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Running head: AMAZON.COM

Amazon.com

Natalie Chisholm

Arizona State University

OGL 345-Module 5

June 17, 2022

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Amazon.com
Amazon.com
On July 16, 1995, Amazon.com opened for business as on online nook retailer (Onion et

al., 2015). Like so many entrepreneurs before them, and many to follow, Jeff Bezos and his then

wife, Mackenzie Scott (formerly Bezos) founded Amazon.com in their garage at home. Selling

only books at first, then quickly adding more products by year two, like CDs, electronics, and

toys (Onion et al., 2015). Today the online retail giant operates through the sale of a variety of

consumer products, including some created and branded by Amazon themselves and through

membership subscriptions that include perks such as free shipping and streaming services. Long

after Scott, and as twenty-one years as CEO, Bezos stepped down from his position in 2021.

Meeting at work, with a New York hedge fund, Mackenzie Scott and Jeff Bezos were

married within a few years. Pitching his idea to her and shortly thereafter, quitting their jobs in

New York and moving to Seattle, where the humble beginnings of Amazon started in their

garage. In the early stages, Bezos wrote the business plan and Scott worked as the company’s

administrator, handling paychecks and travel (Romo, 2021). When looking up the history of

Amazon, there were many articles that claimed Scott’s had a role in establishing the company,

yet the were vague descriptions, lightly touching on her role in the business. However, there

were many gender displays (Goffman, 1979/1974) and stereotyping of Mackenzie Scott’s part in

Amazon. From the vague descriptions of her drifting out to have children, to print stating “In the

early days of Amazon, the servers that the company used required so much power that Bezos and

his wife couldn't run a hair dryer or a vacuum in the house without blowing a fuse.” (Hartmans,

2021). This type of quote hit several of the boxes in the graph from our supplemental reading,

labeled, ‘general tendencies concerning gender representation in television adverts’ (Furnham

and Mak, 1999). Specifically, the women’s side of the graph, including more likely to be shown

in dependent roles, more likely to be shown at home or indoors, more likely shown to be
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Amazon.com
displaying domestic goods and body products (Furnham and Mak, 1999). A gender stereotype

put on a woman, who graduated Princeton, studied under Poet Toni Morrison, worked in the

early nineties New York finance world, and supported and help founded one of the most

successful companies in the world and she is put in a mentioned as leaving to become a mother,

who blow-dryers and vacuums.

From the beginning, Amazon shows a more masculine perspective. One example of this

is how they solve ethical dilemmas. Bezos organized his into teams of ten, who were expected to

work autonomously. This can be compared to the masculine perspective of contrasting ways of

viewing human relations, specifically human relations are characterized by individuality and

independence (Wicks et al, 1994). A second example is Bezos stating, “Communication is a sign

of dysfunction.” Continuing to say, "It means people aren't working together in a close, organic

way. We should be trying to figure out a way for teams to communicate less with each other, not

more." (Hartmans, 2021). This statement can be compared to the masculine perspective of

resolving ethical dilemmas, where resolution requires dispassionate application of abstract

principles to reach definitive verdicts. This can be carried out at a distance (Wicks et al, 1994).

This can be compared to the feminine perspective of, resolution of dilemmas involves preserving

communal bonds so that all can benefit. Scott, now the former wife and partner of Bezos has

taken the feminine perspective in her work, In 2014, she founded an anti-bullying organization,

Bystander Revolution, and currently serves as its executive director. (Romo, 2021). Executive

Directors take on roles in close proximity to their projects. Scott also creates networks for her

philanthropic endeavors, which requires proximity, another example of the feminine perspective.

Amazon was a third times a charm kind of name. First labeled, Cadabra, due to the magic

it would create, the idea of Relentless was toyed with. This name was not used, but
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Relentless.com is still a working address that will, today, send you directly to Amazon.com

(Hartmans, 2021). Public knowledge of Bezos would suggest, relentless is not a far off

description, but also not a positive one. He is relentless in his leadership, stories of his employees

working overtime, low pay, and consumed by work. One biking to work and rarely leaving he

forgot he had a car, that collected enough tickets to be towed and sold at auction before he

realized what happened and how much time had gone by (Hartmans, 2021). Another example of

Bezos use of masculine perspective, specifically offer the potential for competitive

confrontations, which need to be regulated by precise rules. The precise rule being: No one can

leave, until the work is done, not matter how long it takes, even if it requires sleeping in your car

to not leave the job site. Quit the opposite of the harmonious interactions described by feminine

perspective. This almost avoidance of any feminine perspective in Amazon could be directly

related to the companies’ Controversy level, a three out of five. Controversy level is

characterized as, Sustainalytics’ Controversies Research identifies companies involved in

incidents and events that may negatively impact stakeholders, the environment, or the company’s

operations. Controversies are rated on a scale from one to five with five denoting the most

serious controversies with the largest potential impact (Yahoo!, n.d.). A mixture of a more

feminine perspective could create a better environment, creating a better, and more acceptable

score.

As seen in their public life, Bezos going to space and Scott a billionaire pledging to give

away most of her fortune you can see that their perspectives, one masculine, one feminine, did

not align. This is a cautionary tale of love, but also a deep dive into the differences in perspective

and how they affected the ethics in Amazon to this day. The future of Amazon is bright, but as
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an e-commerce company they understand timing is everything and the current climate is ripe for

higher, and possibly incorporating a more feminine perspective on their ethical standards.

References

Fryer, M. (2015). Ethics theory et business practice. London, England. Sage. 

Goffman, E. (1979/1974) Gender Advertisements. London: Macmillan

Hartmans, A. (2021, July 2). Jeff Bezos originally wanted to name Amazon 'Cadabra,' and 14
other little-known facts about the early days of the e-commerce giant. Business Insider.
Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-amazon-history-
facts-2017-4#amazon-wasnt-the-companys-original-name-1
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Onion, A., Sullivan, M., & Mullen, M. (2015, November 4). Amazon opens for business.
History.com. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/amazon-opens-for-business

Romo, D. A. (2021, July 21). She helped build Amazon from the ground up, yet no one knows
her name. GREY Journal. Retrieved June 17, 2022, from
https://greyjournal.net/hustle/inspire/she-helped-build-amazon-from-the-ground-up-yet-no-
one-knows-her-name/

Yahoo! (2022, June 18). Amazon.com, inc. (AMZN) environment, social and governance (ESG)
ratings. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved June 17, 2022, from
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN/sustainability?p=AMZN

Wicks, A.C., Gilbert, D.R. and Freeman, R.E. (1994) ‘A feminist reinterpretation of the
stakeholder concept’, Business Ethics Quarterly,
4/4: 475–97.