We read with much chagrin the NY Times piece about Amazon this weekend (read it here). It painted the online giant as an unconscious tyrant of massive proportions, in league with many old-business-model businesses that have existed for 50 years or more. It was not pretty. Even if 20% of the article is correct, there is cause for grave concern.
As a consulting business that is all about conscious business practices, we were jolted by the article. Especially, since we use Amazon as an example of a conscious business on a regular basis. We have discussed it in several meetings and will be monitoring the situation.
There is a chance that the article was a “hit piece” and distorted the facts. There is a chance that special interest groups being disrupted by Amazon's success are seeking to “get even.” We will do some checking and provide an update as soon as we get more information.
