Leadership and Business Environment - Case Study

This report analyzes the leadership and business environment of Amazon, including SWOT and PESTLE analysis, the effects of threats and opportunities, the current leadership style, recommendations for change, ethics and social responsibilities, and reflections on research and findings.

Leadership and
Business Environment
– Case Study

Abstract
Leadership and business environment of the Amazon is discussed in this report where the
SWOT and PESTLE factors are being analysed, it is observed that what can be the effects of
threats and opportunities on Amazon, it is determined the current leadership style the Amazon
has adopted and what can be the recommendations to the company to adopt the leadership style
for a change, it is examined that what are the ethics and social responsibilities of the company
and finally the reflection of research, findings and learnings with a proper conclusion in context
of Amazon.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
SWOT and PESTEL analysis of Amazon..............................................................................1
Effect of strengths on threats and opportunities of Amazon..................................................2
Comparison between styles of leadership of Amazon...........................................................3
Recommendation of leadership style to Amazon...................................................................5
Ethics and social responsibilities of Amazon.........................................................................5
Reflection of research, findings and learning.........................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
References:.....................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Leadership refers to the motivating and lead the team for achieving common target goals
in organisation. Effective leadership helps in growth of business and better performance. It is
also refers to management framework. Business environment refers to external and internal
factors that affect the growth of company. Business environment include employees, managers,
below is based on amazon ; Amazon is online platform, retailer, manufacturer of e-books and
amazon is middle men between retailers and customers , amazon founded in 1994 in Seattle,
Washington. The report below include the pestle and swot of amazon, pestle factor that
influenced the opportunities and threats, how threat and weakness affect amazon opportunities,
various style of leadership, current leadership and management skills follow at amazon,
leadership style which match the management style for growth, comment on responsibilities,
response and obligations in amazon ethics and social responsibilities and beneficial for amazon
for applying theories (Reiche, Bird, Mendenhall and Osland, 2017).
MAIN BODY
SWOT and PESTEL analysis of Amazon
Swot analysis is planning of strategies, it include strength, weakness, opportunity and threat.
Strength : Amazon have strong brand value, they provide selected products to customers and
strong networks for delivering. Amazon based on IT and technology based concept.
Weakness : Amazon have less margin on products, and avoid paying tax. Company not deal
with Chinese products in effective manner.
Opportunities : Amazon sell products of their own brand and company launch own payment
option in market. Company attempt chance into pharmacy.
Threats : Amazon face issue with data security. Company has maximum competitors from local
participant. Laws are not clear in terms of products (Rosenbach, 2018).
Pestle analysis is structure of analysing the key factors such as; political, economical,
sociological, technological, legal and environment factors which affect the organisations.
Political factor : This factor refers to the rules and regulations structured by
government. It include taxation policies, trade policies and etc. In US political factor is stable but
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their rules are strict. Recently US and china has bad relationship, country sell of china products
so this affect the company also. This factor is threaten for amazon (Ruben and Gigliotti, 2017).
Economical factor : This factor refers to economy conditions of country that affect the
company's profitability. Due to corona virus country's GDP rate is low this affect the company
also in term of profitability because unemployment rate is high in country customers can't
affords things they stop buying from company. This factor is threaten for Amazon.
Sociological factor : This factor refers to the social environment and focus on future trends and
fulfil customers needs and expectation. Amazon improve their services according to customers
expectations such as they come up with own payment option, groceries , pharmacy and many
more they improve their products and technologies day by day to meet customers needs. This
factor is opportunity for amazon (Schoemaker, Heaton and Teece, 2018).
Technological factor : This factor refers to the new technologies and innovations according to
the market trends. Amazon provide facilities of home delivery option with tracking system and
own payment concept. This factor is opportunity for amazon.
legal factor : In this factor company must know about what is allowed in country what is not.
Amazon face challenges in technology sector. European country adopt the general data
protection regulations. This regulation affect the amazon services and products. This factor is
threaten for amazon.
Environmental factor : This factor refer to the climate condition in country. Amazon has
limited resources and they dispose waste as much as possible. This factor is opportunity for
amazon (Sharma, Agrawal and Khandelwal, 2019).
