Amazon in action. Oder: Wo liegt das Neue der digitalen Technologie?

This article investigates the relevance of digital technology for Amazon’s development into a digital conglomerate. Starting from the differentiation between long-linked (concatenation), mediating and intensive technologies (J.D. Thompson) the article argues that because of the sequential structure of the algorithms digital technology has to be understood as a long-linked technology. As such it presupposes standardisation and develops it further. What is new is that the algorithmic sequence and the network based on it overcome the rigidity of the analogous inter-linkage and thus extend the field of application of the concatenation technology. The article demonstrates how these two dimensions characterise Amazon. On the one hand the algorithmic management in the distribution centers leads to the industrialisation of manual work in the service sector which implies work intensification and increased control of the work performance. On the other hand a new form of hybridisation („algorithmic mediation“) takes place in the field of the mediating technology which forms the basis of Amazon as well as the other digital platforms. This hybridisation extends into the technical core of Amazon and constitutes the source of its innovation strength and its economic power.