Part 3 – When business went online
From the first websites to digital services, self-service and new customer relationships
When the World Wide Web began to spread in the 1990s, a new question arose for businesses: What should they actually do online? In the beginning, the answer was often relatively simple. The business should be visible. A website could present the company, products, services, contact information and perhaps some news. The Web was first understood as a new publishing and communication channel.
That would change fundamentally.
Over the course of a few decades, the website evolved from being a digital presentation of the business to becoming the gateway to increasingly larger parts of the business's services. The customer could search for information, compare options, order products, pay, manage customer relationships, and complete tasks without direct contact with an employee. The website was connected to databases, payment systems, CRM, warehouses, logistics, and other parts of the business's technological infrastructure.
This marked an important shift in digitalization. Businesses were no longer only represented online . Parts of the business began to function through the web .
The first websites were digital publications
The first commercial websites must be understood in light of the technology available. Internet connections were slow, screens were small by today's standards, browsers were simple, and interactivity was limited. Many websites therefore consisted mainly of text, simple images, and hyperlinks.
It was nevertheless a significant change. For the first time, a business could publish information that was in principle available globally, continuously, and without the same distribution costs as printed publications.
This affected, among other things, product information, company information, press communications and customer service.
Brochures, catalogues and documentation could gradually be supplemented or replaced by information online. Updates could be published without the need to print and distribute new material.
But the basic logic was still familiar. The business produced information, and the recipient read it.
Early websites were therefore often digital versions of existing forms of communication. The technology was new, but the basic processes of the business had changed little.
“We need a website”
As the use of the World Wide Web grew rapidly in the second half of the 1990s, there was intense pressure on businesses to establish an online presence. Domain names were registered, websites were built, and the web address began to appear on advertisements, business cards, and other communication materials.
For many businesses, this was the first practical contact with digitalization as a strategic phenomenon.
The first question was whether the business should be online.
Then came far more difficult questions: What would the website contain? Who was responsible for it? Was the website an IT system, a marketing channel, a publication or a customer service? Who would produce the content? How would the information be organized? How would the website be maintained?
These questions revealed something that would become increasingly clear throughout the history of digitalization: Digital services do not fit well into traditional organizational boundaries.
A website required technology, content, design, communication and an understanding of user needs all at once. As websites gained more features, the need for interdisciplinary collaboration became even greater.
The website had to be organized for the user
As websites grew, a new problem arose: the information had to be organized.
A website with five or ten pages could be built relatively easily. A website with thousands or millions of documents, products or services required a completely different structure. Navigation systems, categories, search functions and relationships between content had to be developed.
This helped make information architecture a central field of study in the development of digital services.
Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld were among those who helped establish information architecture as a distinct discipline for the web. In Information Architecture for the World Wide Web , first published in 1998, they addressed, among other things, how information could be organized, structured, labeled, and made searchable so that people could navigate complex information environments.
The challenge was fundamental: The company's internal organization was not necessarily the best structure for the website.
A bank could be organized by product areas and internal departments. A municipality could be organized by agencies and administrative responsibilities. A large company could use internal technical terms that were well understood by employees but unknown to the customer.
On the web, information had to be organized to a greater extent based on how the user understood the task .
There was an early shift from the organization's perspective to the user's perspective.
Web design became more than graphic design
The early years of the web were characterized by extensive experimentation with visual design. New technological capabilities were often adopted because they were new, not necessarily because they improved the user experience.
Over time, the understanding grew that web design wasn't just about how the website looked. It was also about how people could use it.
Jakob Nielsen became one of the most influential voices in web usability. Through research, testing, and advocacy, he argued that digital interfaces should be evaluated based on how easy people could understand and use them. Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think , published in 2000, conveyed the same basic principle in a particularly accessible way: good digital interfaces should reduce unnecessary cognitive load.
This was an important professional development. The focus moved from the website as visual expression to the website as user interface .
The question was no longer just whether the design was attractive. It also had to be examined whether the user found the information, understood the navigation, and was able to complete the task.
Web design, information architecture and usability thus began to meet.
From information to interactivity
The next major change occurred when the website no longer just delivered information, but could also receive and process information from the user.
