过去16年中，如果非要总结一下亚马逊（Amazon）教会了我们什么，那答案就是绝对不要低估它。自从1994年杰夫•贝佐斯创立亚马逊之后，这家电子商务巨头已经一再证明，它有能力进军新领域并成为其中的主导者。如今，大批消费者在亚马逊采购物美价廉的电子书和各种商品，而且在次日甚至当天就能收到购买的货物；而企业界则纷纷采用亚马逊的云计算服务维持日常运营。

    价格低廉、种类繁多、快速送达，这些或许能解释为什么公司销售额能以每季度40%的速度增长。同时，这也意味着，从长远来看，亚马逊雄心勃勃的扩张计划终将带来回报，虽然外界仍对它的低利润率和一部分赔钱赚吆喝的商品（比如Kindle Fire平板电脑）存有疑虑。正如杰夫•贝佐斯所言，公司是在投资未来。

    但在西雅图市中心占地170万英尺的亚马逊总部，运筹帷幄的并不是贝佐斯一个人。本文将隆重介绍亚马逊的各位重量级人物。

杰夫•贝佐斯

首席执行官

    1994年，杰夫•贝佐斯创立亚马逊时，公司只是一家网上书店；之后，公司逐步发展壮大成为一个庞大的虚拟商场。

    全球运营与客户服务（Worldwide Operations and Customer Service）高级副总裁马克•奥尼托在一所大学演讲时回忆道：“当时，公司网站建设已经花掉了原始投资人的大量资金，但杰夫却决定向竞争对手开放我们的网站。” 虽然贝佐斯的决定最初遭到了各方的批评，但奥尼托却深信，正是这一决定使亚马逊成为目前年收入340亿美元的行业巨头。

    最后，贝佐斯决定对云计算服务采取同样的措施，将数据存储和计算能力出租给消费者。通过电子书阅读器Kindle，贝佐斯颠覆了现代的书籍模式。仅去年12月份一个月，公司便卖出400万台Kindle，而据巴克莱银行（Barclays Capital ）预测，明年，亚马逊电子书阅读器的销量将达到2,100万台。

    If there's one lesson we can take away from Amazon over the last 16 years, it's not to underestimate it. Since CEO Jeff Bezos set up shop in 1994, the e-commerce giant has proven repeatedly it can enter a new space and dominate it. Consumers flock to Amazon now for aggressively priced e-books and goods, then have those goods shipped two-day or same day; companies use the company's cloud-based services for day-to-day operations.

    Low pricing, a wide catalog and fast delivery explain why sales continue to rise 40% on average each quarter. It also means Amazon's aggressive expansion could pay off in the long run, despite concerns over low margins and items like the Kindle Fire, which are sold at a loss. The company is, as its CEO would argue, investing in its future.

    But Bezos isn't alone in calling the shots from the company's 1.7 million square-foot headquarters in downtown Seattle. Here's a "who's who" of Amazon's top brass.

Jeff Bezos

CEO

    Amazon's CEO launched Amazon as an online bookstore in 1994, then turned it into a massive virtual mall.

    "One day after spending quite a lot of money of our original investors' in building our web site, Jeff decided to open that web site up to our competitors," recalled Marc Onetto, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations and Customer Service, during a college lecture in 2009. Though Bezos' decision was first met by criticism from some corners, Onetto believes it helped make Amazon the $34 billion-a-year business it is today.

    Eventually, Bezos would do the same thing with cloud computing services, letting customers rent out data storage and computing power. And with the Kindle, he essentially helped transform the modern-day book. Last December alone, the company sold upwards of four million Kindles, and Barclays Capital predicts Amazon could sell 21 million of its e-readers next year.

