Vince,

We are delighted that you, Christie (and possibly Mark Palmer) will be
attending our upcoming Wharton Impact Conference on October 19-20.  The
final agenda is enclosed (below) - PLEASE NOTE - unless we hear otherwise
from you, we will assume that you will be attending both the DINNER on Oct.
19 and the CONFERENCE on Oct. 20.

This VERY timely event has generated enormous interest.  We look forward to
your participation, and hope you will find this to be a valuable
insight-building experience.

Please call or e-mail if you have any questions about any aspect of the
conference.

Also - I'll look forward to hearing some stories of your exploits during
your recent trip to Poland.  Must have been extremely interesting!

best regards,
Michael Tomczyk

_________________

******************************************************
WINNERS AND LOSERS IN THE E-COMMERCE SHAKEOUT
THURS. OCT. 19 (dinner) and FRI. OCT. 20 (conference)
******************************************************
AGENDA

WINNERS AND LOSERS IN THE E-COMMERCE SHAKEOUT
Thursday,  October 19, 2000 (dinner)
Friday, October 20 (conference)
The Wharton School - Philadelphia, PA

__________________________________________________
Jointly sponsored by the
William and Phyllis Mack Center on Managing Technological Innovation,
Wharton School
Marketing Science Institute
Wharton E-Business Initiative (WEBI)
__________________________________________________

CONFERENCE THEMES & OBJECTIVES

E-Commerce is heading inextricably and rapidly toward an inevitable
shakeout and consolidation that tends to characterize every major new
industry.  This impact conference bringstogether a distinguished group of
industry and academic leaders to discuss what is required to survive the
E-Commerce shakeout, and what it takes to be a "winner" when the shakeout
hits, full-force.

Shakeouts are spawned in the boom-and-bust environment of hot emerging
markets.  An unsustainable glut of competitors is attacted by the
contagious enthusiasm for the emerging technology.  As competition
intensifies and falling prices put pressure on margins there is a wave of
ailures and mergers that removes the weaker players.

Few eCommerce markets--whether e-tailing online exchanges or others---will
be exempted from the forces that cause shakeouts.  This conference will
combine lessons from markets that have experienced shakeouts, with the
latest thinking about the unique features of E-commerce, to identify
successful strategies for surviving a shakeout.

Questions to be addressed include:

- Are the patterns seen in previous shakeouts of high technology markets
applicable to eCommerce?  What are the early warning signs of an impending
shakeout?

- Which eCommerce markets are most susceptible to a shakeout?  Will there
be single or multiple winners?

- Which companies are likely to survive?  What strategies will the winners 
use?

There is controversy and uncertainty about which factors will most
contribute to prospects for survival.  How important are first mover
advantages and building brand equity?  What do incumbents have to do to
prevail?  Which business models are most robust?  How important is the
ability to manage strategic partnerships?

These issues will be addressed with a program that encourages active
dialogue and interaction and includes speakers from industry, academia and
Wall Street.

_____________________________________

AGENDA

*************************************
DINNER & REGISTRATION - THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19

5:30 - 6:30p
Registration and Reception

6:30 - 9:00p
Dinner

SURVIVING THE SHAKEOUT: FUNDAMENTALS, FADS AND THE FUTURE
(John Hagel of 12 Entrepreneuring; co-author of the best-selling books NET
GAIN and NET WORTH)

*************************************
CONFERENCE - RIDAY, OCTOBER 20

8:00 - 8:30a

Continental Breakfast & Informal Networking

8:30 - 9:15
INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING THE BOOM AND BUST OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
(George Day, Co-Director of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation and
Boisi Professor of Marketing, the Wharton School and co-editor of WHARTON
ON MANAGING EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES)

9:15-10:00
APPLYING THE LESSONS OF THE PAST TO THE eCOMMERCE FUTURE
(Adam Fein, President, Pembroke Consulting)

10:00-10:30  BREAK

10:30-11:30
IDENTIFYING WINNING AND LOSING INTERNET BUSINESS MODELS
(Raffi Amit, Goergen Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director, Wharton
E-Business Initiative (WEBI); and
David Reibstein, Woodside Prof. of Marketing, Wharton School and Director,
Marketing Science Institute)

11:30-12:15p
TECHNOLOGY INVESTING, 15 THINGS THAT SHOULD BE TRUE
(Stephen J. Andriole, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer,
Safeguard Scientifics)

12:15-1:30
WORKING LUNCH

Participants will work in small groups.  Half the group will be asked to
select an eCommerce firm with a strong likelihood of winning and identify
the most important reasons for success; the other half will be asked to do
the same for a firm that is likely to fail.

1:30-2:15
SMALL GROUP REPORTS

2:15-3:00
FINDING A WINNING STRATEGY
(Norman Drapeau, Chief Executive Officer of MRO.com)

3:00-3:15  BREAK

3:15-4:00
LIVING THROUGH A CONSOLIDATION
(Harry Smilow, previously Chief Executive Officer of Telebank which is now
part of E*Trade)

4:00-4:45
A VIEW FROM WALL STREET
(Henry Blodget, First Vice President and Senior Internet/E-Commerce
Analyst, Merrill Lynch)

4:45-5:00
SUM UP-WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?  WHAT DO WE NEED TO LEARN?

5:00    ADJOURN
______________________________________

DIRECTIONS TO THE EVENT & ACCOMMODATIONS:

The dinner will be held at The Inn At Penn which is located at 3600 Sansom
Street.   There is also an entrance on Walnut Street between 36h and 37th.

The conference will be held in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall which is located on
Locust Walk on the Wharton campus in Philadelphia.  From the airport or
train station take a taxi to the intersection of 37th Street and Walnut,
walk LEFT onto the campus (there is a broad paved walkway leading into the
campus from that intersection).  At the first intersection you will see a
life sized bronze status of Ben Franklin sitting on a park bench reading a
newspaper.  Turn LEFT at this intersection and Steinberg-Dietrich Hall is
the first building on the Right.  There is a broad entrance with several
doors.  Also, any student can direct you to this building.  Go inside and
take the staircase DOWN to the right -- ROOM 350 is on the LOWER (basement)
level.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Overnight accommodations are available at the Inn At Penn which is across
the street from the campus (tel  215-222-0200 - mention you are here for
the Emerging Tech conference on E-Commerce Shakeouts, to receive the
$164/night Wharton room rate).  Please make your reservations EARLY because
the Inn is often fully booked.    We have reserved a set of rooms for this
event.

If you stay at another hotel in Center City, most hotels (Rittenhouse,
Latham, Ritz Carlton) are approximately 15 minutes by taxi from the campus.
There is also a Sheraton approximately 3 blocks from the campus, on
Chestnut St.

Michael S. Tomczyk
Managing Director
Emerging Technologies Management Research Program
1400 SH-DH/6371
The Wharton School
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6371

Tel 215-573-7722
Fax 215-573-2129
website:  http://emertech.wharton.upenn.edu