Considered a pioneer in online retailing, Amazon.com, Inc. expanded during the late 1990s to offer the “Earth’s Biggest Selection” of books, CDs, videos, DVDs, electronics, toys, tools, home furnishings and housewares, apparel, and kitchen gadgets. Through third-party agreements, Amazon.com also sells products from well-known retailers including Toysrus.com Inc., Target Corporation, Circuit City Stores Inc., the Borders Group, Waterstones, Expedia Inc., Hotwire, National Leisure Group Inc., and Virgin Wines. Sometimes criticized for its focus on market share over profits, Amazon.com put investor fears to rest when it secured its first net profit during the fourth quarter of 2001. The Early 1990s: Beginnings Throughout the 1990s, the popularity of the Internet and World Wide Web swept across the world, and personal computers in most businesses and households got hooked up in some form or another to Internet providers and Web browser software. As use of the Internet became more prevalent in society, Continue reading
Business History
History and Background of The Unilever Company
Unilever began with British soap-maker company named Lever Brothers. Their revolutionary action in business was by introducing the Sunlight Soap in 1890s. That idea was from William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Brothers. This idea helped the Lever Brothers become the first company that help popularize cleanliness in Victorian England. Moreover, the product rapidly emulated globally after that it was a success in UK and made Lever Brothers obtained more business worldwide. One of the reasons of this success was the strategy from William that not only prioritize on selling the products but also focus on manufacturing them. On the other side, in 1872 Jurgens and Van den Bergh created a company that produces margarine. Since there were many competitors in the margarine industry in Dutch, in 1920s, Jurgen and Van de Berth decided to strengthen their company by joining another margarine manufacturer in Bohemia. In 1927, there were three Continue reading
History and Background of FIAT
The foundation of FIAT On July 11th, 1899 few Italian aristocrats founded the “Società Anonima Fabbrica di Automobili – Torino – F.I.A.T” that means translated in English language “Anonymous Society Automotive Factory – Turin”. Giovanni Agnelli was one of the co-owner of the company, he was elected Operational Secretary, but later on he became the most influent figure in the F.I.A.T company with the biggest shared owned. In the following years, thanks to Giovanni Agnelli, F.I.A.T. became profitable and it was listed on the stock exchange. In 1906 F.I.A.T. proceed with acquisition of others Italian industrial firms that permitted the creation of a new company named FIAT, without any dot. In the new company, Giovanni Agnelli could possess a bigger share than in the previous one, getting a dominant position within the firm. The FIAT design and industrial capabilities were concentrated in the production of engines in the first period. Continue reading
History and Background of Qantas Airlines
The Qantas story is of persistence, timing, and determination of how one fledgling airline has endured through the lore and linage of a storied British Colony established in 1788. Great Britain was facing a serious prison overcrowding situation in the mid to late 1780’s. The British Parliament decided to reduce this overcrowding by taking the non-violent, skilled convicts, and use their time incarcerated to establish a new colony. It had been estimated that to establish and maintain a colony took about seven to ten years. With prisoners identified and promised their freedom and a parcel of land in the new colony for their efforts, the ships set sail for Australia. A colony established by convicts began in 1787 and continued through 1790 where over 2000 prisoners were sent to the Sydney Shores. It was not until 1793 that the first free settlers arrived in Australia. For a few years, the Continue reading
History and Background of Oracle
Larry Ellison, Bob Miller, and Ed Oats founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977. SDL was founded to implement a commercial version of Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). Inspiration to implement RDBMS system came from the 1970 paper on RDBMS authored by Edgor Codd named “A Relational Data for Large Shared Data Banks”. In 1977 SDL implemented first commercial version of RDBMS for CIA. The code name for the project was Oracle. The unique product that the company offered was increasingly recognized in the market and company changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation to identify itself with its flagship product Oracle. Oracle decided that it would use SQL to retrieve data from database because founders understood that IBM’s SQL will become a de-facto standard. This was one of the early strategic decisions. So Oracle made sure that commercial RDBMS that was developed was compatible with SQL. This gave Oracle Continue reading
History and Background of United Parcel Service (UPS)
How UPS Started In 1907 there was a great need in America for personal messenger and delivery services. To assist meet this need, an enterprising 19-year-old, James E. Casey, borrowed $100 from somebody and established the American messenger Company in Seattle, Washington. According to accounts given by Jim there have been quite a few messenger services already within the Seattle area, a number of that he had worked for within the past. That initial name was well-suited to the business pursuits of the new company. In response to telephone calls received at their basement headquarters, messengers ran errands, delivered packages, and carried notes, baggage, and trays of food from restaurants. They created most deliveries on foot and used bicycles for extended visits. only some cars were living at that point and shops of the day still used horses and wagons for merchandise delivery. it might be six years before the u. Continue reading