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The Virtual Department of Business

The US Business Advisor, a site on the World Wide Web, held the promise in the mid-1990s of using the Internet to kindle a new kind of relationship between business and government. The original premise of the US Business Advisor was groundbreaking in its day: to build a portal that would provide businesses--especially the small business community--with electronic links to a broad gamut of information and resources pulled together from some 60 federal agencies. At the launch of the working version of the site in 1996, Vice President Gore proclaimed that the Business Advisor would allow "one-stop Internet access to every service and every bit of information that government provides to business."

Under the aegis of the National Performance Review, the White House level initiative to streamline and modernize government, the site gained high visibility for using what was then considered cutting-edge technology to serve business people "on their own terms," according to one proponent, tailoring information to specific needs and guaranteeing around-the-clock access. The National Performance Review (NPR) had shepherded the Business Advisor's development with help from a task force comprised of staff from the Small Business Administration and a committed handful of other agencies. The product of this concerted effort offered many benefits, ranging from a searchable index of government regulations to the means of booking a meeting with a retired business executive for business advice. Moreover, the Business Advisor served as the template for an array of other governmental and non-profit "advisor" web sites, gateways to information in areas as diverse as recreation and consumer safety.

The significant achievement of launching the Business Advisor was overshadowed in the ensuing years by the difficulties of maintaining the site. By the spring of 1998, the latest business-related news on the site was over nine months old, hyperlinks were out of date, and email sent for follow-up information went unanswered. Inadequate resources, conflicting Internet strategies and competition over turf among different agencies, as well as the lack of a clear sense of ownership had left the site an orphan.

NPR had always intended to be the godparent but never the day-to-day guardian of the effort. None of the collaborating agencies had stepped forward to assume responsibility, and no funds existed for any type of continuing interagency collaboration.

In the spring of 1998, the future of the site was uncertain. Its fate lay in the hands of NPR Deputy Director Greg Woods, an early proponent of the site and a strong advocate for exploiting the potential of the Internet to foster new relationships between the government and the governed. He realized that the continued success of the Business Advisor was important not only to those the site served but also to the skeptical audience of government managers whom, he felt, generally had little sense of how to use the Web to the best advantage for their own agencies and, most important, the public they served. Having shepherded the creation of the site, Woods was now in the position of either ensuring its survival or justifying its demise.

Your Task

This case examines the evolution of the Business Advisor web site from its early days as the vision of a handful of managers in one agency--the Small Business Administration--through its adoption as an innovative federal pilot project by NPR. At the end of the case, you'll be asked to take on the role of Greg Woods, NPR Deputy Director, and decide among several possibilities for the site. You will have to justify whether the site should continue and, if so, in what form.

Navigating the Case

The case consists of 12 main sections, intended to be read sequentially. These include:

The final section, Links, serves as a compendium of all the hypertext links contained in the preceding sections.

The entire case is available for printing in Adobe Acrobat format. To view or download the case, click here.

Where to Begin

Most students have found it helpful to read through the entire case from first page to last before extensive exploration of the links that appear in the text.

Once you understand the history of the Business Advisor and the dilemma facing Woods, you will want to then take a close look at the spring 1998 archive of the site included with this case. One approach to probing the site is to imagine yourself as a business owner coming upon the site for the first time. Specify a business or a particular question that aligns with your interests and determine what the site does or does not offer. What kinds of information are easily available? What are not? If you do find something germane, are the sources of that information clear? Reliable? How does your experience using the site relate to the goals underlying its design, as described in the case?

This detailed knowledge of the workings of the site will give you a solid foundation for understanding the options Woods faces or to develop other options you believe he should consider.

Click on the arrow at the bottom right of this page to go to the next section.

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Harvard University > John F. Kennedy School of Government > Case Program

This case was written by David Eddy Spicer for Associate Professor Jane Fountain, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. (0399)

Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

This file was last updated on 23-Mar-99.

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