迪戈•帕森提尼

国际零售高级副总裁

    虽然亚马逊成立之初主营国内业务，但目前，公司45%的销量来自中国、德国和日本等九个国家。帕森提尼负责公司的国际零售业务，上个季度，该部门为公司收入贡献了49亿美元。

    帕森提尼已在公司服务了11年。在此期间，他发现，各种文化之间的相似之处多于差异——至少在零售方面确实如此。他在斯坦福大学（Stanford University）演讲时说：“事实证明，不论消费者来自中国还是非洲，或者欧洲，没有人不喜欢低价商品。”

    返现也是比较受消费者亲睐的一种促销方式。帕森提尼提到了2005年的一个实例。当时，对于在降价之前购买哈利•波特系列图书的5,000名中国消费者，他坚持要求公司按每本书人民币5元（当时不足1美元）给予现金返现。他说：“在当时的中国市场，应该还没有哪家零售商这样做过。但对于一家秉持‘客户至上’的跨国公司来说，这不仅为消费者带来了实惠，而且也是当年我们操作的最成功的一次营销活动。”

Diego Piacentini

Senior Vice President, International Retail

    While Amazon may have started as a domestic operation, 45% of the company's sales now occur abroad in nine countries like China, Germany and Japan. Piacentini is responsible for all international retail operations, a segment that raked in $4.9 billion in revenues last quarter.

    What he's discovered during nearly 11 years with the company is that these cultures share more similarities than differences -- at least when it comes to retail. "It turns out that all customers around the world, be they Chinese or African or European, they like low prices," he said during a Stanford University lecture.

    Customers also particularly like getting cash back. Piancentini recalled an instance in 2005, when he insisted the company refund 5 RMB -- the equivalent of less than $1 U.S. dollar at the time -- to 5,000 Chinese customers who bought a Harry Potter book from Amazon before a price drop. "This is something that probably no retailer had ever done in China before," he said. "But as a global company with the same principle of customer obsession, it turned out not only [to be] a good thing for the customer, it was also the best marketing activity we did that year."

杰弗里•威尔克

北美地区零售高级副总裁

    1999年，威尔克加入亚马逊，目前负责亚马逊北美业务的定价、推广和营销。上个季度，北美地区业务销售额达59亿美元。他的一项巨大成就是推动亚马逊后台的精简，其中包括扩大任务的自动化处理范围，关注配送中心员工的人身安全。

    之前，威尔克曾担任公司副总裁兼全球业务总经理，并且每年都要拿出一周时间，陪同贝佐斯考察公司在各地的运营点。而前往肯塔基州的一次考察促使公司针对不赚钱的商品，制定出了“无法实现盈利”计划（C.R.A.P）。根据该计划，对于无法盈利的商品，如果亚马逊从包装或运输流程等环节无法找出问题的解决方案，公司将停止销售该商品。

Jeffrey Wilke

Senior Vice President, North America Retail

    Wilke, who joined the company in 1999, now oversees pricing, merchandising, and marketing for Amazon's North American operations, which accounted for $5.9 billion in sales last quarter. He's been largely credited with streamlining the company behind-the-scenes, which included automating more tasks and focusing on worker safety at distribution centers.

    In his previous role as VP and general manager of worldwide operations, Wilke traveled with Bezos one week a year visiting company sites. One such trip to Kentucky led to a program called C.R.A.P., or "can't realize any profit," focusing on goods that weren't making money. If Amazon couldn't find a solution to change that, say, in the packing and shipping process, the company stopped selling the item.

安德鲁•杰西

亚马逊网络服务和亚马逊基础架构高级副总裁

    亚马逊不仅是一家在线零售商，也是一家计算与存储服务提供商。而这很大程度上要归功于安德鲁•杰西。之前，杰西曾负责组建亚马逊的客户关系管理团队，并为亚马逊进军音乐销售市场起草商业计划。目前，他负责亚马逊的网络服务，其中包括亚马逊弹性计算云（EC2）和亚马逊简单存储服务（S3）。

    虽然偶尔会出现服务中断，但亚马逊的云计算服务已经成为许多科技公司的重要工具，帮助初创公司加快发展，并以符合成本效益的方式运营，而大型公司则不需要运行自有的数据中心，便可进行日常运营。亚马逊的客户包括：在线影碟租赁公司Netflix、照片分享服务商Instagram、在线问答网站Quora，以及平台及服务公司Heroku。

Andrew Jassy

Senior Vice President, Amazon Web Services and Amazon Infrastructure

    For businesses, Amazon is more than an online retailer -- it's a computing and storage provider. That's in large part thanks to Andrew Jassy. Jassy was previously responsible for assembling Amazon's customer relations management team and drafting the business plan for Amazon's foray into digital music. Now, he runs Amazon Web services, which include Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3.

