Amazon, Waitrose: Principles vs Profits?

Two stories, very different, but demonstrating what happens to the supply chain when a large customer in the B2B food-chain gets fed up.

Cutting ties with a supplier on point of principle has an impact on the wider community and could draw some unintended fire from critics.

First and most recent is the report that Amazon has terminated its long-term contract with the Royal Mail. The contract, apparently worth some £25m, was pulled when Amazon learned that Royal Mail's strike action might harm Christmas deliveries.

According to one Mail worker, the strike would secure Royal Mail's future. But losing one of its 'keystone' customers would seem more likely to guarantee its downfall. Other retailers, already concerned about how the recession will impact business, won't take any more kindly to delivery delays than Amazon has.

It raises questions around how much a business -- or a sector -- should and can throw its weight around. In this case, it would seem that Amazon's simply voting with its feet and safeguarding one of its core values. Can it really be responsible for the fact that it could turn Royal Mail's strike into a last stand? (Some customers are siding against Amazon, but can it really be expected to put its own supply chain in jeopardy to sustain its Royal Mail deal?)

Separately, Waitrose was the first UK business to pull advertising from Fox News in Britain, after one of the Murdoch-owned network's talk-show hosts, Glenn Beck, branded President Obama a racist. Diageo, which owns drinks brands such as Guinness, also pulled its support from Beck's show, following a raft of other global names including Toyta-Lexus and Citrix Online.

So, are John Lewis Partnership (owner of Waitrose), Diageo et al right to allow corporate values to dictate commercial decisions? Will their actions influence future editorial decisions on Fox? One PR argues that it's a slippery slope -- but why shouldn't a company such as JLP (where employees are owners, too) exert its 'personality'?

What do you think?