This book provides insight into the functioning of Amazon's business model and value chain. The authors reveal Amazon's formula for success, along with the accompanying threats and opportunities for various industries. Understanding the threat is not difficult; dealing with it is the much greater challenge. Amazon is digitalizing entire industries. Publishers, retailers, software companies like IBM or Microsoft, manufacturers and suppliers, B2B companies, insurance firms – even service providers like the local gardener. No one is safe from Amazon's relentless power and its ability to reinvent itself, not even Amazon itself: Just a few years ago, Amazon's core business was shipping CDs, DVDs, and books. Today, Amazon Prime customers can download movies, music, and many books directly.