Analysis of Knowledge Management and its Impact on Amazon's Success

This report provides an executive summary of Amazon's knowledge management practices, focusing on how the company utilizes information to drive positive business outcomes. It explores the background of Amazon, its mission, and vision, emphasizing the importance of knowledge management in fostering efficiency, innovation, and customer satisfaction. The report delves into the ways Amazon embeds knowledge in its product and service concepts, highlighting the role of tacit knowledge and systematic knowledge sharing. It further examines the importance of knowledge in Amazon's standard operating procedures and analyzes the outcomes achieved through effective knowledge management, including improved operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. The report also identifies areas for potential improvement and offers recommendations for meeting future challenges, ultimately aiming to provide insights into how knowledge management contributes to Amazon's sustained growth and success in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

Amazon

Executive Summary
Knowledge management refers to use information within company in such a manner that
will drive positive outcomes for business. It aims to enhance overall efficiency of business by
maintain effective collaboration among employees. There are different theories used by company
in terms of knowledge management. Further, entity needs to make some improvements in
existing strategies & technologies for betterment of business.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
SECTION 1.................................................................................................................................................5
Knowledge and information management...................................................................................................5
Background of Amazon...........................................................................................................................5
Knowledge Management:........................................................................................................................5
Importance of knowledge management...................................................................................................7
Discuss how knowledge managements help in satisfying customers and gaining competitive advantage
.................................................................................................................................................................8
SECTION2..................................................................................................................................................9
Evaluation of Knowledge and information management models.................................................................9
Discuss the way in which knowledge is embedded in product and service concepts in the field of tacit
knowledge of individuals.........................................................................................................................9
Discuss how knowledge management depicts a systematic approach in sharing as well as exchanging
knowledge base of an organization........................................................................................................10
SECTION 3...............................................................................................................................................13
Discuss importance of knowledge in Amazon standard operating procedure........................................13
Outcomes achieved by Amazon with the use of knowledge management.............................................13
Areas of improvement which can be improved by Amazon for meeting future challenges...................14
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................16
REFERNCES............................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
In present business world, it is essential for companies to adopt new and creative ways to
meet with different requirements of customers. Now, there is higher competition prevailing in
market so it is imperative to adopt such technique which are highly creative as well as advance.
These approaches are helpful in providing competitive edge to organization. In addition, COVID
19 has been changed buying pattern, habits of customer as now customers more prefer to
purchase products & services online rather physically visiting outlets (Hislop, Bosua and Helms,
2018) . In present time, knowledge management is also imperative to understand behavior,
attitude of customers and provide them services accordingly. The present report is based on
Amazon which has been initiated by Jeff Bezos in 1995 as an online store to sale books. Now, it
has become an ecommerce giant which is working within 16 countries across the globe and deals
in variety of products such as fashion, clothes, home appliances, electronics, groceries and more.
Amazon recently started to diversity business within services industry such as entertainment and
financial services. For this, it has started Amazon Prime and Amazon pay. It is considered as the
market leader in retail industry which made it possible to available such a wide range of products
at single platform. In the present report, different theories of knowledge management have been
discussed which is helpful for company to meet with market demand in an efficient manner. It
comprises significance of knowledge management for company in terms of getting appropriate
outcomes. There are theories such as multi perspective theory, decision making model and more
have been discussed in the following report. It also includes importance of knowledge for
Standard operations procedure of organization. Further, areas of improvement for further
betterment have also been included in the current report. Main aim of this report is to examine
the contribution of knowledge management in the success & growth of company and also make
meaningful suggestions for getting positive outcomes in future. Moreover, it renders appropriate
information regarding knowledge management that will help organization to attain predefined
results within stipulated period of time.

