Why it's admired:
There are few competitors in sight for the retail giant that is Amazon.com. With its low prices, efficient customer service and rapid geographical growth, it stands to become the largest beneficiary of the e-commerce industry boom. Last year Fortune ranked CEO Jeff Bezos as its Businessperson of the Year on the back of the company's stellar growth, especially in its Amazon Web Services and Kindle divisions. The company continues to take on a variety of competitors, going after Netflix's streaming services, Google and Apple's tablets, and brick-and-mortar stores across the country. There's even talk of an Amazon smartphone. —OA