Contact forms were a simple form of interactivity. Over time, search functions, registration, personalization, ordering and other functions came that required communication between the browser and the business's underlying systems.
This changed the role of the website.
When a customer could fill out a form, register a profile, or place an order, the website became part of a workflow. Information no longer just moved from the business to the customer. It also moved the other way around.
It was a crucial step towards digital services.
At the same time, complexity increased. A website that published text could be managed largely like a publication. A digital service had to be connected to systems, data, security, and business processes.
The web thus began to move into the core of the business.
E-commerce showed that the web could be a marketplace
Commerce became one of the clearest examples of this development. Amazon began selling books online in 1995, while eBay established a digital marketplace that same year where people could trade directly with each other.
These companies showed that the web could be used for much more than marketing. Entire parts of the purchasing process could be completed digitally.
Product information could be published online. Customers could find products, add them to a digital shopping cart, register information, pay, and have the item delivered.
This required the website to be connected to increasingly more functions in the business: product databases, payment, inventory, order processing, logistics, and customer service.
The online store was therefore not just a website with a buy button. It was a digital interface to an increasingly large part of the business's value chain.
E-commerce will be covered in more depth later in this series, but the development illustrates a crucial point: The web could become an arena where value creation itself took place .
The bank moved services to the customer
The banking sector illustrates even more clearly how the web could change the division of labor between the business and the customer.
Previously, many banking services required physical contact with a branch or processing through the bank's employees and internal systems. Online banking enabled the customer to perform more and more tasks themselves.
Balances could be checked. Bills could be paid. Money could be transferred. Accounts could be managed.
What were previously the bank's internal systems were given a digital interface to the customer.
This was more than efficiency. The role of the customer changed.
The customer became an active participant in the service production.
Digital self-service would later become one of the most important development directions in both the private and public sectors. Airlines, insurance companies, telecommunications companies, energy companies, retailers and governments developed services that allowed the user to perform tasks that previously required contact with an employee.
The digital interface became a new meeting place between business and people.
The travel industry demonstrated the power of digital self-service
Travel was another area where the web quickly gained importance. Information about flights, hotels and destinations lent itself well to digital distribution, and bookings could increasingly be made without physical documentation or direct contact with a salesperson.
Airlines began to establish websites where customers could find information and eventually book travel directly. This development had major consequences for both distribution and customer relations.
Travel agencies and telephone sales had previously been important intermediaries between the airline and the customer. The web made it possible to establish a direct digital channel.
Later came electronic tickets, digital check-in, seat selection, changing reservations, boarding passes on mobile phones and apps that brought together increasingly larger parts of the journey.
The development shows how self-service can gradually grow. It often starts with a single digital function, but can eventually encompass large parts of the customer journey.
From self-service to changed division of labor
Self-service is often described as efficiency improvement because the customer completes tasks that previously required employees. That perspective is important, but insufficient.
When a task is moved to a digital interface, the division of labor between the business, the employee, the technology, and the customer changes.
Work doesn't necessarily disappear. It's redistributed.
The customer registers the information. The system checks it. The database stores it. The software performs some of the processing.
The employee can concentrate on tasks that require assessment or handling exceptions.
A good digital self-service solution can therefore create value for both parties. The customer can gain faster access and greater flexibility, while the business can reduce manual work and improve data quality.
A poor self-service solution, on the other hand, can shift complexity and costs to the customer without creating corresponding value.
This distinction is crucial. Digitalization does not automatically create value.
The public sector also went online
The same development took place in the public sector. The first public websites were largely information channels. Citizens could find opening hours, contact information, regulations and documents that previously had to be obtained in other ways.
Gradually, the ambition grew greater.
Forms became available digitally. Applications could be submitted electronically. Login and digital identity solutions made it possible to offer services linked to the individual user. Data could be reused between systems, and more and more processes could be carried out without paper and physical presence.
Here, the limitations of the traditional organizational structure also became clear.
Citizens' needs do not necessarily follow the boundaries between agencies, directorates or levels of administration. A life event can involve several public agencies at the same time. This created the need to develop services around the user's situation rather than the administrative structure of the individual organization.
