IS AMAZON UNSTOPPABLE?
Listers Relevant in this day of Dominance and Market Failures. Not since the heydays of General Motors in the early and mid years of the 20th Century has a company stood over the industry like a colossal. In many ways Amazon is the New General Motors. Regulators and Policy Makers are circling. Globally, led first by the European Union and now the Americans. On can probably say that the American Government has been generally ambivalent to these issues until early this year when arguably first shot was fired by Makan Delrahim, the head of the Ant-Trust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice., when he said of Tech Companies:- " They should think very seriously about their conduct, if you're one of the big guys, you should be careful to make sure you don't snuff out competitors because you think that's good for your business. That not what free markets really mean, and we're going to come down on you like a ton of bricks if that's what you do." This long article by The New Yorker <https://www-newyorker-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/is-amazon-unstoppable/amp> exemplifies the conundrum of Capitalism today. At what point does success become poisonous? What is good and what is bad? Where do we draw the line? Regulators are coalescing around the Four 'Cs'. 1. *Concentration*: “The bigger a tech company becomes, the more they can bully, so we need to put hard caps on how big companies like that can grow, on what they can acquire.” said an FTC <https://www.ftc.gov/> official. 2.* Conflict*. According to Rohit Chopra <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rohit-chopra>, the second “C” is the conflict of interest that comes from “both controlling the pipe and selling the oil.” Chopra, who agreed to speak only about antitrust generally and not about Amazon specifically, explained, “If you do both, you will structure your marketplace in a way that ultimately is self-dealing, and you will use the data from those who sell on your marketplace to benefit yourself.” There’s a long history of the government forcing industries to separate distribution and sales; for years, movie studios have generally been prohibited from owning movie theatres. Unfortunately too often Amazon has been accused of this sin. Too often. 3.* Contracts*. The next area of concern is contracts. Big tech companies often make highly restrictive deals with smaller venders. Amazon retains a contractual right to hold sellers’ revenues for long periods after a sale and imposes limits on what data sellers can share with other companies. Another F.T.C. commissioner, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rebecca-kelly-slaughter>, said, “There are a lot of terms that go into boilerplate contracts that consumers or workers don’t really have an opportunity to negotiate. It is absolutely appropriate for us to be thinking about banning those.” 4. *Complexity*. Lastly, regulators worry about the complexity of current antitrust law. “You really have to be an expert, or hire an expert attorney, if you feel like one of these companies is acting inappropriately,” an F.T.C. official said. “The law only works when it is simple enough for the little guy to bring an action on their own.” It is recommended reading to all business people, policymakers, activists and regulators. *Ali Hussein* Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with.
Ali, Does Amazon, which is one of many, many eCommerce / Commerce shops come even close to dominating an industry as Facebook for instance has dominated Social Media? Regards On Wed, 30 Oct 2019, 08:08 Ali Hussein via kictanet, < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
Relevant in this day of Dominance and Market Failures.
Not since the heydays of General Motors in the early and mid years of the 20th Century has a company stood over the industry like a colossal. In many ways Amazon is the New General Motors.
Regulators and Policy Makers are circling. Globally, led first by the European Union and now the Americans. On can probably say that the American Government has been generally ambivalent to these issues until early this year when arguably first shot was fired by Makan Delrahim, the head of the Ant-Trust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice., when he said of Tech Companies:-
" They should think very seriously about their conduct, if you're one of the big guys, you should be careful to make sure you don't snuff out competitors because you think that's good for your business. That not what free markets really mean, and we're going to come down on you like a ton of bricks if that's what you do."
This long article by The New Yorker <https://www-newyorker-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/is-amazon-unstoppable/amp> exemplifies the conundrum of Capitalism today. At what point does success become poisonous? What is good and what is bad? Where do we draw the line?
Regulators are coalescing around the Four 'Cs'.
