Business Development and Planning: Amazon's Strategic Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon's business development strategies. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the importance of continuous business evolution in the face of technological advancements. The report then delves into Amazon's entrepreneurial ecosystem, emphasizing its focus on cloud computing, AI, and e-commerce. It explores the practical value of the Business Model Canvas, specifically the Three Customer Value Proposition, and its role in Amazon's planning process. Customer segmentation is discussed, including the importance of identifying customer needs and overcoming customer problems. The report further examines the creation of new ventures, Amazon's various business boards (Amazon Web Services, Amazon Prime, and Amazon Marketplace), and their differences. It also covers strategic enterprise management, including business registration, entrepreneurial finance, IP management, marketing strategies (including digital marketing and networking), and pricing structures. Finally, the report addresses financial aspects such as cash flow forecasting, bookkeeping, and personal survival planning, concluding with a summary of key findings and references.

Running head: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
Business Development and Planning
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
Executive Summary
Business organizations and their development in the latest scenario have been rising at an
exponential level given the latest context. The technological advancements that the businesses
are making have been affecting the business organizations as well. All the organizations are
focusing on developing a system within the organization that would help in the proper evolution
of the business within the ever evolving market and as a result it is utmost necessary that the
developments of the business organizations happen from all the aspects of the business
organizations. Not just the technological advancements, but all the other aspects of the business
need to be developed according to the operations within a business to make it a wholesome
advancement. For the report as discussed on the above topic below, the business development of
Amazon would be discussed in order to make sure that the business has been developing in all
the aspects and not just technologically developing itself.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem...................................................................................................4
Developing the Business and the Implementation of the Enterprise Ecosystem.....................4
Practical Value of the Business Model canvas........................................................................5
Using the Business Model Canvas for the Planning Process of the Business.........................5
Strategic Enterprise Management and Business Registration.....................................................6
The importance of the Customer Segmentation......................................................................6
Identifying the Customer Needs..............................................................................................6
Ways for Overcoming Customer Problems.............................................................................7
Creation of New Ventures – Business Models, Start-up Selling, Marketing, Social Media and
PR................................................................................................................................................8
Various Business Boards at Amazon.......................................................................................8
Differences between the Business Boards...............................................................................8
Amazon Business Structure.....................................................................................................8
Legal Structures of the Business and its Impact......................................................................9
Entrepreneurial Finance and Risk Management..........................................................................9
IP and Identification of IP within Business Strategy...............................................................9
Exploitation of IP within business...........................................................................................9
Insurance and its application within the business context.......................................................9
Legal Requirements of the Business......................................................................................10
IPR and its exploitation.............................................................................................................10
Nature of Marketing and Role in the Strategy Generated for the business...........................10
The role of Digital Marketing................................................................................................10

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Networking and its effect in the business..............................................................................11
Non-traditional route to the market.......................................................................................11
Pricing Structures, Crowd funding and VC investment............................................................11
Roles of Terms and Conditions.............................................................................................11
Role of Contracts...................................................................................................................11
Networking and Customer Relations.........................................................................................11
Models and Pricing Structures...............................................................................................11
Competitive Pricing...............................................................................................................12
Identifying the Market Value.................................................................................................12
Funding Streams....................................................................................................................12
Calculating VAT and Tax..........................................................................................................12
Role of Tax and Calculation..................................................................................................12
Different Levels of Charged Taxes........................................................................................12
Cash flow, Book-keeping, Personal and Survival Planning......................................................12
Principles of Cash flow Forecasting......................................................................................12
Importance Book-keeping.....................................................................................................13
Personal Survival Planning and Role within Long-term Financial Stability.........................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
It is extremely necessary that a business evolves itself in a continuous manner given the
continuously changing industry and subsequently enhancing market. One of the major reasons
that have been behind the need of continuous enhancement in the business industries is the
technological advancements adapted by the business organizations which are irrespective of the
size of the business organization. The way that the business organizations in the market have
been utilizing the technological advancements to the benefits of the organizations have been
making the business market extremely competitive in nature (Aversa, Haefliger and Reza 2017).
The implementations of the latest technology for benefitting the business organizations have
been at random and this has made the competition much tougher. However, the implementation
of a new and improved technological system is not enough for the business to increase but it is
also necessary that all of the other systems of the organization also go through several changes
while the technological changes take place within the organization. It elaborates the calculated
risks in the creation of a change within the organization for making a collaborative change for
handling all the operations within the business. The identification of the key areas required for
the development of the operations of the organization of Amazon to raise the competitiveness of
the company further in all the business markets around the world would thus be discussed in this
module report.
The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Developing the Business and the Implementation of the Enterprise Ecosystem
The organization of Amazon has been one of the major multinational companies focusing
chiefly on the technologies of cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence or AI and e-commerce for
developing the business model which has made the organization set up a firmly successful
business in the market. Amazon has its headquarters set up in Seattle in Washington and has
been considered one of the most successful business organizations in the world. Amazon has
managed to set up a huge marketplace with the help of the e-commerce technology (Perboli and
Rosano 2019). Considering the market and revenue capitalization, the company has been
developing the e-commerce platform and the cloud computing technologies.

5BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
Initially the company had risen in its popularity for the offerings it presented to the
customers through the implementation of the latest technologies. However, recently the company
has reached a mammoth stage as an e-commerce platform as it is now being considered as one of
the chief e-commerce platforms in the entire world. The company mostly operates in five major
forms of industries including the industry of retail, logistics, consumer technology, the industry
of media and entertainment and cloud computing at the most (Simons 2016). The industry of
media and entertainment has been the latest addition in the organization which has been a
feasible implementation in the organization since the company has seen a huge positive
transformation since the introduction to the business system. Amazon has been trying to develop
its business through all these implemented technologies for having a strong foothold in the
enterprise ecosystem.
Practical Value of the Business Model canvas
Amazon uses the Three Customer Value Proposition as its Business Model Canvas. The
chief principal of business model has been based on the lower price selection for the product
which is based on the experience of customer drive (Aversa, Haefliger and Reza 2017). Amazon
reservations choosing their technique of translate in the structure of the cost of products lower to
enable high profit. It also provides that the shareholders have their share to the profits including
the dividends.
Using the Business Model Canvas for the Planning Process of the Business
The Three Customer Value Proposition that Amazon utilizes as its Business Model
Canvas helps the organization in sharing all the profits amongst its business shareholders. The
organization passes its share of the profit the all the customers by providing them the commodity
or consumable requirements in the lowest possible price (Aapaoja, Kostiainen and Leviäkangas
2017). The rest of profit is reinvested by the organization within the surplus of the organization
used for the further growth in the business. A huge chunk of the profit gained through the
business propagation is utilized for fulfilling the delivery to the networks. This strategy helps in
the reduction of the expenditure of costs for each unit of the business organization. After
reducing the implied cost, this strategy further helps in the amplification of the adjusting
elements in the virtuous cycle of the business.

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Strategic Enterprise Management and Business Registration
The importance of the Customer Segmentation
The concept of Customer Segmentation can be defined as the segmentation of the
customer base into several different groups based on a number of attributes. All the processes of
the segmentation occur in specific ways which can also be similar in ways according to the
relevance of the segmentation with regards to the marketing sector (Eisner et al. 2016). Customer
Segmentation has huge impact in the world of business as it impacts chiefly on the understanding
and the needs of the customers as well their expectation from the company. This makes it easy
for Amazon to make sure about the expectation and requirements of the customers derived from
the online portal, provisions in the e-commerce website and marketing channels.
Identifying the Customer Needs
Amazon is a continually developing organization and that is why it has been developing
all its operations within the business organization with steady understanding of the market needs
and the need of the organization to identify the needs of the customers (Nielsen and Lund 2018).
Therefore, it utilized the best possible way to segment the customers in such a way that the
segmentation of the customers abide by the requirements of the organization. When the analytics
regarding the customer base is verified in the most feasible way possible, the organization
focuses next on the defining of these segmentations based on the data captured about the
customers.
Mostly, the organization decides on the identification of the needs of the customer based
on the strategy and the method used for the customer segmentation. The organization divides its
main consumers by the segmentation method into three categories, namely, Demographic
Segmentation, Engagement-based Segmentation and Interest-based Segmentation.
Amazon has developed a software product called the Amazon Pinpoint that helps the
organization in understanding the needs of the customers by making them view the perspectives
of the customers and making the organization understand the viewpoint of the customers. The
advanced analytics in the software helps the organization to use advanced analytics to understand
the needs of the customers. The software utilized by Amazon helps in segmenting the customer
base based on their behaviours of consummation, the demographics, and other Key Performance