Effect of strengths on threats and opportunities of Amazon
Pestle affect the company's opportunity an threats, US political factor are stable but in
current scenario due to corona virus country stop sales of china products , US make rules and
regulations this factor affect amazon company in negative way this is threaten for company after
these rules company can explore new market with existing products or they can find out different
country where production cost is very low or who can provide products on cheap rate, company
can convert threat into opportunity. Economical factor affect in negative way because GDP
growth rate is decrease not every one can afford products from amazon so amazon focus on
groceries because groceries is important for every one amazon provide products at door steps of
employees so company change threat into opportunity. Sociological factor is opportunity for
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company , amazon follow market trends like example ; some people like to reading books but
they have to purchase first then carry every where amazon find out the solution and they launch
kindle for book lovers kindle is not so costly, kindle concept is very unique customers can carry
many books in single kindle , texture of kindle is so similar to books pages so customers can feel
they reading books in reality, this is opportunity for company after this concept their growth also
increase. Technological factor is also opportunity for company because innovate continuously in
different concept like they provide home delivery of groceries and customers can pay online .
Technology factor is most important for amazon, company use digital platform and technology
in well manner. legal factor is threaten for company because European country adopt general
protection rules this affect negatively to company because amazon can't find any informations
related to customers information and products informations. Environmental factor is opportunity
for company because they use natural resource and dispose waste in well manner. It increase
brand image in market (Strielkowski and Chigisheva, 2018).
Addressing company's strengths to negate threats ; amazon 's threat is data security issue
and company has many competitors in market so company can convert threat into opportunities
such as in US technology factor is very strong they can develop new techniques to protect data of
companies and company can enter in new market with innovative facilities like company
launched kindle or many concepts.
Weakness affecting to opportunities ; company not dealing with china products in effective
manner . Dealing with china is opportunity because china provide products at cheap cost and
very affordable customers easily attract. But due to bad relations between china and US . US stop
selling china's products in country this weakness affect the opportunity of company. Amazon
grow day by day but their margin is very low that's why it affect the company's profitability.
Recently company face loses problems due to less margin on products. Some times customers
face issue with services amazon also lose loyal customers because of their services. Such as
many customers order mobile phones but many customers received wrong or duplicate products
this reason they lose many customer's trust.
Comparison between styles of leadership of Amazon
Democratic leadership : In this leader take decisions according to input of every employees ,
Democratic is effective leadership in company. Amazon company openly ask to employees
regarding any decisions of company such as Amazon launch many options in application before
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final decisions they ask to employees and there is open discussion between employees so
employees could add various ideas in project, employees have right to give them feedbacks and
suggestions.
Strategic leadership : In this leader plan strategies about growth of business. Leader observe
things between operations and growth opportunities. Amazon strategic leadership team is very
strong if there is less growth and performance of company then they planning about offers and
quality products so customers attract as much as possible and this strategy helps in growth and
best results.
Bureaucratic leadership : In this leaders set rules, regulation an policies in company. Leaders
fix employees official duties and responsibilities at work place. In Amazon leaders provide
facilities and benefits but they set rules and regulations for employees in terms of buying
products in amazon company. Bureaucratic leaders prepare structure of rules and polices which
follow by every employees.
Transformational leadership : In this leaders guide in right direction to employees , leaders
navigate company in right direction. In amazon there are different departments they work
accordingly. In current scenario technology is most important for this company so leaders guide
to employees in direct direction so their performance increase day by day and provide better
service to customers.
Coach style leadership : In this leaders observe employees performance according to
performance leaders find out strength and weakness then they improve and develop employees
skills accordingly . In amazon HR department provide training to employees and improve their
skills. If employees have issue with technology process company provide them paid training
(Strukan, Nikolić and Sefić, 2017).
Current leadership style at amazon ;
Autocratic leadership : In autocratic leadership the top level management or managers take all
the decisions related to rules and regulation and work process . Assigning work to employees is
done by managers . Managers give order to employees for work , they strict rules in company so
employees have to follow. Such as company's success is based on employees because they work
for 60 hours in week for amazon growth without taking any break. Company's growth reason is
employees handwork.