1. *Concentration*: “The bigger a tech company becomes, the more they can bully, so we need to put hard caps on how big companies like that can grow, on what they can acquire.” said an FTC <https://www.ftc.gov/> official. 2.* Conflict*. According to Rohit Chopra <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rohit-chopra>, the second “C” is the conflict of interest that comes from “both controlling the pipe and selling the oil.” Chopra, who agreed to speak only about antitrust generally and not about Amazon specifically, explained, “If you do both, you will structure your marketplace in a way that ultimately is self-dealing, and you will use the data from those who sell on your marketplace to benefit yourself.” There’s a long history of the government forcing industries to separate distribution and sales; for years, movie studios have generally been prohibited from owning movie theatres. Unfortunately too often Amazon has been accused of this sin. Too often. 3.* Contracts*. The next area of concern is contracts. Big tech companies often make highly restrictive deals with smaller venders. Amazon retains a contractual right to hold sellers’ revenues for long periods after a sale and imposes limits on what data sellers can share with other companies. Another F.T.C. commissioner, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rebecca-kelly-slaughter>, said, “There are a lot of terms that go into boilerplate contracts that consumers or workers don’t really have an opportunity to negotiate. It is absolutely appropriate for us to be thinking about banning those.” 4. *Complexity*. Lastly, regulators worry about the complexity of current antitrust law. “You really have to be an expert, or hire an expert attorney, if you feel like one of these companies is acting inappropriately,” an F.T.C. official said. “The law only works when it is simple enough for the little guy to bring an action on their own.”
It is recommended reading to all business people, policymakers, activists and regulators.
*Ali Hussein*
Tel: +254 713 601113
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigi%40at.co.ke
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
Great question Ngigi. And it goes to the heart of the matter. Let's start with eCommerce, because Amazon is not just in eCommerce. They are becoming a colossal across many industries. So the issue with Amazon isn't a 'dominance ' issue perse but how they behave towards ecosystem/platform players. Some of the examples are astounding. For example:- Using data from it's partners, using their marketplace to copy and then undercut their own customers. These are really new boundaries we are navigating. The Monopolies of today and more insidious than the old monopolies. Regards *Ali Hussein* Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 8:31 AM Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi@at.co.ke> wrote:
Ali,
Does Amazon, which is one of many, many eCommerce / Commerce shops come even close to dominating an industry as Facebook for instance has dominated Social Media?
Regards
On Wed, 30 Oct 2019, 08:08 Ali Hussein via kictanet, < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
Relevant in this day of Dominance and Market Failures.
Not since the heydays of General Motors in the early and mid years of the 20th Century has a company stood over the industry like a colossal. In many ways Amazon is the New General Motors.
Regulators and Policy Makers are circling. Globally, led first by the European Union and now the Americans. On can probably say that the American Government has been generally ambivalent to these issues until early this year when arguably first shot was fired by Makan Delrahim, the head of the Ant-Trust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice., when he said of Tech Companies:-
" They should think very seriously about their conduct, if you're one of the big guys, you should be careful to make sure you don't snuff out competitors because you think that's good for your business. That not what free markets really mean, and we're going to come down on you like a ton of bricks if that's what you do."
This long article by The New Yorker <https://www-newyorker-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/is-amazon-unstoppable/amp> exemplifies the conundrum of Capitalism today. At what point does success become poisonous? What is good and what is bad? Where do we draw the line?
Regulators are coalescing around the Four 'Cs'.
1. *Concentration*: “The bigger a tech company becomes, the more they can bully, so we need to put hard caps on how big companies like that can grow, on what they can acquire.” said an FTC <https://www.ftc.gov/> official. 2.* Conflict*. According to Rohit Chopra <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rohit-chopra>, the second “C” is the conflict of interest that comes from “both controlling the pipe and selling the oil.” Chopra, who agreed to speak only about antitrust generally and not about Amazon specifically, explained, “If you do both, you will structure your marketplace in a way that ultimately is self-dealing, and you will use the data from those who sell on your marketplace to benefit yourself.” There’s a long history of the government forcing industries to separate distribution and sales; for years, movie studios have generally been prohibited from owning movie theatres. Unfortunately too often Amazon has been accused of this sin. Too often. 3.* Contracts*. The next area of concern is contracts. Big tech companies often make highly restrictive deals with smaller venders. Amazon retains a contractual right to hold sellers’ revenues for long periods after a sale and imposes limits on what data sellers can share with other companies. Another F.T.C. commissioner, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rebecca-kelly-slaughter>, said, “There are a lot of terms that go into boilerplate contracts that consumers or workers don’t really have an opportunity to negotiate. It is absolutely appropriate for us to be thinking about banning those.” 4. *Complexity*. Lastly, regulators worry about the complexity of current antitrust law. “You really have to be an expert, or hire an expert attorney, if you feel like one of these companies is acting inappropriately,” an F.T.C. official said. “The law only works when it is simple enough for the little guy to bring an action on their own.”
