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The Digital Revolution has changed the Way We WorkThe words job and career have entirely new meanings. A generation ago, workers stayed with the same company for years. Changing a job was a sign of failure. A gold watch for 30 years service was a sign of success. Now we talk of projects rather than jobs. If there is a better opportunity, then we take our zeroes and ones with us to the latest greener pasture. There is little or no stigma associated with this constant digital shuttle. The main downside to this increased freedom and mobility is the gnawing lack of personal financial security. We will visit this new frontier and see if it works for everyone. Just what is it like to depend on www.freeagent.com or The Monster Board for your next gig? The Transitions of Companies from a Non-Digital to Digital Business ModelThe difference between manufacturing and the knowledge-based business model is in attitude. In previous times (not too long ago), executives wanted workers to know as little as possible about the inner workings of their company. Privileged knowledge was reserved for the boardroom. Now the opposite is true with most forward looking companies (see Peter Drucker or David Kearns) encouraging their employees to participate in business decisions and the inner workings of the company. How did DigRev figure in this turnaround? We will highlight various business sea changes, including Netscape's decision to give away their source code to software developers. Surely General Electric could not survive by giving away consumer products and still make a profit. Or could it make it by creating lifetime subscriptions they way Gateway is now promoting its computers? What about the cellular phone companies that give away $500 phones just to get your service contract? I might be interesting to take a look at their business plans to see how they proposed to make money. Netscape's open source approach, for instance, has done little for AOL's bottom line. Power and The Global EconomyThe speed of doing business has a direct relationship to the accumulation of power. The creation of wealth has promoted freer markets and has reduced national boundaries. NASDAQ is now doing business in Japan. Will there eventually be one gigantic 24/7 global stock market? Shots of Wall Street on a beautiful Sunday morning. Does physical location even matter anymore? How does it all work and what does the future hold? Trading versus InvestingThe stock price of a company at one time was determined by a multiple of its net earnings. Now it is often determined by the rate of increase of its gross revenues. Amazon.com is still losing money but its revenue have greatly increased. Jeff Bezos is not yet predicting when the company will show a profit. Yet, its market value rivals, or in some cases, exceeds Fortune 100 companies! Warren Buffett is an example of a successful investor. He is someone that looks for under-valued stocks based on Price-per-Earnings (P/E) ratios. Traders tend to look for gross revenues as value indicators. Which way are you? SCENE: The In The Red Quiz ShowJohn Cleese is Master of Ceremony. CLEESE Access to Niche Markets via Database TechnologyThis is about carrying direct marketing to a new level. Will e-commerce ever be profitable? Let's film this section in www.amazon.com's enormous warehouse in Nevada. What about our loss of privacy as our individual profiles get translated into All-knowing databases - and this information is sold to the highest bidder? What is the contrast between the promise of targeted marketing and the potential loss of privacy? Where's the tradeoff between getting only properly targeted ads and having every business around know a vast amount about you? |
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