“Walmart (the incumbent leader in offline retailing) and Amazon (the attacking leader in online retailing) make up the most interesting business drama of our times. Will each stick to its current leadership role or will they emerge as dominant players in both roles? Nirmalya Kumar offers the best study that I have seen of these two world-wrestling competitors,” Philip Kotler, S C Johnson & Son distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
Published by Penguin Random House India, written by Nirmalya Kumar, who is currently the Lee Kong Chian professor of marketing at Singapore Management University and headed strategy at Tata Sons earlier, reporting to the chairman of the $100-billion Tata Group with 6,75,000 employees, Clash: Amazon and Walmart is about the clash of Titans.
With more than half a trillion in revenues annually, these are the two largest companies in the world. They have not only redefined the retail industry – Walmart in the 1980s/1990s and Amazon since 2000 – but have also been the benchmark for business best practices (e.g., the use of IT, supply chain, data analytics, customer orientation).
This year, it is anticipated that Amazon will dethrone Walmart as the world’s largest company, a position that Walmart has occupied for more than two decades.
By examining these two companies and their business models in depth, Professor Nirmalya Kumar elucidates on the more general phenomenon of incumbents competing with disruptors (e.g., Volkswagen vs Tesla, Marriott vs Airbnb) as well as the move to omnichannel retail where physical stores must coexist with online retailers.
Nirmalya Kumar decodes the evolution of the consumer shopping experience, from retail, ecommerce, to omnichannel in his book, Clash: Amazon and Walmart.
It will be available across the country 15th March onwards.