It is recommended reading to all business people, policymakers, activists and regulators.
*Ali Hussein*
Tel: +254 713 601113
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigi%40at.co.ke
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
GREAT exposition Hussein and some really thought-provoking questions. But if we were to leave out Amazon and bring it closer home, does Safaricom hold the same power locally? In a previous interview by Jackson Biko with the incoming Safaricom CEO, Mr Peter Ndegwa (PN) commented about Ghana being a tough market because Diageo ONLY owned about 55% of the beer market there. In some quarters, owning 55% of the market would be considered huge, but that's not how PN saw it. Which brings me to my question. With a mindset that considers owning more half of the market as being competitive, what percentage of the market do you think such an individual will consider dominant? Not accusing PN of anything, but in the backdrop of some of the decisions that Amazon has taken to undercut competition under Bezos, there could be some wisdom in thinking about PN's style. Regards, JB. On Wed, 30 Oct 2019, 08:05 Ali Hussein via kictanet, < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
Relevant in this day of Dominance and Market Failures.
Not since the heydays of General Motors in the early and mid years of the 20th Century has a company stood over the industry like a colossal. In many ways Amazon is the New General Motors.
Regulators and Policy Makers are circling. Globally, led first by the European Union and now the Americans. On can probably say that the American Government has been generally ambivalent to these issues until early this year when arguably first shot was fired by Makan Delrahim, the head of the Ant-Trust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice., when he said of Tech Companies:-
" They should think very seriously about their conduct, if you're one of the big guys, you should be careful to make sure you don't snuff out competitors because you think that's good for your business. That not what free markets really mean, and we're going to come down on you like a ton of bricks if that's what you do."
This long article by The New Yorker <https://www-newyorker-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/is-amazon-unstoppable/amp> exemplifies the conundrum of Capitalism today. At what point does success become poisonous? What is good and what is bad? Where do we draw the line?
Regulators are coalescing around the Four 'Cs'.
1. *Concentration*: “The bigger a tech company becomes, the more they can bully, so we need to put hard caps on how big companies like that can grow, on what they can acquire.” said an FTC <https://www.ftc.gov/> official. 2.* Conflict*. According to Rohit Chopra <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rohit-chopra>, the second “C” is the conflict of interest that comes from “both controlling the pipe and selling the oil.” Chopra, who agreed to speak only about antitrust generally and not about Amazon specifically, explained, “If you do both, you will structure your marketplace in a way that ultimately is self-dealing, and you will use the data from those who sell on your marketplace to benefit yourself.” There’s a long history of the government forcing industries to separate distribution and sales; for years, movie studios have generally been prohibited from owning movie theatres. Unfortunately too often Amazon has been accused of this sin. Too often. 3.* Contracts*. The next area of concern is contracts. Big tech companies often make highly restrictive deals with smaller venders. Amazon retains a contractual right to hold sellers’ revenues for long periods after a sale and imposes limits on what data sellers can share with other companies. Another F.T.C. commissioner, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rebecca-kelly-slaughter>, said, “There are a lot of terms that go into boilerplate contracts that consumers or workers don’t really have an opportunity to negotiate. It is absolutely appropriate for us to be thinking about banning those.” 4. *Complexity*. Lastly, regulators worry about the complexity of current antitrust law. “You really have to be an expert, or hire an expert attorney, if you feel like one of these companies is acting inappropriately,” an F.T.C. official said. “The law only works when it is simple enough for the little guy to bring an action on their own.”
It is recommended reading to all business people, policymakers, activists and regulators.
