Assignment on Innovation - Amazon Inc

Running Head: Innovation
Amazon Inc.
Managing Innovations in Organizations

Innovation 1
Executive Summary
Amazon Inc. is an American electronic commerce company and one of the largest retailers of e-
commerce industry. It was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Seattle, Washington and since then,
organization has set up its brand image in approximately 188 countries across the globe by
delivering products and services. Major reason behind continuous growth and development of
organization is their effective strategies and appropriate monitoring and controlling activities.
Amazon is also known as the pioneer of new products and services in order to enhance customer
satisfaction. Amazon is one of those companies which treats its human resources as the most
essential and precious resource for the organization. Thus, organization provides sufficient
resources and tools and time so that employees could think out of the box in order to utilise the
energy and other resources to invent on behalf of the customers. Major innovations made by
Amazon in recent years are drone delivery system which is yet in testing stage and it was
invented so that consumers could get their ordered products at the quickest. Apart from the drone
delivery system, organizational other innovations are usage of artificial intelligence to improve
user experience on website and integration of Amazon Prime video with Alexa in visual format.
These innovations made by the organization have helped the organization to develop their
effective place in the list of the most innovative companies. These innovations have boosted
organizational goodwill and in order to maintain acquired position, it is required for the
organization to invent new products and services through which customer satisfaction could be
enhanced (Amazon Inc., 2018).
This report will focus over the hot topics regarding innovation in relevance with Amazon Inc.
Further, an innovative product or service will be designed in relevance with the innovations
made by the organization. Along with this, discussion will be made in relevance with the
innovation made by the organization and their current capabilities. Next phase of the report will
focus over user involvement, fast integration, prototyping and testing capabilities and the cross
functional management.

Innovation 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Part A...............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Hot topics about innovation in Amazon......................................................................................3
Innovative product.......................................................................................................................4
Innovation and organizational current capabilities......................................................................4
Design thinking diagram..............................................................................................................4
User involvement.........................................................................................................................5
Fast integration.............................................................................................................................5
Prototyping and testing capabilities.............................................................................................5
Cross functional management......................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Part B Elevator pitch........................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Innovation 3
Part A
Introduction
Amazon Inc. is an electronic commerce company and they follow customer centric approach.
With the help of this approach, organization has reached to the leading position in the
international e-commerce industry. With regards to the innovations made by the organization,
organization has invented drone delivery system, usage of artificial intelligence in order to
enhance user’s experience with the website and integration of Amazon Prime video services with
Alexa (recent innovation by organization) (Drucker, 2014).
Hot topics about innovation in Amazon
 Amazon Air Prime: Drone delivery system was invented with the objective of providing
quick services to the consumers. Yet it is in testing stage and it is the first autonomous in
the United Kingdom. This system is invented with the objective to deliver packages to
the customers in safe and secured manner within a set time limit. Currently, the time limit
has been set for 30 minutes which ensures that the customer will receive their package
within 30 minutes or less with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles. This service will
boost up the reliability for organization amongst the consumers along with making it safe,
secure and an efficient transportation system. Though this system is in testing stage so
that the safety and security measures could be enhanced in order to make it the most
sophisticated delivery system. In the trial stage, data and information is being gathered in
order to improving safety and reliability in our operations and systems (Huang, 2017).
 Usage of artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence has been adopted by the Amazon
to enhance their services’ effectiveness. Along with this, organization has also adopted
big data analysis to analyse consumer behaviour and on the basis of their behaviour,
organization provides them attractive offers and deals in order to enhance user experience
with the organization. For example, if a consumer is mainly interested in shoes and
jackets, thus, as per the user’s searching history, organization will gather appropriate
information as per consumer’s interest. This will be done with the help of artificial

Innovation 4
intelligence and big data analysis. With the help of this innovation, organization is being
able to uplift user’s interaction with the organization (Doloto & Chen-Burger, 2015).
 Integration of Amazon Prime Video with Alexa: Amazon has made its position in the
most innovative companies and company always seeks to invent new ways so that the
desired goals and objectives could be attained. Organizational objectives in relevance
with Alexa are providing an artificial assistant to the users who will take for the
appointments, schedule, meetings, etc. Along with this, Alexa is capable enough to
entertain its users from various sources such as Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, etc.
channels. There are numerous functions which will be performed by Alexa. Collaboration
of Amazon Prime Video with Alexa will help the users to show their content in visual
format. For example, user asked Alexa to play trending music on Amazon Prime Video
and Alexa takes command and being the smart device, first it seeks for available devices
at the particular place such as television, smartphone, etc. to play trending music of the
user. In the situation, where no such options will be available, Alexa will play the
trending music on its device only (Obwegeser & Bauer, 2016).
Innovative product
With regards to the organizational strategies, technical capabilities, amazon has become breeding
ground for innovative ideas. In terms of the innovation of Amazon Prime Air services, with the
help of advanced techniques, drone will send an automated notification to the consumer while
leaving the fulfilment centre regarding estimated time arrival (Cunningham, 2004). This will
ensure consumers regarding their delivery pf the products as well as they could get ready to
taking delivery from the drones. Apart from this, the artificial delivery system will be capable
enough to contact the consumer in case of their non-availability at the time of delivery. For
example, drone met thee gate of consumer but as there was not response from consumer end,
drone delivery system will send notification to the Alexa and Alexa will contact the customer for
further step. This will help the organization to move towards artificial intelligence along with
improving customer experience. There will be no need of men power for this type of processes
and thus, men power could be utilised in further innovations so that customer satisfaction could
be enhanced (Fast Company & Inc., 2018).

