About Robin Gaster, Ph. D.
Robin Gaster, Ph.D. is a visiting scholar at George Washington University Institute for Public Policy and the President of Incumetrics, Inc., a data and program evaluation consultancy that serves clients seeking to understand the intersection of technology, innovation, economics, and politics. Clients include think tanks like the National Academies, Brookings, and the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy; US government agencies including Navy, SBA, and NIST; foreign governments (Sweden, Finland); big companies like Houghton Mifflin and Deloitte; firms with interests in specific sectors such as education, publishing, and energy; and a host of smaller bespoke projects. He previously worked for the IMF and was a Congressional Fellow in the Office of Technology Assessment.
From 2004-2014, Dr. Robin Gaster was the lead researcher and principal writer on a 13-volume series of reports published by the National Academies of Science and Engineering on the U.S. government’s premier innovation program for small businesses, as well as for a major report on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Those reports have been the gold standard for program assessment and were the basis for major Congressional adjustments to those programs. Dr. Gaster’s work has been published in Foreign Policy and The Atlantic. He has edited a book on international telecommunications and testified before Congress.
He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and has also received an MA in Philosophy from the University of Kent, and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, where he won a national award for his dissertation. He has taught at UC Berkley, the University of Virginia, American University, and George Mason University.
Behemoth, Amazon Rising: Power and Seduction in the Age of Amazon
Amazon is the most extraordinary business story of our time. In 25 years, it’s become a $280 billion multi-sector giant, and within 5 years, Amazon may be the biggest company in America. Behemoth, Amazon Rising explains how Amazon built five interlocking rings logistics, Amazon Prime, the Amazon Marketplace, everyday low pricing, and constant innovation. The rings work together to create a moat too deep to scale around Amazon’s retail empire.
But Amazon is not just any company. It’s brilliant, agile, cold, efficient, amoral, incredibly innovative, secretive, scary, seductive. It’s entirely customer-obsessed — which is great for customers but not necessarily for producers. And there is no end to Amazon’s ambitions, as it marches into logistics, cloud services, publishing, groceries, and much more.
That relentless growth will test us profoundly. Behemoth describes those challenges and shows how to handle them — if we are smart, committed, and prepared to match Amazon’s long-term perspective with an equally bold vision of our own.
Robin Gaster’s dissection of Amazon’s rise and domination is full of surprises and strategic insights. Anyone in business needs to understand how Amazon pivoted from survival tactics to competitive advantage to monopolistic power within two decades.
– Seth Goldman, co-founder of Honest Tea and Chair of Beyond Meat
BEHEMOTH, AMAZON RISING provides incredible insights into the secrets of Amazon’s success, the threat it poses to every industry it touches, and the risks to Amazon itself.
– Vivek Wadwha, Distinguished Fellow, Harvard Law School, Labor and Worklife
Behemoth is a must-read. Each chapter fills your bucket with meaningful takeaways and insights to help you and your team think in new and inventive ways about business, the customer, and society. Robin Gaster simplifies the essence of innovation and execution, giving the reader the wonderful feeling of excitement to invent and build the next big idea.
– Neil Ackerman, Head of Advanced Technologies, Middle East and Africa, Johnson and Johnson
Fucking brilliant! Nailed it.
– Mike Shatzkin Founder & CEO of The Idea Logical Company
Behemoth is the story of the e-commerce giant’s growth and dominance. It is an intriguing take on what’s driven Amazon to becoming one of the most successful and talked-about companies ever!
– Dean Maciuba, Managing Partner, Last Mile Experts North America
This riveting book explains clears how the new corporate giants emerged, the damage they can wreak through their damage, but also a clear road map about how they can be harnessed to serve the needs of society, rather than vice versa. Behemoth It is a must-read on the most compelling challenges confronting society and how to deal with them.
– David Audretch, Distinguished professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University
No doubt we are entering the age of Amazon. It’s Amazon’s 21st-century version of manifest Destiny, and Robin Gaster digs deep to show how we are all willingly along for the ride.
– Amy Millman, President, Springboard Enterprises
A must read analysis that outlines how Amazon’s innovations, such as Prime, have led to its dominance and why that will likely not only continue but expand as e-commerce accelerates. It is a thoughtful, carefully researched analysis of an amazing and sometimes threatening American behemoth.
– Charles Wessner, Georgetown University
Amazon is central to the 21st-century economy. Robin Gaster’s fascinating and comprehensive examination substantially advances our understanding.
– John Zysman, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley
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