The economy has hit a soft patch.' - US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, reacting to the weak US job growth in June 2004 Mats Larsson: 'No, the economy is closing in on the limits of business development and economic growth and we are starting to see the consequences. In the next few years we will need to rethink economic policies and business strategies.' The Limits of Business Development and Economic Growth details what this means for your company, your industry or your country! There are limits to business development and economic growth. With the help of modern production and information technologies, companies are coming ever closer to the limits of what can be achieved but ultimately nothing can be done in less than no time and at less than no cost. We now need to find areas of competitive advantage that have not yet been fully exploited. This book presents both the problems and the solutions in an accessible way for experts and non-experts alike.

Autorentext
MATS LARSSON is a management consultant, with fifteen years experience in strategy development, IT-management and process development. He has previously co-written two books about e-business with David Lundberg. In both of these they have pursued the idea of electronic markets as 'transparent' markets, which has lead them to draw conclusions that are different from most other authors on e-business. The first of these books was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 1998 under the title of The Transparent Market.

Inhalt
Introduction PART I: THE HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Product Proliferation, Quality and Price Time as a Competitive Advantage Agility as a Source of Competitive Advantage PART II: STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL LIMITS OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES Strategy and Operational Efficiency Production Processes Transportation Processes and Vehicle Maintenance Product Speed and Capacity Research and Development Processes E-Business and the Promise of Creativity and Economic Growth The Limits of Development PART III: THE RACE TOWARDS ZERO The General Drive to Compress Time and Reduce Cost Print-on-Demand The Gradual Growth of Broadband Communication and Print-on-Demand PART IV: NEW SOURCES OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Secondary Qualities Customers Can Help to Create New Economic Growth by Demanding New Features and Secondary Qualities PART V: STRUCTURAL CHANGE Existing Structures in the Economy Determine the Limits of Growth Innovation Within the Monetary System Can Create New Work and Sustainable Abundance Conclusion