Student review: E-Business: A Management Perspective

Author: Jonathan Reynolds

Edition: First

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Pages: 496

Price: £37.99

ISBN 9780199216482

E-Business: A Management Perspective claims to draw together the wide spectrum of information available on the topic of e-business and present it as a coherent, applied and insightful overview. It succeeds in doing this and, even better, makes it an interesting and enjoyable read.

Features of the text include learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, activity boxes and concise chapter summaries. Colour, images and tables break up the text and make it infinitely more readable. The graphs, statistics and matrices are also clear and appropriate in number. Had the analyses been placed alongside the relevant figure (rather than integrated within the text) they would have been perfect.

These features make the textbook appealing but the real highlights, and what makes it stand out, are the case studies, which help emphasise the relevance of each topic. Dispersing the cases throughout the text rather than bundling them at the end of each chapter was a good decision. The author has recognised that an increasing amount of our time is spent online: facebooking or tweeting, shopping and checking our bank balances, reading the latest news and blog entries. Even when we are not online, we are often still immersed in technology. Where this textbook succeeds is in utilising the above examples in case studies to cover topics such as the economics of e-business, social and behavioural issues, digital marketing and e-business strategy.

Reynolds' approach is to explain the effectiveness of e-business for companies and consumers across different sectors and countries, rather than merely offering endless descriptions of the technology and innovations often associated with the subject (although these are covered in the text). Even when using examples that may not be familiar, the textbook is successful in making these challenging topics understandable.

Despite the inclusion of chapters by different authors, which could have affected the book's coherence, explicit links to other chapters ensure that it still works effectively as a complete and thorough grounding in the topic. Up-to-date information makes it feel relevant, not only to students studying e-business, but to business management students in general.

Who is it for? Interested, internet-savvy business students. Presentation Colourful and clear. Would you recommend it? Definitely for those who are studying a relevant module, but also for students who are interested in the topic in general.