The same principle that had become evident in information architecture thus emerged on a much larger level: The service should be organized around human needs, not just the structure of the organization.
The website challenged the organization
As the website evolved from a publication to a service platform, organizational conflicts also arose.
Who owned the website?
The marketing department could see it as a communication channel. The IT department could see it as a technological system. The sales organization could see a new distribution channel. Customer service could see an opportunity to reduce inquiries. Management could see efficiency opportunities.
The customer did not see any of these departments.
The customer saw the business.
This became one of the most important organizational challenges of digitalization. The customer could meet one business through one digital interface, while the organization behind the interface was still divided into departments, systems, budgets, and areas of responsibility.
Digital services therefore made internal organizational problems visible in a new way.
If the product information was incorrect, the login was difficult, the payment failed, or the customer had to register the same information multiple times, it was irrelevant to the customer which internal department was responsible.
The digital customer experience went across the organization.
Web design studies and a rapidly developing field
For those who studied and worked with web design during this period, it was clear that the subject was in continuous flux. Web design could not be reduced to graphic design. It was about technology, structure, navigation, content, user understanding and increasingly how digital solutions should support specific tasks.
This was also a period where the distinction between design and business development began to become less clear.
If a user couldn’t find their way around a website, the problem could be with the navigation. But it could also be the way the business had organized the information. If a customer couldn’t complete a digital order, the problem could be in the interface, but also in a complicated business process behind the solution.
Thus, working with digital interfaces became an entry point to questions that went deep into the business.
Later, disciplines such as User Experience, service design, and digital product development would further develop this perspective. But many of the fundamental issues were already visible in the work on the first major websites.
The website became measurable
Another important difference between the web and many traditional communication channels was the ability to observe user behavior.
Server logs could show which pages were visited. Over time, web analytics developed into a field of its own. Businesses could examine traffic, navigation patterns, conversions, and where users left a process.
This created new opportunities for learning.
Previously, a business could distribute a brochure without knowing how much of it the recipient actually read. Online, parts of the user's interaction could be observed and analyzed.
The data didn't automatically tell us why people acted the way they did, but it gave the business a new window into user behavior.
Combined with user testing, customer surveys and other forms of insight, this became the basis for an increasingly data-driven development of digital services.
The website was no longer just something the business published. It could be continuously observed, tested, and improved.
From project to continuous development
The first websites were often treated as projects.
The business developed a website, launched it, and considered the work more or less complete.
This mindset became increasingly difficult to maintain.
Content had to be updated. Technology changed. New browsers and devices came along. Customer expectations evolved.
Competitors introduced new features. Data showed problems and opportunities for improvement.
Digital services were never really finished.
This contributed to a later organizational shift from project orientation to continuous product development. Instead of viewing the website or digital service as a project with an end date, the business could treat it as a product that needed to be developed over time.
This development would later have great significance for agile working methods, product teams and digital transformation.
From website to digital business
In a relatively short time, the role of the website had changed dramatically.
First it was a digital publication.
Then it became a communication channel.
Then it became interactive.
Then came the self-service.
Then the website was connected to the business's databases, transactions, and work processes.
Ultimately, the digital interface could become one of the most important ways the customer actually experiences the business.
This development illustrates the difference between digitization and digitalisation that we established in Part 1. Making a brochure available as digital information is one type of change. Enabling the customer to complete the entire task digitally is another.
The business had begun to change the activity, not just the information format.
The digital customer experience becomes strategic
As increasingly large parts of the customer relationship moved online, the quality of the digital experience became more important.
A website that was difficult to use could previously be annoying. When the website became a business's sales channel, customer service, ordering system, or self-service solution, poor usability could have direct financial and organizational consequences.
Design, content and technology were thus linked to value creation.
A simpler purchasing process could increase conversion. Better information could reduce the need for customer service. Good self-service could save both the customer and the business time. An understandable structure could make complex services accessible to more people.
The digital interface was no longer decoration around
the business.
It had become part of the business.
From presence to value creation
The story of businesses' first decade online shows a pattern that will repeat itself throughout the history of digitalization.
