Analyzing Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Innovation: Amazon

This case study explores the concepts of entrepreneurship, leadership, and innovation through the lens of Amazon's success story. It examines Jeff Bezos' entrepreneurial characteristics, Amazon's leadership principles, and the relationship between entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation. The study uses a positivism philosophy, deductive approach, descriptive design, and a case study research strategy, relying on secondary data and thematic analysis. The findings suggest that Amazon's success is heavily reliant on Bezos' entrepreneurial and leadership traits, which fostered creativity and innovation. The study concludes that Bezos serves as a prime example of a successful entrepreneur, transforming Amazon from an online bookstore into a leading e-commerce platform.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Entrepreneurship Leadership and Innovation: Amazon Case Study
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
The aim of the study is to analyze the real meaning of entrepreneurship and its relation to
innovation as well as creativity for Amazon. Increased number of similar business organizations
has to lead to tough and fierce competition in the market resulting in to market saturation due to
which the business organizations have to develop strategies to stand out of the crowd and mark a
unique image in the eye of the customers. Successful entrepreneurship results in the innovation
and creativity that have the ability to improve the standard of living by adding entrepreneurial
ventures and creating wealth for the entrepreneurs.
The background of the topic is to study the entrepreneurial approach and its relationship with
creativity and innovation by referring to the case study of Amazon. Jeff Bezos has shown
immense creativity and innovation compared to the booksellers that were not appealing to the
customers. Investigating the relationship between entrepreneurship and creativity and innovation
allowed investigating the issues and challenges Jeff Bezos faced being an entrepreneur and while
implementing creativity and innovation. Amazon was established in 1994 Seattle, Washington
by Jeff Bezos is a multinational technology and largest e-commerce and cloud computing
platform.
The main challenge in this research is that the relationship between entrepreneurship and
creativity and innovation is difficult to investigate. In addition to, the practicality of ideas that
revolves around creativity and innovation is another challenge. Another issue, in this case, is that
the entrepreneurs have tough competition in the market and emphasizes more on competitors
rather than on the target customers. The purpose of the study is to contemplate on the real
meaning of entrepreneurship and its relationship with creativity and innovation for every

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business organization. In addition, the study also discusses how entrepreneurship can be
achieved successfully and the role both creativity and innovation play in ensuring successful
entrepreneurship for Amazon that enabled the company to survive in the competitive market.
Positivism philosophy, deductive approach, descriptive design and case study research strategy
has been applied. secondary data collection technique has been used, as this provided an
opportunity for the researcher to consider the entrepreneurial characteristics, innovation,
creativity and leadership principles of used for the Amazon by Jeff Bezos from various
secondary sources such as books, journals and official websites. As a result, qualitative data
analysis using thematic analysis has been applied.
From the data analysis, it can be inferred that the success of Amazon is greatly dependent on the
entrepreneurial and leadership traits of Jeff Bezos. The ability to see things differently are
significant characteristics of leadership and entrepreneurship that leads to creativity and
innovation thereby, making it standing out from the existing ones in the market. The
entrepreneurial characteristics of Jeff Bezos helped in overcoming the probable problems that
were encountered by Jeff Bezos while executing entrepreneurship and leadership that hampered
the creativity and innovation of the company but was mitigated by the sharp vision of the
founder. From the discussion, it can be summarized that Jeff Bezos is a living example of one of
the most successful entrepreneur that has taken Amazon from an online bookstore to one of the
largest and successful e-commerce platforms in the world.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................8
1.0 Overview...........................................................................................................................8
1.1 Background of the topic.........................................................................................................8
1.2 Background of the company..................................................................................................9
1.3 Problem statement.................................................................................................................9
1.4 Aim of the study..................................................................................................................10
1.5 Objectives of the research....................................................................................................10
1.6 Research questions...............................................................................................................10
1.7 Rationale of the research.....................................................................................................11
1.8 Purpose of the study.............................................................................................................11
1.9 Structure of the dissertation.................................................................................................12
1.10 Summary............................................................................................................................12
Chapter 2: Literature review..........................................................................................................13
2.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................13
2.1 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................................13
2.2 Concept of entrepreneurship................................................................................................14
2.3 Elements of successful entrepreneurship.............................................................................14
2.3.1 Willingness to take action.............................................................................................14

