Bezonomics

April 15, 2020
A business journalist examines the widespread influence of Amazon's strategies. Drawing on Brad Stone's The Everything Store (2013), much media coverage, and more than 100 interviews, Fortune magazine contributing editor Dumaine offers a lively history of Amazon's huge success and forecasts its effect on 21st-century business. The author clearly admires Jeff Bezos for his astute melding of big data and artificial intelligence in running "the smartest company the world has ever seen." Bezos, Dumaine writes, is "a force of nature, moving at warp speed through a vast canvas." He has the ability "to face the unvarnished truth no matter how inconvenient, to make decisions based on cold, hard facts." He reads "at an Olympic level," quickly absorbing information and responding in detail with "both strategic and tactical feedback." He takes a long view, thinking "in terms of decades and centuries." He harbors "an ambition to be seen as more than a businessman--as rather, a cultural force, an idea merchant." The author does acknowledge some shortcomings: Bezos' "fact-driven, relentlessly focused mind" can make him appear "as less than empathic," especially to his employees and community, earning him a reputation as a plutocrat. Dumaine's recounting of Amazon's rise, as well as his portrayal of Bezos, is likely to be familiar to readers who keep up with business news. Besides analyzing the company's success, the author speculates about what areas Bezos will disrupt in the future: Likely suspects include advertising; health care, with Amazon offering prescription drugs, home health care products, and remote monitoring by medical practitioners; and banking--Amazon would become "a digital financial business offering checking accounts, loans, and mortgages." As Dumaine asserts, "the list of new ventures for Amazon keeps growing" along with an increasing number of business consultants advising clients on how to compete. A brisk look at the business giant.

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Starred review from May 1, 2020

This is a wide-ranging, smoothly written consideration of the company Amazon and its basic principles, which, according to Dumaine (Go Long) include an intense focus on customer satisfaction (especially low prices and speedy delivery), long-term management (giving investments time to mature rather than cutting them off if there is little or no immediate returns), and product and service innovation. Amazon is able to do much of this by collecting data on their customers and then using artificial intelligence (i.e., smart machines) to analyze the data. This leads to machines learning more about customers and improving on their recommendations. What distinguishes Amazon is its consistency in following this three-part strategy. The book discusses Amazon's major innovations as well as some failures. Dumaine clearly admires Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the way he has guided the company since its inception, and thus thinks Amazon points the way to the future of business. Yet Dumaine is not uncritical. He even has a chapter on how companies can survive and thrive in a business environment dominated by Amazon and its principles. VERDICT This will appeal to those with an interest in the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in business.--Shmuel Ben-Gad, Gelman Lib., George Washington Univ., Washington, DC

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