SECTION 1
Knowledge and information management
Background of Amazon
In the current report, Amazon is taken into consideration which is a renowned company
of retail sector. It is regarded as market leader in ecommerce industry which deals in different
categories of products such as fashion accessories, clothes, electronics and more (Webb, 2017). It
was founded by Jeff Bezos in America and presently the company has been expanded its
business in different countries across the globe. It is operating in nearly 16 countries including
UK, US, India and more. Apart from retailing, Amazon is also in financial services and
entertainment. It has started Amazon prime for enhancing customer base of organization.
Recently, it has started Amazon pay for making payment easy for customers. This diversification
will help Amazon to attain higher profit margin. It is considered as world’s largest online store
which uses higher innovation as well as techniques for maintaining trust of customers in the
brand. In addition, it is regarded as one of the big five companies in US that gives significant
contribution in development & growth of economy. Amazon also provides a lot of employment
opportunities within US and other countries in which it is operating business in significant
manner.
Mission and Vision of Amazon
Mission: “To provide lower price products to customers with best available selection by
ensuring higher convenience”.
Vision: “To become highly customer centric company across the world where customer can find
anything which they want to buy online”
Knowledge Management:
In business, knowledge management refers to maintain such a portal or platform where
all the necessary information related to company can be stored. It is analyzed that an
organization gathers huge information on daily basis so there is requirement to have such a
platform where all the information can be gathered all together for further use (Liebowitz and
Frank, 2016) . Main aim of knowledge management is to enhance overall efficiency of company

by saving knowledge for longer run. In addition to this, knowledge management can be
considered as a process to define, structure, retain as well as share knowledge & experiences of
employees within organization. Sometimes, it so also regarded as learning & training within
organization or from its customers for enhancing overall level of productivity and profitability. It
is a complete process under which information is created, shared as well as structured in proper
manner for enhancing overall level of efficiency and effectiveness within company. Knowledge
management is crucial for business in terms of boosting competency, skills of employees. With
this, employees get access of all the necessary information at a single platform which allowed
them to undertake appropriate actions for further growth of business. It facilitates innovation
within company and also motivates employees to perform in more effective manner. In addition,
knowledge management is helpful in facilitating prompt decision making within organization
due to higher involvement of other stakeholders such as employees & customers. It also
enhances collaboration among employees as they all started to work together in collaborative
manner for ensuring business success and growth. By this way, company can retain staff
members for longer period of time. Knowledge management is a system by which people can
share, access as well as update information within organization.
It is stated that there are four crucial components of knowledge management such as people,
process, IT and strategy. There is requirement of senior leaders for providing necessary expert
knowledge from their prior experiences. Cross functional stakeholders are important for
implementing strategies in appropriate way. There should a predefined process as per which all
the activities need to perform within company. This process is determined by KM team of
company (Sousa and Rocha, 2019). Further, information technology is also important so that
individuals can perform assigned task in best possible way. Without presence of technology, it is
not possible to store as well as use the information in future. At the ends, effective
implementation of knowledge management requires proper strategy which is formulated by KM
team of company. The strategy needs to be efficient, effective and documented in proper way so
that employees can use it in an efficient manner.

Importance of knowledge management
Knowledge management is a process of storing as well as using information for future
references for betterment of organization. Here, importance of knowledge management is given
as under:
Prompt decision making: In business, there are a lot of decisions taken on regular basis.
Here, information plays a crucial role in decision making in overall decision making process.
With knowledge management all the individuals working in company have opportunity to access
the information which will further help to take better decisions. In context of Amazon, it is a
retail giant which owns large knowledge management system where all the necessary
information such as experiences, thoughts of employees, customers can be find at single place.
This information can be further used by managers and other personnels for taking better
decision for ensuring growth & success of organization.
Standardized process: It is often analyzed that information get disrupted while people
involve in oral communication. On other side written communication is a standardized way to
keep all the information secure for longer period of time. In knowledge management, with the
use of documentation and shared process it is easy to make sure that each & every individual
within company use the predefined procedure. In reference of Amazon, they use advance
knowledge management technique in order to meet with requirements of customers in an
efficient manner (Centobelli, Cerchione and Esposito, 2017).
Promote innovation and cultural changes: Innovation is important for bringing new and
advance products in market place. Innovation completely depends over knowledge &
information. It is stated that knowledge management is helpful in facilitating & promoting
innovation within business. Through knowledge management employees get access of latest
information that further assists them to undertake innovation and cultural changes. These
changes are vital for meeting current business needs & requirements. In context of Amazon, it is
considered as highly innovative company which offers range of products from a single platform.
Here, knowledge management assists employees of organization to undertake necessary
innovation with the use of available information. By this way, company is able to bring higher
innovation and cultural changes for further enlargement of business.

