It does actually. Cost of doing business includes all costs.
If amazon believes they need to spend money on R&D then that R&D is a cost of doing business, if its not turning a profit with that R&D spending then the business is not sustainable by definition.
Amazon was not doing R&D for shits and giggles. Just because the time horizon was long doesn't mean it wasn't any less of a requirement for their success. Amazon would not be in the same place it is today if not for that expenditure so claiming it wasn't a "cost" is just disingenuous.
Should we have been allowing amazon to capitalize that R&D though? It creates one of their largest assets and yet is not reflected on the balance sheet and is expensed immediately.
It doesn't actually. When we're talking about taxes, we have specific timeframes in mind, that is one year. You don't have to turn a profit at year 1 or even year 100 in order to be profitable.
If amazon believes they need to spend money on R&D then that R&D is a cost of doing business, if its not turning a profit with that R&D spending then the business is not sustainable by definition.
Amazon was not doing R&D for shits and giggles. Just because the time horizon was long doesn't mean it wasn't any less of a requirement for their success. Amazon would not be in the same place it is today if not for that expenditure so claiming it wasn't a "cost" is just disingenuous.