A new technology is first introduced as an addition to existing activities. Over time, people and businesses learn what the technology actually makes possible. Then work processes, services, and business models begin to change.
The web began as a place for information. It evolved into an arena for communication, transactions, self-service and service production.
Thus, the business moved from the question:
How do we get online?
to a far more important question:
What can we do differently because the web exists?
This question would become even more important as businesses discovered that the web could not only be used for information and services. It could also be used to find, influence, and build relationships with customers in new ways.
➜ Part 4 Thus, a new field of study emerged in the meeting between technology, market and customer: internet marketing.
Academic background and further reading
This series also builds on my own professional journey through the Web Design study , the eMarketing study , Innovation and Commercialization and professional seminars in San Francisco and Oxford . Here you will find the background, professional environments and experiences that have followed the development from the early years of the web to today's digitalization.
Recommended literature
The literature presented here spans several disciplines and periods. The books provide perspectives on digitalization, innovation and strategy , and show how technology, markets, organizations and people have been understood and developed over time. Some of the works are classics, others represent newer academic perspectives, but together they provide a useful basis for further in-depth study of the topics we work with at The Invisible Capital .
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
Author(s): Chris Anderson
Short review
The Long Tail is one of the most influential books on how the internet has transformed commerce, marketing, and consumer behavior. Chris Anderson introduces the theory of the “Long Tail,” which explains how digital markets enable significant value creation through a large number of niche products, rather than relying on a few bestsellers.
The book shows how digital distribution, low inventory costs, search engines, and intelligent recommendation systems have made it profitable to offer an almost unlimited product range. Where traditional stores were limited by physical shelf space, online stores can offer millions of products and let customers find exactly what they are looking for.
Chris Anderson illustrates the theory with examples from Amazon, Netflix, Google, and the digital music industry, showing how the internet has changed the rules of competition for businesses around the world. Many of the insights have since become even more relevant through artificial intelligence, personalization, and modern search technology.
The authors take the reader through the entire process – from planning and organizing to publishing, managing and continuously improving content on websites and digital services. Although technology has evolved since the book was published, the principles of quality, relevance, management and long-term content work are at least as relevant in an era where search engines and artificial intelligence assess the credibility and usefulness of content.
Why we recommend the book
At The Invisible Capital, we consider The Long Tail to be one of the most important books in e-commerce, digitalization, and modern value creation.
The book explains why customers no longer just buy the most popular products, but increasingly find value in specialized products and services that meet individual needs. This insight has had enormous impact on the development of online stores, digital marketplaces, search engine optimization (SEO), information architecture, and content strategy.
Today we see that the theory also fits very well into the development of artificial intelligence. AI helps people discover relevant content, products and knowledge that were previously difficult to find. This has given the Long Tail principle a new dimension, where well-structured content and high professional quality are increasingly important for visibility, trust and value creation.
This is a book we believe everyone who works with e-commerce, digital marketing, customer experience, innovation, digital strategy or artificial intelligence should read.
Content Strategy for the Web (2nd Edition)
Author/authors: Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach
Short review
How do you create content that actually helps people – and at the same time supports your business goals? Content Strategy for the Web is considered one of the most influential books in the field of content strategy and digital communications. The book shows how good content does not arise by chance, but through a deliberate strategy where user needs, the organization's goals, structure, work processes and management are closely linked.
The authors take the reader through the entire process – from planning and organizing to publishing, managing and continuously improving content on websites and digital services. Although technology has evolved since the book was published, the principles of quality, relevance, management and long-term content work are at least as relevant in an era where search engines and artificial intelligence assess the credibility and usefulness of content.
Why we recommend the book
At The Invisible Capital, we believe that good content is one of the most important forms of invisible value creation. A website is far more than design and technology – it is the content that builds trust, creates great customer experiences and helps people find the answers they are looking for.
This book is perfect for leaders, communications consultants, content producers, web editors, UX designers, and anyone working with digital services. It shows why a clear content strategy leads to better user experiences, more effective interactions, and stronger digital results over time.
