Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities [Hardcover]

Building relationships with customers has been a buzz phrase in many business circles for years. Now John Hagel and Arthur Armstrong declare that's not enough. They make a strong case that business success in the very near future will depend on using the Internet to build not just relationships, but communities. The payoff, they maintain, will be phenomenal customer loyalty and high profits. But, they warn, this race will definitely go to the swift. Here's a cyberspace book that could make your business future. Not everyone agrees with Hagel and Armstrong, but with stakes so high they deserves a serious reading.

Net Gain identifies where the next level of value lies on the Internet and lays out the first economic model to quantify the revenue potential and the investment required to build a successful virtual community. From the offerings of commercial online services such as the Motley Fool Investment group to Internet communities of book lovers, Net Gain offers a multitude of real-world scenarios and lessons for building value and creating competitive edge. The authors clearly show that in order to compete in the online economy, you must establish an entirely new approach to product development, marketing, customer service, and distribution, and rethink your company's relationships to customers, suppliers, and competitors. And they show you how to do it.

John Hagel III is a principal at the Silicon Valley office of McKinsey & Company, Inc., and a leader of the firm's Interactive Multimedia Practice. His work is primarily with clients in the electronics, telecommunications, and media industries, with a focus on strategic management and performance improvement. Prior to joining McKinsey, he served as senior vice president for strategic planning at Atari; as president of Sequoia Group, a systems house selling turnkey computer systems to physicians; and as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Hagel is the author of a number of legal and business books and articles. His most recent piece, written with Harvard Business School professor Jeffrey F. Rayport, was "The Coming Battle for Customer Information," which appeared in the January/February 1997 issue of the Harvard Business Review.