Improve efficiency of operational units and business processes: With availability of
necessary information, individuals act in an efficient manner within organization. Main aim of
knowledge management is to improve efficiency of business by providing access of necessary
knowledge & information to employees. By this way all the individual working in company
collaborate with each other in an efficient manner that will lead organization towards higher
growth & success (Andriani and et. al., 2019). It helps to improve overall business process and
performance of organization at the same time. In reference of Amazon, knowledge management
is helpful in increasing overall efficiency & productivity of employees which is resulted to
increase in overall efficiency of operational unit of entity & business process.
Increase customer satisfaction: Customers are crucial part of business as they are source
of revenue for company. In current competitive environment, it is imperative to maintain higher
customer satisfaction for sustaining in market for longer duration. In addition, satisfied
customers are more likely to visit organization over time which will inflate in existing sales &
profit margin. Customer satisfaction is also helpful in formulating loyal customer base who will
stick with entity for longer time. It is analyzed that knowledge management is generally used for
meeting with need & requirements of customers in best possible way. Here, sharing information,
cross collaboration significantly helps in providing better solutions to customers in minimum
possible period of time. In context of Amazon, they are using advance knowledge management
techniques for providing better services to customers that will improve their level of satisfaction.
Discuss how knowledge managements help in satisfying customers and gaining competitive
advantage
It is analyzed that knowledge management enables all the individuals of company to
access the experiences, knowledge of other members and use it for betterment of business (Costa
and Monteiro, 2016) . With knowledge management employees get all the required information
at single platform which will further assist them to take prompt & right decisions. It allows
company to get right information, to right people at right time. By this way, employees can
easily undertake innovation & creativity which is vital for getting competitive edge. Further,
knowledge management also helps to standardize the whole process and taking better as well as
quick decision for betterment of business. Apart from this, knowledge management also
facilitates higher operational efficiency & effectiveness within organization that will help in

making optimum use of available resources. In context of Amazon, advance knowledge
management system enables company to enhance efficiency of operational units for driving
positive results. With the help of knowledge management they are able to take effective decision
to grab the opportunities of future growth. Further, knowledge management is also helpful in
bringing collaboration & coordination among employees within company by sharing information
and experiences with each other. It will provide an edge to organization over other competitors.
In present business world, companies are highly conscious about customer’s satisfaction. For
this, they make sure to provide necessary products & services for fulfilling demands of
customers in an efficient manner. Now advance knowledge management techniques are used by
Amazon in order to get familiarity with market demand. Through this, they can meet with
demands of customers in timely manner by providing them products & services as per their
requirement (Muthuveloo, Shanmugam and Teoh, 2017). Amazon uses such a single platform to
provide all the required products to customers with great convenience. In addition, they also use
knowledge management techniques for getting right feedback to customers and meeting with
their preferences in best possible manner. Knowledge management allows company to recognize
market trends and meeting with demands of customers in such a way that will provide higher
competitive edge to company. So, with the help of advance knowledge management system
Amazon is able to maintain predefined level of growth & success in pandemic time. Due to this,
they are not affected with economic recession and manage similar level of customer satisfaction
during outbreak. They sever buyers during pandemic in an efficient manner with the assistance
of their strong knowledge management system that will provide an edge to company in market
place.
SECTION2
Evaluation of Knowledge and information management models
Discuss the way in which knowledge is embedded in product and service concepts in the field of
tacit knowledge of individuals
Tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge which cannot be transfer from one person to
other (Obeidat, Al-Suradi and Tarhini, 2016) . It is quiet difficult to write and visualize this

knowledge. It is stated that this knowledge is related to the personal experience, skills, and
abilities of human being which cannot transfer to other person. It is related to the experience of a
person which has been developed overtime and not easy to put in words or visualize by any
means. It is also known as implicit knowledge. It is stated that term tacit was first used by
Michael Polanyi in 1958. This concept put a great impact over philosophy of science, education
as well as knowledge management. It can be defined in terms of skills, experiences, capabilities
which are present in an individual but cannot codify and expressed. Generally, people having
tacit knowledge are not aware with this and its value for others. Knowledge is significantly used
in product and service concept where companies prepare products for meeting requirements of
customers. It is stated that companies often use higher level of technical advancements, different
methods for producing particular products and services. For this purpose, managers make use
their skills, competencies which cannot be transferred from one person to another. It is analyzed
that each and every individual within company have their own way to deal with queries of
customers which cannot be imitate by others. When, new employees are not able to provide
appropriate solution to customers regarding the issue of products & services then the situation is
handled by experience individuals. Because of their experiences, they are able to manage
situation in an efficient manner. But, this experience cannot be codify or transfer to others.
Therefore, tacit knowledge is crucial part of company which plays a significant role in ensuring
business success & growth. Apart from this, the knowledge is embedded in the product and
service concept which is helpful in dealing with different situations in an efficient manner. In
context of Amazon, they have experience individuals with great expertise and skills which make
them enable to provide appropriate suggestions for dealing with different issues related to
products and services.
Discuss how knowledge management depicts a systematic approach in sharing as well as
exchanging knowledge base of an organization
Knowledge management is a process by which organization store, share as well as
manage information within company in an efficient manner. Under this, a systematic platform is
used for exchanging and sharing information with each other for taking effective decisions for
growth of business. In this regards, there are different models applied by company which are
described as under:

