Rating:  Summary: A truly well-written, informative and empowering book Review: I loved it. The book is very thorough and chock full of information on how I can take Mr. Beto's 10 leadership charachteristics and apply them to my own life. The repetative parts of the book are necessary to install the belief that these characteristics can be used by anyone. I know Amazon's story isn't over yet, and I look forward to reading the sequal!
Rating:  Summary: Not impressed completely not what was expected Review: I purchased the book to learn the AMAZON.COM way. And to find out before Chapter ONE she hadn't even spoken with the FOUNDER himself truely disgusted me. The book was EXTREMELY reptitive and didn't offer any new information to those that are following the company. I thought the title was misleading and the little information given prior to purchase was as well. Guess for what some would like to learn we will have to wait until someone can speak to the maker of the site that changed E-commerce with innovation, commitment and creativity.
Rating:  Summary: Good Book, Poor Index Review: I read the book as a supplement to a class on marketing and selling books. The content of the book was good, but the index was poor. Fortunately, I had marked the things that interested me with PostIt notes. If I had not, I would not have been able to find them. For example, p. 177 tells about the relationship between Amazon.com and small publishers, but I could not tell you how to find that in the index.
Rating:  Summary: Not that great at all. Too high-level. Too repetitive. Review: I think that Saunders could have done nature(and the readers) a lot of good by limiting the book to about 10 pages (instead of 200). Reading this book is frustrating because you feel like you are reading the same points over and over and over again. And she never goes into any depth on anything. Either Amazon didn't want to share anything with her or she got lazy with her research.
Rating:  Summary: Please don't waste your money Review: I was very disappointed to read the book. In fact I kept it down after the first chapter. Thankfully I had borowwed it from the library and not bought it. Please save your money for something else. Or give it away to the Salvation army. At least some good might come out of it.
Rating:  Summary: Interesting but repetative. Good bibliography Review: Interesting reading, but too repetitive. Saunders says at the start that she could not get an interview with Bezos before writing the book. A personal interview with the CEO of the company that is the subject of the book is a must, and is a shortcoming in this book. The bibliography at the end of each chapter offers good leads for further reading. The style is very readable, but the content could be stronger. As the founder of an e-commerce website I certainly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone contemplating starting a website of their own.
Rating:  Summary: How much money came out of the pockets of Amazon Executives? Review: It seems like more and more these days books are being written by horrible authors that companies could pick up off the streets and have them write a book entirely about their company, but hide it as being a guide to successful e-commerce. If your looking at e-commerce, you don't just focus on one "semi-successful business", you focus on the many different e-commerce companies out there and you compare and contrast at their success. This book skims the surface on Amazon...but you are looking for more.
Rating:  Summary: How much money came out of the pockets of Amazon Executives? Review: It seems like more and more these days books are being written by horrible authors that companies could pick up off the streets and have them write a book entirely about their company, but hide it as being a guide to successful e-commerce. If your looking at e-commerce, you don't just focus on one "semi-successful business", you focus on the many different e-commerce companies out there and you compare and contrast at their success. This book skims the surface on Amazon...but you are looking for more.
Rating:  Summary: Description of the book Review: Launched as a web site in July 1995, Amazon.com Inc. today has a market valuation more than the combined value of Barnes and Nobles and Borders, its biggest competitors online and off. It continues to be the subject of hot discussion at business breakfasts and lunches by current and potential investors, Web watchers and, of course, investment managers. Amazon.com stock is trading at around $100 a share, more than ten times its May 1997 IPO price of $9 a share, although the organization has yet to make a profit. Just how did Jeff Bezos create the phenomenon that is Amazon.com? How can the rest of us learn from his ambition and apply it to our own dreams? How can we use his strategies and tactics in our own businesses and careers? In Business the Amazon.com Way Rebecca Saunders reveals the secrets, deals, schemes and dreams of one of the world's web superstars. She entertainingly charts the rise and rise of this digital icon and takes a sideways look at how Amazon.com rose from nothing to dominate internet retailing. Business the Amazon.com Way is at once an inspiring and engaging insight into the ingredients of success and a source of invaluable business lessons for the next generation of winners.
Rating:  Summary: 200+ pages of nothing. Review: Ms. Saunders has taken riding someone else's wave to a new low - two waves really. The first is the branding and selling power of anything with "Amazon.com" on it. The second is the hope that this book will follow in the footsteps of Robert Spector's, "The Nordstrom Way," in giving the reader some insight into the world's leading and most successful e-commerce enterprise. Unfortunately, she fails to even remotely live up to either. The book is dry and completely uninformative. Even worse, it's factually incorrect. A couple examples (though there are many, many others): According to Saunders, Amazon.com set up shop in Seattle, Washington because Ingram is there. Um, Ingram is in Oregon, not Washington. What the heck is the Federal Trust Commission? I think it's usually referred to as the Federal Trade Commission. These two errors and the many others in this book have regrettably been printed before - usually in the popular press - which speaks volumes about where she got her material. The book is marketed as an investigative look at the business model and "Ten Secrets" that make it work. Considering the legendary secrecy surrounding Amazon.com's business and the supposed investigative nature of this book, I find it pretty amazing that she knocked it out without attempting to consult a single (current or former) insider. But then again, after the first two pages it becomes very clear that she had no intention of going out of her way. The book itself is about as pure an attempt to capitalize on Amazon.com's success as could have been imagined. Oh, and the ten secrets touted on the cover are actually basic common sense and obvious to anyone who visits Amazon.com on any sort of a regular basis. If you're curious about Amazon.com, I say stick to Spector and read, "Amazon.com - Get Big Fast," (ISBN: 0066620414). Keep in mind that as of this writing, there really is no truly in-depth factual piece on Amazon.com and it's business model. You can get more information about Amazon.com from the New York Times archives (online) or almost any Wall Street analyst who covers the company.
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