Mapping the contours of “global Amazon” amid the variegations of contemporary capitalism

Scott B. Martin, João Paulo Veiga, Katiuscia Moreno Galhera and Nikko Bilitza

Chapter 1 in Unpacking Global Amazon, 2026, pp 8-40 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The volume co-editors analyze the global, cross-continental growth and spread of Amazon's e-commerce operations within a variegated capitalism framework. Amazon's expansion as a multinational enterprise now physically present, with online marketplaces and distribution facilities, in 26 countries counting the United States, is periodized into three distinct waves. Its imperfect fit within the universe of platform capitalism is discussed, with “plat-Fordism” noted as a proposed alternative capturing vertical integration mixed with platform elements. Amazon's place among digital multinational enterprises is explored, and debates on “Amazon effects” and “platform power” introduced. The company's spatial embeddedness in geographic and social space is discussed, and the usefulness of variegated capitalism as a paradigm problematizing mutual conditioning of firm and actors, processes, and institutions operating at multiple scales from local to national to regional to global is introduced. Finally, Amazon's employment model(s) and labor regime(s) are overviewed within debates about digital Taylorism, algorithmic management, and varieties of anti-unionism.

Keywords: Platform Capitalism; Digital Multinational Enterprises; Plat-Fordism; Variegated Capitalism; Algorithmic Management; Anti-unionism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035380442
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