Innovation 5
Innovation and organizational current capabilities
Amazon has become breeding ground for innovative ideas with the help of technical,
organization and strategic capabilities. Due to its efficient skills and techniques, organization is
being able to invent new ideas with regards to improving customer satisfaction. For Amazon,
customer satisfaction always on the top, thus, their all innovations and inventions are concerned
with the customer satisfaction. Due to this, it has helped the organization to develop its effective
image in the most innovative companies across the globe (Anderson, Potočnik & Zhou, 2014).
Design thinking diagram
User involvement
User is involved everywhere because Amazon’s primary motive of satisfying its user’s needs and
wants. With this motive, it has set up its effective brand image in more than 188 countries across
the globe along with setting up their physical presence in more than 12 countries. The innovative
product under Amazon Prime Air service will be integrated with Alexa and by its own effective
features, it will improve customer experience because drone will reach to the consumer within 30
minutes with an assurance of safety and security (Chen & Hou, 2016).
Empathy Define Ideate Prototype Test
Market research for
the motive of
innovation is being
Focusing on the
insights obtained
from empathy stage
Thinking out of the
box to generate
creative ideas
Building more than
one idea to provide
appropriate solutions
Returning to the original user
group and testing to analyse
effectiveness of the idea

Innovation 6
From market research activity to the delivery of the product, user is involved in every stage. User
involvement is necessary to analyse consumer behaviour, their taste, preference and current
demand. Apart from this, user is also necessary for the marketing and promotional activities
because these are the part of target audience and all campaigns are developed to approach them.
Further, when a customer places the order till its delivery, user is involved. In order to satisfy
their needs and wants, organization focuses over performing certain activities so that user
involvement could be enhanced (Wang, 2018).
Fast integration
Innovation is not a speedy process, it takes sufficing time and sometimes, it takes more than
sufficient time. But it also ensures that the motive of innovation could be fulfilled in an effective
manner with the view of optimum utilisation of innovative techniques. Amazon has planned to
introduce an autonomous delivery system with appropriate capabilities to inform customers
regarding the estimated time for arrival of the package along with providing appropriate support
to communicate with the customers with the help of Alexa. This will help the organization to
enhance customer satisfaction along with uplifting organizational capabilities. Thus, it will be
require approximately 2 years to play in the outfield after passing all the quality, safety and
reliability tests (Sigala & Kyriakidou, 2015).
Further, the innovation made by the organization will also require costs. But as Amazon is a big
and vast organization in terms of revenues, it invests a huge amount of their income in research
and development program so that advanced and effective measures along with innovative
products could be invented with the motive of customer satisfaction. Apart from cost and time,
organization has all those resources which are required for inventing new products and ideas,
thus, innovation for Amazon is easy and effective process (García, Eizaguirre & Pradel, 2015).
Prototyping and testing capabilities
Amazon will focus over the US market for testing the efficiency of the innovation. This is
because US market is the largest market for the organization and it is saturated and to penetrate
the market, it is necessary for the organization to adopt product development and related
strategies to attain growth and competitive advantage. If the innovation made by the organization
will pass all beta testing and other quality checks, it will be able to implement in other markets

