The rise and rise of Amazon.com is the classic case study in disruptive innovation.
~ Disruptive Innovation
~ On-line retailing
~ Business cultures
~ Amazon.com
The rise and rise of Amazon.com since start-up in 1994 is the classic case study in disruptive innovation. First an on-line retailer, broadening into a platform for other sellers, Amazon has been guided by the restless spirit of its founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos thinks long term - he expects his people to challenge, to constantly embrace change. Amazon is at the cutting edge of technology - but it's also based on old-fashioned values: a wide range at a keen price - and good service. The key, says Bezos, is focus on customers, not competitors.
Disruptive Innovation. Amazon.com fits into the mould of classic 'disruptions': cases where new products or business models revolutionised the market - leaving old businesses in ruins. We give examples (Model T Ford, Kodak, Nokia, CD players).
Internal Culture. To achieve such success Amazon needs the internal structure and culture to support that - that means empowering teams to get quick results. For Amazon, the enemy is bureaucracy, not the competition.
Also covered: how a change project is organised, the importance of leadership and follow-up.
Too Challenging? But Amazon has its critics - who point to the zero-hours contracts of its warehouse staff, and the pressure it puts on its managers: an experiment in so-called 'purposeful Darwinism'.
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