Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy.

by Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer Addison-Wesley, 1998.

Reviewed by: Raquel Benbunan-Fich Seton Hall University

The premise of this book is that a new economy is emerging. The new economy is one in which the rate of change is so fast that it is only a "blur" and the lines

distinguishing buyers from sellers or products from services are "blurring". The three driving forces of the new economy are Speed, Connectivity and Intangibles. Speed is the reduction in time due to almost instantaneous communication and computation. Connectivity is the shrinkage of space through the advent of new communication technologies. Intangibles are values without mass, such as services or information.

Stan Davis, corporate consultant and Ernst & Young research fellow, and Chris Meyer, Director of the Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation, distill and combine their consulting experience to describe and illustrate the new business patterns in the BLUR economy.

Using a funnel approach, the authors start their analysis at a macro level the economy - then they move to the organizational realm, and finally to the micro or individual level. Part of the argument is that BLUR is fractal, which means that the BLUR world has the same structure at different levels: the economy, the company and even the individual. So the authors apply the same basic concepts to the three levels of analysis, using three labels: desires, fulfillment and resources.

BLUR of desires discusses the demand side of the new economy. Here, the authors contend that products and services are blending together into "offers," and traditional activities such selling vs. buying are becoming "exchanges." The central proposition is that buyers and sellers are now engaged in a two-way trade in which both parties exchange three types of value: economic, informational and emotional. Therefore, the market is characterized by highly complex transactions in which both sides trade much more than goods (or services) for a price.

BLUR of fulfillment deals with the organizational implications of this complex system of exchanges. One of the arguments is that real-time pricing of financial markets will expand to the goods markets, pressuring organizations to become more adaptive and agile in order to survive in a highly dynamic environment. This insight is crucial for understanding the new challenges that organizations must face in order to survive in the blurred economy.

BLUR of resources addresses two of the three main inputs to an economy: labor and capital. The authors argue that land is not changing much and it is losing its relevance. The common thread in this part is the impact of intangibles in capital and labor. The definition of capital is expanded to include not only physical and financial capital, but also intellectual capital, which is composed of knowledge, talent and experience. In an economy that values intellectual capital, individuals (labor) can become "free agents" by managing their talents and accepting jobs from the highest bidders. The authors also propose that individuals will eventually act like corporations, taking advantage of the securities market to raise the capital they need to finance their goals. Individuals may start selling securities in their future earnings, like singer David Bowie who has sold options on his future earnings as an artist.

The conclusion of the book (Living the BLUR) is a summary of the main propositions put forth by the authors. They offer Fifty Ways to BLUR Your Business and Ten Ways to BLUR Yourself, which could be used as an action checklist for businesses and individuals. The end of the book is the starting point of a conversation that the authors hope to establish with their readers.

This book is a very good example of an "offer," a combination of product and service. By attaching the book to a Web site (www.blursight.com), Davis and Meyer are practicing what they preach: to enhance the product with a continuous-online- interactive channel with their customers (readers). After reading the book, readers are invited to keep thinking about BLUR through the book's web site. Following their own advice, Davis and Meyer are willing to pay for customer input. Readers are asked to send their own experiences and ideas about BLUR, and the authors promise to post them on the Web site and to award a prize ($100) to the best idea submitted each month until April 1999.

BLUR can be a valuable book for practitioners and academics as well. Business people will find in BLUR a framework that will help them understand the new economy and foresee developments in their own organizations. Entrepreneurs will find in BLUR a source of invaluable ideas. Academics will see in BLUR a modern and dynamic vision of the interaction of economics, marketing, organizational theory and information technology. BLUR it is also a source of excellent mini-cases to enhance the professors' portfolio of real-life examples.

Unlike most business books, BLUR does not identify problems and recommends solutions. Instead of providing the answers, the book raises thought-provoking questions. The authors try to provide a lens to bring the economic panorama into focus by describing the different dimensions of the BLUR economy and illustrating their points with compelling cases of modern organizations.

Overall, BLUR is a well-written, interesting and inspiring book. Although it may sound contradictory, BLUR is an exceptionally clear book. It conveys rather complex ideas in an effective way. As an "offer," it is an interesting concept of how books can be combined with web sites to keep providing value to the readers. But above all, the book is very stimulating. It fuels the quest for creativity and innovation in all of us.