Richness or reach? For business leaders, it used to be a fundamental strategic tradeoff: focus on "rich" information—customized products and services tailored to a niche market—or reach out to a broad, general market, with watered-down information.

The new economics of information is blowing apart this traditional dichotomy. Increasingly, customers will have rich access to a universe of alternatives, suppliers will exploit direct access to your customers, and competitors will pick off the most profitable parts of your value chain. So where's your competitive advantage?

Blown to Bits demonstrates how companies can re-strategize to take advantage of the new economics of information. Using examples from a spectrum of industries—from financial services to health care, from consumer to industrial goods, from media to retail—Blown to Bits shows how to make the most of the new forces shaping competitive advantage.

Original material © Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster. Published by arrangement with Harvard Business School Press.