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Article: The Philadelphia Inquirer Andrew Cassel Column.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- February 1, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Andrew Cassel, The Philadelphia Inquirer Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 1--You couldn't help noticing the symmetry in the retailing world last week: On the same day pioneering online merchant Amazon.com reported its first quarterly profit, the venerable Kmart discount store chain filed for bankruptcy.
At first blush it seems like a clear-cut case of creative destruction, that wonderfully evocative term coined by economist Joseph Schumpeter to describe capitalism's relentless building up and tearing down.
A few years ago, in fact, the coincidence would surely have been heralded by all those new-economic-era gurus who thought ...