Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business

by Karen Southwick and Sneha Mathan

In der weltweit schnellebigsten Branche mit dem h?rtesten Wettbewerb entwickelt eine neue Generation von Unternehmern dynamische und vielseitige Gesch?ftsstrategien, die mit ihren revolution?ren Produkten konkurrieren. Ob bei Netzwerkanbietern wie Cisco und 3Com, PC-Anbietern wie Gateway 2000 oder Internetdienstleistern wie Amazon.com und WebTV - bei allen sind die Wettbewerbsanforderungen vergleichbar mit denen jedes anderen internationalen Unternehmens...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471246468
• ISBN13: 9780471246466
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Insightful!

In light of the recent declines in tech stocks, you must give author Karen Southwick credit - for the most part she's profiled companies that are still around, although they've taken some hits. Southwick synthesizes her observations of Silicon Valley over the last decade or so. She takes a broad and sustained look at the practices of such companies as Ascend, Audodesk, Ciena, Cisco, Crossworlds, Net Noir, Open Market, Peoplesoft, Yahoo and others. Using an anecdotal, feature-story style, Southwick dissects these firms, covering CEOs' personal histories, corporate funding and corporate culture - down to dress code and wilderness team-building exercises. Some stories aren't new (insiders know Yahoo's culture is wacky) and there are some small inaccuracies (i.e. you could challenge Crossworlds CEO Katrina Garnett's argument that turnover is still a massive problem). Nonetheless, whether you're an insider or just an observer seeking an overview of Silicon Valley and its players, we at getAbstract.com recommend this accessible, reader-friendly compilation.

There are some valuable nuggets in this one

Definitely worth a look. Well laid out easy to read with summaries from some of today's leading thinkers. OK Karen Southwick seems to be using her friends (just look at the back of High Noon to find the same names she cites as experts in this book).She cites the success of companies such as Cisco, 3Com and PeopleSoft, HP,Intel and Yahoo! There is a lot to learn from these masters (even if it is nothing more than no-one has the whole answer) and Southwick takes us on a journey from start-up, through to marketing (mind she she calls it)and to prospecting. The graphs at the end of her book even show you profiles of the qualities CEOs need to have at various stages of their careers.I like this book because it has great quotes, e.g. Differentiating your product from others is more important than having the better product, it covers a vast range of topics, it intergrates well with other material (e.g. the work of Geoffrey Moore) and it offers a number of warnings.Well worth having a good look at

Excellent look at Silicon Valley start-ups and mature compan

Southwick's book is full of anecdotes about the successes and failures of Silicon Valley companies. using the metaphor of the Gold Rush she shows how companies staked their claims on niche markets, how they changed their company culture to adapt to growth, and the way they cultivated "mind share". Another book i recommend with this is "strikingitrich.com"

But for one major shortcoming, a valuable read!

This book is about success, management, and the hitech business. It seeks to identify a number of 'success factors' through interviewing and analysing the strategies and methodologies of a selection of hitech companies. As such, it seems well researched and argued, and resembles the approach of the now classic 'In search of excellence'(ISOE). However, its weakness is to ignore one of its own conclusions, and not include 'professional management' as a success factor, i.e. the equivalent of perhaps ISOE's 'Hands on Value driven' success factor! Therefore, Silicon Gold Rush ultimately itemises an organisational wish list without incorporating the one factor capable of delivering business success: professional management! Despite the above weakness, the book is nevertheless an interesting read. Callum Morrison

Right on the money

The paint-blistering speed of wealth creation in high tech's Internet era has created an almost mind-numbing buzz around stock options, paradigm shifts, and huge fortunes appearing overnight in the bank accounts of bright young things. Many of the books about the heady adventures of successful startups (and never mind the many that fizzle) fall into the category of business bodice rippers. In "Silicon Gold Rush," Karen Southwick eschews romance and takes another approach: She looks at the way successful new companies and their revolutionary leaders have changed forever the way business will be done in the new millennium . Though it's far too simple to call this excellent book "Boom Times for Dummies," Southwick strips the romantic filigree from the technology gold rush and gets right down to what we can learn about running any business from those who are making it big out on the bleeding edge. With clear writing and clear thinking, she has actually produced something that is far less "gee whiz" and far more "why not you?" than has been published in quite a while. And if it's slightly annoying the way she sprinkles bits of wisdom throughout the pages like so many salted peanuts, at least the bits she chooses really are wise. Southwick obviously knows her way around Silicon Valley, and she's awfully good at panning for ideas as good as gold.Owen Edwards, co-author with Jim Clark of Netscape Time: the inside story of the billion-dollar startup that took on Microsoft. (St. Martin's Press, June `99)