In an era where artificial intelligence is increasingly important in how information is discovered, understood, and communicated, this book is more relevant than ever. It reminds us that technology alone never creates value – it is good, structured, and relevant content that makes the difference.
Don't Make Me Think
Author: Steve Krug
Short review
Don't Make Me Think is one of the world's most influential books on usability and web design. Since its first edition in 2000, the book has helped designers, developers, content producers, and managers understand a simple but powerful principle: Good digital services should be intuitive. The user should be able to complete their task without having to stop and think about how the website works.
Why we recommend the book
This is one of the books that has had the greatest impact on my own work with digital services. Over the years – from SAS and the Norwegian Opera & Ballet to working on Bærum Municipality’s website – the principles in this book have been an important reminder that technology is never an end in itself. The goal is to make everyday life easier for the people who use the services. Despite the fact that the book was published many years ago, the message is just as relevant today.
Internet Marketing & eCommerce
Authors: Ward Hanson and Kirthi Kalyanam
Short review
Internet Marketing & eCommerce provides a thorough introduction to how the internet has changed marketing, commerce, and business development. The book combines theory and practical examples in digital marketing, e-commerce, customer behavior, value creation, and digital business models. Although written at a time when the internet was still in its infancy, many of the fundamental principles are still highly relevant.
Why we recommend the book
This book was an important part of my own learning journey in digital marketing and e-commerce. It helped build my understanding of how technology, customer experience and business strategy are interconnected – an insight that later became very important in my work with SAS, the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, Bærum Municipality and eventually the project The Invisible Capital. Many of the ideas about customer value, digitalisation and innovation presented on the website have their roots in the knowledge this book conveys.
The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth
Authors: Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor
Short review
In this sequel to The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton Christensen shows how businesses can translate innovation theory into practical strategy. The book explains how companies can identify new growth opportunities, develop disruptive innovations, and build organizations that thrive in rapidly changing markets.
Why we recommend the book
While The Innovator's Dilemma explains why established businesses are often challenged, The Innovator's Solution provides concrete advice on how to meet the challenges. The book is therefore a natural next step for anyone who wants to understand innovation, strategy and long-term value creation.
The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators
Authors: Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen
Short review
What characterizes people who create groundbreaking innovations? The authors identify five key skills – observation, questioning, experimentation, networking and association – that are common to the world's most innovative leaders and entrepreneurs.
Why we recommend the book
This book shifts the focus from organizations to the people behind innovation. It shows that creativity and innovation can be developed through deliberate training and experience. The perspectives align well with the philosophy behind Invisible Capital, where human competence and curiosity are the most important drivers of development.
Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice
Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan
Short review
In this book, Clayton Christensen further develops the theory of Jobs to Be Done – the idea that customers do not primarily buy products, but "hire" them to solve specific needs. Through practical examples, the authors show how businesses can develop products and services that address customers' real-world challenges.
Why we recommend the book
For anyone working in customer experience, service design, and innovation, this is one of the most insightful books ever written. It reminds us that value creation always starts with understanding the people we are developing solutions for – a fundamental principle of Invisible Capital.
The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
Author: Clayton M. Christensen
Short review
The Innovator's Dilemma is considered one of the most influential books on innovation and technological change. Clayton M. Christensen introduces the theory of disruptive innovation and explains why even the most successful businesses can fail when new technologies and business models challenge established markets. Through a series of examples, he shows how companies often focus on today's customers and incremental improvements, while overlooking innovations that later change entire industries.
Why we recommend the book
This is one of the books that has had the greatest impact on modern innovation thinking. When I first read it, it gave me a whole new perspective on why some businesses succeed in transformation, while others lag behind – even when they are well led. The insight has been an important part of my own understanding of digitalization, innovation and change management, and many of the reflections in The Invisible Capital build on the ideas Clayton Christensen presents in this classic. The book is as relevant today, in the face of artificial intelligence and digital transformation, as it was when it was published.
Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology
Author: Henry Chesbrough
Short review
Henry Chesbrough introduced the concept of Open Innovation and changed the way many businesses think about research and development. He shows how companies can create more innovation through collaboration with customers, universities, start-ups, suppliers and other external partners.
