Comapring Similar Businesses
Comparing Two Similar Businesses: Amazon.com and Borders Books
Jennifer Kleinfield
Alethia Gardner
BUS 302
7/26/2012
Comparing Two Similar Businesses
Amazon.com and Borders Books are two companies who had very different outcomes after years of business. One is still successful, even today, while the other is no longer open. One changed with the times, developing new technologies and new strategies that suited the ever changing trends of society. The other did not realize how crucial change is to the business world until much too late. Although these companies had very different outcomes, the roads they began their journeys on were similar in some ways. Both focused on products popular to a wide variety of people, and both had years where business was good. Choices made over the years, good and bad, contributed where both companies ended up in the present. Choices, especially in the business world, can make or break a company, and these two similar companies are good examples of this fact. Histories and Core Businesses Jeff Bezos started Amazon, a fortune 500 company based in Seattle Washington, in 1995. Amazon offers everything from books and electronics to tennis rackets and diamond jewelry. Big name retailers now work with Amazon services to power their E-commerce offerings including Tech services, merchandising, customer service, and order fulfillment. Incorporated in 1971 as Borders Books, Borders became the nation’s second largest retailer of books, music, and other educational, informational, and entertainment products. Borders was associated with superstores catering to book and music lovers, with a wide selection of hard to find titles and tapes, and varying electronic media.
Management Approach to Internet Marketing and Sales Amazon leaders start with their customers and work backwards. They require and expect innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. Teams of product managers, designers, buyers,
Jennifer Kleinfield
Alethia Gardner
BUS 302
7/26/2012
Comparing Two Similar Businesses
Amazon.com and Borders Books are two companies who had very different outcomes after years of business. One is still successful, even today, while the other is no longer open. One changed with the times, developing new technologies and new strategies that suited the ever changing trends of society. The other did not realize how crucial change is to the business world until much too late. Although these companies had very different outcomes, the roads they began their journeys on were similar in some ways. Both focused on products popular to a wide variety of people, and both had years where business was good. Choices made over the years, good and bad, contributed where both companies ended up in the present. Choices, especially in the business world, can make or break a company, and these two similar companies are good examples of this fact. Histories and Core Businesses Jeff Bezos started Amazon, a fortune 500 company based in Seattle Washington, in 1995. Amazon offers everything from books and electronics to tennis rackets and diamond jewelry. Big name retailers now work with Amazon services to power their E-commerce offerings including Tech services, merchandising, customer service, and order fulfillment. Incorporated in 1971 as Borders Books, Borders became the nation’s second largest retailer of books, music, and other educational, informational, and entertainment products. Borders was associated with superstores catering to book and music lovers, with a wide selection of hard to find titles and tapes, and varying electronic media.
Management Approach to Internet Marketing and Sales Amazon leaders start with their customers and work backwards. They require and expect innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. Teams of product managers, designers, buyers,
References: Borders Group, Inc. history (n.d) Company History. Retrieved from Fundinguniverse.com: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/borders-group-inc-history/ Careers at Amazon (n.d) About Amazon. Retrieved from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/careers-homepage/b/ref=amb_link_5763692 Williams, C. (2010). Management. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.