The New Economy: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy

Information products—from music and movies to software codes and stock prices—have replaced industrial products as the primary drivers of global markets. Faced with this new economy, many managers are responding by seeking new economic rules to support strategic decisions.

Carl Shapiro and Hal Varina argue that things are not quite that bad yet, and warn managers in this high-tech world of the Internet and communications technology that they can throw general economic principles overboard only at their own peril: "Technology changes, economic laws do not." If you want to devise successful competitive strategies today, it is important to understand those laws and their relevance to information products.

The New Economy provides a thorough understanding of the fundamental economic forces in the era of the information, communications, and technology-driven network economy. It translates the economic principles of information and networks into practical strategies and explores the economic forces that determine success and failure in the network economy.

“If you want to understand how the network economy really works and why some companies do spectacularly and others, despite breakthrough technologies, don't: read this.” - The Economist

'For anyone who wants to dive into e-commerce, reading this book is a must' - Computerwereld

'Shapiro and Varian's economic analysis is also a primer on how to run an information age company.' Fortune

'If you want to understand the new economy, you need a new economics, right? No, say Shapiro and Varian, both professors of economics at UC Berkeley: 'Technology changes, economic laws do not.' Their case studies offer strategies for determining the value and price and further exploiting the gold of the new age: information.' Fast company