*Ali Hussein*
Tel: +254 713 601113
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/durojb%40gmail.com
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
Ohaga Great points. Let me turn around that conversation. 1. What is the role of Policy Makers and Regulators to curb mischief from so-called Dominant Players? 2. Should Private Enterprise be cowed from being competitive just because they fear they will become 'dominant'? 3. Does Private Enterprise really know how to put the brakes on success? I mean let's look at a scenario - A CEO calls in his Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer and tells them - 'Guys! You've met your quota for the year. We have achieved the threshold of dominance. If we sell more we will be declared 'Dominant' and we can't have that!! So stop selling!!! :-) 4. The role of a Referee (Regulator) is to ensure a level playing field and that of a Policy Maker to set the rules of the game. So when players misbehave and the referee is reduced to whining... who is to blame? We should ask ourselves fundamental questions on this issue and solve it at source. *Ali Hussein* Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 7:23 AM Ohaga JB <durojb@gmail.com> wrote:
GREAT exposition Hussein and some really thought-provoking questions. But if we were to leave out Amazon and bring it closer home, does Safaricom hold the same power locally?
In a previous interview by Jackson Biko with the incoming Safaricom CEO, Mr Peter Ndegwa (PN) commented about Ghana being a tough market because Diageo ONLY owned about 55% of the beer market there.
In some quarters, owning 55% of the market would be considered huge, but that's not how PN saw it. Which brings me to my question. With a mindset that considers owning more half of the market as being competitive, what percentage of the market do you think such an individual will consider dominant?
Not accusing PN of anything, but in the backdrop of some of the decisions that Amazon has taken to undercut competition under Bezos, there could be some wisdom in thinking about PN's style.
Regards, JB.
On Wed, 30 Oct 2019, 08:05 Ali Hussein via kictanet, < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
Relevant in this day of Dominance and Market Failures.
Not since the heydays of General Motors in the early and mid years of the 20th Century has a company stood over the industry like a colossal. In many ways Amazon is the New General Motors.
Regulators and Policy Makers are circling. Globally, led first by the European Union and now the Americans. On can probably say that the American Government has been generally ambivalent to these issues until early this year when arguably first shot was fired by Makan Delrahim, the head of the Ant-Trust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice., when he said of Tech Companies:-
" They should think very seriously about their conduct, if you're one of the big guys, you should be careful to make sure you don't snuff out competitors because you think that's good for your business. That not what free markets really mean, and we're going to come down on you like a ton of bricks if that's what you do."
This long article by The New Yorker <https://www-newyorker-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/is-amazon-unstoppable/amp> exemplifies the conundrum of Capitalism today. At what point does success become poisonous? What is good and what is bad? Where do we draw the line?
Regulators are coalescing around the Four 'Cs'.
1. *Concentration*: “The bigger a tech company becomes, the more they can bully, so we need to put hard caps on how big companies like that can grow, on what they can acquire.” said an FTC <https://www.ftc.gov/> official. 2.* Conflict*. According to Rohit Chopra <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rohit-chopra>, the second “C” is the conflict of interest that comes from “both controlling the pipe and selling the oil.” Chopra, who agreed to speak only about antitrust generally and not about Amazon specifically, explained, “If you do both, you will structure your marketplace in a way that ultimately is self-dealing, and you will use the data from those who sell on your marketplace to benefit yourself.” There’s a long history of the government forcing industries to separate distribution and sales; for years, movie studios have generally been prohibited from owning movie theatres. Unfortunately too often Amazon has been accused of this sin. Too often. 3.* Contracts*. The next area of concern is contracts. Big tech companies often make highly restrictive deals with smaller venders. Amazon retains a contractual right to hold sellers’ revenues for long periods after a sale and imposes limits on what data sellers can share with other companies. Another F.T.C. commissioner, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter <https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/biographies/rebecca-kelly-slaughter>, said, “There are a lot of terms that go into boilerplate contracts that consumers or workers don’t really have an opportunity to negotiate. It is absolutely appropriate for us to be thinking about banning those.” 4. *Complexity*. Lastly, regulators worry about the complexity of current antitrust law. “You really have to be an expert, or hire an expert attorney, if you feel like one of these companies is acting inappropriately,” an F.T.C. official said. “The law only works when it is simple enough for the little guy to bring an action on their own.”
It is recommended reading to all business people, policymakers, activists and regulators.
*Ali Hussein*
Tel: +254 713 601113
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/durojb%40gmail.com
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
participants (3)
-
Ali Hussein -
Ngigi Waithaka -
Ohaga JB