Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy

by Stan Davis, Christopher Meyer

In the new connected global economy, two experts offer a dynamic and insightful blueprint for conducting business and reveal who today's hottest innovators are and what tomorrow's winners will need.

Genres: Business, Technology, Economics, Nonfiction, Internet

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 1998

About the author

Stan Davis is a highly respected commentator on business in the future. He is the author of twelve other books, including the best- sellers Blur, 2020 Vision, and Future Perfect, as well as It’s Alive! and The Monster Under the Bed. His creative thinking makes practical connections to new business opportunities, and his restive mind has led him into and out of many fields. With a doctorate in the social sciences and an honorary doctorate in the humanities, Stan spent twenty years as an academic, mainly on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. For the past two decades he has been active in re- search, writing, consulting, public speaking, seminars, training, and video. He is a Publications Board Advisor at the New England Jour- nal of Medicine. Stan was a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Ballet for sixteen years and of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Center for six years, and he has served on the Board of Directors of Opera America, the trade association of 197 opera companies, for the past six years.

Reviews

[Derek Neighbors · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had lots of good content. An example, "Blur requires that we construct organizational structures that are designed for adaptability, not efficiency." is relative to my thoughts around Agile structures vs more Lean structures in organizations. The biggest problem is the book feels dated. Perhaps there is a newer, updated version with some more modern samples. It was a quick read that gave value despite being outdated.

[Jimi Bostock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the first books on the concept of a connected economy

I cherish my copy now as it was a small run book released by Ernst and Young and it is still a very good book to dip back into. Indeed, it was way ahead of its time and most of its points are only noe becoming very real through the social media / social marketing / semantic web spaces

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is probably becoming a little dated now (who is this Netscape company again?). Unfortunately for this reason it doesn't have the impact it probably did back around the time of the dot com boom. Many of the concepts and ideas which were probably revolutionary at the time are now widely accepted and some are likewise ridiculed.

The book does illustrate how fast technology changes and how rapidly we have evolved in such a short time. In that respect its concept of 'Blur' rings true yet I wouldn't recommend it highly to people looking to gain and insight into where technology is heading.

In summary this book is now probably more about history than the future. The world has changed and many of the concepts delivered by the book are now mainstream and perhaps in some respects antiquated. For this reason I can't recommend it to people looking to gain insight into the continuing digital revolution yet it does hold some interest when seeking to examine what was predicted and what eventuated.

[grundoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember being given a copy of this in 1999 and tucking it into my laptop case for a cross-country flight. Oops, distraction and suddenly it's 2015 and still sitting in the pile. It was probably a needed kick in the pants at the time for anybody mired in "this is how things are done" paradigms and practices - less so for those of us already in the trenches, who would've simply seen a whole bunch of affirmation, interspersed with wild-eyed speculation (really, personal securitization?) and a bit of myopic focus (everybody should outsource! wait, "everybody"? how's *that* work?). Good core concepts, without fully addressing opposing market realities - borne out by just how few example companies/products/services aren't already long-since footnotes.

[Randa Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This w fine book, it might be a little out dated but you will learn the difference between a service, product and an offer and the difference between each , how to compete in a connected economy, I enjoyed reading this book.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read DEC 2002

[Marcus Goncalves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m researching digital transformation, so reading this book was interesting. Although an old book, 1998, it was insightful to analyze how far we have come in termos of digital technologies and innovation, but also how forward looking the author was when writing this book!

[Lori Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

An optional-read book on managing technology strategy for managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.