Media attention for Amazon compared to other American corporate greats (Andrew Carnegie in Steel, Rockerfeller in oil & electrification, Gates in computer operating systems), is formidable. The company is much written about, debated, discussed and admired/ criticized globally. Considering its wide imprint, Amazon’s end-game often draws much speculation. Consider this:
· Amazon controls around 40% of all e-commerce in US
· More product searches conducted on Amazon, than through Google. Thereby, Amazon is an entire media vehicle, on its own
· AWS enjoys around 50% share of Cloud Computing
· Amazon has 42% share of paper book sales
· Amazon has 30% share of streaming video
· Amazon has 6,00,000 employees
How Amazon is changing the way the world operates
The more one observes Amazon’s (and Jeff Bezos’) steady rise since inception; it becomes clearer that Amazon has grown to be an ‘ageless’organization. Over time and successive go-to-market choices, Amazon is continuously changing the way the world builds, consumes and upgrades:
· Matching potential home buyers with real estate agents and integrating new homes with Amazon devices
· Enabling Alexa to access Healthcare data like status of prescription sugar reading
· Building a 3 million sq.ft. cargo airport, to reform Logistics
· Making next-day-delivery, standard for Prime members
· Streaming major league baseball games
· Launching 3000 satellites to supply high-speed internet
And what will help Amazon achieve its vision?
For an organization launched around 2.5 decades ago, Amazon has covered humongous ground. Like its big four FANG counterparts (Facebook,Apple, Netflix, Google); it has traveled a fair distance. There are several leadership,cultural and socio-cultural factors that will enable Amazon go further:
· It has been built like a well-oiled machine so far, with various inter-twined businesses. Content producer & distributor,AI developer, Device manufacturer, Web-services provider AND Retailer. It operates in the ‘sweet spot’ of the biggest paradigm shift of the current century– How people buy products and consume entertainment.
· Unlike Facebook, Amazon has the public’s trust. It has managed to protect itself from privacy-related issues that exploded, in wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal.
· Talent-building at Amazon takes a wide view. For instance, it hired nearly 100 economists, who were assigned across a range of Amazon businesses; to run controlled experiments that enable scientific manipulation of buyer decision-making.