
The Value Chain Constraint - juokaz
https://stratechery.com/2019/the-value-chain-constraint/
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philosopherlawr
This is a bit too generic for my taste. I overall agree with the value chains
he outlines for each company, but it gets too general when trying to say why
Amazon is failing at groceries and Google is failing at Cloud.

I know there's something else he's trying to say, but all I read is "it's
outside of their core competency".

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clairity
yes that’s basically it, it’s outside their core competency, not with
tech/r&d/product but with the value chain.

amazon knows how to source, warehouse and deliver non-perishibles, but
groceries (perishables) require a different, more urgent value chain that
doesn’t build on their existing expertise. they effectively need to build a
parallel business (which they jump-started by buying whole foods).

with google, it boils down to “google sucks at sales and service” (value
delivered outside technological expertise).

this is a high-level initial analysis (as you’d do in an mba strategy class),
which is probably why it feels generic. you’d typically delve deeper into the
leverage points, like logistics for amazon and sales and marketing for google.

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giacaglia
How does Ben Thompson know that Microsoft Azure holds the second position in
the cloud market? Even though they are growing substantially according to
their earnings call, Microsoft doesn't disclose what the numbers are for
Azure. They only release it their numbers for Cloud, which includes a lot of
products

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arbie
Amazon shared Gartner's ratios at their last Re:Invent:
[https://youtu.be/ZOIkOnW640A](https://youtu.be/ZOIkOnW640A)

AWS: 51.8% Azure: 13.3% GCP: 3.3%

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empath75
From what I understand, azure includes a lot of office 365 customers.

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dajohnson89
fwiw -- i'm a very happy customer of amazon fresh. just an hour ago i received
a $100 delivery (+tip). I think the $15/month subscription fee (on top of the
amazon prime annual fee) is pretty steep though. But it's still worth it for
me.

I live in the city and don't have a car, and grocery delivery is a huge
benefit for me. I remember several years ago, I'd take a $30 uber ride to my
preferred grocery store, buy ~$100 worth of groceries, and charter another $30
uber back. the extra transportation cost + the physical hassle of lugging all
those groceries around, is something I never hope to repeat again.

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shishy
How does that compare to something like Instacart, or other delivery options?
Curious if you've tried them.

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dajohnson89
Never tried Instacart.

Giant (a grocery chain) has a delivery service called PeaPod. I used it a
couple times. Selection wasn't as good, delivery times weren't as flexible.

