Impact of Company Structure, Culture, and Behavior on Amazon's Growth During Pandemic

This report analyzes how Amazon's structure, culture, and behavior impacted its growth during the pandemic. It also explores the factors that influenced individual behavior at Amazon towards their sales and profit. The report highlights the importance of providing a safe and healthy working environment to employees and working according to the preferences and needs of customers.

Introducing the
modern workplace.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Main body........................................................................................................................................4
Influence of structure, culture and behaviour of company on its growth even in the times of
pandemic..................................................................................................................................4
Factors that have influenced individual behaviour at Amazon towards their sales and profit.
..................................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Pandemic has severely impacted businesses adversely and has also created a huge loss
situation for the businesses. It is extremely important for the companies to develop plans and
strategies to deal with this situation efficiently. The lockdown placed on most of the places all
around the world has impacted the growth of businesses severely and it has also impacted the
earnings of the government as the tax liability of businesses have reduced significantly. In this
situation of the market only a few companies were able to earn profits and one of them was
Amazon (Amazon Inc.’s Use of Consumer Behaviour Theory Report, 2021). In context to
Amazon, it is an American multinational technology company which highly focuses on cloud
computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and digital streaming. In technology industry, the
company is considered to be one pf the big five companies long with Google, Meta, Apple and
Microsoft. The company was established in the year 1994 by Jeff Bezos and is currently
headquartered in United States. The focus of the report will be to provide evidences of how the
structure, behaviour and culture of the company has impacted its growth in the recent times of
pandemic. Along with that, the behavioural approach with factors which can influence individual
behaviour is provided.
Main body
Influence of structure, culture and behaviour of company on its growth even in the times of
pandemic.
Structure:
The company implemented more than 150 processes update inside the warehouse of the
company so that the virus cannot enter and get transmitted within the workers of the company.
The company has implemented cleaning and social distancing measures which helped the
company in keeping their employees safe and also helped the company in keeping the work
going on. As the time passed by there was a lockdown in the countries and all the brick and
mortar shops were closed which gave rise to the sales of online platforms which can help
customers in buying things online and without stepping out of their houses (How Amazon
managed the coronavirus crisis and came out stronger, 2020). Although many of the employees
of the company tested positive for COVID and at least nine of the employees died as well but the
company continues to make profits as customers were having no other option but to purchase

goods via online channels and as Amazons provide affordable products and services, it was the
first choice of many people.
It is important for the company to make sure that they are providing safe and healthy working
environment to their employees and are making sure that their health is not getting compromised
in any form. The loyal workforce of the company was also one of the major reason why
company was able to make profits even in the times of pandemic.
Culture:
The culture of Amazon is considered to be “Breakneck Paced” and highly cost conscious.
The company as generally worked on small profits and has accepted general accounting principle
as it most of life as a public company. The organization culture of the company was highly
criticized by the New York Times in the year 2015. The allegations that the article imposed on
the culture of the company was unrealistic performance standards, lack of recognition of
employee contribution and an environment of fear which are very bad for the mental health as
well as the physical health of employees. But how the company has earned massive profits is
because of the reasons given below:
 Constant reinventions and optimization of culture: The company is truly focused on
reinventions and are constantly make changes in their culture so that it does not lose their
agility, nimbleness and hunger of experimentation. According to the CEO of Amazon, Jeff
Bezos stated that he is constantly oppose to the decision making culture of “one size fit all”,
they always use two pizza rule which states that he number of people joining the meeting
should not be more than people who can be fed by two pizzas. It helps them in focusing on
important aspects and will also help them in taking contribution in decision making from
each and every member present in the meeting.
 Customer centricity: Amazon is one of the most customer centric companies in the world.
Their products and services are highly customer centric and the company wants to set a
platform which can help the customers in buy anything and everything via online (Amazon
Organizational Culture: harsh, but effectively contributing to the bottom line, 2020). It
refers to one of the major advantage of the company which helps them in having direct
implications to a wide range of organizational processes and procedures.
 Diversity among workplace: the company and its culture highly prefer diversity and
welcome everyone who are willing to work. The company is having a specific platform

named as GLAmazon, an official employees affinity group of lesbians and gay as well as
women technology group and Black employees network. It helps the company in promoting
in-discrimination and will also help them in getting ideas from different perspectives as well.
Behaviour:
COVID 19 created a massive scale of health crises and has also affected people around
the world. It is important for the companies to make sure that they are constantly keeping check
on the changing behaviour of customers as Amazon did exactly the same. It is important for the
company to make sure that they are working according to the preferences and needs of the
customers. It is important for the company to keep a close check on the customers of the
company so that they can take proactive actions which can help them in satisfying the needs and
demands of the customers (Mullins, Laurie and Christy, 2016). The lockdown created a fear
among the behaviour of customers and they didn’t want to step out of their houses. In that
situation the company provided doorstep and contact less services to their customers which
helped them in keeping their customers as well as employees safe.
Factors that have influenced individual behaviour at Amazon towards their sales and profit.
The use of customer behaviour theory as well as nudge theory by the company is helping
them in creating a significant impact in the market. The nudge theory is a technique through
which the company subtly nudge people which changes their behaviour. The companies have
mastered the art of nudge theory which helped them in having success in the market. The nudge
theory helps companies in analysing the behaviour and decision making process with the help of
psychological research and also helps the company in identifying the subconscious and irrational
influences that the customers have while choosing products and services in the market whether
online or offline (Armstrong, 2012). As the company has registered immense level of profits and
sales in the times of pandemic states that the company has understood the psychology of
consumers and are working in that area or according to the influence of customers so that they
can encourage people to buy their products and services.
The immediate impact on the behaviour of customers has created a room for the company
to make profits (How the likes of Amazon are moving beyond nudge theory, 2017). The
customers were truly scared and were restricted to go out to brick and mortar shops. It is
important for the company to make sure that they are working according to the goals and
objectives of the company. The level of fear in customers were high and they were highly

