Leadership & Business Environment - Case Study

This case study explores the analysis of SWOT and PESTEL framework for Amazon, changes in factors influencing opportunities and threats, comparison of leadership styles in Amazon, and the importance of ethics and CSR. Gain valuable insights for your business.

Leadership &Business
Environment – Case Study

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................2
1. Analysis of SWOT and PESTEL framework for Amazon......................................................2
2. Changes in Factors which influences the opportunities and threats in business.....................4
3. Comparison between different leadership styles and current management and leadership
style prevailing in Amazon..........................................................................................................5
4. Leadership Style which will help Amazon to grow.................................................................5
5. Ethics and CSR in Amazon.....................................................................................................5
6. Reflection Report.....................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
Amazon.com was launched by Jeff Bezos in 1995 have its headquarters in Seattle, Washington is
one the most worthy brand today in world. Amazon also had a very humble beginning with an
online book store, with just the investment of $250,000 and today the company’s net worth s
more than $1.5 trillion. Company before its growth has faced numerous challenges and was
about to face bankruptcy but it faced the challenges strongly and became one of the most
successful companies in the world. The credit off success of company can be attributed to its
CEO Jeff Bezos management and leadership style of doing business and grabbing the
opportunities on time.
The report performs the following frameworks Pestel and Swot analysis to evaluate the changes
that has impacted opportunities and threats in Amazon. Discuss about the different leadership
and management styles and which one is practiced by Amazon. Further, the report comments on
the CSR and obligations to the company and reflects the knowledge gained from the above
report.
MAIN BODY
1. Analysis of SWOT and PESTEL framework for Amazon
Swot Framework helps in analysing the key strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats or
company and discussed as follows:
Strengths
Strong brand presence and image
Third position in Brand valuation in World
Customer aligned
Innovative and Differentiated
Cost Leadership
Market Leader
Largest third-party sellers (Sarsby, 2016)
High quality logistics and Distribution
Weakness
Losing margins in some areas
Business model is easy to Imitate
Flop product failures
Avoidance of Tax controversy
Unfair use of third party data
Overdependence on Suppliers
Opportunities
Expansion to developing markets.
By improving technological forms and
Threats
Government Regulations
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company’s policies.
By doing more acquisition.
Backward Integration
Increase in no. of cybercrime.
High Competition
Increase in fake products
Misleading reviews
Economic Recession
PESTEL framework which helps in analysing the prime external factors of business –
Political Factors – Amazon is the giant business offering different and wide range of catalogue
of products, being a multinational company it needs to abide by all the political rules and
regulations in all countries likewise in UK. Brexit is the political factor which has impacted the
business of Amazon, as company firmly believes in the political stability of country any
disturbance in country impacts the businesses.
Economical Factors – While doing the business in any country economic condition is a one of
the prime factor which decides the success of the Amazon’s operations. UK has high disposable
income people group which enables them to spend and company to gain business (Yusop, 2018).
The effects changes of macro-environment factors are determined in economic factors.
Social Factors – Social factors also helps Amazon in determining the types of people in the
particular society, the potential target customers, their preferences likes and dislikes etc. After
the detailed research and development company entered the UK market to gain success. As this
the key factor which help in determining the need of people and offering them products which
they want and building customer relationship.
Technical Factors – Amazon being a technological company, this factor as a great influence on
the business of company, as it relies heavily on the technology for its regular operations on
receiving and delivering orders online. Company business plan is developed in a manner in
which each and every aspect is connected with technology. Amazon uses every latest technology
for the improvement of its business.
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Environmental Factors – The increasing pressure from the governments to decrease the
emission in the company and Amazon business relies on the logistics and delivering products
and services on the day to day basis. It can create a good brand value by lowering its carbon
cycle, increasing its business sustainability and contributing more in CSR for the countries in
which it is successfully running its operations.
Legal Factors – Businesses whether they are online or offline have to abide by the set rules,
regulations and laws formed by the judiciary of country i.e. UK for its successful and smooth
operations. Amazon has to follow rules related to cyber & data security, tariffs and many others
that are necessarily set for the business operations.
2. Changes in Factors which influences the opportunities and threats in business
The political stability in the country enables the business to expand its operations likewise
in UK; Amazon can expand its business operation with diversifying its business which is the
potential opportunity for the company. For example, company it can bring its mortar and bricks
business to UK and other factors such as support from the government of UK for its online
business is one of the key opportunity that will help in expanding its operations among the
different markets or locations of UK(Onyusheva and Seenalasataporn, 2018).
The strong economic stability in the European countries and high incomes or increasing
disposable incomes of the people in UK is great opportunity for the business of Amazon but the
increase in tough competition from the growing companies the potential threat for the company.
One of the greatest growing opportunities for the Amazon’s business is that increase in online
shopping habits in the people of UK and it takes the benefit of this opportunity by giving good
competition to the local rivals and giving the fastest service delivery to its customers.