Why we recommend the book
Open Innovation has had a major influence on modern innovation thinking and was also an important topic during the seminars in Oxford and San Francisco. The book shows why future value creation occurs in the interaction between people, businesses and knowledge environments – not within closed organizations alone.
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant
Authors: W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Short review
Blue Ocean Strategy challenges businesses to shift their focus away from fierce competition and instead create new markets with little or no competition. The authors present strategies and models that help organizations develop innovative products, services, and business models.
Why we recommend the book
This book has inspired leaders around the world to rethink strategy and innovation. Instead of competing for the same customers, it shows how businesses can create new value through creativity and differentiation. The perspectives align very well with the themes of innovation, digitalization, and long-term value creation in Invisible Capital.
Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company's Future
Authors: Patricia B. Seybold
Short review
Patricia Seybold shows how businesses can create better products and services by actively involving customers in the innovation process. The book describes how dialogue, co-creation and close collaboration with users can provide better solutions and stronger competitiveness.
Why we recommend the book
Customers often hold the most important insights into how products and services can be improved. This book emphasizes the importance of listening, involving, and learning from users – a perspective that is echoed in many of the articles on The Invisible Capital. Innovation rarely happens alone; it is created in the interaction between people.
Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy
Authors: Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster
Short review
This book analyzes how digital information is changing competitive conditions, markets, and business strategies. The authors explain how the internet is disrupting established structures and creating new opportunities for businesses that are able to think differently.
Why we recommend the book
Although written early in the internet revolution, the book describes many of the developments that still characterize business today. It provides valuable perspective on how digitalization affects value chains, competition, and innovation – themes that are central to Invisible Capital.
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Authors: Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
Short review
Wikinomics shows how openness, sharing and collaboration across organizations create new forms of innovation and value creation. Through a number of international examples, the authors describe how digital networks make it possible to develop products, services and knowledge together.
Why we recommend the book
This book was groundbreaking when it was first published, and many of the ideas have since become a natural part of everyday digital life. The perspectives on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and open innovation processes align very well with the philosophy behind Invisible Capital, where people and networks are at the center of value creation.
The Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors
Author(s): Author: Michael E. Porter
Short review
Competitive Strategy is Michael E. Porter's classic work on how companies can understand the competition they find themselves in and develop a position that provides a basis for long-term profitability. Porter shifts the focus from the individual competitor to the structure of the entire industry and shows how competition is affected by customers, suppliers, new entrants, substitutes and the rivalry between existing companies. This forms the basis for what has later become known as Porter's Five Forces. The book is also about how companies can choose a competitive strategy on the basis of this analysis. It thus established an analytical language for strategy that has gained great importance in both research, teaching and practical strategy work.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend Competitive Strategy because it provides the analytical foundation for much of the thinking Porter later develops in What Is Strategy?. If a company is to choose a unique strategic position, it must also understand the competitive forces, the industry structure and the factors that affect the ability to create and retain value. The book is particularly useful because it reminds us that strategy is not just about internal goals, plans and ambitions. Strategy must be developed in the face of customers, competitors, suppliers, technology and structural changes in the market. Together with What Is Strategy?, the book therefore provides a much richer picture: First, the company must understand the competitive arena. Then, it must choose how to be different.
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
Author(s): Author: Michael E. Porter
Short review
In Competitive Advantage, Porter moves the analysis from the industry to the business itself. The main question is how competitive advantage is actually created. One of the book's most important contributions is the value chain, where the business is understood as a system of activities that collectively develop, produce, market, deliver and support a product or service. Competitive advantage cannot therefore be understood only through products or overall strategies; one must examine the activities that create costs, differentiation and value. This understanding later becomes central to Porter's argument about strategic fit: the activities must not only be good in isolation, but also fit together and reinforce each other.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend Competitive Advantage because it brings strategy right down to where value is actually created: in the activities the business performs. This makes the book particularly relevant together with What Is Strategy?. When Porter argues in 1996 that strategy consists of performing different activities than competitors, or performing similar activities in other ways, this builds on the thinking he developed here. For our perspective on value creation, this is particularly interesting. Value does not arise because the business has formulated a strategy on a document, but through people, expertise, technology, processes, collaboration and activities that together enable the business to create something that customers value. The book therefore provides an important connection between strategy, competitive advantage and actual value creation.
