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?