Michigan Industrial Directory 2002 (Michigan Industrial Directory)

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The hype and market valuations surrounding certain Internet stocks may lead one to conclude that the e-commerce race is over--or nearly so. Clearly, the Internet has caught traditional companies off guard, giving the more nimble dot coms a huge head start. But the race is far from over, says Mary Modahl, a vice president at Forrester Research. In Now or Never, she argues that we are in the first year of a "ten year transition in the way consumers shop and save," and that winning in the Internet space not only requires identifying consumers that are most likely to take their shopping online, but exploiting the new and different business models made possible by online commerce.

Modahl believes that conventional demographics, which segment populations according to their income and education, is a poor predictor of online behavior. As an alternative, she advances Forrester Research's work on "technographics," which measure consumers' attitudes toward technology. Forrester has found that 52 percent of the population is optimistic about technology and is "marching happily towards online shopping," and she shows how companies can better target their marketing strategies to meet this growing legion of consumers. In addition, Modahl considers the "post-Internet competitive environment," which she thinks will be "far more fluid and responsive to changes in supply and demand." Using examples of traditional industries that have had their business models turned upside down by Internet economies--newspapers, travel agencies, and brokerages--Modahl offers ways that the old guard can better cope with technology change, channel conflict, and their own inertia toward this new marketplace.

Well written and presented, Now or Never is a concise distillation of Forrester Research's approach to e-commerce. Anyone whose livelihood is connected to--or threatened by--the relentless march of the Internet would do well to read and consider this book. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

The battle for the 21st century is now clear: inside, traditional brick and mortar companies are digging in for the fight of their lives; outside, a tightening circle of dot.com upstarts threaten to transform every feature of the economy. Is the war over already?

Mary Modahl thinks not; instead, she anticipates that the coming five years will be decisive--which is why companies that want to stay alive and thrive must act Now or Never.

The key to success in the brave new world of e-commerce is a deep and nuanced understanding of how consumers think about and use the Internet. Forrester Research--the world's most respected technology research firm--has developed that understanding in a groundbreaking model of consumer behavior called Technographics. For the firsttime ever, Now or Never shares the Technographics model with business people outside Forrester's exclusive client list.

Built on interviews with more than 250,000 Americans, Technographics divides consumers into ten sharply identified segments based on differing attitudes toward the Internet. That means each segment will use e-commerce in a different way and dive into buying on-line at a different pace.

Using Technographics, businesspeople--from companies that are small or large, established or brand new, traditional or dot.com--will be able to plot a well-reasoned, robust Internet strategy.

Beyond Technographics, the book also identifies and explains the startling, counterintuitive new business models that drive competition on the web. Now or Never introduces the concept of Dynamic Trade, a term that Forrester coined to describe the disruptive new way business gets done on the web.

With engaging prose that is chock-full of real stories, Modahl describes how Dynamic Trade changes the balance of supply and demand, requires companies to ramp up to scale faster ever, and zeroes out marginal cost.

As the battle for Internet dominance reaches a crisis, Now or Never stands apart. Written by a straight-talking business practitioner who knows and understands the Internet as well as anyone working today, this groundbreaking book confronts the most pressing business issue of our time with reasoned answers to the questions on the mind of every informed executive:

When will the Internet change the way I do business?

Why is the Internet transforming everything about the economy and competition?

How exactly will my industry and company change, in terms of customers, competitors, cash flow, and the bottom line?

AND

What should I do about it right now?

Customer Reviews:

A good read.......2006-02-21

The next few years, will be extremely important for deciding the loyalties of Internet consumers. Companies that don't transition to the Internet when their customers do, will be left behind. The first step is to when your customers will transition to the Internet. To this end, the author outlines a method called Technographics, developed by Forrester Research, that categorizes customers based on their attitudes towards technology. This method allows you to know how many of your customers are online, how many will be online soon, and how many may never be online. Technographics classifies consumers based on three factors that influence buying behavior:
1. Attitude towards technology: is the consumer optimistic or pessimistic about using technology?
2. Income: The amount of money consumers have to spend strongly influences online behavior.
3. Motivation to use technology: Beyond comfort with technology, how motivated is the consumer to use it?

After you have determined when and how your customers will get online, you must develop a strategy for reaching them. Whether your customers are early adopters of the Internet, reluctant users in the mainstream or low-income consumers who will probably not be able to become frequent online purchasers, you must detail your marketing strategies in order to reach them. In Internet terms, this means that you must go where they go online, and advertise to them there.

It is also necessary to understand the ways in which the Internet is actually transforming the markets. The author calls this new environment Dynamic Trade. Dynamic Trade occurs as markets become more fluid and responsive to changes in supply and demand. Prices are able to fall to their competitive point faster in response to demand. Companies must be able to keep up with the markets in order to survive.

All you want to know on e-consumers, commerce, and business.......2002-11-15

Internet is disturbing the "old economy", but we do not always understand what and where are the changes and how we can move to get a chance to compete in this new environment. Another question is about the urgency to take action.