The Competitive Advantage of Nations
Author(s): Author: Michael E. Porter
Short review
In The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Porter raises the perspective from business to countries, regions and business environments. The book is based on extensive studies of the competitiveness of ten leading trading nations and examines why certain countries and business clusters are particularly successful in certain industries. A central premise is that national prosperity is not simply something a country inherits through natural resources or other given conditions. It is created, and productivity, innovation, competence, competition and the quality of the environment in which businesses operate are crucial. Here, Porter also develops the well-known diamond model to explain how different national and regional conditions can interact and stimulate competitiveness.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend The Competitive Advantage of Nations because here Porter extends the strategy perspective to the ecosystem surrounding the business itself. Value creation does not occur in a vacuum. Businesses develop in societies with education, research, infrastructure, capital, suppliers, demanding customers, competing businesses and public institutions. This makes the book particularly interesting for understanding value creation as an interaction between people, businesses and society. It also provides an important corrective to the notion that a country's competitiveness can mainly be understood through low costs or access to natural resources. Innovation, productivity and the ability to continuously develop are far more central to Porter's explanation.
Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy
Author: Joan Magretta
Short review
Understanding Michael Porter brings together and explains the most important parts of Michael Porter's strategic thinking in one accessible whole. Joan Magretta herself worked on strategy at the Harvard Business Review and organizes Porter's ideas around two fundamental questions: What is competition, and what is strategy? She explains, among other things, the Five Forces, competitive advantage, the value chain, value creation, trade-offs, fit, and strategic continuity. This makes the connection between Porter's various works clearer than when the concepts are studied separately. The book also includes an interview with Porter.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend Understanding Michael Porter because it helps the reader see the whole picture of Porter's understanding of strategy. Porter is often reduced to the Five Forces or a few models used in isolation. Magretta shows why this is too simple. Competition, value creation, strategic positioning, trade-offs, activity systems, fit and continuity are interconnected. This makes the book a particularly good supplement after reading What Is Strategy?. It makes it easier to understand why Porter does not view strategy as a plan or a collection of goals, but as a coherent system of choices about how the business will create value and compete over time.
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy
Authors: Harvard Business Review, Michael E. Porter, W. Chan Kim, Renée A. Mauborgne and more
Short review
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy brings together some of Harvard Business Review's most influential writings on strategy. The original collection from 2011 features Michael E. Porter's What Is Strategy? as its main article and combines it with works on competitive forces, Blue Ocean Strategy, the organization's vision, business models, strategy execution, and the Balanced Scorecard, among others. The result is not one unified theory of strategy, but multiple perspectives on how organizations can develop, formulate, and execute strategy.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy because it places Porter in a broader strategic context. After reading What Is Strategy?, it will be interesting to encounter other central perspectives and see how they complement, challenge, or extend Porter's understanding. The collection also shows why strategy cannot be reduced to a single model. Competitive position, choice, innovation, business model, execution, priorities, and measurement must be seen in context. For the reader who wants to move on from Porter and into the strategy discipline more generally, this is therefore a very good introduction.
Creating a Learning Society: A New Approach to Growth, Development, and Social Progress
Author: Joseph E. Stiglitz and Bruce C. Greenwald
Short review:
Creating a Learning Society examines how knowledge, learning, and technological development contribute to economic growth and long-term value creation. Joseph E. Stiglitz and Bruce C. Greenwald challenge the notion that economic development is primarily about accumulating more physical capital. They argue that society’s ability to create, disseminate, and apply knowledge is crucial to productivity growth and improved living standards. A key point is that learning does not only occur in schools and universities. It also occurs in businesses, through work, production, innovation, and the interaction between people and organizations. Knowledge can also spread from one business and one part of the economy to others.
The book thus provides an important perspective on why human capital, competence, innovation and learning must be understood as central parts of a society's ability to create value over time.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend Creating a Learning Society because it expands the understanding of what lies behind economic value creation.
