RWL Newsletter #135: Amazon, The Aryan Brotherhood, and the WTO
Greetings from … the C&J Express bus to Boston! I’m on my way down to the Academy of Management annual conference. It’s just far enough, and the days are just long enough, that I’ll be crashing there for the weekend. Excited to participate in the research divisions that I do work in - Health Care Management, Human Resources, and Careers. Those of you who know me know I always spread myself thin. But this is an amazing meeting with scholars from around the world, and it’s hard to just hang out with one track.
I hope you’re all surviving the heat! Enjoy the weekend and let me know what you think of the links!
(picture above is part of my effort to make a piece of art everyday for a year. This is actually the second year I am doing this. To provide a source of inspiration, I am giving away 100 pieces of art. If you'd like to get one, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll add you to the list. This one was for an old Army friend of mine who has retired, but still bleeds green. #100gifts )
Read
What: Zack’s Notes, What is Amazon?
https://zackkanter.com/2019/03/13/what-is-amazon/
Why: A very interesting analysis of the nature of Walmart and Amazon from a retail startup founder. This is a long piece, but it’s remarkably insightful explaining how each of these titans evolved with technology. He asks, sequentially, “What is Walmart?”, “What is Amazon?” The answers might surprise you (I’ll give it away: algorithms - but different ones). Any large organization is essentially a collection of algorithms. Past a mom and pop sized venture, it’s not possible to deal with each transaction and decision as unique. Professional management is all about putting into place effective, self-reinforcing algorithms. Walmart and Amazon have some serious, world-changing algorithms that Zack teases apart and that insight is hard to summarize in a couple of sentences. The whole thing is really worth reading.
Watch
What: How gangs keep inmates safe | David Skarbek | TEDxWarwick
Why: We can learn a lot from prison gangs. David was a friend from grad school. When I met him, he was already deep into developing his understanding of why prison gangs exist. In this short video, you can get a taste of some of his research on the topic. I think prison gangs should be treated as a public health menace. But they are really a symptom of a bigger problem - our country’s excessive use of imprisonment. Part of the reason why so many people trying to flee from the Northern Triangle Countries of Central America (the “caravans” we’ve been hearing about) is because they are running away from gangs, like MS-13, that started in California and were in part the result of our criminal justice system. US-based prison gangs have other public health effects. For example, many of them have “alumni” who organize trade in illegal drugs or weapons, as well as other illicit endeavors.
If you’re not familiar with the threat they represent, here’s a snippet about the Aryan Brotherhood from the LA Times:
“When it comes to white supremacist prison gangs, their hateful ideology is often tangential to their criminal enterprise. So, although they unite around their white-supremacist beliefs, it becomes secondary to drug running, identity theft and violence,” said Joanna Mendelson, a senior researcher on extremism and domestic terror for the Anti-Defamation League in Los Angeles.
Check out David’s talk, and if you think this is interesting, I recommend his book, The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System.
Listen
What: The President’s Inbox, The World Trade Organization, With Jennifer A. Hillman
https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/world-trade-organization-jennifer-hillman
Why: The President’s Inbox is a production of the Council on Foreign Relations. It’s a non-partisan, interview podcast that deals with the big issues in foreign affairs (the CFR publishes the journal Foreign Affairs, too). With President Trump reshaping foreign relations and international trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) gets a lot of mentions. I thought this interview did a nice job explaining what the WTO is and what it does.
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
Have a great weekend and do amazing things!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau