Читать книгу The Digital Transformation of Logistics - Группа авторов - Страница 20

Technological leadership has been spearheaded by a group of hub economy companies that do not operate by trying to compete on legacy products and services. These companies whose valuations now compare with some of the largest governments in the world use their vast networks in certain domains and then transfer those assets to redesign the competitive landscape of new domains and markets (Marco and Lakhani 2017). Hub economy companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Alphabet are changing the way that value is created and gaining market share at a disproportionate and accelerated manner (Marco and Lakhani 2017). Grown out of the Third Industrial Revolution, these companies are exemplifying the potential of the 4IR as they innovate, grow exponentially, and leverage multiple forms of technology along the way.

Traditional B2B companies are struggling to adapt and catch up as their lower‐level white‐collar worker ranks are bogged down by complacency and low levels of retention. The sense of urgency has not set in, yet. Protests over Amazon opening up a new headquarter in New York (Feiner 2019) and an increasingly larger media profile surrounding the automation involved in their warehouses (Bose 2019) reflect the communities' cognition that hub economy companies' consolidation of market share may not be beneficial to all despite offering convenience and a lower price tag. For every million dollars in revenue that companies like Amazon take from traditional businesses like Walmart, it is estimated that four jobs are lost in the community (Kaplan 2015). Adopting cutting‐edge technology, such as automation and AI, and venturing into different market sectors have traditionally not been the core focus of many logistics companies as prioritization has tended to focus on more tangible short‐term customer‐oriented results or supplier management. The underlying global supply chain is shifting beneath us, and there is evidence to suggest a change is coming that will necessitate a reprioritization.