Staff writer The American Management Association leads by example. By adapting its raison d'etre -- to provide business education and management development programs to thousands of companies worldwide -- to the Internet-wired world, the organization is hinting at the direction it believes its members should be looking. "The Web is transforming global business and it has transformed our business," George B. Weathersby, AMA president and chief executive officer, said during a recent visit to The Japan Times. AMA has offered its 76 years of experience in management development through a variety of seminars, conferences, customized learning solutions and books -- six of which have been translated into Japanese -- to around 700,000 members and customers per year. Since April, however, it has shifted its attention to the Internet; not only is membership to the organization now Web-based, but much of the "knowledge-sharing" that the outfit has encouraged between its member companies now takes place in cyberspace. "We're trying to use (the Net) to address the needs of a particular individual by creating an environment for them to be able to express their individual needs ... what you'd call one-to-one marketing," he said, adding that chat rooms on AMA's Web site allow members to explore more personalized avenues of business in a relaxed environment. AMA's adapting to the Net would seem to be, in itself, a lesson in timely management development. The U.S.-based, nonprofit organization's global membership rocketed from 70,000 to 105,000 since the Web site opened in April. Weathersby hopes that member companies in Japan will take note. "There are issues that companies here really need to address to survive in the global economy," he said. "Part of those involve organizational and management issues" relating to embracing the Internet, he added. Weathersby singled out a particular need for greater recognition of the future reliance on the Web in the business-to-business market. "One issue we're trying to get people to come alive to is the organizational implications of the Web, not just the marketing implications," he said. "We anticipate that about 80 to 85 percent of (business-to-business) purchases will be made on the Web in the near future," he said. "This has huge implications as to the way you have to run a company." Weathersby cited as an example the current trends in the prerecorded music industry, where innovations such as the MP3 player mean "the artist can be the producer and sell (music) through the Web, and consumers can buy just the tracks" they want. "It's a whole change of thought" that challenges the traditional "concepts of how music is produced, how tracks are assembled into the the product and how the product is distributed," he said. "Companies must adapt." Weathersby is aware, however, that such "fundamental reinvention" will not come easily for Japanese companies. "The outside market has changed at an accelerating pace over the past three years ... something that most thoughtful leaders (here) understand. But it's not widely perceived, and certainly there are not actions based on those perceptions," he said. "When markets are changing faster, then you have to change not only the product and service but also the organization that invents that product and service more rapidly -- that's critical," he added. Japanese companies need to look forward to what Weathersby terms "the 'real' economy, which, he said, "is based on how things are connected, not on how things are made." "Japan is excellent at developing. ... Being the 'second' mover that got it right has been very profitable," he said, citing the TV as an example where the "first mover," or the creator, was at a disadvantage over the "second," who produced and commercialized the product. The network economies, however, are the exact opposite of product development, he said. "If you look at the network economies there's a huge first mover advantage," he said. "But if you're fundamentally steeped in the product development mentality, it's really very difficult to change."
