The Case of Amazon in South Carolina

Case 23: What Have You Done For Me Lately? The Case of Amazon in South Carolina Name Institutional Affiliation Course Title Instructor Date Case 23: What Have You Done For Me Lately? The Case of Amazon in South Carolina 1.0 Context The use of tax cuts by local governments and states, commonly known as abatements, or some forms of incentives offered to firms to entice them to invest in an area has been common practice in the United States. Although abatements have hitherto played a key role in ensuring that governments meet their goals in creating job opportunities to citizens, the same tax cuts are disadvantageous to stakeholders such as local businesses and taxpayers who may not directly benefit from tax abatements. As one of the earliest online bookstores, Amazon opened its business in 1995 (Carroll, Brown & Buchholtz, 2018). The brains behind Amazon is Jeff Bezos who had the company started in his garage that was located in Seattle in a humble garage. The company had a record of selling online books to 50 states within 30 days in the U.S. and other 45 countries. Amazon.com is a technology-oriented organization which operates as a 24/7 retailer in e-commerce and has about 240,000 employees (Carroll, Brown & Buchholtz, 2018). Since its beginning, the company has been offering personalized customer services, including “1-Click® Shopping,” customized suggestions, Wish Lists and the reviews of the company products. The developments in the company in the last two decades have involved 60 acquisitions in their quest to expand. They have been in partnership with organizations such as Zappos.com, ShopBop.com, Endless.com, and Soap.com. According to Carroll, Brown and Buchholtz (2018), Companies such as Emvantage have been instrumental in the success of Amazon though with a questionable reputation. The company has never given up on its vitality to progress forward. It is still the leading company with enough inventory regarding downloadable movies and TV series shows. The company has been successful through its product, “Kindle e-book reader”, which is currently in its eighth generation. The most promising idea behind the company has been customer satisfaction and the shareholders’ confidence and satisfaction. In the year 2012, Amazon had to make a thorough investment in South Carolina whereby it ensured that there was a fulfillment center constructed in Lexington South Carolina Department of Commerce, 2015). The most opportune moment was this time since this region was demographically conducive to its southeastern distribution network. It was not an easy decision to make since many stakeholders were involved. The plan to have a safe entry into South Carolina was challenging. The architects of the entire projects had an eye for Tennessee too. Because of this projection, stakeholders such as Jeff Bezos had to be involved in sealing the deal. Based on the agreement that was reached in 1992 US Supreme Court ruling, Jeff Bezos had to ensure that all the arrangements were intact (Sec.gov, 2013). He had initially neglected the idea of a fulfillment center should Amazon charge any tax to the residents of South Carolina. 2.0 Facts It was not an easy situation on the part of the management of Amazon the moment they faced t...