Markets left to their own accord incentivize dishonesty and manipulation.
Innovation is only one way to compete, and a rare one at that. It’s one to be treasured, not defended on disgraceful terms like that of how both Amazon and Wal-Mart are content to treat their employees.
That is not the takeaway from this. The enemy of a corrupt, shady organization is an open and transparent market with lots of consumer options and stock researchers drilling deep into their numbers.
Only among the narrow minded & short sighted. Companies that view things like customer service as a cost center rather than customer retention & profit center tend not to experience as much success as their all-else-being-equal competitors. It's a PITA to return something to Walmart Online, refund are slow and sometimes nonexistent, requiring lengthy exchanges and delay. Amazon makes it easy, and is one of the primary reasons I long ago made them my first and, when possible, only stop for shopping online.
So only the companies run by poor business managers or otherwise openly traded on stock markets. That makes me feel so much better.
Sort of? There's also a strong financial incentive to expose that dishonesty and manipulation - I mean, that's basically why Jim Chanos is famous.
I'm not saying I think the system is perfect as-is (far from it), just that it's maybe not as clear-cut as you're making it sound.