Nonaka’s model:
This is one of the renowned models of knowledge management which is generally used
for the creation & conversion of knowledge (Wang and Meng, 2019) . As per this model, there
are two types of knowledge such as tacit and explicit. Tacit knowledge refers to a knowledge &
information which is related to experience, skills, and capabilities of individuals. This is
subjective and cannot be expressed in terms of words and visual manner. This knowledge also
comprises cognitive abilities such as beliefs, images, intuitions, technical know how and more.
On other side explicit knowledge is available in written form which can be easily used by others.
In this model, conversion of knowledge is represented in different forms such as tacit and
explicit. There are four different ways of conversion of knowledge in the respective model. In
context of Amazon the four dimensions of the model are given as under:
Socialization: It is considered as the process under which tacit knowledge is converted in
the same by socialization. For instance, training sessions where information, experiences are
shared by personal interaction.
Externalization: Here, tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge under which
an unwritten knowledge is converted into written knowledge. For instance an individual wishes
to share experiences with other and written a book for this purpose.
Combination: In this explicit knowledge is converted into other explicit knowledge. It is
regarded as the process to combine explicit information from different sources and at the end
make an entirely new form of explicit knowledge (Chu, 2016).
Internationalization: It is considered as conversion of explicit knowledge into tacit
knowledge. In this, first the knowledge available in written form then over the period of time
knowledge spread and become tacit knowledge. For instance, rules and regulations in
organization which are present in written manner in initial days but over the period of time
spread among all the employees within company and become a tacit knowledge.
Choose Sense making model:
This model was developed in the year of 1998 and based on three aspects which sense
making, knowledge creation and decision are making skills. It is sated that these all three

elements are interrelated with each other and play a crucial role in producing positive outcomes
through knowledge creation within organization. For Amazon, three aspects of this model are
described as under:
Sense making: As per this, an organization will be able to sustain in dynamic
environment for longer run through activities of prospecting and interpret ting necessary
information. This information will help to understand changes which are coming in current
market tends, needs and requirements of customers and other stakeholders. In this regards,
managers of Amazon undertake necessary market research for making interpretation in terms of
business growth and enlargement
Knowledge creation: It allows an organization to acquire, organize as well as process the
available information in order to form new knowledge by organizational learning. This new
knowledge will enable company to produce new products and services and improve existing
ones for generating better results (Liebowitz, 2016). By using advance knowledge management
approach respective company is able to produce attractive products and services and also make
modifications in available products for future benefit.
Decision making: It is stated that in business there are a lot of decisions are taken by on
daily basis for ensuring higher growth of organization. At this, organization needs to select one
best option from all the available options which will help in driving positive outcomes within
business. It is stated that managers of Amazon evaluate each & every option in significant
manner before selecting one suitable option for company.
So, there are a lot of models have been developed relayed to knowledge management
which are helpful in exchanging & sharing information in systematic way. These models use a
systematic way by which information can organized, process and manage in appropriate manner.
Therefore, knowledge management helps is helpful in taking better decisions by exchanging as
well as sharing information within organization. In Amazon, there are various advance tools used
by entity for making knowledge management. These tool play a crucial role in exchanging as
well as managing information in best possible way.

