B-School Bulletin: Amazon & An Era’s End

Amazon

Why Amazon’s ‘1-Click’ Ordering Was A Game Changer

“September 12, 2017, marked the end of an era as the patent expired for Amazon’s ‘1-Click’ button for ordering. The idea that consumers could enter in their billing, shipping and payment information just once and then simply click a button to buy something going forward was unheard of when Amazon secured the patent in 1999, and it represented a breakthrough for the idea of hassle-free online shopping.

“Though other retailers can now adopt one-click ordering without facing the threat of lawsuits or having to pay to license it from Amazon, the future of e-commerce lies elsewhere — including the Internet of Things and optimizing mobile shopping, observers say.

“When Amazon first patented 1-Click, e-commerce was in its formative years and Amazon was primarily an online bookseller. In late 1999, it sued rival Barnes & Noble alleging patent infringement of the 1-Click method. The lawsuit was settled in 2002, but Apple began licensing the technology in 2000 for use on its website and the iTunes platform.”

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It’s Recruiting Season, And We’ve Got Some Exclusive Interview Tips From The Masters

News from University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business

“It’s that time of year.

“Tank tops have been overtaken by hoodies, iced lattes are being replaced with pumpkin spice lattes, and the Michigan Marching Band provides a pleasant soundtrack for your walk home. For Master of Management students, there’s another important signal that fall is arriving: the start of on-campus recruiting.

“It’s hard to believe. You’d think they would be stressed out, wondering if they said the right thing or asked the right questions. Not this class. Extensive career search preparation is baked into the MM summer curriculum. Reviews with the Career Development Office and peers help students revise, refine, and reflect on their career stories until they’re second nature and first class. They’ve got this.”

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HBS alum Sijh Diagne

Applying HBS Lessons In An African Context

News from Harvard Business School

“I was born and raised in Dakar, Senegal and moved to the United States for high school and college. Upon graduating from Northwestern University, I moved to Dubai and worked as a Management Consultant. I spent five years working with clients across the Middle East and Africa. While working in Nigeria, I realized that I had much more to learn about doing business in my home region.

“I applied to Harvard Business School because I thought I would gain skills in finance and management, as well as gain access to an alumni network that would help me launch a business career in Africa.

“Arriving at HBS, I was concerned that our classes might not be relevant to the African context – and that I would need to find some other way of learning more about the continent and issues I cared about. Thankfully, I could apply the lessons from HBS classes to challenges that I expected to face in my career.”

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Empowering Young Entrepreneurs In West Africa

News from MIT’s Sloan School of Management 

MIT MBA student Meghan McCormick leads a venture that helps African youth develop small businesses

They had called for a secret meeting. The young Guineans, between 18 and 35 years old, were just two days away from the end of their entrepreneurship program, which had been developed by Peace Corps volunteer Meghan McCormick. The program, intended to address the high rate of unemployment in the country, had made such an impact on these young adult’s lives that they had decided to make a pact.

“’Americans come and go. Projects come and go. We’re Guinean. We’re here. This is our movement and we need to make sure this continues,’ they later told McCormick.

“Inspired by these young people’s commitment to their community and fueled by a desire to make large-scale, positive change in the world, McCormick is now the CEO of an up-and-coming social entrepreneurship company that spans three countries in West Africa and is helping to build the region’s economy by teaching and supporting local youth who develop their own small businesses.”

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The All-Or-Nothing Marriage: New Book Provides Roadmap For Navigating Modern Marital Waters

News from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management

“What does a modern marriage look like? And how can today’s couples seek personal fulfillment in their marriages while remaining committed to it for the long run? This September, Northwestern University professor and relationship expert Eli Finkel reports on his latest discovery — that although the average marriage today is struggling, the best marriages are flourishing like never before.

“In his first book, The All-or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work (Dutton; Sept. 19), Finkel reverse-engineers today’s best marriages, distilling strategies that couples can use to strengthen their own marriages. Finkel directs Northwestern’s Relationships and Motivation Lab and is a professor in the department of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and in the Kellogg School of Management.”

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Carla Harris, vice chairman, Wealth Management, and managing director and senior client adviser at Morgan Stanley, will be a featured expert at the NBMBAA conference Sept. 26-30

MBAs On Business Administration

News from Various Schools

“The National Black MBA Association will welcome more than 10,000 professionals at Philadelphia Convention Center from September 26-30.

“The inaugural NBMBAA Higher Education Expo will give students the opportunity to explore higher education pathways with representatives from top colleges and universities who will answer questions about admittance, campus life, scholarships and financial aid. The organization provides access to over $20 million in scholarships to major universities across the country.”

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