Books and Other Information

As the twentieth century came to a close there was an explosion of interest in new management theory for a new digital economy. The dotcom boom and bust which followed has tended to overshadow what was in many ways a renaissance in ways of looking at the world. Which is a pity, because with hindsight it is clear that things really have changed. Phenomena such as e-commerce, online banking and the web have indeed changed the way we live and work. Companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and E-Bay are indeed worth billions. And there's a lot more to come! The insights in the following books are as valuable today as when they were published.

• Information Rules. Shapiro and Varian. HBS Press. 1999. The new information economy works according to principles already established in industries such as publishing, media, software etc. Excellent insights into relevant topics such as product versioning, pricing strategy, customer lock-in etc.
• The Innovator's Dilemma. By Clayton Christensen. HBS 1997. The Innovator's Solution. HBS 2003. The author makes a distinction between sustaining and disruptive technologies, and argues persuasively that good management can actually be a disadvantage to a company facing a disruptive technology which results in breakthrough innovations.
• Exploiting the Virtual Value Chain. By Rayport and Sviokla. HBR Nov-Dec 1995. I love this model. Analysing any new business model in terms of Sviokla's Content-Infrastructure-Context framework almost always yields valuable insights.
• Unbundling the Corporation. By Hagel and Singer. HBR March-April 1999. An extension of the Virtual Value Chain idea which anticipates the re-aggregation of businesses into three basic types: Product Innovation; Infrastructure Management; and Customer Relationship Management.
• Getting Real about Virtual Commerce. By Evans and Wurster. HBR Nov-Dec 1999. Analysis of the "second generation" of e-commerce in terms of Reach, Affiliation and Richness.
• Blown to Bits. By Evans and Wurster. HBS Press. 2000. Expansion into book of previous article. A bit turgid but very thorough.
• Digital Darwinism. By Evan Schwartz. Penguin. 1999. Interesting "organic" models for surviving in the web economy based on evolutionary principles.
• Unleashing the Killer App. Downes and Mui. HBS Press. 1998. Inspirational introduction to the new digital economy. How Metcalfe's Law and Coasian Economics shape the new economy.
• Being Digital. Nicholas Negroponte. Hodder & Stoughton. 1995. The grandfather of the digital world. Easy to read and inspirational.
• Crossing the Chasm.  Geoffrey Moore.  HarperCollins.  2002.  A classic on how to market new, disruptive information products to mainstream customers.
• The Essential Drucker.  Peter Drucker.  Elsevier.  2007.  Drucker was the original management theorist and still the best in my view.

Not many books have been published specifically about chip technology and smart cards but here's a couple:

• Multi-application Smart Cards. Mike Hendry. CUP. 2007. Excellent overview of how smart cards are being used, and not just in banking.
• Electronic Card Payment Systems. Cristian Radu. Artech. 2003. Very technical and quite difficult to read, but contains everything you need to know about the EMV chip standard.

Websites and Blogs

• www.finextra.com Daily updates on banking and payments.
• www.gtnews.com Good payments articles from a treasury perspective.
• www.paymentsviews.com Good articles from Glenbrook Partners.
• www.linkedin.com  Many good groups.  I contribute regularly to the Banking Automation group.
• www.paymentscardsandmobile.com  Payments industry magazine.
• blogs.gartner.com/avivah-litan  Gartner's Avivah Litan is one of my favourite financial commentators.
• www.ted.com If you haven't come across TED (Ideas worth spreading), then check it out.
• www.collinconsulting.co.uk A consultant's view!