Wednesday 20 January 2010

AC/DC:

The Savage Tale of the First Standards War

Tom McNichol
Jossey-Bass (September 2006)
Hardcover: 208 pages
ISBN-10: 0787982679
ISBN-13: 978-0787982676
Amazon.com $14 Kindle and $19 hardback

By no means is this a new book but the review of it by Marc van Wegberg (University of Maastricht) has been published in the most recent issue of Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research (Volume 7 Number 2 (July-December 2009)).

Reading the book is a joy for lovers of business history, innovation, celebrities, animals, or standards.

The market is not just a trade platform for supply and demand, however. It consists of people with their relationships, expectations, fears and ambitions. Who, like Edison, misses some sensitivities here, may end up holding the short straw.
Hazel’s comment:

A battle between Edison and Tesla, between AC and DC current, will be a joy to read for lovers of animals? The reviewer doesn’t tell us why.

The market is about relationships seems to resonate well with the modern-day concept of social networking. Lose touch with the customers, fail to realise that xyz company is not an amorphous blob but consists of people, and you will lose the customers.

Have I lost you yet with my inconsistencies? No, you’re the one still reading but who knows how many have been and gone.


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