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Recommendation of leadership style to Amazon
It is recommended that Bureaucratic style of leadership is the most suitable form which
must be applied in a firm. Because currently it has been working on autocratic style of
leadership. Although is was the reason of success of Amazon but they are also facing so much of
criticisms. So to avoid such criticisms and maintain the flow of success it is important to change
the leadership style of the firm (Bratton, 2020). Bureaucratic style of leadership is found to be
appropriate for the firm because it will assist the firm in reduction of the criticism and can be the
reason of success of the firm as well. Reason behind choosing such leadership style is that it is
similar to autocratic style but not the same. This means it can lowers the criticism and can lead
the way to success. Bureaucratic style is defined as the leadership style which states that the
company must work on the rules, regulations, policies, norms, process and procedures that are
being set by the high authority of the company. This forms the chain of command from high
level to low level operations and vice versa. Although it is also the strict form of leadership but
less than autocratic, all these rules and regulations are set in the favour of employees and
employers both but in autocratic, it was all in the favour of employers that is why they faced
criticisms and all the decision making was in the hands of top authority only and employees
needs to accept those decisions any how (Jabbar and Hussein, 2017). That is why adoption of
Bureaucratic style is important in the firm as it also leads to the success because now the firm
can be organised, consistent, and focus towards work hence can also be the part of decision
making need not to work for sixty hours a week. They are required to work for the standard time
which is stated in the company policies which must be in favour of workforce as well as for
company's productivity also. Moreover, it has other benefits like no favouritism, promotes
creativity more, generates high level of security and familiarity encouragement. After observing
all these reasons and analysis, it is totally recommended that the company must follow
Bureaucratic style of leadership.
Ethics and social responsibilities of Amazon
Ethics and social responsibility towards Society
Amazon relief fund
This fund system is established by Amazon in a firm to help their stakeholders and
business partners internally and externally also. This is because of sudden coronavirus pandemic.
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Most of their people suffered due to such crises so they took initiative to help them in every
possible way by releasing the funds to them (Jakubik and Berazhny, 2017).
Device donation
Amazon want that people must have the technical knowledge of hardware and software
devices because their usage is increasing day by day and due to such things, more job
opportunities are also available in information technology field. So they decided to donate
devices and gift cards to the students in their nearby schools and colleges.
IT girls
Amazon hosts various events on the girls who code. The reason behind such events is that
they want to create and generate the need and requirement of information technology among the
girls as well so that they can also code and learn the technical things because this creates the base
for the future growth and development for them and for the country as well (Kramer, Page and
Klemic, 2019).
NGO donations
Amazon has also taken initiative in donating some cash and products or services to some
national or local non profit organizations so that directly or indirectly they can support the people
who are in need of cash and some basic life things. These includes the orphanages, old age
homes, imparting the educations to the poor, help the person without shelter and food and many
other NGOs.
Ethics and social responsibility towards Workforce
Career choice program
Amazon is providing the career and skill development program to their employees by
paying 95% fees of the tuitions and career programs. This includes many courses which
enhances the personal and professional growth and development of their employees like nursing,
mechanics and many other which creates benefits, relevancy and interest for the people and till
now over 10,000 employees has attended this program across the world.
Work from home
Amazon allows some employees who handles the virtual customer service from home.
Moreover, due to coronavirus pandemic, it also allows many of their employees to work from
home for a certain period of time so that health and safety can be maintained among them and
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until the situation is in control they need to work from home (Larjovuori, Bordi and Heikkilä-
Tammi, 2018).
Equality
Amazon has initiated the employee resource groups of approximately ten in number to
support minorities in their vast firm. This is one of the most creative initiative taken by the
company to provide support and guidance to the employees of the firm in terms of equality
among minority people so that nobody can face any type of discrimination in a firm.
HERproject
Amazon has launched a business related to the social responsibility named HERproject to
mainly focus on women empowerment in terms of employment and any other career
opportunities. This business is only for those women who are in really need and stand y her own
to establish her career. Moreover, this project attracted over 8000 females to the company's
supply chain.
Ethics and social responsibility towards environment
Energy consumption
Amazon uses the technology like cloud computing or solar energy which are sustainable
for the environment because these technologies consume the energy at a very low rate thereby
saving the environment by using such renewable energies. Amazon has contributed in energy
consumption at a very good level and helping the environment in it's sustainability (Petry, 2018).
Water consumption
Amazon uses various methods in minimum usage of water to support the environment
sustainability. They has adopted like rainwater harvesting and recharge wells. Moreover, use of
evaporative technology which is responsible for cooling their centres that results in water as well
as energy consumption and recycling of them at a same time.
