Ganadores y perdedores - Creadores y víctimas de la era de internet

by Kieran Levis

"Winners and Losers" tells the stories of the creators - and the casualties - of the age of the internet. It shows how a handful of businesses were born and rose to enormous heights and how others fell from them, in a new, networked, ferociously competitive economy. Kieran Levis reveals how a few innovative, far-sighted entrepreneurs and companies succeeded in creating entirely new markets and dominating them, while so many others failed. He shows how Amazon and Google rose from nothing to revenues of billions, whilst IBM, Kodak and AOL suddenly faced disaster; how Nokia and Sky bounced from near-bankruptcy to global leadership; and charts the incredible rise, fall and rise again of Apple. Levis explains why the digital revolution has involved so much creative destruction; how unfamiliar competitors, disruptive technologies and unique business models have brought down apparently unassailable market leaders; how some winners got such a grip on their customers that they took almost all; and how meteoric success has led to hubris, and often to nemesis. Told with clarity, wit and pace, these dramatic stories show what it was about a handful of winners that enabled them to hold onto their prizes, whilst the absence of these qualities crippled the losers.

Genres: Business, Technology, Internet, Economics

364 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

Kieran Levis has worked in the markets for new media and technology since 1980, as a business executive, corporate entrepreneur, management consultant and recently as an analyst and writer. He now divides his time between writing, advising businesses and giving workshops on new markets.

Reviews

[Atif Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keiran Levis with the benefit of hindsight defines the characteristics common in some of the most innovative companies which helps them lead rise and even bounce from from fall .

The absence of very same properties from a company's soul leads them to failure and eventual their demise .

The chapter on creative disruption is very good . How its important to always have good talent in the company focused on large picture and thinking on external changes happening around them .

The book serves as a good short history of large organizations ,

Easy to read and interesting enough to keep you hooked .

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book a lot, the most important thing is it's full with REAL stories from the business virtual era. Some of these stories have even brought down old marketing theories like "It's better to be the first rather than being the best" from Al Ries and Jack Trout, it didn't happen with Netscape, actually Microsoft won this battle and Gates wasn't the first with browsers. Its full with more amazing stories of this kind, so read it, I strongly recommend it!

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

It might feel a little dated, since there's a lot of discussion of the Internet in the 1990s, but that's also why Winners and Losers is a valuable book. Today, we hear a ton about recent tech stores - Facebook, Google, Theranos, etc. - but we don't hear so much about, say, Netscape or Windows 95. Those stories and their lessons are valuable today, especially because we might learn more from failures and obsolescence than success.

[Adriaan Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly entertaining and informative. Despite the fact that ''Winners and Losers'' mostly deals with very well known companies, it manages to tell a fresh story and provide several valuable insights. Another plus: Winners and Losers avoids the usual ''one solution fits all'' approach of most (business) books. The chapter on creative destruction was for me the best part.
I also appreciated the author's advise to read more literature: ''To understand the transience of success, the tragic end that awaits so many businesses, and the limits to what we can really know, philosophy and literature may be better guides than the relentless positivism of most management gurus. Isaiah Berlin as shown that in human affairs there are no universal applicable theories or formulae, no single right answer to complex questions. Shakespeare has more to tell us about the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that any business book, and Homer more about hubris''.

[Domas Masiulis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing analysis on the most prominent today's tech businesses.

The author not only provides the most important historical details of the development of companies like MSFT, GOOG, AAPL, IBM, SONY, etc. but also emphasizes common traits of these companies which contributed to their success. In addition to that, examples of failed companies and their decisions are provided in contrast.