Now or Never is Mary Modahl's answer. She wants to convince us that each company needs to define its own Web strategy to keep contact with consumers.

In Information Age, customers are more than ever at the centre of each organization, and a preliminary is to understand them to be able to serve them products and services they want. Marketing people are using classical segmentation tools to do the job, but these one are no more valid to explain consumer's attitudes on the Web. It's why the author is sharing with us technographics segmentation developed by Forrester research. Aside income, two new dimensions are introduced: consumers' attitude towards technology and motivation to use this technology. Technographics divides consumers in ten different groups from early Internet adopters as "Fast Forwards" to "Laggards," people who will be very late or never buying on Internet. Knowing this consumers segmentation is a base to develop an adapted marketing approach and to develop a pertinent Web strategy. But it also gives confidence to every organization, when we learn that Internet mainstream customers are still buying outside Internet and will represent the real challenge and opportunity of coming years. That means it's not too late to define a Web strategy to gain Internet know-how and be ready for the arrival of these mainstream customers.

But knowing e-consumers is not enough to understand all the challenges on the Web. Internet environment has its own rules and more transparency implies an increasing apparent supply with correlatively pressure on prices leading at the end to prices responding to demand. Forrester calls this environment Dynamic Trade, which requires Internet businesses to scale up fast with huge investments in marketing and technology to gain a necessary critical mass. It's a big change compared to industrial age economic conditions as we find there a typical Information environment presented by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian in their book Information Rules where you need to invest importantly before arriving to marginal cost near zero. It also explains why start-ups needed so much money from venture capitalists to set up their businesses.

If the first message we received is that moving to the Web is demanding important investments, we discover later that start-ups are creating a new revenue mix by focusing on new customers, new value, and new pricing structures, which undermine traditional revenue streams. Mary Modahl is illustrating this strategy by well-presented experiences she got in classified advertising, travel agents, and brokerage business environments.

Dynamic Trade being so open to competition, is it possible to build some competitive advantage? The answer is yes through experiential branding, physical distribution control, and consumer information leverage. This part of the book is important because it shows how organizations can built a competitive advantage on the specificities of Web environment. We do not often see such ideas so clearly developed.

But are traditional companies able to move to this new environment? The answer is also yes if they are able to defy the gravity of the old ways of doing business. First, the attitude towards technology must be changed. Because of importance of technology choices to gain market share, technology must be integrated in a "Whole View" including marketing and business strategy. It's also necessary to use the best technology and to integrate new technologies, which are ripe for consumer markets. That means that technology managers need to move from a mission critical to a mission re-defining. Traditional companies need also to solve their distribution channel conflicts to have chance to enter the Internet market space. Mary Modahl is explaining there that they have no choice and is developing in her book a strategy to solve distribution channels conflicts. Finally traditional companies need to find the best organization to move to the Web. Three different strategies: wholesale transformation, risk balancing, and venture capital participation are presented with sound examples.

But the final word is that winners to gain the battle for Internet customers can be among either start-ups or traditional companies if they have the will to win.

Mary Modahl's book is a well written, easy reading contribution to understand the Web environment and is going much further than how to win Internet consumers with a complete set of strategies for start-ups as for traditional companies. Mary Modahl's own experience is also adding to the interest of this book, which is illustrated all along the pages with pertinent examples taken in real life.

I can only recommend this book to every executive, who wants to be part of the "New Economy".

A fast-track guide to predicting web success!.......2001-01-03

An easy read, but contains some keys to understanding your customer base, and better yet, predicting who will actually purchase product off your website. This book, combined with your understanding of your customers, could save you a lot of wasted time and energy going after the wrong customer segment, or putting up content that is inappropriate for the people visiting (or not visiting) your website.

The best e-Commerce book I've read, a must read for anyone in charge of setting e-Commerce strategy. Nice going, Mary!

Too easy to read.......2000-10-06

This book is easy to read on the beach. However, it doesn't contain any new information. Regular readers of the business section of a newspaper know many similar examples described in the book. If you have attended once a marketing class, you should know the rest. This book is intended for people knowing nothing about marketing or e-commerce.

Too easy to read.......2000-10-06

This book is easy to read on the beach. However, it doesn't contain new information. Regular readers of the business section of a newspaper know many similar examples described in the book. If you have attended once a marketing class, you should know the rest. This book is intended for people knowing nothing about marketing or e-commerce.

Now or Never: How Companies Must Change Today to Win the Battle for the Internet Consumers

Average customer rating:

Now or Never: How Companies Must Change Today to Win the Battle for the Internet Consumers
Mary Mosahl
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Now or Never : How Companies Must Change to Win the Battle for Internet Consumers

Average customer rating:

Now or Never : How Companies Must Change to Win the Battle for Internet Consumers
Mary Modahl
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFBPVE

Now or Never : How Companies Must Change Today to Win the Battle for Internet Consumers

Average customer rating:

Now or Never : How Companies Must Change Today to Win the Battle for Internet Consumers
Mary Modahl
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFAXBW

Average customer rating:

Now or Never: How Companies Must Change Today to Win the Battle for Internet Consumers
Mary Modahl
Manufacturer: Harper Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000X66KPU

Book Description

Reliability-Centered Maintenance provides valuable insights into current preventive maintenance practices and issues, while explaining how a transition from the current "preserve equipment" to "preserve function" mindset is the key ingredient in a maintenance optimization strategy. This book defines the four principal features of RCM and describes the nine essential steps to achieving a successful RCM program.

