This last decade of the millennium has seen a heretofore-unparalleled level of growth and expansion in the electronic commerce sector. Economic experts and amateur investors alike have stood with mouths agape, taking in the scene, unsure of how to react to the "dot - com revolution". A large potion of this confusion can be attributed to the nature of the growth. The new wave of e-commerce corporations have not only changed the landscape of the business world, they have revolutionized the way business is done as well. Although in many ways, these business entities have followed the structure of the classic business model, this new type of business has also called for innovative ways of dealing with old issues in new settings. In a recent New York Times article (Online Pioneers: The Buzz Never Stops - November 21, Money and Business pg. 1), a panel of Times reporters interviewed four of the pioneers of online trading: Candice Carpenter of iVillage, a woman's Web site; Fernando J. Espuelas of StarMedia Network, a Spanish- and Portuguese-language service; Kevin O'Connor of DoubleClick, an online advertising network; and Stephan J. Paternot of Theglobe.com, a shopping, news, and business information site. Some of what the four entrepreneurs had to say reflected age-old adages of running a business; at the same time, they clearly brought across the unique challenges of an online business.

The one factor that all of the executives made note of was speed. Speed in day-to-day activities, as well as speed in general outlook, were stressed. The need for speed in day-to-day operations is obvious - e-commerce reflects the bigger, better, faster, more credo of our generation in a way that no other industry does. Where speeds of milliseconds can make a difference, speed is not only a virtue; it is a necessity.

In a more abstract sense, the entire corporate culture of an e-company revolves around speed. The industry is such that a wealth of opportunity to "get in on the ground floor" is being gobbled up quickly. As Paternot put it, "things are shifting fast enough that you need to be able to jump into any new idea, shift your company into it and move at light speed."

Another idea expressed was that there was often a lack of a "road map", as Espuelas called it. Decisions were often based on instinct combined with the little bit of information hat could be gathered in the context of speed. More of a focus is put on gaining market share quickly, as opposed to the typical large corporation, where a great deal of time would be spent quantifying what the market would look like and what the expenses would be.

The uncertainty expresses itself in the manner in which capital is raised. With interests around the world aroused, there is no shortage of venture capital available. However, the care given in analyzing the funding would seem to be less than a comparable offering of corporate stock. Concern is not given to the amount of losses - for at least the first three or four years, any loss is acceptable, as long as it leads to a gain in the market share. This has, I fact led to concerns in the business community (see my article in the Spring '99 newsletter).

Many aspects of the corporate climate are familiar - communication is still looked upon as the primary factor in a successful business. One advantage of these companies is that they have been constructed from the start with a focus geared toward tremendous growth. Liberal leisure schedules and rotational work schedules have been implemented to help overworked employees deal with the frenetic pace of the industry.

The industry is still in its early stages, and much remains to be seen as to the viability of the "lose money and get market share now, worry later" philosophy. As the e-pioneers become more experienced, they will eventually learn to balance the traditional business structure with the new world that is the Internet.