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2.3.2 Patience.........................................................................................................................15
2.3.3 Persistence....................................................................................................................15
2.3.4 Team work....................................................................................................................15
2.3.5 Self-confidence.............................................................................................................16
2.4 Types of entrepreneurship...................................................................................................16
2.5 Benefits of entrepreneurship................................................................................................18
2.6 Challenges in entrepreneurship............................................................................................19
2.7 Entrepreneurial characteristics of Jeff Bezos of Amazon....................................................19
2.8 Concept of leadership..........................................................................................................20
2.9 Discussing the leadership principles of Amazon.................................................................21
2.10 Types of leadership............................................................................................................22
2.11 Relationship between leadership and entrepreneurship.....................................................24
2.12 Concept of innovation and creativity.................................................................................25
2.13 Factors affecting innovation and creativity.......................................................................25
2.14 Types of innovation...........................................................................................................26
2.15 Benefits of innovation and creativity.................................................................................27
2.16 Challenges of innovation and creativity............................................................................27
2.17 Analyzing the connection between entrepreneurship and innovation and creativity........28
2.18 Gaps in the literature..........................................................................................................28
2.19 Summary............................................................................................................................29

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Chapter 3: Research methodology.............................................................................................30
3.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................30
3.1 Research outline...................................................................................................................30
3.2 Research onion.....................................................................................................................31
3.3 Research philosophy............................................................................................................31
3.3.1 Explaining the application of positivism philosophy...................................................32
3.4 Research approach...............................................................................................................32
3.4.1 Explaining the application of deductive approach........................................................32
3.5 Research design...................................................................................................................33
3.5.1 Explaining the application of descriptive design..........................................................33
3.6 Research strategy.................................................................................................................33
3.6.1 Explaining the application of case study research strategy..........................................33
3.7 Data collection process........................................................................................................34
3.7.1 Explaining the application of secondary data collection process.................................34
3.8 Data analysis technique.......................................................................................................34
3.8.1 Explaining the application of thematic data analysis technique...................................34
3.9 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................34
3.10 Accessibility issues............................................................................................................35
3.11 Research limitation............................................................................................................36
3.12 Time table..........................................................................................................................36

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3.13 Summary............................................................................................................................37
Chapter 4: Data analysis................................................................................................................38
4.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................38
4.1 Thematic analysis................................................................................................................38
4.2 Summary..............................................................................................................................46
Chapter 5: Discussions..................................................................................................................48
5.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................48
5.1 Findings and interpretation..................................................................................................48
5.2 Summary..............................................................................................................................51
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................53
6.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................53
6.1 Linking to objectives...........................................................................................................53
6.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................55
6.3 Future scope of the study.....................................................................................................55
References......................................................................................................................................57

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Overview
Increased number of similar business organizations has to lead to tough and fierce
competition in the market. In addition, this has also led to market saturation due to which the
business organizations have to develop strategies to stand out of the crowd and mark a unique
image in the eye of the customers. Being creative and innovative helps the business
organizations to solve problems, increase market share, generate profit and edge out competitors
thereby, gaining competitive advantage successfully (Yoshida et al. 2014). On the other hand,
some individuals flourish best when they work independently as they have the freedom of
pursuing their own vision. The control and flexibility of time allow more learning and
knowledge gaining which could influence creativity and innovation. As a result,
entrepreneurship has the ability to change the way society lives and works. If entrepreneurship is
successful, the innovation and creativity have the ability to improve the standard of living by
adding entrepreneurial ventures and creating wealth for the entrepreneurs. However,
entrepreneurship comes with its own share of positives and negatives where the obvious
positives are freedom, flexibility, innovation and creativity; whereas the negatives are
administration, competition, irregular work schedule and no fixed salary at the beginning (Ahlin,
Drnovsek and Hisrich 2014).
1.1 Background of the topic
The background of the topic is to study the entrepreneurial approach and its relationship
with creativity and innovation by referring to the case study of Amazon. Since the establishment
of Amazon, Jeff Bezos has shown immense creativity and innovation compared to the

