in the mid-1890s. This is not an all-inclusive history, however. It can be argued that LaFeber relies too intently on economics in his description of America's evolving foreign policy. This is true to some extent, but he does not dismiss other factors in choosing to concentrate on economics. All in all, I would recommend this book wholeheartedly. It is enlightening to penetrate the veil of these forgotten years to see how a progression of events in and outside America set the stage for America's ardent stride into the role of global and commercial superpower. Those who begin their stories of American commercial and diplomatic expansion with the Spanish-American War and the introduction of the Open Door Notes would do well to read The New Empire and follow the true beginnings of the national transformation back into the 1890s.

Extremely Thorough and Interesting...for the most part........2001-04-20

While the American Revolution and the Civil War are both extremely important periods in the history of the United States, the tendency of many teachers to overemphasize these two eras leads to a peculiar gap in American knowledge, especially when concerning America's period of economic and landed expansion. As Walter LaFeber impresses upon us from the very preface of his book, these formative years are some of the most important in the history of the United States; the opinions and policies shaped through the crises of the late 19th century impacted not only the foreign relations of the time, but created the base from which America's current foreign policy grows and shows many of the reasons for our prominent place upon the global stage.

The basic premise of LaFeber's argument is that all roots of American expansion and imperialism in the 19th century are economically based. There are many observable reasons for this economic instability, but the most important argument is that as a result of expanded production and an agricultural and industrial surplus, American companies needed new markets in order to survive. Yet as American converted from intense agricultural cultivation to industrialization, it became increasingly obvious to policymakers and intellectuals alike that due to the hard competition in existing European industrial markets, expansion into unexplored world markets was now essential for America's economic survival. According to LaFeber, the importance of these new foreign markets, especially in Latin America and Asia, becomes the driving force in all foreign policy decisions, forcing Americans, in a sense of self-preservation, from her self-imposed seclusion into participating in global politics.

Because this book as a whole is extremely well written and fairly impartial, it is very jarring to note the few times that the author does descend into either idealization or vilification. For instance, when explaining the ultimate reasons for the Spanish-American War, it is interesting to notice however the extreme lengths to which this author does his best to vindicate President William McKinley from the popular opinion of spinelessness. In contrast to the carefully accurate (if to a small degree, pro-American) description of the most of the policymakers involved, many times President McKinley is described in glowing terms that seem out of odds from the rest of the book's candid views. Terms such as "superb" and "uncommon" are used quite frequently to describe both the President and his actions; at every turn LaFeber is trying too hard to convince us of McKinley's political mastery and his decidedly controlling role in the declaration of war upon the Spanish (instead of blaming the whole affair upon McKinley's spinelessness and the pressure of the public and the press), and this becomes bothersome after the first few pages.

As the author is a man in a field of men, it is also bit disappointing but perhaps not surprising that Walter LaFeber's book focuses entirely upon the influential men of the time period. Indeed, through the entire book, there are only four women mentioned: Mrs. Gresham, the wife of Walter Quintin Gresham II, Julia Ward Howe, an author named along with Mark Twain and James Russell Lowell, the Queen Regent of Spain, Mariá Cristina, and the Queen Liliuokalani, ruler of Hawaii from 1891-95. At most, these influential women, and especially the Queens, were given only a couple lines on a few pages--nothing compared to the incredible depth of analysis presented on the influential men of the day. Despite the admittedly small numbers of significant women in the state and federal governments during this time period, it would be encouraging for someone as respected as Walter LaFeber to realize the importance of women in history--as 50 percent of the population, these women have had a considerable impact upon the shaping of ages and deserve more than just a few sentences.

Moreover, throughout this 400 odd page book, the reader is overwhelmed by evidence and quotations--footnotes can and have taken up all but a paragraph of space on the top, and even the "selected" bibliography is 8 pages long. While showing the exhaustiveness of LaFeber's research and quite impressive in its scope, this obvious exploration into every little detail is definitely overwhelming in the text and for those of us not students of history, it is extremely overwhelming at times, necessitating many readings and in some places simply obscuring the point that the author is laboring to make. This is extremely sad, because LaFeber has something very important to say and it should not be ignored, especially by the general public, who, despite most New York Time's reviewers, are not all intellectuals and may have some difficulty with the oftentimes superfluous detail.

Despite these and a few other flaws this book as a whole is thoroughly researched, skillfully laid out and clearly written, roughly succeeding in its attempt to explain an exceedingly complex subject in such a way that all the interconnections between countries and their policies are comprehensible even to a novice. As America becomes ever more present in global politics, and as America's current foreign policy and especially our tendency to concern ourselves in other nation's business can in some part be traced to the world economic ties that were formulated during America's Age of Expansion, this book is important for all Americans to read as we struggle to understand both our country's actions and its proper place among the world powers.

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The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898
Walter LaFeber
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WP4UOA

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The New Empire: an Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898

Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GLN13G

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New Empire: an Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898
Walter LaFeber
Manufacturer: Cornell University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RAL9SA

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New Empire: an Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898
Walter LaFeber
Manufacturer: Cornell University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RB4Q84

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THE NEW EMPIRE: AN INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN EXPANSION: 1860-1898
Walter Lafeber
Manufacturer: Cornell University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HHWX24

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The New Empire. An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898.
Walter LaFeber
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q5FWWU

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THE NEW EMPIRE: AN INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN EXPANSION 1860-1898
Walter LaFeber
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press For the American Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P9V03C

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THE NEW EMPIRE: AN INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN EXPANSION 1860-1898

Manufacturer: Cornell UP New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IA6ILW

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Geographical Review, published by American Geographical Society on January 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1220 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN: Barbados and the Windwards in the Late 1800s.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: J. H. Galldway
Publication: The Geographical Review (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1999
Publisher: American Geographical Society
Volume: 89 Issue: 1 Page: 149

Article Type: Book Review

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AN AMAZING BOOK! A must!

How Advertising Works: The Role of Research

Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 076191241X
Release Date: 1998-06-10

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John Philip Jones, best-selling author of WhatÆs in a Name?, Advertising and the Concept of Brands, and When Ads Work: New Proof That Advertising Triggers Sales, has edited an authoritative handbook of research procedures that determine effective advertising. All participants in the advertising processùclients, media, and agenciesùare fully represented in How Advertising Works. Chapter authors reflect a global mix of academic and professional backgrounds and include Leo Bogart, Andrew Ehrenberg, Simon Broadbent, Herbert Krugman, and John Philip Jones himself. Most chapters have been specifically written for this volume and are complemented by a few adaptations of classic articles. The result is a single "knowledge bank" of theory and practice for advertising students and professionals. Future handbooks, also edited by John Philip Jones, will address key topics of advertising agency operation, brand building, and multinational advertising. How Advertising Works will be of interest to students and professionals in advertising, marketing, and communication

Customer Reviews:

AN AMAZING BOOK! A must!.......1999-07-08

I am in the business of publishing since 1975. this is the most practical book I ever read in this critical subject. The author is the Einstein of Advertising. simple yet effective book.

How Advertising Works: The Role of Research.(Review): An article from: Journal of Consumer Affairs

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How Advertising Works: The Role of Research.(Review): An article from: Journal of Consumer Affairs
Chuck McMellon
Manufacturer: American Council on Consumer Interests
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Consumer Affairs, published by American Council on Consumer Interests on December 22, 1999. The length of the article is 1336 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: How Advertising Works: The Role of Research.(Review)
Author: Chuck McMellon
Publication: Journal of Consumer Affairs (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 1999
Publisher: American Council on Consumer Interests
Volume: 33 Issue: 2 Page: 447

Article Type: Book Review

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