At 240 pages with a scope that covers the broad spectrum of privacy issues this book is more like a whitepaper or comprehensive executive overview. However, that can make this book more valuable to the right audience than a 1000 page tome that gets bogged down into details. The best audience is falls into two domains: marketing and corporate communications on the business side, and the technical staff involved in requirements and design.

The book is fast-paced and highly focused on each topic. It begins with an excellent discussion of marketing vs. privacy, which is an important opening topic because many analysts believe that the failure of e-business to meet its potential is because of consumer mistrust of information that is collected about their buying habits. With the big issue out of the way, the author goes into a succinct and clearly explained chapter intended to be a primer on privacy law. This sets the context for the rest of the book.

Each subsequent chapter addresses a specific topic. Each is well written and the range of topics spans every aspect of e-business privacy both in the U.S. and in Europe. The chapter titles are:

Healthcare Law Mandates Security and Privacy, Privacy of Personal Financial Information,Internet Privacy for Children, European Union Privacy Protection Mandate, Information Privacy and Compliance Programs, Internal Protection Controls, Creating and Communicating Policies, Digital Signatures Liberate Electronic Commerce, Biometric Security Systems, Encryption Security for Electronic Commerce, Protecting Proprietary Information, Secrecy and Noncompete Agreements, Computer Insurance: Risks and Protection, Audit Checklists and Monitoring.

As you can see, the topics are divided among general purpose privacy (i.e., privacy of personal financial information), technical (i.e., biometric security systems) and industry- or region-specific (i.e., healthcare law; EU privacy protection mandate).

With such a short page count and wide scope this book is not going to provide detailed answers. However, it will force you to see the bigger picture and carefully examine which areas you will need to address in more detail. From there you can obtain consulting services, training for in-house staff and/or additional books that address your specific areas of interest at the level of detail you require. I personally think this book is valuable for the reasons stated above and highly recommend it to anyone who needs to see e-business privacy at a macro level.

This book does a very good job at breaking down each section in easily understandable concepts. Diagrams are designed to be intuitive and instructional, and the various charts are helpful as well. Many high-level industry examples are provided throughout the book to highlight key points, whereas review questions and exercises will help readers confirm their comprehension. In summary, the book is great for students and people who wish to familiarize themselves with e-business, and can be used as training course material.

In their extraordinarily informative Introduction, the authors explain that the contemporary workplace is "industry-specific, role-based, and personalized....What we mean by industry-specific is fairly obvious: information, applications, and services accessible through the workplace are relevant to an appropriate industry." as for "role-based and "personalized", they require a bit more definition which the authors then provide. They correctly assert that marketplaces "are becoming increasingly critical components of the e-business economy." They are "business hubs" on the Internet through which companies can buy, sell, or trade goods, services, and information with current business partners or with new customers or suppliers. In their fine book, the authors examine "the ramifications of workplaces for businesses of all kinds and provide insight into how most effectively to exploit their full potential to companies seeking success in the present and future e-business environment." The material is distributed within 12 chapters:

From Integration to Collaboration [a three-phase process]

People Matter: The Human Dimension [e.g. Every Individual Can Be a System Integrator]

Value Proposition for E-Business and Workplaces [e.g. Key E-Business Benefits]

The Workplace and Its Roles [e.g. Role Components]

A Day in the Life of a Workplace [i.e. the roles of CFO, Sales Manager, and Field Service Engineer]

Communities and Marketplaces [e.g. Marketplace Guiding Principles]

A Day in the Life of Community Marketplaces

Workplace Technology [e.g. Workplace Features]

From Change Management to Manageable Change [e.g. Knowledge Management]

Implementing a Workplace and Driving Business Value

E-Business and the Workplace: A Broad View

Getting to Where You Want to Be [e.g. Managing Expectations]

The reader is also provided with a Glossary and then an Appendix which explains how to use the CD-ROM provided ("mySAP Workplace -- The Enterprise Portal solution"). This is a cohesive and comprehensive book, well-written, and anchored in a wealth of real-world experience gained by the authors over many years in their respective positions within the PricewaterhouseCoopers and SAP organizations. They really know their stuff.

A brief commentary such as this simply cannot acknowledge many or even a few of the key expository passages in this book. Suffice to say that the authors thoroughly cover each of the subjects indicated by the chapter titles, in process explaining precisely HOW to discover, develop, and then leverage the power of enterprise portals. What is the critical difference between integration and collaboration? What should be the relationship between technology and those who use it? What impact can that relationship have? What is an appropriate value proposition for e-business and workplaces? These and other important questions are rigorously addressed. Were a higher rating available, I would give it to this book.