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booksellers that were not appealing to the customers. Furthermore, the taste of creativity or
innovation is noticed when Jeff Bezos diversified to videos, CD’s, toys, electronic goods and
clothes that resulted in a whopping leap of sales from half a million dollar to $17 billion in 2011.
Taking into account the success story of Jeff Bezos, a successful entrepreneur who has taken
Amazon to where it is today by implementing creativity and innovation successfully.
Investigating the relationship between entrepreneurship and creativity and innovation allowed
investigating the issues and challenges Jeff Bezos faced being an entrepreneur and while
implementing creativity and innovation (Sarooghi, Libaers and Burkemper 2015).
1.2 Background of the company
Amazon was established in 1994 Seattle, Washington by Jeff Bezos. Amazon is a
multinational technology that emphasizes on e-commerce, artificial intelligence and cloud
computing and is considered as one of the "Four Horseman" alongside Google, Apple and
Facebook due to characteristics such as disruptive innovation, market capitalization, hyper-
competitive application process and equity. In terms of revenue and market capitalization,
Amazon is the largest e-commerce and cloud computing platform. Jeff Bezos is said to be one of
the successful entrepreneurs who has shown successful innovation and creativity thereby, taking
to Amazon to the place where it stands today (Amazon.com 2019).
1.3 Problem statement
The main challenge in this research is that the relationship between entrepreneurship and
creativity and innovation is difficult to investigate. Entrepreneurship is essential as this changes
the standard of living but difficult to achieve as not all the ideas are successful. In addition to, the
practicality of ideas that revolves around creativity and innovation is another challenge. Finding
an idea appropriate idea followed by developing a solution for mitigating the challenge and

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achieve the idea is challenging. In addition to, as entrepreneurship is new and lacks suitable
support, it is difficult for the entrepreneurs to find sponsors who can help in reproducing the
creativity and innovation thereby, making it successful. Another issue, in this case, is that the
entrepreneurs have tough competition in the market and emphasizes more on competitors rather
than on the target customers (Anderson, Potocnik and Zhou 2014).
1.4 Aim of the study
The aim of the study is to analyze the real meaning of entrepreneurship and its relation to
innovation as well as creativity for Amazon.
1.5 Objectives of the research
The objectives of the research are:
 To understand and discuss the criteria or elements that must be present to formulate
successful entrepreneurship.
 To discuss and analyze the leadership principles in Amazon and their relation to
entrepreneurship
 To evaluate address the connection between Entrepreneurship and innovation and their
relation to creativity and success in the business world with a connection to Amazon.
1.6 Research questions
The questions of the research are:
 What do you understand by successful entrepreneurship?
 What are the elements or criteria that must be present for formulating successful
entrepreneurship?
 What are the leadership principles in Amazon and their relationship to entrepreneurship?

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 What is the connection between entrepreneurship and innovation and their relation to
creativity and success in the business world with a connection to Amazon?
1.7 Rationale of the research
Being creative and innovative allows the business organizations to stand out from others
and come with unique business ideas that lead to successful entrepreneurship. However, not all
creative and innovative ideas result in successful entrepreneurship. The issue faced by business
organizations while implementing creativity and innovation is the practicality of the idea. Not all
creative and innovative idea is successful in the long run for the business organizations.
However, on the other hand, the business organization lack adequate experience and skills in
terms of the employees that leads to failure in creativity and innovation. The research is
significant because it is trying to analyze and investigate the relationship between
entrepreneurship and creativity and innovation (Gundry, Ofstein and Kickul 2014).
1.8 Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study is to contemplate on the real meaning of entrepreneurship and
its relationship with creativity and innovation for every business organization. In addition, the
study also discusses how entrepreneurship can be achieved successfully and the role both
creativity and innovation play in ensuring successful entrepreneurship for Amazon that enabled
the company to survive in the competitive market. Also, this study emphasizes strategies and
planning that Amazon can use in the future for achieving successful entrepreneurship by the
combined effort of innovation and creativity. The purpose of the study is to verify and clarify the
set objectives and goals for this study that aim towards investigating the connectedness of
creativity and innovation with entrepreneurship (Zhou 2015).