But one of the potential threats which is growing is the increasing awareness about the people
related to the cyber and data security and with this Amazon has to work on this prime issue and
ensure its customers that there data is completely safe in hands of company and company only
requires the relevant data for the verification of its customers as it is about the integrity of
business (Sastry, Katvi and Tourani, 2019) . Amazon biggest strength that is to be customer
centric, which makes sure that all its activities should be for the betterment of its customers and
customers faith in the company is of utmost important. That is why Amazon takes care of the
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data of its customers and provides the best security on its website and apps as any loss to this
data can badly impact the brand image and involve company into legal issues. Company can
open its door to more opportunities by carefully following the laws set by the government and by
keeping an eye on the changing regulations if in any case this is missed then can become
potential threat for the company. Company has done experiments by different products which did
not find success in UK market but it’s the lesson for Amazon to take complete information about
the market and types of product offered.
3. Comparison between different leadership styles and current management and leadership style
prevailing in Amazon
There are several leadership styles it differs from task based to people based styles the following
discussed below are the distinct leadership styles:
People Oriented Leadership
Laissez-Faire – Manager or Leader practicing this leadership style provides the freedom in
decision-making and way of working to its team. The leader in this style motivates its team to
focus on the end result of the task and focus at the bigger picture also has the great influence on
its team. This leadership style cannot be followed with the deadline if the team has the
inexperienced team members.
Democratic – In this leadership style, leaders discuss and evaluate each and every factor of the
situation with the team and listens to everyone’s opinion. It can be practiced if the team has
enough time to meet deadline nut cannot dealt with time pressure. Different members present
their ideas so tea gets good options to select to solve the issue (Fiaz, Su and Saqib, 2017). Only
pitfall is that practicing it takes lot of time.
Task Oriented Leadership
Authoritarian – In this leadership style, the leader focuses on saving the time and is practiced
when the task have the deadline. Leader directs his instruction, assigns the responsibility to every
team member and eliminates any confrontation coming from the team so that it does not create
any issue and rather focus on completing the task. This can be easily managed with the larger
teams and with both experienced and inexperienced team members.
Transactional – This leadership style is efficient in motivating the team by giving them bonus
and rewards that could influence them to enhance their performance while completing tasks.
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Leader can also punish the team members to be discipline and to work efficiently. Can be
practiced with both experienced & inexperienced team members and with short, medium and
large teams (Gandolfi and Stone, 2018).
Transformational – Amazon recently practice this leadership style, leaders of the company
motivates and inspires their team to perform their best with the full potential and which results
into great productivity. Leaders generally support their teams and have good working
relationship with their team members. Transformational Leaders provides the clear vision and
have the great influence on the team.
Prevailing Management Style – Pragmatist
Company’s CEO is a pragmatist leader and believes in practical, competitive and driven
management style. This management style is one of the key success reasons behind the
Amazon’s story. Company management sets the high standards for them and their teams to come
up with good results and value hitting their goal above anything (Hussain and Hassan, 2016).
They are inclined towards focusing on the steps taken in completing projects and process of
reaching their goals.
4. Leadership Style which will help Amazon to grow
Amazon currently uses pragmatist leadership style where the manager’s sets the high
performance indicator for themselves and their teams to achieve the goal in an efficient manner.
Amazon can use the strategic leadership style which will suit their management style and help
the company to grow. Strategic leadership style, managers express their strategic vision for
efficiently achieving high profits and growth in the company. This style helps in motivating the
employees or team members to attain company’s vision and work towards it. The main focus of
this leadership style is to build working environment where the members can work productively
and forecast their requirements to the manager so that there is no chances of delay (Schein,
2020). This leadership style will prepare company for the things whatever future might brings
because of its predictive behaviour and analytical decisions. Amazon by using this style can
allocate the resources efficiently according to the set strategic vision and leaders practicing it are
expect to be proficient and give bit freedom to the team members in making decision. In order to
implement this leadership style, manager or leader should possess attributes such as is open to
modify the solutions which provides company a competitive edge over others, have the great
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influence of good characteristics and members respects their decisions. This leadership can help
Amazon in fulfilling their long term and short term requirements. Leaders practicing this style,
will be able to develop more better relations with their team member and will be able to make its
team understand his strong expectations regarding their work and performance. Strategic
leadership change oriented and future focused approach will definitely benefit Amazon and will
contribute in the success of company.
