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Digital time has broken down the boundaries of
the past, present and future and blurred these
previously understood distinctions into a new
dimension, that of simultaneous time. Rosabeth
Moss Kanter describes this as time that is increasingly
nonlinear and where all time coexist. This time
is depicted as "everything everywhere simultaneously".
As technology and the Internet continue to open
new avenues for business, those firms that embrace
this new dimension will have a competitive advantage
in the global and cyber market place.
Creation and development. In industries
dominated by simultaneity, such as fashion, communications,
and high tech, companies need to be making the
trends and creating several cycles ahead, rather
than awaiting consumer reaction. Firms that use
this strategy operate best under a "self-organizing"
principle, as there is no time to wait for instructions
from the top. The Internet accelerates the fashion
life cycle by exposing kids everywhere to even
the most obscure trends as they emerge. We need
to prepare for technologies to disappear as simultaneous
time expands. Firms also use simultaneous time
to their advantage when they redistribute work
to those who are best able to do it. In this way,
outsourcing can become a key developmental strategy,
particularly as it allows for more internal efficiencies.
Pricing. Esther Dyson comments that the
pricing of tangible goods will be affected by
our cultural obsession with time and our ability
to measure it. Manufacturers can maximize the
reach of their brands through the artificial segmentation
of time. Furthermore, as the Internet allows for
instant price comparison, the potential for abuse
of retailers' time and knowledge is increasing.
Pricing has become tremendously irrational, especially
in some Internet applications. Many companies
are selling goods and services below cost in the
expectation that they will make up those losses
from rapid volume of sales. A key behind this
strategy is simultaneous time.
Yield and inventory management. Soon we
will look at goods as the embodiment of time on
a production line. Yield management strategies,
which collapse the time once allocated for distribution
and marketing, are about to spread to physical
goods. It is becoming increasingly costly to keep
any inventory in a retail store. Moreover, the
pace of productivity improvement today appears
to be faster than in virtually all cases in the
past. In the computer industry today, inventory
is measured in days and soon it will be noted
in hours. Inventory velocity is one change enabled
by the Internet and associated technologies that
boosts the speed and value of information sharing.
In somewhat of a paradigm shift, we can view information
assets as a foundation for open information-based
partnerships that speed the flow of data, thereby
improving corporate efficiency and creating added
customer value.
Consumer response. Once consumers experience
simultaneous time - and benefit from it - they
will expect it. Customer's expectations
have changed dramatically on issues of convenience,
speed, comparability, price and service. In cyberspace,
everything operates on a 24/7 basis, lending itself
to immediate customer feedback and rapid adjustment.
In effect, the Internet has led to "consumer control".
Digital time also allows companies to resegment
segmentation. Income, locale and demographics
no longer explain consumer behavior.
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