The Four

The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

Taschenbuch
336 Seiten; 172 mm x 105 mm
Sprache English
INT
2018 Penguin US
ISBN 978-0-525-54039-7

Besprechung

An existential alarm bell wrapped in a business lesson wrapped in an entertaining and often hilarious (and, yes, occasionally blue-languaged) series of stories built with great writing. It keeps you entertained to make sure you re informed. 800-CEO-READ

Galloway takes the reader through a refreshingly clear-eyed look at the nature of dominance at Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google. He is interested in how these companies become more valuable with use instead of less, how they benefit from low cost of capital and the implications for things [that] could further strengthen their dominance. Brad Stone, Bloomberg Technology

As the power of technology s biggest companies comes under more scrutiny, NYU business professor Galloway reveals how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google built massive empires. Publishers Weekly, The Top 10 Business Books of Fall 2017

"This is that rare book that not only informs but entertains. You'll never look at these four companies the same way again." - Jonah Berger, author of Contagious

Scott Galloway is honest, outrageous, and provocative. This book will trigger your flight-or-fight nervous system like no other and in doing so challenge you to truly think differently. Calvin McDonald, CEO of Sephora

The Four is an essential, wide-ranging powerhouse of a book that, like Scott Galloway himself, marries equal parts incisive, entertaining, and biting. As in his legendary MBA lectures, Galloway tells it like it is, sparing no business titan and no juggernaut corporation from well-deserved criticism. A must read. Adam Alter, author of Drunk Tank Pink

If there is a blunter, more opinionated, faster-talking expert on the Internet than Scott Galloway, I haven t come across him. Or her. Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

Scott Galloway s The Four is a bareback ride upon the four horses of the economic apocalypse Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. It is a timely exposition of the nature and concentration of power in the world today and, as a result, is much more than just a business book The book contains more insights and provocative ideas than Amazon has Boeing 767s My recommendation is to walk down to your local book store and buy this or more likely, buy it on Amazon.
Tom Upchurch, Wired

Zusatzinfos
Textauszug
Verfasser:in
Schlagworte

Kurztext / Annotation

Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook are in an unprecedented race towards a $1 trillion valuation. Does any other company stand a chance of competing? Through analysis that's both rigorous and entertaining, Galloway outlines the path for the Fifth Horseman. Readers will come away with fresh, game-changing insights about what it takes to win in today's economy.

Langtext

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet. Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there. Just about everyone is wrong.

For all that s been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway.

Instead of buying the myths these companies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they re almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world s first trillion-dollar company, can anyone challenge them?

In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world s most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can t match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career.

Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.

Textauszug

Chapter 1

The Four

Over the last twenty years, four technology giants have inspired more joy, connections, prosperity, and discovery than any entity in history. Along the way, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have created hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs. The Four are responsible for an array of products and services that are entwined into the daily lives of billions of people. They've put a supercomputer in your pocket, are bringing the internet into developing countries, and are mapping the Earth's land mass and oceans. The Four have generated unprecedented wealth ($2.3 trillion) that, via stock ownership, has helped millions of families across the planet build economic security. In sum, they make the world a better place.

The above is true, and this narrative is espoused, repeatedly, across thousands of media outlets and gatherings of the innovation class (universities, conferences, congressional hearings, boardrooms). However, consider another view.

The Four Horsemen

Imagine: a retailer that refuses to pay sales tax, treats its employees poorly, destroys hundreds of thousands of jobs, and yet is celebrated as a paragon of business innovation.

A computer company that withholds information about a domestic act of terrorism from federal investigators, with the support of a fan following that views the firm similar to a religion.

A social media firm that analyzes thousands of images of your children, activates your phone as a listening device, and sells this information to Fortune 500 companies.

An ad platform that commands, in some markets, a 90 percent share of the most lucrative sector in media, yet avoids anti-competitive regulation through aggressive litigation and lobbyists.

This narrative is also heard around the world, but in hushed tones. We know these companies aren't benevolent beings, yet we invite them into the most intimate areas of our lives. We willingly divulge personal updates, knowing they'll be used for profit. Our media elevate the executives running these companies to hero status-geniuses to be trusted and emulated. Our governments grant them special treatment regarding anti-trust regulation, taxes, even labor laws. And investors bid their stocks up, providing near-infinite capital and firepower to attract the most talented people on the planet or crush adversaries.

So, are these entities the Four Horsemen of god, love, sex, and consumption? Or are they the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse? The answer is yes to both questions. I'll just call them the Four Horsemen.

How did these companies aggregate so much power? How can an inanimate, for-profit enterprise become so deeply ingrained in our psyche that it reshapes the rules of what a company can do and be? What does unprecedented scale and influence mean for the future of business and the global economy? Are they destined, like other business titans before them, to be eclipsed by younger, sexier rivals? Or have they become so entrenched that nobody-individual, enterprise, government, or otherwise-stands a chance?

State of Affairs

This is where the Four stand at the time of this writing:

Amazon: Shopping for a Porsche Panamera Turbo S or a pair of Louboutin lace pumps is fun. Shopping for toothpaste and eco-friendly diapers is not. As the online retailer of choice for most Americans, and increasingly, the world, Amazon eases the pain of drudgery-getting the stuff you need to survive. No great effort: no hunting, little gathering, just (one) clicking. Their formula: an unparalleled investment in last-mile infrastructure, made possible by an irrationally generous lender-retail investors who see the

Biografische Anmerkung zu den Verfassern

Scott Galloway is a professor at New York University s Stern School of Business, where he teaches brand strategy and digital marketing to second-year MBA students. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded nine firms, including L2, Red Envelope, and Prophet. In 2012, he was named one of the World s 50 Best Business School Professors by Poets & Quants. His weekly YouTube series, Winners and Losers, has generated tens of millions of views. This is his first book.

Unser

Aktuelle