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Lyndsie Foster
Mark Crowley
BUS 1050
3/9/2021
Survival of The Fittest Today

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist who strongly believed
in the theory of evolution and natural selection. He would talk about how the strongest animals
survive in natural selection. The strongest are the ones who can adapt to changes, diversify, and
improve when they hit challenges. In other words, the strongest will survive.1 In today's day and
age, most of the successful people are the ones who take what they want and don’t linger around.
Men are inherently selfish and look after themselves before others. Amazon is one of the much
more successful businesses with many diverse products to offer. They may not have gotten
where they are in the most honest way as a result of fitting in with the survival of the fittest, but
they are there.

Every business starts out as an idea that turns into a goal with a plan and effort comes
next. If someone wants to be a successful business owner, they have to take the opportunities as
they come. Sure anyone can start a business, but what matters is if it will last. The business
doesn’t have to start out perfect, it has to be run by someone who will help it to improve and
diversify as challenges hit. Everything constantly improving keeps the standards up for what is
acceptable.

Amazon is a great example of Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ model in business today.
All businesses face challenges everyday and Amazon seems to be able to diversify it’s stock
every day. They are clearly one of the stronger businesses. With being a stronger business, they
are also very selfish. As Darwin liked to point out, men naturally look out for themselves.2 It’s
part of the survival of the fittest. A pushover won't survive long in business because they aren’t
willing to do much for themselves.

1 Calvin M. Boardman, Alan N. Sandomir, and Harris Sondak, Foundations of Business

Thought Amended 9th Edition ed. (Chicago: Chicago Business Press, 2017), 205-207
2 ibid., 205-207
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Amazon is one of the richest businesses out there. One thing many people don't realize is
that Amazon cheats it's sellers. Amazon allows small businesses to sell through them. There are
marketplace fees set up where sellers have “the privilege of setting up shop on the website.
Sellers can use “Fulfillment by Amazon,” so Amazon handles storage and shipping of its
products through its vast logistics network”.3 Allowing Amazon to help with setting up shop,
storage, and shipping provides them with the information they need to take over. The essential
information includes how much it costs to produce an item, the supplier, the type of customers,
and etc. Amazon goes to the supplier and sells the product as its own for a lower price and
competes with their own sellers until they are put out of business.

This is called predatory pricing. Predatory pricing is illegal in the US. Many have tried to
sue Amazon, but have failed because Amazon is so large and the suppliers are happy that
someone is buying what they produce. The suppliers wouldn’t go against them in court.
Regardless of how much money they have, predatory pricing is almost impossible to prove in
court. “Plaintiffs bringing suit would have to demonstrate that Amazon set prices below the cost
of production, which is difficult without access to the internal books”.4 The Plaintiff is somehow
supposed to prove that the likelihood of success was high. With the suppliers as well as Amazon
unwilling to share this information, hardly anything can be proven.

Predatory pricing is a “rare anti-competitive practice because the ‘predator’ runs the risk
of bankrupting itself in the process”.5 The marketplace fees are what help keep Amazon in
business. The smarter, stronger business finds strategies that work and sticks to them. Amazon
uses predatory strategies to keep themselves in business. They find and use “loopholes in
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) disclosure regulations to exclude a
significant portion of its expenses”.6 They pay for their shady things with capital rather than
cash. This allows them to keep the purchases out of reach from the public.

3 David Dayen “Is Amazon Violating U.S. Antitrust Laws? This Law Student Thinks He Has
Evidence.” in these times, April 23, 2019, https://inthesetimes.com/article/is-amazon-using-
predatory-pricing-in-violation-of-antitrust-laws-monopoly.
4 ibid.
5 Kristian Stout, and Alec stapp “Is Amazon Guilty of Predatory Pricing?” Truth on The Market
May 7, 2019, https://truthonthemarket.com/2019/05/07/is-amazon-guilty-of-predatory-pricing/.
6 David Dayen “Is Amazon Violating U.S. Antitrust Laws? This Law Student Thinks He Has
Evidence.” in these times, April 23, 2019, https://inthesetimes.com/article/is-amazon-using-
predatory-pricing-in-violation-of-antitrust-laws-monopoly.
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This is a very serious crime that Amazon has been committing. Over time, predatory
pricing can do some serious damage to the market. Messing with the market will make it so the
weaker businesses die off much faster than they would before. It all goes back to the survival of
the fittest model.

Amazon’s strategies to monopolize through cheating its sellers is illegal, but fits right in
with Darwin’s survival of the fittest model. The strongest businesses often find loopholes to get
through tough situations. When two businesses go head to head in court, the one with better
strategies will win, especially if they use loopholes. Even as businesses compete with one
another, the one who can adapt to society and fit in with what people want/need will survive.