Strategy for an Online Economy

[Peter Cox]

When I started to read the NOIE paper "Towards an Australian  Strategy for
the Information Economy" it nearly lost me on the first page with the
definition of the information economy

"The new world of social and commercial interaction, brought about by
advances in information technology, has come to be called the information
economy." This is banal.

Marghanita da Cruz is right when she criticizes the report for "spending too
much time on repeating the US sales pitch". The only way the report seems to
be able to define the subject matter is by giving examples of its use.

This report is about how we should be users of e-commerce, a huge importer
of overseas (US) technology, not how Australia can build its own industry
let alone be an exporter.

Then you have to laugh at the Commonwealth articulating seperately its
"mission, values, vision, strategic priorities and objectives" . This is
management consulting rubbish that we all learned back in the 60's as MBO
(management by objectives) and has since become enshrined as gospel by all
MBA courses (which I did in the 70's).

Every major company that has failed (let alone government projects) has had
glossy mission statements etc.

Finally, this Government report reminds me of our "all the way with LBJ"
approach of an earlier period which I hoped we had grown beyond.

Peter J Cox BEc MBA
Cox Media Pty Ltd
Information Communications Media Consultants
PO Box 391 Double Bay NSW 2028 Australia
Ph (02) 93376800 Fax (02) 93376825