28 mins, 2018 [password required] Key Topics Disruptive Innovation On-line retailing Business cultures Amazon.com The rise and rise of Amazon.com since start-up in 1994 is the classic case study in disruptive innovation. First an on-line retailer, broadening into a platform for other sellers, Amazon has been guided by the restless spirit of its founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos thinks long term - he expects his people to challenge, to constantly embrace change. Amazon is at the cutting edge of technology - but it's also based on old-fashioned values: a wide range at a keen price - and good service. The key, says Bezos, is focus on customers, not competitors. Disruptive Innovation. Amazon.com fits into the mould of classic 'disruptions': cases where new products or business models revolutionised the market - leaving old businesses in ruins. We give examples (Model T Ford, Kodak, Nokia, CD players). Internal Culture. To achieve such success Amazon needs the internal structure and culture to support that - that means empowering teams to get quick results. For Amazon, the enemy is bureaucracy, not the competition. Also covered: how a change project is organised, the importance of leadership and follow-up. Too Challenging? But Amazon has its critics - who point to the zero-hours contracts of its warehouse staff, and the pressure it puts on its managers: an experiment in so-called 'purposeful Darwinism'.