"Fallen apart" is a nice way to put it. Another way to put it is that Amazon duped Toy's R Us into a terrible deal, learned everything they could about the toy market, then dumped them and violated their contract knowing that regardless of proceeding lawsuits (which Toys won) they would dominate the online toy space in the future. Everybody here blaming Bain, when the reality is that Toy R Us got thoroughly outplayed in the online space and never learned their lesson.
These were supposedly smart business people. You are always in danger when you outsource something that should be your core competency.
Apple learned that lesson a decade ago. If you look at the post Steve Jobs Apple, they brought more in house - retail, chip design, software, and rumors are they are trying to bring screen design more in house. Anything else, they try desperately not to depend on one supplier - commoditizing their compliments. (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/)
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"Fallen apart" is a nice way to put it. Another way to put it is that Amazon duped Toy's R Us into a terrible deal, learned everything they could about the toy market, then dumped them and violated their contract knowing that regardless of proceeding lawsuits (which Toys won) they would dominate the online toy space in the future. Everybody here blaming Bain, when the reality is that Toy R Us got thoroughly outplayed in the online space and never learned their lesson.
These were supposedly smart business people. You are always in danger when you outsource something that should be your core competency.
Apple learned that lesson a decade ago. If you look at the post Steve Jobs Apple, they brought more in house - retail, chip design, software, and rumors are they are trying to bring screen design more in house. Anything else, they try desperately not to depend on one supplier - commoditizing their compliments. (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/)