You get five excellent books for the price of one with Clicks and Mortar. Let me explain.
This is the first book that I have read about innovating with e-commerce that truly straddles the divide between existing business principles and the new economy. Unlike many of the books on e-commerce which are written by consultants, pundits, Web site designers, and technologists, this book is written by business people who have successfully made the transition into using the Internet to enable all their stakeholders. That perspective alone makes this book a valuable contribution to the literature, because it allows everyone to understand the overall business perspective of how to think about this new technology.
Beyond that benefit, the book also serves as a fine best practice example of developing e-commerce businesses based on the successful experiences of Charles Schwab. The details of this example are much more complete than I have read elsewhere, and Charles Schwab is one of a handful of firms that have successfully changed their business models. In fact, the company has appeared on my CEO 100 list more times than any company other than Clear Channel Communications and Tellabs.
Third, this book is valuable for focusing on people (customers, employees, suppliers, partners, and regulators) as the basis for thinking about technology and new business opportunities. The book does so in a sound and thoughtful way that will be helpful to companies that are not challenged by new technologies, as well as those that are. If you are a humanist, or someone who believes that business starts with creating a customer, you will find that this book expands your perspective on great ways to do that. The authors understand that passion for a larger purpose is the glue (the mortar of the title) to bring people together to advance service for customers (using clicks, in this case, through computer technology).
Fourth, this book also has value in filling in gaps in the perspective of most business people, technologists, and new business developers. The beauty of the book is that it does so in a way that will encourage the dialogue and community across narrow perspectives to build something better.
Finally, the book transcends its narrow example base of Charles Schwab by referring to other books, studies, and companies to provide a full perspective on effective ways to drive innovation and improvement in a large or small organization.
The book is easy to read and interesting. Although financial services is not my favorite subject, I enjoyed what the authors had to say about Charles Schwab. The rest of the material was even more compelling and useful.
The book is also very well organized. Summaries of key points are interspaced with more fully developed arguments and examples. The authors alternate in presenting their ideas and experiences, so you also get the benefit and the interest inherent in two voices and speakers. That was very well done. It is a device that more co-authors should consider using.
Finally, the book did something that almost no case history books ever do. It took a moment to look ahead for the next 20 years. The final section is a roundtable discussion with 8 experts in the field. I would give the book 5 stars, just for the idea of including this section. The execution is also excellent.
