E-COMMERCE and Economics.

• Author: POHL, JOHN
• Position: Brief Article

Partly what lends the year 2000 its mystique is that it is the last year in a 1000-year block of time. Consequently, it catches our attention. We are suddenly more apt to notice the stretch of time that lies before us and behind us.

In business, such introspection is vital. And at a time when The Wall Street Journal predicts that one decade from now 90 percent of the current Fortune 500 will not exist in their current form or will have been replaced, many industry leaders are watching the shifts in the economic landscape and planning where to go next.

Writings by Peter Drucker (professor of social science at Claremont Graduate School), Paul Kennedy (professor of history at Yale University), Larry Downes (international business consultant and professor of law and technology at Northwestern University), and Chunka Mui (executive editor of the business magazine Context) suggest that key trends that are even now driving Alaska business-or any business-are information technology, electronic commerce and a global economy.

The question is how to harness them.

Internet Advances

High-tech Alaska communication companies are trying to do just that. "We believe that commerce on the Internet, which was hardly around three to four years ago, could surpass $300 billion by the year 2002," says Barbara Tracy, marketing director for AT&T Alascom. "In Alaska, more than in many other states, technology is critical. Our geographical isolation makes things like Internet and e-commerce extremely important. I think we are experiencing great growth in the Internet industry in Alaska and I think we will continue to see that grow as more and more people use the Internet, not only for business solutions but in just staying connected for resource issues, or to help with school work, or in connecting with other schools."

Steve Borell, executive director of the Alaska Miners Association, sees this new technological trend in mining, a traditional resource-extraction industry.

"Many of the materials that have been bought and sold over the Internet are made with materials that have to be mined. So that won't change," said Borell.

"The impact on mining and on the mineral exploration aspect is significant because now it is much easier to learn about what Alaska has to offer, and you can do it without coming here on the ground and spending the time in the libraries.

"You can do it on the Internet; you can do it electronically; so when you come to Alaska to invest, you spend...