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Comparing Two Similar Businesses

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Amazon and Borders book history and the core business of each company will be discussed with a look at the comparison of the companies view point on management approach to Internet marketing and sales. You will read reasons for Amazon’s success and Borders demise. The emphasis will be on each company’s adaptability to the markets changing conditions and recommendations a company should build in flexibility to back decisions to adapt to these market changes.
Let us start with a timeline of Borders Books which was founded in 1971 by Tom and Louis Borders. Two brothers opened an 800-square-foot used bookstore and called it Borders Book Shop located at 211 S. South State St. in Ann Arbor Michigan. Borders had eight CEO’s over its 40 years. Starting in 1988 when Borders recruits Robert DiRomualdo to lead the company's expansion. DiRomualdo is later credited with leading the company's rise to national prominence in the 1990s. The highest point of Borders was in the 1990’s under DiRomualdo’s leadership as CEO, the company started integrating music and movies into some of its stores. In 1992 Borders chooses not to go public but rather to allow Kmart Corporation acquire them and in 1995 the book store chain, renamed Borders Group Inc., spins off from Kmart and goes public on the New York Stock Exchange. At the time, Borders' innovative inventory management system was considered "the envy of the industry". The 1990’s Borders adds 52 superstores in the biggest one-year expansion in its history. In May 1998, Borders launches an online retail presence for the first time at Borders.com. In November 1998 Borders had its first CEO turnover with bringing on Philip Pfeffer and the last CEO turnover in June 2010 with Bennett LeBow. In 2005 Borders reaches an annual profit of $101.0 million. In August 2001 Borders Books makes a decision that later will be seen as one of the blames

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