ICA: Amazon's Dronerama

On the eve of the biggest e-commerce shopping day of the year, Amazon's normally secretive

founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, scored a public relations home run by going on CBS's

60

Minutes

program to unveil the company's Prime Air unmanned aircraft project to deliver

packages to consumers' doorsteps. Forget that it couldn't be implemented because the

Federal Aviation Administration does not allow such use of drones and that it will likely be

2026 before drone delivery might even be possible. The interview set off the "Dronerama,"

as some have called it. The next morningCyber Mondaythe media were abuzz about

drone delivery, with news organizations and Internet sites replaying the video of Amazon's

cool drone delivering a package. The normally hard-hitting

60 Minutes

interview has been

criticized because the interviewer, the famous Charlie Rose, seemed to gush all over Bezos

and ignore other controversial issues, such as working conditions at Amazon. Rose further

gushed over Amazon during the

60 Minutes Overtime

digital supplement to the show. Critics

believe the normally unattainable Bezos called the shots in return for appearing on the show.

The "Dronerama" not only got Amazon on every cyber shoppers' lips on that all- important

online shopping day, it seemed to take some of the wind out of the sails of a recently released

critical book about Bezos at a time when Amazon needed customers the most.

Watch the

60 Minutes

interview at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqHD2F5Xec

and

answer the following:

1.

Is it ethical for companies to use the media this way to gain favorable exposure? Did Jeff

Bezos acknowledge the fact that drones are not feasible any time soon?

2.

Critically evaluate Jeff Bezos' ideas about customer centricity in building up Amazon's

business in newer areas such as same day grocery delivery and cloud computing services.

What problems, if any, do you see in Amazon's business practices