SECTION 3
Discuss importance of knowledge in Amazon standard operating procedure
Standard operating procedure refers to a step by step process which is prepared by
company in order to guide its employees in their day to day operations. Main aim of SOP is to
enhance efficiency in business by eliminating mistakes which arise due to miscommunication
and interpretation ( Giampaoli, Ciambotti and Bontis, 2017). It ensures that company completed
all its necessary operations by following necessary rules & regulations. In Amazon, they use an
efficient SOP system in order to meet with requirements of customers in timely manner. By this,
organization ensures that they meet with market demand in consistent manner by delivering
necessary goods and services in timely manner. It is stated that Amazon is an ecommerce
company where use of knowledge management is highly important for fulfilling market demand
in an efficient manner. For this purpose, organization uses advance knowledge management
techniques for getting, organizing, processing as well as managing information received from
customers as well as employees in an appropriate way. This knowledge is further access by
employees and other relevant parties who can use this information for managing SOP system of
company effectively. By this way, knowledge management system helps company in
maintaining standard operating procedure in an appropriate way for meeting with business
objectives in timely manner.
Outcomes achieved by Amazon with the use of knowledge management
It is analyzed that with the use of knowledge management Amazon is able to maintain
operational efficiency of business at higher level. With this, organization is able to maintain,
share as well as process information in such a way that will help to maintain necessary
collaboration among work force within business. Further, knowledge management also facilitate
effective decision making within organization by providing access to all members of information
which is vital for taking prompt decisions (Mizintseva and Gerbina, 2018). With knowledge
management, organization can make optimum use of efficiency of employees for driving
positive results for company. Main aim of knowledge management is to increase customer
satisfaction by providing them better services. It is analyzed that knowledge management is used
by Amazon for disseminating right information to right people at right time. This information
further helps to prepare appropriate strategies for enhancing overall level of satisfaction of

customers. By this way, organization gets to know needs and requirements of customers in better
manner that will further help in enhancing existing sales & profit margin. So, it is stated that
knowledge management is really proved effective for Amazon as it generated a lot of positive
outcomes for organization.
Areas of improvement which can be improved by Amazon for meeting future challenges
However, Amazon is a retail giant which is working at large level but there are some
areas of company which needs to improve in order to deal with future challenges in an efficient
manner. It is analyzed that Amazon is lacking trust of customers due to controversies. It may
create huge problem for organization in upcoming years. Customers are important part of
business and in this competitive market place, it is imperative to maintain higher level of trust of
customers (Wu and Hu, 2018). So, Amazon need to undertake loyalty programs in order to
maintain the trust of customers within brand. Further, increasing competition is also a big threat
for entity. Now, there are a lot of other companies present in market such as EBay, Alibaba and
more which are into similar field. So they need to improve strategies in order to meet with
competition in an efficient manner. For this, manager are required to undertake detailed market
research and then develop products accordingly. It will help to retain customers for longer period
of time. In addition, they also need to use higher level of security measures for protecting data of
customers. In present time, there is higher threat among customers regarding privacy and
security so company needs to take appropriate steps for dealing with privacy concerns. In
addition, they need to evaluate loopholes in current technology such as knowledge and
information management system in order to make necessary improvement. It is also analyzed
that current outbreak disrupted logistic management system of organization. Due to which, they
found it difficult in delivering orders received from customers in timely manner. So, they need to
stay prepare for such situations by making improvements in current system.
Recommendations
For Amazon, it manages to earn significant profit even during pandemic. The main
reason behind this, is effective knowledge management system of company by which they able
to meet with demands of customers in an efficient manner. However, they are using effective
practices of knowledge management but still they can use some recent frameworks of knowledge
management such as learning process. It will help company to take out knowledge and make

appropriate meaning out of it. This will help to use the information before, during and after
execution of knowledge management approaches. This framework enables organization to store,
process as well s manage appropriate information overtime. By this way, entity can reuse
information and experiences of employees for further betterment of company. So, there are a lot
of benefits for Amazon to use such a knowledge management framework that will provide
positive outcomes to entity for managing business in an efficient manner.

CONCLUSION
Out of above discussion it is concluded that knowledge management is a process under
which information is stored, organized, process as well as managed in an efficient manner. Main
aim of knowledge and information management is to bring higher efficiency in business for
attaining organizational goals and objectives. It is concluded that Amazon is a well known
ecommerce company which uses knowledge management approaches for using knowledge &
information received from various sources in an efficient manner. Discussion has been carried
out regarding different models and theories of knowledge management such as Nonaka’s model
and more. It is analyzed that knowledge management is helpful in maintaining standard
operating procedure in an efficient manner that will help company in driving positive outcomes.
Further, there is requirement to make some necessary improvements within organization for
getting better results in future.

REFERNCES
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and performance in top Italian firms. Journal of Knowledge Management.
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introduction. Oxford university press.
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