dependent up on online services. As Amazon has mastered the art of online services the company
focused fully on providing goods and services according to the needs and specifications of the
customers. It helped them in creating a customer base which helped them in making such huge
amounts of profits. The major sales and profitability registered by the company was during the
festive season. As the Christmas arrived people were having no choices but to order gifts from
the website of the company as it was the only way through which they can reach out to their
loved once and send them gifts.
Amazon highly invested in supporting their employees as well as customers during the
pandemic times. The company has done a great job in helping people in the times of pandemic
which helped them in gaining the trust of people and also helped them in making additions in the
number of loyal customer base that the company is already having. The company has also
enhanced their services in order to make sure that proper safety measures have been taken by the
employees. It is important for the companies to make sure that they are workings according to
the goals and objectives of the company and are providing best in class services and products to
their customers.
The company provided more than $2.5 billion in bonuses and incentives to their
employees which helped them in gaining trust of employees as well as customers. The company
is contiguously providing best in class services and products to their customers at affordable
prices which can help the company in increasing their sales and will also make sure that the
company is making profits as well (Nature human behaviour, 2021). Customers are happy with
the products and services of the company which help the company in attracting more potential
customers and as there is a restrictions of social distancing as well as there is fear of virus in
people, it is only beneficial for Amazon as they will be able to provide more services to their
customers.
Online shopping also provides convenience and flexibility to the customers as they do not
are to follow a set schedule for their shopping and they can shop products that they need anytime
just with the help of smartphone. the company launched a services called Amazon Prime which
help the customers in getting their delivery within a time period of one day and without any
delivery charges. It was a bonus for customers as time consuming process is the only difficulty
that the customers face. It is one of the biggest disadvantage of online services that people have

to wait in order to avail those services but with the help of Amazon Prime the customers can get
their delivery within a time frame of one day.
It is a next level services that the company is providing to their customers and are making
sure that the customers of the company are happy with the products and services of the company.
In order to capture the market segment and in order to retain the customers, the aim of the
company is to innovate continuously. The company believes in innovation and like to experiment
on the products and services. As the customers know that the company is working on almost no
profits it creates a good image in the minds of the customers that they will get affordable
products on amazon as the company is not having high margins.
Conclusion
From the above report it is concluded that with the help of effective and efficient culture,
structure and behaviour the company will be able to have growth even in adverse situations. The
decisions taken by the management of the company also plays a major role in the workings of
the company and will help the company in developing management system which can work in
adverse situation. The company needs to react protectively and try to analyse all the external as
well as internal factors which can have an impact on the workings of the company. It is essential
for the company to put emphasis on the markets and the preferences of the customers so that they
can take actions which are beneficial for them.

References
Online
Amazon Inc.’s Use of Consumer Behavior Theory Report, 2021 [online]. available through
<https://ivypanda.com/essays/amazon-incs-use-of-consumer-behavior-theory/>
Amazon Organizational Culture: harsh, but effectively contributing to the bottom line, 2020
[online]. available through <https://research-methodology.net/amazon-organizational-
culture-harsh-effectively-contributing-bottom-line-2/>
How Amazon managed the coronavirus crisis and came out stronger, 2020 [online]. avaialble
through <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/how-amazon-managed-the-coronavirus-
crisis-and-came-out-stronger.html>
How the likes of Amazon are moving beyond nudge theory, 2017 [online]. available through
<https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/how_the_likes_of_amazon_are_movin
g_beyond_nudge_theory/2542>
Nature human behaviour, 2021 [online]. available through
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0884-z>
Mullins, Laurie J. Christy, Gill.11th ed. Harlow : Pearson 2016.Total Pages 1 online resource
(xxviii, 647 p.) [Online] Available through <
http://www.mim.ac.mw/books/Management%20&%20Organizational%20Behaviour,
%207th%20edition.pdf >
Armstrong, Michael, Armstrong, Michael,12th ed. London;; Philadelphia : Kogan
Page2012.Total Pages xxxvi, 752 p. : [Online] Available through < Armstrongs
%20Handbook%20of%20Human%20Resource%20Management%20Practice_1.pdf>