Recycling
Amazon initiated the idea of packaging of their products in their recycling part. As earlier
their packaging was more than two to three layers which results in wastages of the raw materials
and increment in the production cost. But now they use one layer with a good quality thereby
minimal wastage of raw materials and decrement of the cost as well. Moreover, this is achieved
by the recycling of the waste that is occurred at the time packaging of their products. Hence, they
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have used the recycling technique in water, energy and wastage consumption in a very effective
and efficient way.
Carbon emissions
Amazon has started invested in minimal usage of carbon foot prints in their products and
initiated in using the green technology. Which helped the firm in reduction of usage of the
carbon emissions products so that they can maintain the environment sustainability. This has
given the firm a new way in their business operations and a next level up to their success
(Pruzan, Pruzan-Mikkelsen, Miller and Miller, 2017).
Reflection of research, findings and learning
Writing this report on framework on Amazon's business operations internally and
externally has enhanced me in lot of learning in knowing the deep analysis on strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the firm and interpretation of political, economical,
social, technological, legal and environmental factors that can affect the firm in many ways. I
have gained the detailed knowledge of various leadership styles and their features and
recommended that what can be the best suitable style for the company according to the current
scenario of the firm. I was not knowing about the ethics and social responsibilities of the
corporate before but now I can easily identify such things. Because of this report, I researched
and found out so many things which I was not knowing before and this experience was
extremely more knowledgeable for me because now I can find a change in myself that I can
apply the various leadership theories and analyze the business environment in a corporate sector.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that it is important to analyse the external and internal factors of the
business like SWOT and PESTLE analysis as they helps the company in interpreting the
business environment internally as well as externally. It assist the firm in identifying the
opportunities and threats of the firm and they effect the business operations. Moreover, it is also
essential to gain the knowledge of various leadership styles and pick the best out of them for a
business which can be most suitable for the business followed by the practices of ethics and
social responsibilities of a firm. All these points are covered in this report to know the
importance of each and every aspect of the business to better analyse such functions in a firm. At
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last reflection is also covered enlightening the learning and gaining knowledge of business
environment and leadership styles that has been applied to the company.
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References:
Books and Journals
Bratton, J. ed., 2020. Organizational leadership. SAGE Publications Limited.
Jabbar, A.A. and Hussein, A.M., 2017. The role of leadership in strategic
management. International Journal of Research-Granthaalayah. 5(5). pp.99-106.
Jakubik, M. and Berazhny, I., 2017. Rethinking Leadership and It´ s Practices in the Digital Era.
In Managing the Global Economy. Proceedings of the Management International
Conference, Monastier di Treviso, Italy, 24–27 May, 2017.. University of Primorska
Press.
Kramer, M., Page, L. and Klemic, G., 2019. Evolving leadership: New clues and cues toward
environment and context. Journal of Leadership Studies. 12(4). pp.82-85.
Larjovuori, R.L., Bordi, L. and Heikkilä-Tammi, K., 2018, October. Leadership in the digital
business transformation. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Academic Mindtrek
Conference (pp. 212-221).
Petry, T., 2018. Digital leadership. In Knowledge Management in Digital Change (pp. 209-218).
Springer, Cham.
Pruzan, P., Pruzan-Mikkelsen, K., Miller, D. and Miller, W., 2017. Leading with wisdom:
Spiritual-based leadership in business. Routledge.
Reiche, B.S., Bird, A., Mendenhall, M.E. and Osland, J.S., 2017. Contextualizing leadership: A
typology of global leadership roles. Journal of International Business Studies. 48(5).
pp.552-572.
Rosenbach, W.E., 2018. Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge.
Ruben, B.D. and Gigliotti, R.A., 2017. Communication: Sine qua non of organizational
leadership theory and practice. International Journal of Business
Communication. 54(1). pp.12-30.
Schoemaker, P.J., Heaton, S. and Teece, D., 2018. Innovation, dynamic capabilities, and
leadership. California Management Review. 61(1). pp.15-42.
Sharma, A., Agrawal, R. and Khandelwal, U., 2019. Developing ethical leadership for business
organizations. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.
Strielkowski, W. and Chigisheva, O., 2018. Leadership for the future sustainable development of
business and education. Springer proceedings in business and economics. Springer,
Cham.
Strukan, E., Nikolić, M. and Sefić, S., 2017. IMPACT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE. Tehnicki vjesnik/Technical
Gazette, 24.
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