    Despite the occasional service outage, Amazon's cloud computing has become a important tool for many tech companies, allowing startups to get up and running in a cost-efficient way and larger companies to perform day-to-day operations without having to run their own data centers. Among Amazon clients: Netflix, Instagram, Quora and the Platform as a Service company Heroku.

马克•奥尼托

全球运营与客户服务高级副总裁

    奥尼托的工作从消费者下订单的那一刻就开始了。奥尼托于2006年开始担任公司全球运营与客户服务高级副总裁，主要负责监督从爱尔兰到中国等地区数千名员工的工作。这些员工主要在公司的供应链、仓储、运输和客户支持部门工作。他的职责就是确保每天数百万份订单的填写、包装和运输。

Marc Onetto

Senior Vice President, Worldwide Operations and Customer Service

    Onetto's job begins once customers place their orders. As Senior VP of Worldwide Operations and Customer Service since 2006, he oversees the work done by thousands of employees from Ireland to China, all of whom work in the company's supply chain, warehousing, transportation and customer support areas. His mission? Ensure that millions of orders get filled, packed and shipped each day.

史蒂夫•凯赛尔

全球数字媒体高级副总裁

    目前，亚马逊电子书的销量已经超过了精装本和平装本书籍数量的总和。作为公司全球数字媒体（Worldwide Digital Media）高级副总裁，凯赛尔主要负责公司的数字业务。他的团队负责极具价格竞争力的MP3在线音乐商店，以及公司的畅销产品Kindle。亚马逊MP3在线音乐商店最开始销售无保护音乐文件，结果一炮打响。

Steven Kessel

Senior Vice President, Worldwide Digital Media

    Amazon now sells more e-books than hardcovers and paperbacks combined. As Senior Vice President of Worldwide Digital Media, Kessel oversees the company's digital efforts. That includes working with the teams responsible for the aggressively-priced MP3 Music Store, which first made waves by offering unprotected music files, as well as the company's bestselling product, the Kindle.

    "Jeff once said he couldn't imagine anything more important than reinventing the book," Kessel said in 2008. "I think that sums it up really well, if you think about that across all our media products."

杰夫•布莱克本

业务开发高级副总裁

    公司多年以来的一系列合作、投资和收购均出自布莱克本的手笔。1998年，布莱克本加入亚马逊后，便帮助公司进行首次公开募股，并购买了在线电影数据库IMDB。2009年，在布莱克本的运作下，公司以约8.47亿美元的价格收购了扎珀斯（Zappos）。最近，他率先提出投资云服务，如数字存档公司Sonian，并推动公司在团购网站LivingSocial投资1.75亿美元。

Jeff Blackburn

Senior Vice President, Business Development

    Credit Blackburn for many of the company's savvy corporate partnerships, investments and acquisitions over the years. After joining in 1998, he helped with Amazon's IPO and the purchase of the online movie database IMDB. In 2009, Blackburn helped facilitate the acquisition of Zappos for an estimated $847 million. And more recently, he spearheaded investments in cloud services like the digital archiving company Sonian and played a role in the $175 million investment in daily deals site LivingSocial.

布赖恩•瓦伦丁

电子商务平台高级副总裁

    瓦伦丁曾在微软公司（Microsoft）任职多年，并曾负责开发多个版本的Windows操作系统。2006年，他离开微软，来到亚马逊，担任电子商务平台（Ecommerce Platform）高级副总裁。瓦伦丁成名于上世纪90年代末，当时微软的史蒂夫•巴尔默将他招入麾下，负责开发Windows 2000操作系统。

    译者：阿龙/汪皓

Brian Valentine

Senior Vice President, Ecommerce Platform

    The former Microsoft veteran led development on several versions of the Windows operating system before leaving for the plum role of Senior Vice President of Amazon's Ecommerce Platform in 2006. Valentine first made a name for himself in the late 1990s, when Steve Ballmer enlisted him to push Windows 2000 out the door.