This one's great. It provides a fresh look at e-commerce and how businesses organize their virtual operations. It goes beyond the hype of guru texts and looks at real examples and frameworks to help understand them. Whilst I haven't really heard of some of these examples, others are well known - like KLM. It has academic depth, if that's what you want, and contributions from some famous and less well known professors.

Here's a professional, yet practical, 'Recession-Buster' for any Small Business on the net. I found great ideas I never expected would work, but did! Dawn clearly explains the "why & how" for all topics. A couple examples -- I would've skipped the chapter on Banners if the reasons "why & how it will work" hadn't been laid out so well, knowing they carry some 'negatives.' Also, chapters on Website Privacy Policies, ALONE, are worth MORE than the cost of the book, since it alerts the reader to so many liability issues that most people never even thought of, and could help prevent unforeseen lawsuits! Overall, I found there is more to all topics in the book than I realized before, & it is a valuable resource!

I would recommend this book to all small business owners on the web, whether just starting out, or are more seasoned & computer savvy. Dawn has a GIFT for explaining these 'tricks of the corporate trade' to any level, and her unique writing style makes it an 'interesting read!'

This excellent book was written as a college-level text, but is valuable to a much wider audience.

For business and technical professionals it bridges the gap among business, functional and technical stakeholders in e-commerce environments, especially those in which SAP R/3, PeopleSoft, Baan and other major ERP packages are implemented.

It systematically covers all of the major elements of any e-commerce environment, but is more suited for ERP because of the focus on supply chain and manufacturing topics. Coverage is given to the following management and operational areas: supply chain, product and process, purchasing, production scheduling, inventory, human resources and quality. In addition, the book covers reengineering, and consulting management.

Not only is it informative and promotes understanding among all stakeholders, this book is also clearly written and an easy, interesting read. I enjoyed it and have it on my list of recommendations for peers who work in the ERP environment and who need to gain an appreciation of the business and operational issues their technology supports.

Sandeep was the instructor for our E-commerce MBA class (University of Washington Bothell, Class of 2002), and we had the pleasure of 'revewing' initial drafts of some of the book's chapters. Most e-commerce books have been written by IS professionals and academics, focusing on information architechture and process redesign. A key reason for my preference of this book over other similar books, is the author's big-picture yet detailed focus on business models, maketing and technology (technical overview of the Internet). I suspect the author's background in marketing played an important role in designing this book with this three-pronged, interdisciplinary approach.

disclaimer: I have contributed information to the NTT DoCoMo Case Study.

This book is the best snapshot of everything you need to know about e-commerce today that I've ever come across. Unlike most books of this length, it doesn't gloss over the details. It covers everything from HTML to protocols, from accepting payments, to implementing a shopping cart.
If you're new to e-commerce, this is the very first book you ought to read. If you want to get into e-commerce, read this book before you go to your first interview and you'll know more than the interviewer!

If you are serious about learning what makes eCommerce sites work for the users you are looking at the right book. While there are many other good books on the subject, this is has to be the 400-lb gorilla! Here's why:
- every guideline and recommendation is supported with examples of real user behavior. In fact, it is this insight into what users do that makes it especially valuable for anyone trying to justify investing in usability.
- the chapters on selling strategies and trust show how online store design impacts the site's overall success with its customers;
- the chapters on category pages, search, product pages, and checkout & registration show in detail how design decisions on those particular parts of a typical eCommerce site can help or hurt their effectiveness in guiding the customer to the product and through the checkout;
- the methodology chapter will be extremely useful for anyone who wants to conduct their own usability tests. It not only documents how the tests were conducted, but also gives tons of valuable tips on task creation, test facilitation, etc. Also included are various pre- and post-test questionnaires, a consent form, and the list of all the tasks.

This book (or report, if you will) spends most of its time on my night table and is the inspiration behind my own UI design book, free at paulgokin dotcom. If you own/design B-to-C eCommerce web sites, get this report. It will pay for itself many times over in increased conversion rate on your site (provided, of course, that you implement the guidelines it contains).

This book is a must for everybody who is involved in the Network Economy!

The content is well structured and presented. Some of the statements might be known from Kelly, Negroponte, Shapiro or Varian. In this book you find a lot of data, facts and case studies that proove those statements.

As an introduction the development and value chains in the fields of Telecommunications, IT and Entertainment are explained. The Network Economy is described as the convergence of these three businesses. The principles, rules and strategies of the Network Economy are derived from the described convergence. As a tribute to the sceptics there is even a section that deals with possible hindering causes for the predicted economic revolution.

Not being a theoretical textbook all of this is accompanied with case studies and interviews with Negroponte, Shapiro et al.

My favourite book about the Network Economy!