Amazon is a “pure” Operations company if there is one such firm. Using Amazon as an example, one can think of how Incremental Improvements compound to pay significant dividends.
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A re-look at Amazon in NYC a year after the HQ2 debacle.
Leave a CommentAmazon has tripled its profit margin in 2018. Is this the year investors were waiting for? The year in which Amazon “turns on” the profit faucets? I argue (using the recent news on 1-day delivery) that we will see more reinvestment and continued scaling with thin margins.
Leave a CommentIt was not Amazon that killed Toys ‘R’ Us. This is evident from their debt data, and also by a comparison with Target, which was also collaborating with Amazon then. Private investors chortled Toys ‘R’ Us — without focus on e-commerce efficiency or on customers — sending it south, even as Amazon was hurtling north.
Leave a CommentNYC and Amazon fall out — remarkable news politically, but very much along the framework we talked about in the blog. I also talk about how cities have become remarkably desirable. Bonus: trivia on Reservoir Dogs.
Leave a CommentI write a lot about internet operations on this blog. In the Wharton core Operations class, we teach a catalog business case, where I make the point that catalog business is a good way to understand the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon’s internet retail model. So, it is an amazing reaffirmation to hear that Amazon has released a print catalog — their first one! — in 2018 December. See the picture on the right. It is interesting to note that Internet shipping Operations have come a full circle. Of course, there are new tweaks. Like all things that Amazon does, it is based on data. Depending on your purchases, you may or may not have received it. It is as…
Leave a CommentHighlighting some books that I loved reading in 2018. These are not necessarily books that were published in 2018. (Before I get into the list, I loved three wonderful books by my colleagues this year: The Customer Centricity Playbook by Peter Fader and Sarah Toms, Never Stop Learning by Brad Staats, and The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust by Kevin Werbach. I am finishing the last one now). Business and Society: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou is the most unputdownable book of the year. Here is my Review. The Great A&P and Struggle for Small Business in America by Marc Levinson is an excellent way to understand Amazon and its challenges. Automation and Artificial…
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