Machines, technology and financial capital are important, but they do not create productivity growth alone. Behind the development are people who learn, develop knowledge, improve work processes, share experiences and find new solutions.
This makes the book particularly relevant to Invisible Capital and our perspective on value creation: A significant part of society's value-creating capacity is found in the knowledge, competence, and learning ability of the people who participate in the economy.
Stiglitz and Greenwald thus provide an academic foundation for one of the most important relationships in modern value creation:
The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy
Author: Mariana Mazzucato
Short review
In The Value of Everything, Mariana Mazzucato asks a fundamental question: What exactly is value – and who creates it? Mazzucato returns to the historical discussions of value in economics and shows how the understanding of value creation has changed. She challenges the notion that high income, high prices or large profits necessarily mean that correspondingly large values have been created. One of the book's most important contributions is the distinction between value creation and value extraction . Mazzucato examines the financial sector, the pharmaceutical industry, innovation and the public sector, among others, and argues that we must become better at distinguishing between activities that actually create new values, and activities that primarily extract values that have already been created.
The book also challenges the traditional notion that the private sector creates value while the public sector mainly consumes or redistributes it. Innovation and economic development often arise through a complex interaction between public investment, research, businesses, capital and people.
The Power of Creative Destruction: Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations
Author: Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin and Simon Bunel
Short review
The Power of Creative Destruction is about one of the most important drivers of long-term economic growth: innovation.
Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin and Simon Bunel build on Joseph Schumpeter's classic idea of "creative destruction" – the process by which new technologies, businesses, products and ideas challenge and replace existing solutions.
But the book is not just about the disappearance of the old. The authors examine why some economies manage to create continuous innovation and productivity growth, while others stagnate. Competition, entrepreneurship, research, education, institutions and public policy thus become important parts of the explanation.
Creative destruction also comes at a cost. New technologies and businesses create opportunities and jobs, but can also make existing skills, tasks and business models less relevant. The challenge is therefore to create societies that both promote innovation and enable people to participate in the transition.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend The Power of Creative Destruction because it shows why innovation is a fundamental driver of value creation .
Value creation is not just about producing more of what we already produce. It also occurs when people develop new ideas, technology, and ways of working that enable us to solve tasks better than before.
This makes the book particularly relevant to The Invisible Capital. Behind innovation are people with knowledge, expertise, creativity and experience. But Aghion's perspective also shows that human capital must be part of a larger system where competition, institutions, research, investment and policy create the conditions for new ideas to actually turn into economic and social development.
The book thus provides an important context in our understanding of value creation:
Knowledge → new ideas → innovation → productivity growth → long-term value creation.
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Author: Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin and Simon Bunel
Short review
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance is one of Douglass C. North's most important works on why some societies are more successful than others in creating economic development over time.
North shifts attention from traditional factors of production such as capital and labor to the institutions that shape how people, businesses, and governments act and cooperate. Institutions are society's formal and informal rules of the game – including laws, regulations, norms, traditions, and established ways of organizing interaction.
These rules of the game affect the incentives that people and organizations face. They also affect investments, knowledge development, cooperation, transaction costs, and which economic activities emerge.
North also shows that institutions develop over time. History therefore matters: Today's economic opportunities are influenced by institutional choices and development paths that can stretch far back in time.
Why we recommend the book
We recommend Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance because it explains a crucial aspect of value creation that easily becomes invisible:
Value creation needs good rules of the game.
People may have knowledge. Businesses may have capital. Entrepreneurs may have great ideas. A society may have natural resources and advanced technology. But outcomes are also influenced by the institutions that determine how people can collaborate, invest, compete, make deals, and develop businesses.
This makes North particularly interesting for our understanding of trust as part of invisible capital. Trust is not the same as institutions, but stable rules of the game, credible agreements, and well-functioning institutions can reduce uncertainty and make economic interaction easier.
North thus gives us another important part of the value creation picture:
Institutions → predictability and incentives → cooperation and investment → productive activity → long-term value creation.
© 2025 - 2026 Portico Publish | The invisible capital Privacy and use of the website | Developed and operated by Magne Bjella | Powered and secured by Wix
Comments