Customer Reviews

amazon.com - Get Big Fast : Inside the Revolutionary Business Model That Changed the World

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is a good introduction to Amazon and some of the basic philosophy behind the company. For those interested in establishing an e-commerce company it makes helpful reading, especially if our current knowledge of the technology is limited. Unfortunately the author did not interview Jeff Bezos and therefore much of the information was already in the public domain.

My criticism of the book is two fold. First there appears to be little or no information on the problems of establishing the technology and learning how to offer a customer centric service. As a long time customer of Amazon I for one have seen dramatic improvements in the customer service model; for instance allowing customers to consolidate orders and requesting part vs. full shipment are changes made after the first few years of trading. I think that a detailed analysis of these kinds of issues would have been really helpful.

Second the author appears to accept the business model that Amazon have developed - huge losses aimed at long-term market position without question. I would have liked a little bit more on the view expressed by Barnes and Noble that they don't want to win a hollow victory - owing the market and the losses.

Robert Spector has written a very fair and interesting account of how Jeff Bezos recruited and motivated a crack team of enormously talented, hardworking individuals into working vast amounts of time in creating something really new that benefitted consumers and transformed the book industry - and helped create the new economy. Spector's book is not money or number focused, which is a relief. There's been an infinite amount of that kind of reporting. His book is about the culture and the thrill of reinventing the world. The outcome of this new economy is still up in the air. But there's no doubt that Amazon.com started the revolution and contains to be the flag bearer for it. (A disclaimer: I was an early and brief - and happy - employee at Amazon.com, and I can vouch for Spector having captured the mood and excitement of the place during my time there.)

"Get Big Fast" is the story of Amazon.com's inception and rise to e-commerce supremacy, as told by business reporter Robert Spector. This book seems to be intended for students of business or perhaps budding entrepreneurs. It offers very little analysis, but Spector gives us the facts -or at least some of them- of how the Internet's first store came to be its biggest. This is a Who did What When and Why of Amazon's first five and a half years, 1994-2000. The story starts before that, though. The first three chapters follow Amazon founder and president Jeff Bezos from his youth in Texas, through a successful career in the vicinity of Wall Street, to Seattle, where Amazon would be born. The remaining eight chapters trace Amazon's growth from the Bezos' garage, to makeshift offices and crowded warehouses, to Amazon's current residence in the lovely PacMed Tower, from 4 employees to 7600 on three continents. There is a list of "Takeaways" at the end of each chapter, which reiterate the chapter's major points and Amazon's strategy during that time. Since Jeff Bezos, et al created new technology as they were building a multi-billion dollar business, "Get Big Fast" discusses the creation of Amazon's web site and it's features, in addition to logistics, finances, and personalities. Since I spend a lot of time on this web site, I would have liked a more in-depth history of its features, but given that Robert Spector is a business writer and not a software developer, his slant is understandable. More analysis of Amazon's decisions in the context of retail sales would also have been welcome. But the fact that Amazon was a pioneer business model that many hailed as proof positive of the New Economy does make comparisons to other businesses tricky. As I write this, Amazon.com is nearly twice as old as when Robert Spector wrote his book. But much less has changed in the interim years than in the first five. "Get Big Fast" is a solid primer on Amazon.com's inception and growth, and therefore a foundational piece of e-commerce history.

The author does a good job of capturing the excitement and relevant facts to the internet revolution. Yet, he fails to take into account the relevant facts such as: AMZN has yet to make any money and may never make any money, Bezos is not the first and certainly not the last to have a huge stake in this business model, and finally the author does not look at the bleak future AMZN now faces. I have actually tried to submit a review for this book five times now (the preceding ones) included a detailed description as to why Amazon.com cannot ever make money and why Bezos is no genius (the software is the real genius of Amazon.com)--I will be very surprised if this review is posted......

Robert Spector provides you with a perspective on Amazon.com that it well known. The biggest strength of this book is that it allows an "outsider" to get to know who Jeff Bezos is from the perspective of his peers. I found myself at many points wishing that you could hear Jeff himself add his take on why he did the things that he did. It appears that many of his peers are almost in awe of him, too in awe to be critical of some of the choices made. This is not to say that the book is overly pro amazon; amazon and Jeff Bezos deserve tons of credit for what they are doing. But I think that this book would have benefited from Jeff himself describing the successes and failures of the company. Regardless, this is a nice book, one that I recommend to anyone interested in seeing how an internet business works, what its goals are, and how they achieve those goals.

