Competition in the Digital Age
A firm in a “pick and shovel” market produces a good or service that serves as an input to other businesses. A “frontier” pick-and-shovel supplier has made a significant technical breakthrough in applied science or engineering that has enabled capabilities in its product previously considered impractical, uneconomical, or impossible. Pick-and-shovel markets have been around for …
What happened in the world of IT? Who deserves notoriety for their behavior? It is time to review 2019, and, while we are at it, make a mockery of the most noteworthy. After all, the world is already messed up, so at least let's have a bit of fun. Reminder: The awards generate no money, …
That was the topic of a panel I was involved in at the Chicago Booth Annual Antitrust Conference last week. One thing you get from a Chicago panel is a diverse range of opinions. The panel was motivated by an article in the Yale Law Journal by Lina Khan written when she was a student …
Prairie Home Companion begins with a mischievous maxim that all children in Lake Wobegon are above average. The equivalent adage in Silicon Valley goes like this: Every insider acts like an outsider. This adage reflects mythology as well as savvy public relations. The largest technology firms possess names recognized in most households, and they perceive …
[This post originally appeared in HBR online on 3rd October, 2017] by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb How will AI change strategy? That’s the single most common question the three of us are asked from corporate executives, and it’s not trivial to answer. AI is fundamentally a prediction technology. As advances in AI make …
Continue reading "How AI Could Change Amazon: A thought experiment"
Last week, Jet.com, a new retail outlet created by the founder of diapers.com was launched. It basically offers many household staples for very low prices and what is more, the more you buy, the lower the price goes. The idea is similar to Costco or Sam's Club. Jet.com asks members to pay $50 per year …
Amazon just announced a new product called the Dash button. Basically, it is a button with a label like Tide or Cottonelle, connected to the internet and available only to Amazon Prime members (you know, the subscription that gives you free shipping). When you need to buy the thing associated with the button, you press …
The integrity of sales rankings matters. It’s pretty well documented that bestseller rankings have direct effects on sales. In a world awash in titles, it’s hard to figure out what to read, so rationally lazy people rely on bestseller lists to learn what to read. Until recently, the Amazon top 100 was a meaningful ranking …
Continue reading "Is Kindle Unlimited Distorting Amazon Sales Ranks?"
Since Paul Krugman wandered into my field of economics today, I thought this might be an opportune moment to recount various things I have said about Amazon and its dispute with Hachette over the last few months. Krugman’s problem: Amazon has too much power, plain and simple. Well, it isn’t that plain or simple.First, if Amazon has …
Continue reading "Amazon: it’s not the power, it’s the lost focus"
Two pieces appeared on Medium in the last couple of days about Amazon; both critical and complimentary in their own way. But put together they reveal a contradiction at the heart of what Amazon is doing in terms of social value.Let me explain. The first piece you should read is by Clay Shirky. When Shirky nails …
Digitopoly 