BKNTGAIN.RVW   970805

"net.gain", John Hagel/Arthur G.Armstrong, 1997, 0-87584-759-5
%A   John Hagel III
%A   Arthur G.Armstrong
%C   60 Harvard Way, Boston MA   02163
%D   1997
%G   0-87584-759-5
%I   Harvard Business School Press
%O   617-495-6700 800-545-7685 fax: 617-496-8066
smcconville@hbsp.harvard.edu
%P   235
%T   "net.gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities"

It does not inspire confidence in an Internet book, business related
or otherwise, to find that the authors do not intend to interpret this
new world -"Our goal is to help change it."  A text on net commerce
with that kind of attitude is particularly frightening, since too many
"business consultants" know almost nothing about the online world as
it exists, but have tremendous dreams about what it should be. 
According to them.  This kind of statement engenders instant gut
reactions: of ire in the netizen ("The net is just fine, thanks, and
keep your money-grubbing hands off!"), and of joy in the businessman
("We'll teach those ivory-tower weenies how to run a railroad!"). 
Both reactions would be wrong.

"Net Gain is designed to inform the senior management of large
companies and entrepreneurs alike about the power of virtual
communities to create value in online markets."  The authors'
prescription for virtual business communities has much more in common
with the sort of socialistic meritocracy of the past and current
Internet than either the Green Card Lawyers' captive mailing list or
the "500 Channel Universe."  The book proposes a win-win web of
cooperating clients and companies, with both buyer and seller getting
more of what they respectively want.  In places, you wonder whether we
are still talking about commerce or have slipped into parenting.

There is only one problem.  In abandoning description for
prescription, the text is in danger of moving into fantasy.  By their
own admission, the authors cannot find a single commercial community
that fits their criteria.  The examples used are singular, and not
very compelling.  It would be nice to see this kind of business model
develop, but it would also be surprising.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997   BKNTGAIN.RVW   970805