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Indicators or KPIs (Osaragi, Niwa and Hirokawa 2017). Amazon Pinpoint helps in the process
for the segmentation finds its base for the user engagement data and the data that has been
imported from the external sources through a set of filters driven by the user engagement data
and other Amazon Web Services or AWS sources. This software also helps in the further
segmentation of the customers based on real-time that help in the further reducing in wastage of
time and cost for the process of segmentation, finding time for producing better products for the
customers.
Ways for Overcoming Customer Problems
Amazon utilizes the best ways for serving their customers, but it also faces problems
regarding meeting the requirements for the customers and other problems. The organization
understands the problems and utilized ways to overcome the customer related problems at the
same time so that the business does not get hampered regarding the problems faced due to this.
Following are the best practices that Amazon adapts to with regards to the customer problems
arising in the industry:
 Amazon has a core commitment developed for the customers that enables them to
provide the best possible services to the customers as per their demands and
requirements.
 The corporate culture of the company makes sure that the customer problems and
complaints are listened to for providing the valuable solutions to the customers.
 Amazon provides the help centre that is very easy to find through navigation
systems followed by the specific articles (Charles, Schmidheiny and Watts 2017).
This approach adapted by Amazon helps in the provision allowed to the
customers so that they can save needful time and be empowered to their own
solutions.
 Amazon also provides personal interactions so that the customers can get support
or help from the customer services at any given point of time. This enables the
consumers to get in touch with the service provider associates at any given point
of time for having solutions to their problems.

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Creation of New Ventures – Business Models, Start-up Selling, Marketing, Social Media
and PR
Various Business Boards at Amazon
Amazon has its business boards primarily focused on three major pillars that navigate
their business through success. These are:
 Amazon Web Services
 Amazon Prime
 Amazon Marketplace
Differences between the Business Boards
Amazon has developed the business board for the latest development of the portal
Amazon Prime for the customers of the business organization where the customers can opt for
buying out memberships for the e-commerce platform which would further offer them a huge
opportunity for accessing elite levels of business media products. On the other hand, Amazon
Web Services or the AWS provides cloud based computing technology solutions to the
organization and other business processes as well (Vidal 2018). The Amazon Marketplace is a
service offered as a part of the business board of Amazon where it functions as a third-party
seller and provides a varied range of exclusive contents and discount within the e-commerce
platform. In addition to that, having a prime membership with the e-commerce platform enables
the customers to avail faster logistic services on selected commodities as well.
All the above mentioned services have made the customers have huge expectations for
the organization. Along with these, Amazon has also launched its range of Alexa devices
supported by Artificial Intelligence or AI that helps the customers in having a virtual voice
enabled assistance to either use the Amazon Prime Services or ordering commodities out of the
e-commerce website.
Amazon Business Structure
Amazon follows a Hierarchal Business Structure having two working CEOs, Senior Vice
Presidents and one Worldwide Controller. These people are chiefly held responsible for all the
critical aspects that forms the business structure and business propagation (Leeflang et al. 2014).

9BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
These aspects include the human resources, legal operations, head of segments and information
technology; they collectively have to report their actions to the CEO of Amazon.
Legal Structures of the Business and its Impact
Like any other organization, Amazon is also susceptible to the legal structures that are
handled by the government in which the organization is currently settled at. Even the branches of
the company are bound by the legal structures of all the countries that it has been set up on. The
business is answerable to the Federal Trade Commission or FTC (Farah and Ramadan 2017).
The marketing practises and the standards utilized in the organization are all pre-defined in the
business structure as per the legal standards of the country where the organization is set up in.
Abiding by the legal implications and structures of the respective countries helps the
organization in having a hassle free business propagation in selling and operating in various
countries. The relationship of the customers with the organization is also enhanced in this way.
Entrepreneurial Finance and Risk Management
IP and Identification of IP within Business Strategy
Amazon provides its customers with the commodities from a wide range to choose from
and these commodities can be selected from a various products and services provided by the e-
commerce platform. The company is not responsible for the provision of the listings that violates
the intellectual property rights for the brands or the owners for such rights.
Exploitation of IP within business
Amazon has a serious hold over the claim for infringement of intellectual property and
with the help of Internet protocol used within the business scenario the company can protect the
rights of all the companies and individuals infringement of property rights (Jain, Madan and
Singh 2016). Laws have been raised by Amazon that protects all the trademarks of the sellers
and the services when it comes to selling of goods to make the customers be clear the confirmed
confusion regarding investment on affiliation of particular goods or services.
Insurance and its application within the business context
Amazon has implemented the services of credit card business insurance providing further
services to the customers that ensure that the insurances in the businesses that enables the
customers to secure their positions within the global market. Amazon is also in talks with various

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banks in several countries to brand credit cards for small scale business owners shopping on the
e-commerce website.
Legal Requirements of the Business
The following are the legal requirements of the business for Amazon as follows:
 Registered business credential that helps the local associate state government of
making use of certain names for branding a business.
 A local and state tax document is essentially meets the future requirement based
on the tax payments (Dolata 2017).
 Non disclosure document which helps in the creation of confidential relationships
between employees, business, contractors and business partners.
 License in business units that helps a business organization to pose necessary
legal documents for having a proper license to propagate the respective
businesses.
IPR and its exploitation
Nature of Marketing and Role in the Strategy Generated for the business
Amazon has been chiefly investing in the provision of enabling different buyers of
business for purchasing the tools for the business enhancements. This particular business strategy
has been named as the Amazon Business. This is followed by the approach developed digitally
for supporting traditional B2B workflow.
The role of Digital Marketing
The aggressive progressions of Amazon has been proving to be beneficial towards the
technology of Digital Marketing and the Amazon Web Services that has been generating a large
range of data reports which has reportedly captured about 48 per cent of e-commerce sales in
United States. It is often to 49 per cent of the searches for online product which Amazon has
been capitalizing through their search engines (Hu 2016). They also have immediate fulfillment
provided that makes provision of different brands to absorb the customers from the transactional
end.

11BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
Networking and its effect in the business
Amazon virtual private cloud in enables the launch for the resources of Amazon Web
Services or AWS within a virtual network and this helps in the individuals or single business
holders having a small scale business to isolate the cloud infrastructure and handle the capacity
with physical networks along private virtual networks. The AWS networking products work
together for meeting the basic needs of the e-commerce application. It’s Elastic Load Balancing
along the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud or Amazon VPC provides a high robust networking
capability with advanced features regarding the security system.
Non-traditional route to the market
Business organizations can feel that the offline marketing is an expensive option despite
having various forms of investments, confined within the local platform (Laudon and Traver
2016). Therefore, Amazon finds it easier to sell the products in the non-traditional or non-
conventional way as it would utilize much less forms of investments.
Pricing Structures, Crowd funding and VC investment
Roles of Terms and Conditions
The different forms of the terms and conditions and the Privacy are an important concern
for the business and hence these are always maintained within Amazon. This also includes all the
shipments that are conducted beyond the borders since they depend on the postal authorities
based on their respective postal law and orders for the countries.
Role of Contracts
Amazon strictly abides by the written contracts consisting of the interest of both the
organization of Amazon and other small scale industries that would do business with it. Any
negative situation within the organization can be surely found about a way out given the legal
documents provided by the organization regarding the contracts defined in the operations of the
Amazon’s organizational policy to conduct the business contracts.

12BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
Networking and Customer Relations
Models and Pricing Structures
The complex algorithm used by Amazon enables the cutting of the margins by enabling
the reduction in prices. This helps in the improvement of the market position for Amazon, and
the two kind of pricing techniques adopted by Amazon are the Landed or Total Price and Item
Price.
Competitive Pricing
The pricing structures of the commodities in Amazon are also very complex in nature that
forms the important contributing factor to make sure that the customers are helped during taking
an important decision regarding the revival of products or services (Končar, Stanković and
Leković 2015).
Identifying the Market Value
Amazon needs to understand the value of the current market and for thus it utilized
various technologies to understand the potential of the market to identify the potential of the
market and the customer needs. This enables the organization to take feasible business decisions
based on the market.
Funding Streams
The different Funding Streams of Amazon are Cheddar, Clique Media Group, Iconic
Security, Qwikcilver Solutions, and Housejoy.
Calculating VAT and Tax
Role of Tax and Calculation
The primary role of tax is based on the principle for earning a specific portion of the
commodity sold to a customer to benefit the government with the sales of the business so that
government can further use this for the benefit of the society. This ensures that Amazon is
looking forward to serve their corporate social responsibilities as well.
Different Levels of Charged Taxes
The different levels of charged taxes in the organization of Amazon include the sales
department, income department and the capital gains. However, on the other hand, the Federal

13BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
tax department and the state taxes department can be considered as different entities altogether as
a separate unit to charge the customers with taxes for purchasing any commodity from the e-
commerce website.
Cash flow, Book-keeping, Personal and Survival Planning
Principles of Cash flow Forecasting
The various principles of Cash flow Forecasting utilized by Amazon are as follows:
 Cash Flow Based on the Operations
 Cash Flow in Investments
 Cash Flow in Financing Activities
Importance Book-keeping
This particular activity has been utilized by Amazon to decide the strength of the business
by classifying, reporting and analysing the market data gathered.
Personal Survival Planning and Role within Long-term Financial Stability
The reason why personal survival planning is enlisted in Amazon is that the organization
needs to strategise for a certain organisation to guide the organisation for having a financial
stability for the business.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded from the above business report that the business strategies that
Amazon utilizes makes sure that the business is planning accordingly towards the enhancement
of the business organization exceedingly in the market. The report would cover the practical
understanding of the formation of the enterprise for Amazon, developed through different stages
of the business development studied rigorously. This would include the entrepreneurial
ecosystem, the strategic management of enterprise, the registration of the business, the creation
of new ventures, the finance and risk management, the knowledge regarding the development of
IPR, pricing structures, crowd funding and VC investment, the networking and customer
relations, the calculation of VAT and Tax, the cash-flow, book-keeping, planning of personal
survival and the effective pitching and presentations.

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