There is an easy to follow example illustrating the Classical RCM systems analysis process using the water treatment system for a swimming pool. As well as the use of software in the system analysis process, making a specific recommendation on a software product to use. Additionally, this new edition possesses an appendix devoted to discussing an economic model that has been used successfully to decide the most cost effective use of maintenance.

Top Level managers, engineers, and especially technicians who rely on PM programs in their plant operations can't afford to miss this inclusive guide to Reliability-Centered Maintenance.

*Includes detailed instructions for implementing and sustaining an RCM program for extremely cost effective manufacturing
*Presents seven real-world cross-industry RCM sucess case studies that have profited from this plan
*Provides essential information on how RCM focuses your maintenance organization to become a recognized "center for profit"
*Offers over 35 accumulated years of the authors' experiences in Lessons Learned for the proper use of RCM (and pitfalls to avoid)

Average customer rating:

Love it!

Great book for quilters

Wonderful book!

Awsome!!

Absolutey Wonderful!

Quilts from the Heart: Quick Projects for Generous Giving (That Patchwork Place)
Karin Renaud
Manufacturer: That Patchwork Place
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Needlework | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Patchwork | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Quilts & Quilting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Save The Scraps: Great Quilts From Small Bits (That Patchwork Place)

Quilt Revival: Updated Patterns from the 30's

Successful Scrap Quilts from Simple Rectangles

40 Fabulous Quick-cut Quilts

Fast Quilts from Fat Quarters

ASIN: 1564776492

Book Description

Quilting and generosity go hand in hand—and this inspiring book will show quilters how to share their creativity with friends, family, and those in need. Easy-to-make projects are combined with ideas for giving that will warm the hearts of givers and receivers alike.

• Create 20 projects with traditional patterns and repeated blocks—perfect for whipping up quilts in multiples

• Discover helpful tips for organizing charitable quilting bees for quilters of all skill levels

• Find ideas for choosing charities, from pediatric centers to nursing homes, plus advice on sizes and materials

Customer Reviews:

Love it!.......2007-07-12

The instructions are clear and easy. The patterns are intresting and versitile. The quilts are quick to make. After I bought this book so did 2 of my friends.

Great book for quilters.......2007-01-05

I got this book because of the quilt on the cover that I found interesting enough to want to do. After getting the book and reading through it, I find there is much more I want to try my hand at, as well as the thoughts of making quilts for charities and hospitals. It was really a gift in a book! Great book for guilds to do as well!

Wonderful book!.......2006-03-28

A wonderful book for the novice and experienced quilter! Easy to follow directions and excellent photos. Can't go wrong with this book!!

Awsome!!.......2006-03-05

A great book for an Quilter, or beginner. She explains the patterns with clear instructions and fun pictures. For some who have never Quilted before or have some experience. If you are a hard core quilter,this is not for you. It is for beginer quilters. But all around, awesome!

Absolutey Wonderful!.......2006-02-27

I am beginner quilter. This book explains perfectly how to make each design. She took time to go into detail in explaining everything about quilting. She showed step by step diagrams in how to make the quilts. I am enjoying this quilting book!!!!

Quick Quilts from the Heart (For the Love of Quilting)

Average customer rating:

Very Well Done
made Snoozing with Snakes
Great for scrap quilt lovers

Quick Quilts from the Heart (For the Love of Quilting)
Liz Porter , and Marianne Fons
Manufacturer: Oxmoor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Applique | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Quilts & Quilting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0848714423

Customer Reviews:

Very Well Done.......2004-03-01

I found this book at my local library when I was searching for patterns. I found the patterns in it were very well put together. I am currently making a quilt for my husband based on the ideas from the quilt on the cover. The instructions are clear and concise. I am hoping that by putting this book on my 'Wish List' that someone will buy it for me. I would love to add this to my library. If you like Liz's magazine, then you will like this book.

made Snoozing with Snakes.......2002-01-31

For a Christmas present for my nine year old son, my mother (a MASTER QUILTER) and I (a novice) made a quilt from this book. With the exception of how to attach the silly snakes heads, the instructions were clear (and we did manage to figure out this one sticking point) ...and to pat ourselves on the back just a bit, the quilt turned out beautifully.

Would I recommend this book to others? Yes.... in fact I have all ready.

Was the gift a success? Oh heck yeah! My son LOVES his colourful and fun quilt from Grandtre and mom.

Is the a book just for kid's quilts? No sir-re-sir.... this book has a wide variety of quilts in many styles. Really something to gain inspiration from and a keeper in anyone's quilting library.

Great for scrap quilt lovers.......1998-11-24

They like reproduction fabrics and scrap quilts. Favorite methods are quick cutting and piecing.

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