Transformation
Bricks and mortar are becoming clicks and mortar.  How do you lead the transformation from the old rules to the new one without killing your enterprise in the process?

• Management by Web 
  Sparked by new technologies, particularly the Internet, the corporation is undergoing a radical transformation that is nothing less than a new Industrial Revolution. This time around, the revolution is reaching every corner of the globe and in the process, rewriting the rules laid down by Sloan, Henry Ford, and other Industrial Age giants. The 21st century corporation that emerges will in many ways be the polar opposite of the organizations they helped shape. (Business Week, August 21-28, 2000)

• The E Gang
  It’s time for act II in the Internet Revolution.  The first act belonged to dot-coms with big visions and small bank accounts. Now the stage will be taken by big companies that move their factories, warehouses and customers onto the Web. Who are the executives winning this competition? We portray 12 of them here, in our third annual round-up of digital innovators. Together the companies these executives lead employ almost 1 million people and have more than $400 billion in revenues. They aren't playing for paper options or the fast flip. Their drive is to serve customers, eliminate inefficiency and spark new growth. They have bet big on the Internet, and they already are making it pay off. The stock market has yet to lavish its richest rewards on traditional firms. But make no mistake, says GE's Jack Welch: "The productivity and [market] share gains of the Old Economy companies dwarf the growth of the New Economy companies."  (Forbes, July 24, 2000)

• Revenge of the “Bigcos?”
  Mel, Jack Welch is right. Wall Street will no longer throw money indiscriminately at dot-coms. That means the advantage is indeed shifting to the bigcos. Bigcos have the brand, customers, industry expertise, transactions, liquidity, and investment budgets to dominate. But here comes the inevitable "but" . . . (Diamond Technology Partners Website, August 2000)

• E-Transformation, The Fast Track to Becoming and E-Business
  E-business is no longer a question of Whether, but How. In the past six months, favored models and approaches to E-business have emerged. Although one size doesn't fit all, two strategies in particular have come to the fore among billion-dollar companies, according to InformationWeek Research's newly released E-Business Agenda Study. The most common approach could be called immersion--the process of gradually deploying E-business applications and initiatives across most of a company's business units. The second most-popular approach to E-business involves collaborating with a partner that lives and breathes Internet business every day--a Web-only startup. (Information Week, December 13, 1999)

• Deconstructing the Web
  Once you figure out your e-business strategy, it's time to start designing the Web site, right? Not any more. The era of the browser, in which the world's information is linked together through Web sites, navigated with search engines and collected and reorganized through portals, is coming to an end. Over time, it will become an increasingly smaller part of what the Net economy offers those seeking competitive advantage. (Industry Standard, August 7, 2000)

• From Bricks to Clicks:  The Four Stages of E-volution
  Traditional companies no longer question whether the Internet will change their businesses. Neither do they debate whether e-business belongs on the CEO agenda. Most companies even have a firm grasp on what they want and need to get their e-business initiatives off the ground. Still, it's a long way from strategic intent to execution. Every day, it seems, another e-business task force or SWAT team is formed, as CEOs of large companies set "e-priorities" and create units that try to model the fast and focused entrepreneurial behaviors they hope the rest of the company will emulate.  As these companies attempt to reorient and reinvent themselves, they struggle with common challenges that revolve around two fundamental issues: organizational structure and the mobilization and motivation of people. (strategy + business, Third Quarter, 2000)

• Valuing Dot-Coms
  You don’t have to step through the looking glass into a parallel universe to understand the valuations of Internet stocks. Discounted-cash-flow analysis can focus your mind on the right issues, help you see the risks, and separate the winners from the losers. (McKinsey Quarterly 2000, No. 1)
  
  

• Internet Valuations Get Even Nuttier
  With recent Internet deals going for a couple of billion dollars each, the real money is flowing to the online world like never before, leaving the bricks-and-mortar crowd to fend for themselves. (Redherring.com, May 22, 1999)
  

• Do Profits Matter?
  The question haunts the sleep of everyone doing business online. Are we still in the land-grab phase of the Internet market, when it's OK to temporarily suspend hopes of profitability and spend like mad in order to grab mind-share (and market share)? Or is it time to act like those ghastly Old-Economy companies and strive to have more black ink than red on your balance sheet? We put the question to some of the New Economy's best and brightest. (Business 2.0,  April, 2000)
   
  

• The Valuation Equation
  One of the most important issues facing today's Internet entrepreneurs is how to figure out their company's valuation. Establishing a valuation and raising capital based on that figure largely determines the amount of equity the founders will retain. (Business 2.0, March 2000)
   
  

• You Must Prefer to Defer
  With so many Internet and technology companies running at a loss — and seemingly proud of it — investors, too, are asking: Should I even care about profits? (Business 2.0, April 2000)
  
  

• Are VCs Addicted?
  If the valuations don't make sense, why does investment keep flowing into on-line ventures?  Has the potential for up-side become a drug?  Is our economy addicted?  (TheStandard.com, April 24,2000)

 Will e-customers be satisfied with Virtual Service?

• Virtual Service?
  Will the many virtual customer service encourage new on-line consumers or offend current on-line shoppers who prefer surfing without interruption?  Find out why investors find e-service an attractive value proposition.  (Redherring.com, March 9, 2000)

B2B or B2C?  You Judge

• Blurred Lines
  The exchange is shifting the paradigm in the on-line world.  Has anyone heard of C2C?  (TheStandard.com, April 24, 2000)
  
  

• Is E-tail Dead?
  Has B2C hit the skids? "Ask a venture capitalist (VC) to fund a B2C play and they will yawn. Ask an investor to buy a B2C stock and they'll turn around and short it. Ask a B2C company what the new exit strategy is and they'll smile and pray for consolidation"  What is going on out there?  (Redherring.com, March 20, 2000)
  
  

• 2000,  What's To Come?
  Can e-companies remain upbeat amid extreme market volatility, and questions about inflation?  The "eretailing 2000" conference could have been a masquerade.  Was their worry beneath those masks?  (TheStandard.com, April 17, 2000)
  

What's it to be?  Bricks and Mortar or Pure Play Internet?