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No company is safe from low‐cost rivals. Almost overnight, nimble low‐cost competitors can exploit their offshore advantage, partnerships, and inexpensive technologies to break down barriers and rewrite the rules of competition. This paper aims to show how to counterattack.

The paper shows that way to beat low‐cost competitors that have the potential to become serious competitors is to identify and deal with them early, before they get a foothold in a market.

The paper finds that the best way to identify and thwart a low‐cost rival is to adopt its mindset, anticipate its next competitive move and measure your costs against its costs. This best practice analysis requires four steps.

“What to do” to defeat low‐cost competitors involves two separate but related tasks: First, “stop the bleeding”, and second, reposition the company for success in the new market. The paper shows how to break down potential moves into short‐term tactics and long‐term strategies.

The paper shows how to win the battle with a low‐cost competitor by identifying the genuine threats, taking on the serious competition, adapting its tactics quickly and hitting back with a well‐placed blow.

The writer of a review article in the IT area depends on a variety of information sources containing authoritative material, hyped‐up reports, or even partial or pure fiction. Sometimes articles are biased or the author has a particular axe to grind — for instance the person is associated with a company and the article is no more than a dressed up sales piece. Academics are usually reliable — although unlikely to damn themselves with faint praise if the next grant is round the corner. I will try to exercise good judgement when assessing my information sources, supressing my various prejudices if possible. But what is meant by the word new? For the purposes of this article ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) protocol (rules) and ATM switches in broadband networks, and aspects of Cable‐TV and cable modems have received a lot of exposure. They will not be discussed here. However, there is much interest in the contest between fibreoptic systems to the home and the conversion of telephone lines to wideband lines. These topics will be discussed.

U.S. corporations spend about $22 billion a year on therapy for employees—including counseling for senior strategists. Here's a look at what this new tool is doing in the executive suite.

The author writes from experience, originally as a member of the Aslib Consultancy Service and subsequently as an independent consultant. She explores the expectations of the client and the consultant, qualities desirable in consultants and job satisfactions, and goes on to analyse in detail the consulting process, the pathology of information systems and the role of library consultants as change agents.