Submitted by: Submitted by johnc11
Views: 608
Words: 3324
Pages: 14
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 01/03/2011 04:15 PM
Introduction
Amazon.com, one of the iconic Internet-based companies, is the world’s largest online retailers and the nation biggest book sellers. It was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, who was a former financial analyst for the New York hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Company. Although its initial focus was selling book online, Amazon soon began methodically expanding from one product category to another: CDs, movies, toys, furniture, computers, software, electronics, clothing, etc. It also offers programs that allow third parties to sell their products on its Websites. In 2007, Amazon introduced Kindle, an electronic book reader with the capability of downloading books wirelessly. By May 2009, Kindle had become the company's biggest selling product. Despite fierce competitions from Sony and Barnes & Nobles, Kindle accounted for 90% of the American e-book market share, in part because it sold most new releases and best sellers at a heavily discounted standard price.
Amazon.com is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and currently employs 24,300 full time employees. It has a market cap of approximately $80 billion. Its 2009 revenue was about $25 billions with a profit margin of 3.6%. Current CEO is Jeff Bezos, who manages to stay on as CEO until now, something that is rare amongst founders.
Questions 1
The founding of Amazon.com was spurred by what Bezos called “regret minimization framework”; Bezos used this framework to justify making the tough decision of leaving a high paid job to start up a business. The framework consists of the following: To reduce the fear of taking a risk, imaging you are now at the end of your life, say 80, and then minimize the numbers of regrets you have in your life, particularly regrets about not doing things when you had the time, energy and opportunity to do so.
In one of his many interviews, Bezos claimed that one of the attitudes with a big impact on Amazon’s corporate culture is to always ask the question “why not?”...