Several of the assigned articles describe Amazon’s practice of offering private label products for sale directly in competition with very similar products being offered by third party vendors that contract with

Several of the assigned articles describe Amazon’s practice of offering private label products for sale directly in competition with very similar products being offered by third party vendors that contract with Amazon to sell their products on Amazon’s platform.  In fact, Amazon appears to use the sales data it collects on those vendors selling on its platform to decide what products to produce and sell under Amazon’s private label.  Other articles in this module discuss how private label products are common in the retail industry as low-priced alternatives to popular name brand items.   

After reading the assigned articles and watching the video, complete the following assignment:

1. In one concise paragraph, explain whether it is possible for the practice of a business to be harmful to other businesses but good for competition.
2. In two concise paragraphs, explain how Amazon’s practice is good for competition. Cite at least two pieces of evidence from the readings and videos to support your argument.
3. In two concise paragraphs, explain how Amazon’s practice is bad for competition.  Cite at least two pieces of evidence from the readings and videos to support your argument.

INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE CITATION PER PARAGRAPH

Guidelines for Essays

• Address the questions posed in the assignment in the number of paragraphs specified.
• Cite evidence from the readings or videos at least 3 or 4 times in your responses (as specified in the assignment). Follow the examples below to cite evidence in your essay.
• Edit your essay to demonstrate clear, correct, and polished writing.
• Use double-spaced text and Times New Roman font (12 point).

Citing Your Sources

Follow these examples to cite sources in the text of your essay.  Explain the credibility of the source and include the article number (from Canvas) at the end of the sentence.  For readings, provide a page number and a paragraph number.  If the reading does not have page numbers, provide just a paragraph number.  For videos, provide a time stamp (hour: minute: second).

Since all sources are provided by the instructor, you do not need to include a reference list.

In-Text Citation Examples Relevant for All Take-a-Position Essays

• According to a graph published in a 2016 report written by the World Bank Group, about 30 percent of the world’s fish stocks classified as “overfished” in the year 2011  (Article 1, p. 2, Figure 0.1).
• Repairing overfished fisheries will take time and discipline.  As the World Bank Group argued in a 2016 report: “Severely overexploited fish stocks have to be rebuilt over time if the optimal equilibrium is to be reached and the sunken billions recovered” (Article 1, p. 3, para. 3).
• Ian Urbina, an investigative journalist writing for the Yale School of the Environment, says: “Chinese distant-water ships are so large that they scoop up as many fish in one week as local boats from Senegal or Mexico might catch in a year” (Article 5, para. 6).
• Mark Lundsten, a fishing boat captain, argues that “the incentive of the fishermen to conserve the resource, to avoid by-catch, to maintain habitat, not to overfish, are all built in to the IFQ [catch shares] system” (Video 1, time: 0:05:16).

Assigned Articles for Essay:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-scooped-up-data-from-its-own-sellers-to-launch-competing-products-11587650015

https://www.engadget.com/2019-09-20-allbirds-amazon-copycat.html

https://www.engadget.com/peak-design-amazon-video-175235085.html

https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2021/3/28/amazon-private-label

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_19_4291