I have been buying books from Amazon.com for quite some time and have seen the development of the store, from changes in web-site appearance to changes in the range of products on offer. But having not kept my finger on the pulse of the U.S. press has meant that I have missed much of the background goings-on. This book more than satisfied my interest in the short history and development of Amazon.com, and it could well be recommended to those seeking to know more about and to understand (especially from an investor's point of view) one of the most important players on the internet. The narrative is brisk, light and easy to read. Some technical matters, however, might have been more clearly explained, and the reader may come away disappointed by the brief and lightweight prognostications on 'what the future holds'. Since it is early days in the company's life, further editions of this book may be expected.

Chances are, if you are reading this, you enjoy:
1)Books
2)Amazon
3)The internet

Add a sprinkling of interest in corporate business, and I don't see how you can NOT enjoy this book.

It certainly was an education for me. As a non-American (South African) my previous view of Bezos was totally naive. I had a picture of a nerdy computer graduate who loved books and stumbled upon the right thing at the right time. Maybe Americans were better informed, but my view couldn't have been further from the truth. Bezos, it seems, was being unknowingly prepared for Amazon, from an early age. Sure his timing was perfect, but had he not had the well honed technological, intellectual and business experience and expertise, Amazon would not have happened.

Spector does tend to deify Bezos, but whether or not Bezos will ever live up to this characterisation, he has certainly made lasting cultural, as well as corporate history.

When I was trained as a historian, I came to realize that it is very important that contemporaries of an important events interview as many people as often as possible while the events unfold. These perspectives provide the key touchstones for the ultimate histories of the events. Usually such interviews are done by journalists. And that is what Robert Spector has done with the book, Amazon.com. I commend him for fulfilling that important role.

Those who want to understand what Amazon.com's brief history means for the New Economy, new business models, best practices in leadership and management, and its own future will have to look elsewhere. The book has almost no analysis of the material included here. Think of this book as though it were a series of magazine articles written over the last few years about Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos.

Mr. Spector makes an attempt to build a theme around the concept of Get Big Fast, first articulated in print by Robert Reid in the 1997 book, Architects of the Web. Amazon.com obviously pays attention to this idea based on the report on page 97 that the company handed out T-shirts with Get Big Fast written on them at its first employee picnic in 1996. But he fails to develop all of the dimensions of the point. How does this concept affect the stakeholders in Amazon.com (customers, users, partners, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and the communities the company serves)? How can the concept be adjusted to reflect changes in the company's external environment? How should a new company apply the concept? There is an important debate today about whether Amazon.com's current direction will or will not pay off for customers, employees, or shareholders. That debate is largely ignored in the book. That's an important omission that greatly limits the book's value.

I do recommend reading the book. It did add details to my knowledge about Amazon.com which I am sure will be valuable to me in the future as an author, reviewer, associate, and customer of Amazon.com.

This book is a good example of one form of the communications stall: failing to communicate what people are most interested in causes missed opportunities to make progress at a rapid rate.

Keep asking your questions about Amazon.com, and someone will eventually answer them. Perhaps it will be Amazon.com itself. That would be welcome.

Right after Amazon.com's IPO in 97, I had the pleasure of meeting jeff's mum and dad in new Jersey and hearing for the first time of amazon.com. Now, as an MBA student specialising in e-Commerce, I had double reason to read the biography of amazon.com so far. Understanding the how's and why's of amazon.com is much easier after reading the first chapters on 'Who is Jeff Bezos' and his life before Internet. I found a lot of the little stories amusing for the charm and brashness and amazing committment Jeff has displayed along the way. I agree with others that it would have added value to this book if Jeff himself had have given further insight into some of the strategies employed rather than the author only having recounted information from fellow 'amazonians'or quotes from previous interviews. The book ends quite abruptly with a chapter on the current growth strategies of the company but doesn't explore, or better still - ask Jeff himself, what to expect in the next 3-5 years. In terms of entering e-commerce, this is NOT a text book on how to do it. Nonetheless, it's a great read and gives you an insight into the vision, committment and determination it has taken to get to where amazon.com is today. Get comfortable,... I couldn't put this one down and finished it in 2 days.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast read for me. I was interested in the history of Amazon.com and I was not let down. I know some people have said the author does not give his opinion, and that it did not go into enough detail, but I think too much detail would have been boring. I give it a 4, and reccomend it to everyone who wants to know th ehistory of amazon.com.