This is an interesting book that deserves to be read by information managers, even though it wouldn't normally be part of their usual literature. There are fourteen chapters in seven parts. Most of them were written for a conference held in 2001, but there is at least one older paper included. The authors are nearly all academics, though there are a few authors in the private sector. The majority work in Western European countries, with France, Italy, and Switzerland well represented.
Why should we read a book devoted to the Austrian school of thought on the “Internet economy”? Well, any theories that can explain the nature of the economy in the Internet era are welcome, as would be anything that could help avoid another.com boom and bust. The second reason is that Austrian economics offers some rather different explanations of the Internet economy that make interesting reading for anyone connected to the Information Society, and that includes information managers. One tenet of Austrian economics is that economic growth is the creation of value through a learning process that involves a better coordination of individual plans. Relatively recent technological developments such as hypertext and groupware both serve to coordinate individual plans. Similarly, Austrian economists argue convincingly that a spontaneous self‐organising process, such as the development of open‐source software, is much better for the economy than the monolithic, monopolistic approach of a well‐known software company.
When examining the typical company, the theory presented here is that much knowledge lies in networks that do not correspond with the boundaries of the firm. That presents a perfectly sound case for “humanistic” approaches to knowledge management, rather than technological solutions that would usually be limited to an intranet.
One chapter that librarians might enthuse over is a case study of an e‐commerce company selling second hand and out of print books over the Internet. Theory suggests that with poor information available to customers, the exchange becomes asymmetric and eventually such trade can't survive. Not so, say the authors, trust becomes extremely important in this situation and it depends upon the activity of the entrepreneurs.
This is a very nicely presented book, and although it may not readily seem like a likely acquisition, I recommend it to all libraries with information management collections.
