Beating Books: How Amazon turned the ‘founder story’ into a business empire

We’ve heard the story of the “self-made billionaire” a thousand times: some unknown professionals working in a rural garage meet The Next Big Thing, thus transforming their business and becoming insane at this time – all of them. while ignoring the fact that they received $ 300,000 in cash from their already wealthy, politically affiliated parents to do so.

Mu Storage: Works with Robots in Amazon, Alessandro Delfanti, assistant professor at the University of Toronto and author Biohackers: The politics of Open Science, takes a closer look at the differences between the Amazon population and the disruption of alliances, monitoring workers in the best-in-class positions around the world – and how they use high-tech technologies to keep their employees’ noses afloat, copying in water bottles. In the section below, Delfanti explores how our modern digital band relies on the ancient myth of redemption to destroy their images into wonderkids worthy of unashamed admiration.

This is from Storage: Works with Robots in Amazon by Alessandro Delfanti, available here from Pluto Press.

Aside from the jobs, cars and concrete, which Amazon brought to Piacenza and other rural areas with its own storage space is just a myth: the promise of economic change, economic development, and the liberation of people from the “disruptions” of human society. a company based primarily on the application of new technologies in operation and operation. It is a pledge that the team in question is willing to offer such requests to large multinational corporations who create, implement, and maintain expertise. This myth of digital capitalism is rooted in a number of issues, including magic, heroism, and issues of redemption. Some are now known to everyone: A few teens walking around the garage can change or make a whole business, making billions. The garage is an important part of this story. We are not talking about garages themselves Price MXP5 workers park their cars after a ten-hour exchange in the warehouse, or of the glasses that Amazon Flex couriers store in piles of boxes for delivery. Innovation is a place where people who do not have old habits and who are supported by business finances turn simple ideas into digital businesses. Nowhere does this story go any deeper than California: The house of William Hewlett and David Packard of the lower Palo Alto is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places as “Silicon Valley birthplace,” where the garage of Steve Jobs ‘parents’ home (where he and Steve Wozniak built the first Apple computer company) recently recently designated as a “historic site” by the city of Los Altos. These garages have also been transformed into an anonymous museum and receive thousands of visitors a year, some even arriving by bus. For California historian Mario Biagioli, the garage has become an important descriptive tool in modern media, enabling descriptions of the origins of modern technology. Male skills in particular, since the garage is strictly male space. Bezos himself founded Amazon in a garage, even in California – or a legend from Amazon says: in 1994 he quit his lucrative but wet Wall Wall hedge fund business and ran a business running across the country from New York to Seattle, where. he used his own money and that of his family to start the company.

The story of the redemption and success of the heroic business descends on the warehouse, while Amazon provides services to its employees through a liberated approach. The idea of ​​redemption through works is not new. Rather, it is a widespread destruction in modern society. In the early 1960’s, sociologist Romano Alquati noted that the Italian industrial scene of the 20th century included the building up of a “myth” or “sect” of freedom. During this time, it was targeted at a large number of migrant workers who, after World War II, moved from rural areas to the north of the country to find work with leading Italian companies after the economic war, such as FIAT or Olivetti. Deliverance from the backwardness of rural life was confirmed not only by fixed pay and pension prospects at the end of the line, but also by participation in advanced technological innovations — the line of industrial capitalism. Amazon just repeats and changes such promises. In Italy, for example, Amazon sets itself up as a labor-intensive company that brings sustainable employment to a stable labor market, which greatly benefits the labor market facing economic hardship, economic hardship, and lack of re-training and skills development opportunities. That is why Amazon continues the history of Italian capitalism, but incorporates it into local books borrowed from the American digital corporation model.

Indeed, digital capitalism undermines the promise of economic capitalism as well as social and other factors. Instead of simply exchanging a conference line with a robot or algorithm, the culture of digital capitalism blends free ideas with business elements. At the heart of this story is an individual’s personal appearance. The combination of new information technologies with a free market facilitates open opportunities for entrepreneurs. In addition, digital capitalist companies claim to be there to change the world, to please the people, to make a profit for everyone and not for investors — the hope of technology at its peak. Other than that, how can you report bad results when your first point is not bad, as Google’s old saying goes.

Amazon spreads this old story to all of its employees. Indeed, in corporate newsletters, the company goes so far as to claim that everyone is an “owner” on Amazon. While this is especially true in the case of engineers and supervisors who receive company shares, it can be understood at the level of the legends of the warehouse workers. Symbolic or spiritual commitment to the future of the company. The management techniques used in the warehouse contribute to the creation of this myth, as colleagues are being asked to enjoy the workplace and help Amazon make history, as one of its corporate mottoes. The myth conveys the idea that there is no other way to improve the digital economy. The only choice, or failure for those who can not continue or change or submit.

Myths are not mere legends or myths. It is the mind that helps us to understand the world. The myth of digital capitalism itself is not just a myth, but rather has a real impact. For Big Tech organizations, the story is helping the world, helping to attract employees and investors, as well as increasing corporate value in the financial markets. But it also has some concrete effects. In various parts of the world, as well as in different parts of the world, the myth of redemption from participation in technological innovation has touched on economic and cultural issues. Gynecologist Lisa Nakamura recounted how, in the 1970’s, electronics manufacturers working in the Navajo region of New Mexico justified the hiring of Native women. Working on the smallest detail was said to be the inspiration for the clever and gentle Navajo women — ideas that came from apartheid. Italy is quite different from the Navajo Nation, yet the idea that a nation exported to American digital capitalism could be a force to be reckoned with and a personal liberation existed and prevailed there. Belief in this myth can be seen in a variety of ways. Others bring in resources, such as the $ 1.5 billion government fund set up in 2020 by the Italian government to support start-up companies and hopefully boost economic growth. Some sell items, such as when the mayors of small unemployed small towns compete to lure the next Amazon FC, giving the company newly opened farms to further development and local staff ready to work in the warehouse. For years, the mayors of Castel San Giovanni have described the availability of MXP5 as a source of “development” and a source of “pride” for the town. This is not unique to Italy. American mayors often attribute the arrival of new Amazon sites as something “amazing” or “successful” in their town.

Amazon’s corporate records also include its legends. Central to it is the popularity of confusing — the idea of ​​a hero’s business to conquer the ancient gods. Some words (called Principles of Leadership) are repeated and painted all over the warehouse. Even Aboutamazon.com, the company’s official website, describes it as “more than just a wall hanging,” and how it sounds. Customer engagement is perhaps the most popular, term that describes the purpose of looking at customer needs: everything else (profit, power) will follow. It also shows that the staff has a final idea. Some messages are well known, such as Leaders are very accurate or Think major. Amazon mythology goes downhill in fulfillment of MXP5 in many ways. Amazon always does advertising for new employees, not new customers. Smiling game posters for staff members, registration events, and visual aids sent by organizations working in the local newspaper are well-known in Piacenza, as are areas around other FCs. Social media amplifies the message. Amazon encourages employees to join a group of “ambassadors” – employees who capture social networking sites with good stories about their work or videos that dance happily inside the warehouse. Like the walls of FC, both systems are filled with Leadership Principles: at a recruitment ceremony near Toronto, the words, Fulfilling customer promise, were displayed as part of a photo exhibition filled with smiling logos, accompanied by a lively display. information such as job descriptions or benefits. He told us: “Anyone in the Amazon who wants to be a leader should pay close attention to“ customer sensitivity ”and“ instability, ”and we must not forget that the people of the Amazon are“ right. ” The event was wrapped in a free pizza.