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Sadly, it’s also likely one of the largest and fastest transfers of wealth from small businesses to large corporations. As Amazon hires 100,000+ workers how man

Sadly, it’s also likely one of the largest and fastest transfers of wealth from small businesses to large corporations. As Amazon hires 100,000+ workers how many small businesses are shuttering for good? Stripe is one of the “good” tech companies in this respect by helping to level the playing field for smaller businesses, but it’s not going to be enough.

pc 7y ago
The impact of Covid-19 on many businesses around the world is very sad. That said, it's less clear to me that the medium-term impact will be pro-incumbent or pro-large company. Big incumbents tend to be less adaptable and to benefit from large fixed cost barriers to entry (e.g. real estate). We're seeing a lot of nimble small businesses migrate to online business models far faster than the behemoths they used to struggle to compete against.
- hooande 7y ago
  This is true, but the big incumbents will benefit from being able to buy up swaths of local business at a discount. Their advantages of scale will only increase
- bagacrap 7y ago
  I think he's thinking about local specialty retailers, which pretty much by definition cannot pivot into some online model. If you aren't deemed essential, you're likely going out of business as your market is eaten up by Amazon and Target/Walmart (which get to keep selling various non essentials since they're allowed to remain open, so they can sell groceries and drugs). Small local businesses will fail or take out crushing loans from the govt, and your mom+pop kitchen store is not more able to cope than Target with its well staffed IT dept, unbroken revenue stream, and deep pockets.
malandrew 7y ago
I don't understand this idolization of small over large (or vice versa for others). The thing that matters most is that businesses best satisfy their customers, whether they are small or large. There's no benefit to having a small business that provides inferior products or inferior service relative to a large company. I buy from small companies all the time and many of those that I do will likely survive because they provide better goods and services than any large company.
- tlrobinson 7y ago
  I admire people willing to take risks starting their own business instead of being another cog in the machine. I guess you could say I’m privileged to be able to value more diverse offerings over the absolute lowest prices, but culture suffers when all you have are same 5 retailers and 20 restaurant chains in every town. Also, economies of scale put small businesses at a disadvantage, even if their product isn’t inferior.
- noelwelsh 7y ago
  Large companies have more power than smaller ones. This could be the power to offer poor products at inflated prices, or power to alter political processes to their favor.
  - mikeyouse 7y ago
    Also small companies often employ and are owned by my neighbors.. Amazon doesn't and is owned by a bunch of hedge funds and a dude who buys $200M houses.
    - misun78 7y ago
      Large companies also employ my neighbors, and clearly for a better value as otherwise they would be with smaller ones. As for ownership, Amazon is part of the S&P 500 which is quite literally owned by millions of folks in their savings, 401k's etc. Hence the reality is not that simple.
      - walshemj 7y ago
        And plenty of small investors like me own Amazon via their manged funds
  - bhupy 7y ago
    > or power to alter political processes Doing away with large companies doesn't guarantee that this will end, though. An example: while there are few large corporations providing physician services, the American Medical Association lobbies on behalf of the thousands of individual doctors and small private practices, often to the detriment of consumers anyway.
carapace 7y ago
I keep thinking about a line from "Small is Beautiful": > Rather than mass production we need production of the masses. Something like that. Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful > First published in 1973, Small Is Beautiful brought Schumacher's critiques of Western economics to a wider audience during the 1973 energy crisis and the popularisation of the concept of globalization. In 1995 The Times Literary Supplement ranked Small Is Beautiful among the 100 most influential books published since World War II.
hnick 7y ago
It's interesting to see smaller companies adapt though. Local cafes in Australia are selling toilet paper and soap. Overall I agree with your point. Many have shut their doors and I don't know if they'll reopen.

pc 7y ago

The impact of Covid-19 on many businesses around the world is very sad. That said, it's less clear to me that the medium-term impact will be pro-incumbent or pro-large company. Big incumbents tend to be less adaptable and to benefit from large fixed cost barriers to entry (e.g. real estate). We're seeing a lot of nimble small businesses migrate to online business models far faster than the behemoths they used to struggle to compete against.

hooande 7y ago
This is true, but the big incumbents will benefit from being able to buy up swaths of local business at a discount. Their advantages of scale will only increase
bagacrap 7y ago
I think he's thinking about local specialty retailers, which pretty much by definition cannot pivot into some online model. If you aren't deemed essential, you're likely going out of business as your market is eaten up by Amazon and Target/Walmart (which get to keep selling various non essentials since they're allowed to remain open, so they can sell groceries and drugs). Small local businesses will fail or take out crushing loans from the govt, and your mom+pop kitchen store is not more able to cope than Target with its well staffed IT dept, unbroken revenue stream, and deep pockets.

malandrew 7y ago

I don't understand this idolization of small over large (or vice versa for others). The thing that matters most is that businesses best satisfy their customers, whether they are small or large. There's no benefit to having a small business that provides inferior products or inferior service relative to a large company. I buy from small companies all the time and many of those that I do will likely survive because they provide better goods and services than any large company.

tlrobinson 7y ago
I admire people willing to take risks starting their own business instead of being another cog in the machine. I guess you could say I’m privileged to be able to value more diverse offerings over the absolute lowest prices, but culture suffers when all you have are same 5 retailers and 20 restaurant chains in every town. Also, economies of scale put small businesses at a disadvantage, even if their product isn’t inferior.
noelwelsh 7y ago
Large companies have more power than smaller ones. This could be the power to offer poor products at inflated prices, or power to alter political processes to their favor.
- mikeyouse 7y ago
  Also small companies often employ and are owned by my neighbors.. Amazon doesn't and is owned by a bunch of hedge funds and a dude who buys $200M houses.
  - misun78 7y ago
    Large companies also employ my neighbors, and clearly for a better value as otherwise they would be with smaller ones. As for ownership, Amazon is part of the S&P 500 which is quite literally owned by millions of folks in their savings, 401k's etc. Hence the reality is not that simple.
    - walshemj 7y ago
      And plenty of small investors like me own Amazon via their manged funds
- bhupy 7y ago
  > or power to alter political processes Doing away with large companies doesn't guarantee that this will end, though. An example: while there are few large corporations providing physician services, the American Medical Association lobbies on behalf of the thousands of individual doctors and small private practices, often to the detriment of consumers anyway.

carapace 7y ago

I keep thinking about a line from "Small is Beautiful": > Rather than mass production we need production of the masses. Something like that. Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful > First published in 1973, Small Is Beautiful brought Schumacher's critiques of Western economics to a wider audience during the 1973 energy crisis and the popularisation of the concept of globalization. In 1995 The Times Literary Supplement ranked Small Is Beautiful among the 100 most influential books published since World War II.

hnick 7y ago

It's interesting to see smaller companies adapt though. Local cafes in Australia are selling toilet paper and soap. Overall I agree with your point. Many have shut their doors and I don't know if they'll reopen.