Innovation 7
with the objective to enhance organizational capabilities as well as to develop reliable and
effective image amongst the target market (Cruickshank, 2016).
Cross functional management
Every department is interlinked with each other and in terms of inventing a new idea, service or
product, every department needs to provide appropriate and required resources to the research
and development department so that the goals could be attained. Major functionalities of research
and development team are to uplift organizational capabilities and to introduce new concepts in
the workplace so that the existing challenges and issues could be resolved in an effective manner
(Hon & Lui, 2016).
Finance department, production department, and other departments of the organization plays
crucial role in order to uplift organizational performance. Apart from this, it is necessary for the
organization to enhance its image in the competitive and dynamic business environment. This
will help the organization to enhance its image along with the motive of enhancing customer
satisfaction (Wu & Hisa, 2008).
Conclusion
From the aforesaid information, it can be concluded that Amazon always seeks for innovative
ideas with the motive of enhancing customer satisfaction and their experience with the
organization. In relevance with this, this report concludes trending innovations made by the
organization along with the strategies adopted by them in relevance with making the
organization more efficient and reliable. Apart from this, report has also concluded an innovative
idea in relevance with improving delivery system. Organization is already testing drone delivery
system under Amazon Prime Air services but with the help of innovations made by the research
team, this service could be improved along with gaining positive outcomes.
The innovative idea discussed under this report could be affected with the help of further
innovations such as tracking system fitted in the drone and the link will be sent to the customer
in order to get regular updates on the delivery of the package. Apart from this, tracking system
will help the consumers to determine the estimate time which will be taken by the drone to
deliver the package as consumer will be able to detect the live location.

Innovation 8

Innovation 9
Part B Elevator pitch
Amazon is dealing in millions of products and with the help of wide product offering,
organization targets numerous target groups. As per the approach of customer satisfaction, we
have invented a new idea to enhance the customer interaction and experience with the
organization. Motive of this innovation is to build an effective image amongst the target
audience. The innovation is in relevance with the Amazon Prime Air services. Under this
service, vehicles of unmanned material will be used along with the assurance of safety and
security. Apart from this, we have also decided to integrate Alexa with Prime Video services so
that the user’s experience could be enhanced. This will help the organization to gain positive
outcomes along with gaining positive response from the customers.
USPs of the innovation will be smartness of drones through which customer will get the update
for every order that they have placed before 30-45 minutes of delivery. In case, when consumer
will not available at their place, with the help of Alexa, drone will contact the customer to ask for
the further steps so that the product could be successfully delivered. This innovation will not
consume much capital and other resources because we have Amazon Web Services with efficient
engineers and technicians who could make this dream come true. This innovation will reduce the
usage of men power, thus, men power could be utilised in other tasks where automation does not
act appropriately.

Innovation 10
References
Amazon Inc. (2018). Amazon Prime Air. Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-
Prime-Air/b?ie=UTF8&node=8037720011
Anderson, N., Potočnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and creativity in organizations: A
state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding framework. Journal of
Management, 40(5), 1297-1333.
Chen, A. S. Y., & Hou, Y. H. (2016). The effects of ethical leadership, voice behavior and
climates for innovation on creativity: A moderated mediation examination. The
Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), 1-13.
Cruickshank, L. (2016). Open Design and Innovation: facilitating creativity in everyone.
Routledge.
Cunningham, S. (2004). The creative industries after cultural policy: A genealogy and some
possible preferred futures. International journal of cultural studies, 7(1), 105-115.
Doloto, U., & Chen-Burger, Y. H. (2015). A Survey of Business Models in eCommerce.
In Agent and Multi-Agent Systems: Technologies and Applications (pp. 249-259).
Springer, Cham.
Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Fast Company & Inc. (2018). Why Amazon is the World’s Most Innovative Company of 2017.
Retrieved from: https://www.fastcompany.com/3067455/why-amazon-is-the-worlds-
most-innovative-company-of-2017
García, M., Eizaguirre, S., & Pradel, M. (2015). Social innovation and creativity in cities: a
socially inclusive governance approach in two peripheral spaces of Barcelona. City,
Culture and Society, 6(4), 93-100.

Innovation 11
Hon, A. H., & Lui, S. S. (2016). Employee creativity and innovation in organizations: Review,
integration, and future directions for hospitality research. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(5), 862-885.
Huang, R. (2017). Ecommerce in Rural Areas and Environmental Sustainability: The Last-Mile
Delivery.
Obwegeser, N., & Bauer, S. (2016). Digital innovation and the becoming of an organizational
identity. In International Conference on HCI in Business, Government and
Organizations (pp. 556-564). Springer, Cham.
Sigala, M., & Kyriakidou, O. (2015). Creativity and innovation in the service sector. The Service
Industries Journal, 35(6), 297-302.
Wang, S. (2018). Reflections on the Training Mode of E-Commerce Professionals with
Improved Practical Exercises and Innovative Ability. In Recent Developments in Data
Science and Business Analytics (pp. 63-69). Springer, Cham.
Wu, J. H., & Hisa, T. L. (2008). Developing e-business dynamic capabilities: an analysis of e-
commerce innovation from I-, M-, to U-commerce. Journal of Organizational Computing
and Electronic Commerce, 18(2), 95-111.