Thinking about the case:
1. Amazon.com tries to take strategic advantage of its resources. Of what physical resources does Amazon.com take advantage?
Amazon takes its advantage on their own storage network because it can be distributed around the globe and on which date are replicated, so if one server is down, another server can still provide data. This storage network is very helpful on sites like Amazon and SmugMug.
2. Does Amazon.com strategically leverage anything else in addition to physical assets?
Yes, because of its own network storage. Options can be created through options, futures investments, margin and other financial instruments.
3. What are the benefits of S3 for small companies?
S3 enables the small company to compete with large companies without spending money. Reliability and speed of access are then of utmost importance. This would be a good future investment for small companies because when time comes they need to expand, there's nothing to worry about in transferring data.
4. At its current rates for S3 services, Amazon.com does not make a great profit (or any at all). Why, then, do you think Amazon.com offers S3?
Amazon.com gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, secure, fast inexpensive infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefit of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers.
