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Tuesday
- August 15, 2000
Some Early Net Entrepreneurs
Look for Ways Out
According to the New York Times:
"Like many senior-level
Internet executives, Christine Harmel, chief executive
of Interactive Resource, a firm in Manhattan that matches
Web site developers with clients, was present at the birth
of e-commerce. Working on the Net since 1995, Harmel, 32,
has experienced years of 80-hour workweeks and has watched
the industry transform itself from a stomping ground for
young workaholics who wanted to change the world, into
a stomping ground for young workaholics who want to change
their tax brackets.
Now she is looking to move on.
Like a growing number of industry veterans, Harmel has
begun searching for a house away from the nation's technology
hotbeds -- South Carolina is her choice -- and is planning
to eventually sell her business and leave the industry. "We're
burned out," Harmel said..."
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eMarketplaces to Create Opportunities
in Latin America
The explosion of business-to-business Internet commerce
has reached Latin America in the form of emarketplaces. Latin
American start-ups and traditional brick and mortars are
in the process of launching numerous initiatives to seize
the opportunity presented by emarketplaces.
"IDC views the emergence
of emarketplaces as a strategic trend that will dramatically
transform the competitive landscape in the region and accelerate
ecommerce activity," said Anna Giraldo Kerr, research
manager for IDC.
Although IDC is optimistic about
the future of emarketplaces in the region, the technology
market research firm warns many obstacles must be overcome
before rewards can be reaped from this revolutionary concept.
"eMarketplaces are in an
embryonic stage" said Annika Alford, research director
for IDC. "They will have to overcome several challenges
to become the key dis-intermediary agents we believe the
market needs."
According to IDC, one challenge
emanates from the strong looming competition emerging from
within the region. "Latin America-specific emarketplaces
of similar vertical or horizontal specializations are popping
up throughout the region and will pose significant competition
to each other," Alford said. "The resulting battle
to bring in the Latin enterprise and establish a strong
client base, and the growing focus on the region among
U.S.-based players will help to usher in a period of acquisition
and consolidation within the region similar to that seen
in the region's ISP market in 1999."
This competition will also bring
about a strong need to localize services. "The absence
of localization will result in lower perceived value-add
among prospective emarketplace participants," Kerr
said. "However, the need to focus on localized services
may prove too costly in a market that spans multiple small
country markets and where capital is tight."
Once the market does overcome
the hurdles it faces, however, the rewards will be plentiful.
"The greatest benefit and
opportunity of emarketplaces is their ability to bring
ecommerce to the slower technology adopters in each country
throughout Latin America, " Kerr said. "By doing
this, emarketplaces will play a significant role in driving
Latin America into the new economy."
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