5. Ethics and CSR in Amazon
Ethics
Code of conducting the business and Ethics are the success factors determining the success of
company, these practices and policies sets out common principles guiding the business. Amazon
has set practices and policies which are applicable for all its employees and ensures that the
employees act in ethical and lawful manner that are in best interest of company. Amazon has its
ethics of compliance with the set law, rules and regulations (Solanki, 2019). Every candidate
who joins Amazon is given clarity regarding the rules and regulations that are to be practiced by
all its employees and any clarity regarding the policies can be discussed with the HR department
of Amazon. Company have set responsibilities, obligations and duties of each and every person
working the company that need to be done in an ethical manner. Company has different policies
which ensure that its business is conducted with the ethics and in no such way affects its brand
value which includes: insider’s trading policy, periodic certification, violation reporting,
discrimination and harassment at workplace, health and safety, financial integrity which includes
record keeping and reporting, bribery etc. These set policies ensure that the Amazon’s business
will run efficiently and smoothly and it’s expected from their employees to conduct themselves
according to these practices and give their best.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Now-a-days because of the pressure from the pressure groups, public and the government of UK
company has to contribute its part of profit for the benefit of society and environment. This
concept is also best from the part of company as it helps company in building their brand image,
contribute for the good cause and increase its business sustainability. These CSR programme not
only increase their productivity but also the boost the employee morale as the also gets the
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chance to volunteer the programmes done by the company that it ultimately contributing in their
growth as well.
Amazon has pledged to use such technology and make all the people working in its company to
hold zero carbon across the entire organisation by 2040 (Kim, Krishna and Dhanesh, 2019). With
the help of cloud computing company has initiated energy consumption and invested in solar and
wind energy to expand renewable energy by 80%. Amazon has contributed towards various
communities by the help of its Amazon relief fund by keeping in mind the impact of pandemic to
its delivery partners. It has also initiated programmes to facilitate electronic gifts and device
donations to schools. To support the knowledge of coding in girls it has also hosted the programs
like Girls who host. Company regularly comes-up with the innovative programmes to support the
society and its stakeholders who have contributed in the success of the company.
It is recommended that Amazon should maximise its workforce in UK because of its rising
demand of online products, it can give more employment to the pickers which will help the
company and society but ensure that they give proper training to them.
6. Reflection Report
Through the help of this case study, I got the in depth knowledge of Amazon.com, Inc business
that what the external factors such as political, legal, social, economical, environmental and
technical which influence its business and how they strengths negate the threats and weakness by
creating opportunities for the business. While studying for this report, I came across various
blogs and websites which provide the success story of Jeff Bezos, he shares various lessons
which motivate the individual and encourage giving their best everytime even after failing, stand
up and give the best again (Parmer, 2018). I have gained the detailed knowledge about the
various leadership styles and the transformational and pragmatist style used by the management
of company to improve productivity and growth of the company. Based on their leadership style
I recommended the best alternative that will suit Amazon’s management i.e. strategic leadership
which is future and prediction based approach. While researching about the case study, I have
also got the detailed knowledge about the conducting the business in an appropriate manner and
should also contribute for the betterment of stakeholder, society and environment which is really
essential as these stakeholder’s plays a huge role in the growth of Amazon so it is the key
responsibility towards them.
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CONCLUSION
The report above provides the detail understanding about the Amazon an e-commerce giant. The
factors that affect its business, its key strengths and weakness and evaluates in detail about the
changes in factors and how the company is addressing strengths to neglect the weakness and
threats influencing opportunities. Report also provides the comprehensive overview about the
distinct leadership styles, current leadership and management style and recommendation about
leadership style which can benefit the Amazon. Further, it provides the evidence regarding
Amazon’s ethics and CSR and lastly presents a reflective report regarding the key understanding
gained from this case study.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Fiaz, M., Su, Q. and Saqib, A., 2017. Leadership styles and employees' motivation: Perspective
from an emerging economy. The Journal of Developing Areas. 51(4). pp.143-156.
Gandolfi, F. and Stone, S., 2018. Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal of
Management Research. 18(4). pp.261-269.
Hussain, M. and Hassan, D., 2016. The leadership styles dilemma in the business
world. International Journal of Organizational Leadership. 5. pp.411-425.
Kim, S., Krishna, A. and Dhanesh, G., 2019. Economics or ethics? Exploring the role of CSR
expectations in explaining consumers’ perceptions, motivations, and active
communication behaviors about corporate misconduct. Public Relations Review. 45(1).
pp.76-87.
Onyusheva, I. and Seenalasataporn, T., 2018. Strategic Analysis of Global E-Commerce And
Diversification Technology: The Case Of Amazon. Com INC. The EUrASEANs:
journal on global socio-economic dynamics. (1 (8)). pp.48-63.
Parmer, L., 2018. Relationships between philosophical values and conflict management
styles. International Journal of Conflict Management.
Sarsby, A., 2016. SWOT analysis. Lulu. com.
Sastry, V.V.L.N., Katvi, S. and Tourani, P., 2019. AMAZON’S STRATEGIC ANALYSIS AND
IT’S ENTERPRISE STRATEGY FOR THE CLOUD. Advance and Innovative
Research. p.186.
Schein, A., 2020. Organisational ambidexterity, hard power management and smart power
management at Amazon, a case study. Global Business and Economics Review. 22(1-
2). pp.27-40.
Solanki, K., 2019. ‘To what extent does Amazon. com, Inc success be accredited to its
organizational culture and ND Jeff Bezos's leadership style?. Archives of Business
Research. 7(11). pp.21-40.
Yusop, Z.B.M., 2018. PESTEL analysis. COMRAP 2018. p.34.
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