Strategic Management: A Case Study of Amazon

This presentation provides an analysis of Amazon's strategic decisions in the last five years, its competitive position, mission and vision, strategic capabilities, and strategies for defending core business activities. It also includes recommendations for aligning employees' efforts with future goals and objectives.

Strategic
Managemen
t

Aim of this
Presentation
●Introduction
●Task 1
●Task 2
●Task 3
●Task 4
●Task 5
●Conclusion
●References
2

Hello!
Strategic management is the most
crucial and essential function for
business organizations in terms of
attaining desired goals and
objectives
3

Introduction

“Strategic management includes
framing of strategies for the
business for the purpose of
attainment of future goals as well
as evaluating the effectiveness of
current strategies to align the
efforts of the employees with the
future goals and objectives.
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Background
● Amazon is a giant e-commerce company
with its headquarters in Seattle,
Washington.
● The company was founded in 1994 by
Jeff Bezos and since then, organization
has acquired the leading position as the
largest internet retailer in the world
measured in terms of market
capitalisation and revenue (Amazon Inc.,
2018).
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to be continued…
● This presentation will include:
● Evaluation of Amazon’s strategic decision
in last five years
● Company’s competitive position
● Mission and vision
● Strategic capabilities
● Strategies for defending core business
activities
● Recommendations
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● Initially, Amazon.com was
just an online bookstore
which later on becomes
the number one online
retailer across the globe.
● Amazon has made
investments in following
sectors in last five years:
Task 1: Strategic
Direction
● Robotics
● Drones
● Alexa (virtual assistant)
● “Alexa Everywhere”
Strategy
● Amazon Go
● Cloud Technology
● Prime Video and Prime
Music (online
entertainment)
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Alexa
Everywhere
Strategy
● Amazon Everywhere” was
introduced in 2017 which
surprisingly became the huge
success for the organization despite
the presence of other top personal
assistants in the market .
● Amazon launched Alexa in 2014 in
smart speakers as Echo and this
made the organization to stand with
its primary competitors in the
artificial assistant market.
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● Frameworks for strategic
analysis used by Amazon:
● PESTEL Analysis in order to
analysis the impact of
external factors on
organizational performance
● Value chain in order to
analyse internal strengths
of the organization to fulfil
target customers’ demands
and wants
Task 2: Detailed
Analysis
● Competitors of Amazon:
● Netflix, iTunes, Time Warner
Cable, eBay, etc. in media
segment.
● Best Buy, Staples, Target,
Walmart, etc. in electronics and
other merchandise segment.
● Alibaba Group, Overstock.com,
Vipshop Holdings and DW, PC
Connection, Oracle, Insight
Enterprises, etc. in e-commerce
and in other segments.
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● Amazon’s vision is “to be the
earth’s most customer centric
company” and with regards to
this, management monitor
organizational performance at
all locations to analyse whether
organization is moving in right
direction or not.
● In relation to this, Jeff Bezos
and his team always try to
upgrade its products and
services in relevance with the
fulfilment of their target and
potential customers’ demands
Task 3: Vision and
Mission ● Strategic capabilities:
● Amazon’s strategic capabilities
stands on the three pillars i.e.
price, selection and convince and
these elements are used by
Amazon for the motive of
fulfilling their customers’
demands and wants.
● Porter’s Generic strategies are
used for gaining competitive
advantage.
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● In the global market,
Amazon’s strategies are
considered as the most
effective and result oriented.
● Primary strategy used by
Amazon for expanding their
business in the international
market is “GLOCAL” which
describes “go global think
local”.
Expansion and
market entry
strategies
● As a result, organization is
currently operating in more
than 188 countries in the
globe with separate retain
websites for countries like
United States, India, United
Kingdom, China, Japan,
Turkey, etc.
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● Amazon’s core business
activities include
providing a decent
platform for buyers and
sellers to transact upon
and in return to this
service, organization
charges certain rate of
commission as the fees
for providing a
mammoth platform.
Task 4: Strategies for
defending core
business ● In relation to this, organization
could adopt the following three
strategies in order to defend its
core business:
● Excellent customer service
● Easy to use and responsive
website
● Understanding customers
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● Primary resources for
Amazon are talented and
skilled employees,
innovative and creative
workplace environment, and
all other resources which are
required for the purpose of
enhancing customer
engagement within the
organization in order to
enhance customer
experience and their
satisfaction level.
Task 5: Resource
Implications
● Amazon is required to
address competition,
employees’ demands and
wants, aligning their efforts
with the organizational vision
and understanding
customers’ demands and
wants.
● With the help of these
variables, organization would
easily be able to utilise
available resources to the
optimum level along with
gaining desired goals and 14

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(Source: ZDNet.com, 2018)

● The presentation has
concluded:
● Organizational position in
the global market
● Strategies for expansion,
entering into new market,
etc.
● Strategies for defending
organizational core business
Conclusion
● Vision and mission of the
organization
● Resource implications
● Recommendations for aligning
employees’ efforts with the
future goals and objectives.
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● Amazon Inc. 2018. About Amazon
[online]. Available at:
https://www.aboutamazon.com/?utm
_source=gateway&utm_medium=fo
oter
[16/11/2018].
● Ang, S.H., Benischke, M.H. and Doh,
J.P., 2015. The interactions of
institutions on foreign market entry
mode. Strategic Management
Journal, 36(10), pp.1536-1553.
● Bouncken, R.B., Gast, J., Kraus, S.
and Bogers, M., 2015. Coopetition: a
systematic review, synthesis, and
future research directions. Review of
Managerial Science, 9(3), pp.577-
601.
References● CB Insights. 2018. Amazon
Strategy Teardown: Amazon’s
Barreling Into Physical Retail,
Financial Services, Healthcare, And
AI-Led Computing [online].
Available at:
https://www.cbinsights.com/researc
h/report/amazon-strategy-teardown
/
[16/11/2018].
● CNBC. 2018. 5 key business lessons
from Amazon's Jeff Bezos [online].
Available at:
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/13/
5-key-business-lessons-from-amazo
ns-jeff-bezos.html
[16/11/2018].
● Cohan, P. 2018. Five Reasons
Amazon Will Hit $4,000 By 2019
[online]. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/peter
cohan/2018/08/30/five-reasons-am 17

Thanks!
Any questions?
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