Tracking e-business trends

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Tracking e-business trends
For readers wanting to keep up to date with e-business developments,
this chapter recommends publications and websites that are worth
dipping into from time to time:
BBC news online
Good coverage of mainstream technology-related issues
www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/default.stm
CIO Magazine: The E-Business Research Center
Examines the current state and future directions of conducting
commerce on the internet through articles, events, discussion groups
and informational links.
www.cio.com
eCommerce Web Center
Good all round US e-commerce site full of good marketing tips plus
some worthwhile links.
www.ecominfocenter.com
Economist
The best single source of information about what is happening in the
world. A mainstream publication but one that will take on some big
topics from time to time, and one whose take on the e-business is
variably insightful and clear-eyed.
www.economist.com
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Fast Company
A US-published monthly magazine that has been an essential read
since it started up in 1996. Of late, though, the content – while still
excellent – has been swamped by increasing volumes of advertising.
The companion website is just about the best free site around on e-
business and the future world of work (it also carries material not
found in the magazine).
www.fastcompany.com/home.html
Financial Times
Of all the UK dailies, The Financial Times provides the best in-depth
coverage of IT and work-related issues. Well worth keeping an eye
out for their occasional information technology surveys.
www.ft.com
Fucked Company
An irreverent spoof of Fast Company that, like the very best Dilbert-
cartoons, uses humor as a vehicle for revealing some painful truths
about working in the e-business.
www.fuckedcompany.com
Gilder Technology Report
Anybody interested in the present and future impact of technology
on the US and world economy will find Gilder’s articles an intrigu-
ing set of appetizers from this seminal thinker and iconoclast. Not
always easy to understand but worth making the effort.
www.gildertech.com/index.asp
Harvard Business Review
Still the most authoritative business bi-monthly on the block. It has
tended in the past to be more mainstream than truly groundbreak-
ing in its coverage of business issues. That said, HBR has responded
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well to the challenge to traditional business thinking posed by the e-
business, and recent issues have generally contained two or three
relevant articles. Also, if you are interested in getting the lowdown
on forthcoming books from Harvard’s publishing wing several
months before publication, the magazine consistently trails major books
with articles from the authors in question. The website provides an
overview of the contents of the magazine – very limited free content
these days but the executive summaries are there and they are often
all you need.
www.hbsp.harvard.edu/home.html
(The) Information Economy
This website is overseen by economist Hal Varian, co-author of Infor-
mation Rules, and lists hundreds of papers, works in progress and
links to other information economy websites. An almost over-
whelming resource but one that hasn’t been bettered for thoroughness.
www.sims.berkeley.edu/resources/infoecon/
New Media Knowledge
A publicly funded body based at the University of Westminster which
analyzes and facilitates the growth of the UK’s digital media industries.
www.nmk.co.uk/
New Scientist
Important science and technology stories will often appear here first.
New Scientist also gives good coverage to emerging thinking in the
scientific community.
www.newscientist.com
New Thinking
New Thinking is a weekly, approximately 500-word exploration of the
digital age, produced by Gerry McGovern, former CEO of Nua and

author of The Caring Economy. Taking a broad, philosophical view
of things, it is written in clear, concise language and delivers some
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useful comments and ideas. It is available by email and is free. To
subscribe, go to McGovern’s website.
www.gerrymcgovern.com
New York Times
Good source of articles on the latest e-business developments in the
US. Worth subscribing to their daily news e-mail. Full articles can
be accessed at no cost for a day or two; once ‘archived’, there’s a charge.
www.nytimes.com
Sloan Management Review
The management journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy (MIT). Published quarterly, it features articles by some of the world’s
leading strategic thinkers, and has a genuinely global range.
www.sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/
Time
Weekly news magazine that gives good, positive coverage to e-busi-
ness issues and people. That said, Time is a mainstream publication
and so is unlikely to be absolutely at the forefront of e-business think-
ing. Nonetheless, in recent months it has carried special features on
e-commerce, the future of work, and so on.
www.time.com/europe
The Utne Reader
A digest, whose editors scan thousands of small and alternative maga-
zines. Not that well focused perhaps, but worth visiting for occasional
gems.

www.utne.com
Wired
Monthly American magazine that is good at picking up e-business
trends about six months before they become trends.
www.wired.com/wired/
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World Future Society
Not-for-profit educational and scientific organization that explores
how social and technological developments are shaping the future.
www.wfs.org