[snprbob86]

This comment is spot on.

However, my next question is: What can we do to make more companies be like Amazon?

Not every business needs to operate on razor thin margins, but I'd love to see more big companies playing the long game and continuously innovating. Wall Street invests in returns, not innovation. What can be done to help reset that balance a bit?

[smacktoward]

Do we really want other companies to be like Amazon? If the Amazon endgame is "own the entire retail sector," I'm not sure that we ("we" meaning "society at large", not just "Amazon shareholders") want any company to be like Amazon... even Amazon.

Not to mention that when the endgame is "own the entire retail sector," even if other companies want to be like Amazon, in the end they'd have to kill Amazon to do it. Owning the entire retail sector is incompatible with the existence of lots of thriving alternatives. It's like the Highlander -- there can be only one.

[lhc-]

And, don't forget the rather nasty consequences of Amazon's ability to operate on no margins: it kills all their competitors who have to actually profit to stay alive. When Amazon moves into your market, your company is probably in big trouble. Really, thats good in the very short term (lower prices for consumers), but bad in the long term (because once amazon controls everything, theres no reason to keep their margins so low).

[kmfrk]

Taking advantage of a taxation system that hadn't been updated to tax online sales always helps.

It always helps to compete on different terms than your competitors and incumbents.

[fady]

i think we're forgetting the bad side of amazon. these few article were just brought to my attention recently, which has given me pause on where i shop, etc. i have not stopped using amazon, but i'm def more aware and hope they treat employees better.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-allentown-amazon-complain...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/668688/is_amazo...

http://blog.seattlepi.com/trevorgriffey/2011/04/03/top-10-re...

my gf is the one who has been telling me about amazon and their labor practices. she tells me about jeff not giving back to the community (she is from seattle), tax issues, labor issues. i'm not educated on the whole ordeeal but she has def sparked my interest. does anyone have any feedback? is amazon different from any other warehouse job?

i used to work at UPS and a document storage company a while back and i don't remember it being terrible on either accounts.

[ippisl]

Maybe willing to invest small percentage of one's pension in companies that try this kind of innovations. For example investing in disruptive healthcare companies, with an understanding that it help you when you grow old. Maybe even tie this with some sort of voting power to us, and less to fund managers.

And of course encourage changes towards long term investment, maybe using the tax code.