Clash: Amazon Vs Walmart By Nirmalya Kumar

Published by Penguin Random House India, written by Nirmalya Kumar, who is currently the Lee Kong Chian professor of marketing at Singapore Management University and headed strategy at Tata Sons earlier, reporting to the chairman of the $100-billion Tata Group with 6,75,000 employees, Clash: Amazon Vs Walmart is about the clash of Titans. With more than half a trillion in revenues annually, these are the two largest companies in the world. They have not only redefined the retail industry—Walmart in the 1980s/1990s and Amazon since 2000—but have also been the benchmark for business best practices (e.g., the use of IT, supply chain, data analytics, customer orientation). This year, it is anticipated that Amazon will dethrone Walmart as the world’s largest company, a position that Walmart has occupied for more than two decades.

By examining these two companies and their business models in depth, Professor Nirmalya Kumar elucidates on the more general phenomenon of incumbents competing with disruptors (e.g., Volkswagen vs Tesla, Marriott vs Airbnb) as well as the move to omnichannel retail where physical stores must coexist with online retailers.

Nirmalya Kumar decodes the evolution of the consumer shopping experience, from retail, ecommerce, to omnichannel in his book, Clash: Amazon Vs Walmart.

ADVANCE PRAISE:

 ‘Dive into the retail battleground where Amazon’s digital prowess clashes with Walmart’s brick-and-mortar might. Nirmalya Kumar unveils the strategic dance between the e-commerce giant and the retail titan, offering fresh perspectives  and counter-intuitive insights into their contrasting paths to dominance’—Harsh Mariwala, chairman, Marico and Kaya Limited

 ‘Walmart (the incumbent leader in offline retailing) and Amazon (the attacking leader in online retailing) make up the most interesting business drama of our times. Will each stick to its current leadership role or will they emerge as dominant players in both roles? Nirmalya Kumar offers the best study that I have seen of these two world-wrestling competitors’—Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

About The Author:

Nirmalya Kumar is Lee Kong Chian professor of marketing at Singapore Management University. Previously, he headed strategy at Tata Sons, reporting to the chairman of the $100-billion Tata Group with 6,75,000 employees. Nirmalya has taught at Columbia University, Harvard Business School, IMD (Switzerland), London Business School and Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University). He has also been a visiting fellow at BITSoM, Cambridge Judge Business School, Indian School of Business and INSEAD. Nirmalya is one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy and marketing. As a consultant and speaker, he has worked with over fifty Fortune 500 companies in sixty countries. He has served on more than twelve boards of directors including ACC, Ambuja Cement, Bata India, Tata Chemicals, Ultratech and Zensar. Thrice included in Thinkers50 (the biannual listing of the top fifty management thinkers in the world), he received their Global Village Award for his contributions to the business community’s understanding of globalization and emerging markets before being inducted into their Hall of Fame.

It is currently on pre-order and will be available across the country 15th March onwards.