Evolve!

As a requirement for this assignment, I am to read and write a critical review on a book of my choice. I've selected Evolve! Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow by Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Even though this book is to some extent out-of-date, I enjoyed reading it thoroughly.

A couple of words about the author. Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard Business School Professor is considered to be the one of the leading experts on organizational change. She is a well known speaker having spoken at the events around the globe (including Pace University). She is also known for her outstanding research tactics and abilities, but I feel that this is due to an extensive availability of resources (either human or technical) at Harvard Business School.

As the name of the book suggests, Dr. Kanter describes why and how should organizations change or evolve for the future. The focus is on the Internet and how it affects a wide range of businesses and other entities in more ways then one.

Evolve can be broken down in to three main parts. The first part analyzes how the Internet affects every business and person, the role of young people to date in advancing the changes, and why companies have to do more than just open a web site to succeed. I very much enjoyed reading this part as it relates to the change my company had to go through when facing the challenge of establishing an internet presence. I shall talk about that later.

The Internet means a fundamental change in at least part of every company's business model. For some companies, this is a complete change. For others, it is a partial, but significant change. Cisco Systems (headquartered in San Jose, California and specializing in production of end-to-end networking products and services Ð'- p304), provides a good example. You can be a major provider of high technology products while having very little manufacturing yourself. Dell Computer is another good example. You can have negative receivables and no inventory while manufacturing products to order in minutes. Anyone would like to be able to move profitably in these directions.

The second part identifies the qualities that allow a company's culture to work well in e-commerce. Dr. Kanter focuses here on the need to create generations of rapid change each of which is well received by the beneficiaries, how to create truly supportive and effective networks of partners, reconfiguring the business and organizational structure to improve the business model, and attracting and retaining the top talent needed to make these improvements.

The third part looks at initiating and enabling the change process towards the model of e-effectiveness. The roles of leaders, organizations, and of individuals are identified as well as the sources of friction and resistance.

The company I work for Ð'- SwapsMonitor Publications' business is financial research and data delivery. We specialize in building and maintaining databases for world's holiday data and trading hours data of many exchanges throughout the world. Prior to the internet boom, the research was done using various methods such as direct conversation with the representatives of each company (e.g. The Central Bank of Malaysia or The National Stock Exchange of India), reviewing their annual reports, hand books and any other material we could get our hands on. We delivered data by publishing monthly hand books which we sent out by mail. In 1996, when the Internet was becoming a major tool for many businesses, we've decided to change our tactics and establish a strong online presence. Because the Internet is a global network, we could obtain versions of said annual reports and hand books electronically without disturbing the PR departments around the globe. Furthermore, the data delivery has been permanently converted into an electronic form. So what does it all have to do with Evolve? Simple, we faced many of the same challenges Dr. Kanter describes in the first part of her book. Namely, seizing the opportunity, taking initiative, outlining a plan, determining the milestones, assigning project leaders and team responsibilities. In Chapter 3 Ð'- Lipstick on a Bulldog, Dr Kanter warns of dangers "wannadots" (her term for those organizations