Was The NYT Amazon Article An 'Incredible, Cheap Shot?'

The New York Times recently published an article titled, "Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas In A Bruising Workplace," in which the authors argued that Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN puts too much stress on its employees.

Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Holdings Corp SHLD's Canada subsidiary Sears Canada Inc., was on CNBC to weigh in on the allegations made in the article.

'Retailing Is A Contact Sport'

"I thought that the article was terrible. I thought it was a incredible, cheap shot, surprising that it came from the New York Times," Cohen said. "Retailing is a contact sport, that's not new. I started at ANS years ago on a training squad with 37 people, and three months later there were three of us left and that was kind of in the normal course."

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Amazon Is An Aggressive, But Fair Partner

He continued, "Amazon in particular, in my experience – and I have worked with them some years ago when I was CEO of Sears Canada – is loaded with talented, committed, disciplined, focused people. They form very, very effective teams. They are an extraordinarily aggressive, but fair partner in negotiation."

'Tough Is Not The Right Place For All People'

"They are tough. They are tough externally and internally. But, if you are a high performance company – and they certainly are the embodiment of high performance, you have to be tough. And tough is not the right place for all people, as simple as that," Cohen said.