The Internet and American Business

Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 10
I Introduction......Page 12
1 Introduction......Page 14
2 The Internet before Commercialization......Page 20
II Internet Technologies Seeking a Business Model......Page 56
3 Innovation and the Evolution of Market Structure for Internet Access in the United States......Page 58
4 Protocols for Profit: Web and E-mail Technologies as Product and Infrastructure......Page 116
5 The Web’s Missing Links: Search Engines and Portals......Page 170
6 The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Software as a Service: Historical Perspectives on the Computer Utility and Software for Lease on a Network......Page 212
III Commerce in the Internet World......Page 242
7 Discovering a Role Online: Brick-and-Mortar Retailers and the Internet......Page 244
8 Small Ideas, Big Ideas, Bad Ideas, Good Ideas: ‘‘Get Big Fast’’ and Dot-Com Venture Creation......Page 270
IV Industry Transformation and Selective Adoption......Page 288
9 Internet Challenges for Media Businesses......Page 290
10 Internet Challenges for Nonmedia Industries, Firms, and Workers: Travel Agencies, Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Personal Computer Manufacturers, and Information Technology Services Professionals......Page 326
11 Resistance Is Futile? Reluctant and Selective Users of the Internet......Page 362
12 New Wine in Old and New Bottles: Patterns and Effects of the Internet on Companies......Page 402
13 Communities and Specialized Information Businesses......Page 434
VI Newly Created or Amplified Problems......Page 460
14 File Sharing and the Music Industry......Page 462
15 Eros Unbound: Pornography and the Internet......Page 502
VII Lessons Learned, Future Opportunities......Page 550
16 Market and Agora: Community Building by Internet......Page 552
17 Conclusions......Page 568
Contributors......Page 576
Index......Page 580