Amazon's Corporate Culture and CSR: A Business Report

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Introduction to Business
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Introduction
This report will throw light on the issues that Amazon is facing and a course of action to solve
that issue. As CSR is an important aspect of a corporate, the corporate social responsibilities of
Amazon will also be analyzed in this report. There will be reflection that will present the
experiences while working in a team to completing this group presentation.
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Key Issue
Amazon is a very big company and it is very obvious that managing such a huge corporate is a
difficult task. There are various issues related with the management of Amazon. The key issue
that the company is facing and trying to resolve as soon as possible is the issue related with the
corporate culture of the business. The corporate culture of Amazon has various smaller issues
like there is unhealthy competition between the employees which is not at all good for the
company. The standards and expectations from the employees are very high and too
unreasonably. The leadership of the company is also over forthright. The corporate culture issue
is the major issue that must be resolved by the company as it can lead to dissatisfaction in the
employees and hamper the operations of the business. A course of action is suggested to amazon
to solve the issue relating to the corporate culture. The steps are given below:
Improving the leadership: The first step that can be taken by the business is to improve the
leadership style followed by the leader. The leader must take know that everybody has their
own way of thinking and it is not good to force one’s thinking on others and expect them to
react in the same manner. Supportive leadership can be used by the leader. Employees must
be set free so that they can be creative (Becker’s hospital review, 2015).
Discussion with the employees: It is important to discuss the areas of issues with the
employees so that the root cause of the problem can be identified.
Establishing healthy relationships: The Company must set realistic standards so that there is
no unhealthy competition between the employees and a healthy working environment is set
in the organsiation.
Continuous assessment: After establishing a good corporate culture, it is also significant that
a regular assessment is done in order to identify the success of the plan.
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Corporate Social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is the act of a company to pay back to the stakeholders and the
society as it uses the resources from the society for its survival. It is very important to
incorporate CSR in the strategies of the business as it leads to various benefits like customer
loyalty, long run success of the business, least intervention of the government and above all a
high market value. Amazon is a company that is very active in its CSR policies. The company
has a high ability to satisfy its stakeholder by protecting their interest. The interest of the
stakeholders is linked to the overall objectives of the organsiation and then steps are taken by the
company to achieve them. Amazon follows the Archie Carroll’s model of CSR. There are
majorly three stakeholders that are to be taken care by the company:
Customers: Customers are the most important part of company and all the policies and
objectives of the business are focused on the customers. The company practices fair pricing,
high quality service and security of customer personal data to protect the customers.
Employees: Employees are considered as an integral part of the company and to satisfy the
employees the company pays high compensation to them. Regular training and development
programs are also conducted by the company top improve their skills and knowledge.
Community: Protection of the interest of the community is also a major task performed by
Amazon. The company makes investment for the healthcare, education, employment
creation for the development of the society. Amazon also takes part in the sustainability
programs for the sustainable development of the environment (Ferguson, 2017).
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Effect of Brexit
There is uncertainty in the economy of Europe and it is possible that the goods and service may
not flow freely in the UK and Europe. Brexit has a great impact on the operations of Amazon as
discussed below:
Fulfillment centers: There is a negative impact of Brexit on the fulfillment centers of
amazon. Amazon had limited number of fulfillment centers that were enough for the business
for operating effectively in the market. But now the company has to open more warehouses
in the UK and Europe to have a regular flow of goods (Forbes, 2016).
Hiring: Brexit can also have a negative impact on the labor cost of the company as if the
existing workforce that migrated to work in the UK does not stay, this can lead to increased
hiring cost of the business (Dudovskiy, 2018).
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Reflection
Working in team has been a good experience for all us. I must say that all the group members
worked with great collaboration and cooperation while completing the group presentation. We
all divided our presentation into smaller activities or tasks and then by conducting meetings we
combined all our works. There were various issues that we faced while competing the
presentation like difference in opinions but then by understanding each other’s perspective we
resolved all the conflicting issues and arrived at a conclusion. I think there are various benefits of
working in a team. By carrying out a work in teams, the outcome is very impressive. If the work
is huge, team can make it easy and the burden is shared. However there are some challenges like
difference in working styles, difference in personal objectives and beliefs. After working in team
I came to know that I need to develop certain skills like effective communication skills and
delegation skills so that I can work better in a team next time.
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Conclusion
The report concludes that corporate social responsibility is an important aspect of a business and
the business has to get engaged in the CSR activities so that it can have a high goodwill in the
market. The key issues of a business are also important to be identified so that corrective
measures can be taken in order to resolve the issue and manage the business in an effective
manner.
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References
Becker’s hospital review, 2015. 9 key issues with Amazon's corporate culture. [Online].
Becker’s hospital review. Available at: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-
management-administration/9-key-issues-with-amazon-s-corporate-culture.html. [Accessed
on 26 June 2019].
Dudovskiy, J., 2018. Amazon corporate social responsibility. [Online]. Research
methodology. Available at: https://research-methodology.net/amazon-corporate-social-
responsibility/ [Accessed on 26 June 2019].
Ferguson, E., 2017. Amazon.com Inc. Stakeholders, Corporate Social Responsibility (An
Analysis). [Online]. Panmore. Available at: http://panmore.com/amazon-com-inc-
stakeholders-corporate-social-responsibility-analysis. [Accessed on 26 June 2019].
Forbes, 2016. How can Brexit impact Amazon?. [Online]. Forbes. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/06/30/how-can-brexit-impact-amazon/
#30154e9a4c4a. [Accessed on 26 June 2019].
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