David Bowen commentaries

In his regular columns for the Financial Times and ft.com, senior consultant David Bowen has pursued themes ranged from customer relationship management and career marketing to ‘ethical’ retailing and royal family sites. His collected Financial Times and ft.com columns from January 2001 onward are indexed by theme and available for viewing on this site.

You can access articles directly by selecting a link below.

  • How carmakers are struggling to assemble a web mode The way the recently closed UK car manufacturer MG Rover has handled its very public death online throws into stark relief the lack of any consensus among the remaining carmakers about the development of a company website.
  • Why the campaign trail is littered with broken promise Optimistic claims that the internet will have an influence on the outcome of May’s general election in the UK are wide of the mark. And not just because politicians’ hopes for the medium are out of line with their command of it.
  • Why international organisations seem to be falling apart Worldwide bodies such as the United Nations can be surprisingly quick to react effectively on the web when controversy calls them to account. But beyond the immediate issue, many collapse into near incoherence.
  • The seven deadliest sins of growing websites Nitty-gritty detail is the daily currency of website development. Of the seven sins of detail we come across most often, a majority relate to navigation issues that are all too easy to lose overall grasp of as a site gets ever bigger.
  • What the European Constitution debate says about the web as a public forum With opinion polls indicating a French ‘non’ to ratification of the European Constitution the battle between pros and antis is hotting up across the continent. Nowhere more so than on the web, where it is revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the
  • How effectiveness depends on knowing when to be hard and when soft The uses organisations make of their websites fall into two categories – hard and soft. Distinguishing between them and finding the right level of interplay can attract more visitors and achieve multiple goals.
  • Why you’re seldom far from home on a corporate site The look a company gives to its corporate website can be a big clue to its country of origin. And that in turn can betray a lot about the way it uses medium.
  • How evolution is adding extra points to sport Live coverage of major sports events is no longer confined to radio and tv broadcasts. But the most interesting dimension that the web brings to the games defies the logic of its evolution.
  • How the web helps everyone form a view of events Protagonists in the various conflicts in the Middle East carry their arguments into the online arena. But as well as giving the actors on the ground an unmatchable medium for advancing their point of view, the web gives users three different ways to gain
  • How the web can play a big part in contingency planning While the web has its disadvantages as a communications medium in times of crisis – not least that it normally requires a computer and electricity – recent events have shown that it should – and could – be given a big part in any response to an em

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