Leadership and Business Environment Case Study: Amazon, September 2020

This case study examines Amazon's leadership and business environment, encompassing SWOT and PESTLE analyses to evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental contexts. It compares various leadership styles, highlighting Amazon's transformational approach and its alignment with a pacesetting leadership style. The study explores how Amazon leverages its strengths to manage opportunities and addresses its ethical and social responsibilities, detailing its accountability in areas like economic, legal, and ethical duties, including its commitment to employee welfare, poverty alleviation, and education. The research concludes with insights into the practical application of leadership theories within Amazon's framework, providing recommendations for Amazon's future leadership strategies.

Leadership and Businesses
Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Amazon...................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Managing opportunities using strength........................................................................................5
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................6
Different Styles of leadership and the Leadership followed by Amazon -..................................6
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................7
Suitable leadership style that matches amazon management style. ............................................7
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................8
Responsibility, Response and Obligations in their Ethics and Social Responsibilities in the
processes at Amazon ...................................................................................................................8
TASK 6............................................................................................................................................9
Knowledge gained from the research and the way it benefited in applying the theories to
practical framework. ...................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is concerned with influencing people and stimulating them to achieve
organizational goals. Leaders set direction for the followers and posses various skills such as
good communication skills, integrity, goal setting and many more. Business environment are the
aggregate of all the internal and external factors that affect the functioning of the organization.
Amazon is an American based multinational technology company which was founded by Jeff
Bezos. It focuses on cloud computing, digital streaming, e-commerce and artificial intelligence.
In the further report SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Amazon will be done and evaluation of
changes in PESTLE factors that influenced opportunities and threats of the business. Different
leadership styles are being compared and comment on current management style will be given.
Also suitable recommendations of leadership style will be given that matches Amazon
management style. Discussion about the responsibility, response and obligations in their ethics
and social responsibilities will be done.
TASK 1
SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Amazon
Strength-
Company sell its products through the means of internet at various geographic location
because of which organizational expenditures for developing physical evidences are reduces due
to which company is able to achieve good economic growth with that Amazon uses digital and
traditional marketing to increase its customer count (Bonsu, 2019).
Weaknesses-
Company provide its services through the means of internet because of which its services
are only limited to the literate and internet users which has limited its customer count, with that
company provide its services at low cost because of which low profit margin is achieved.
Opportunity-

Company pays a high interest in providing new products to its customers by which it can
implement premium pricing on its products and also company can provide its services through
the means of physical stores by which high people connectivity can be achieved.
Threat-
High market competition is motivating organization to increase their engagement in
online marketing because of which threat of substitute is very high for Amazon and also
company has to change its working and product placement according to the global market which
makes negative impact on customer's engagement with organization.
Political-
Amazon provide its services to the customers all across the globe and because of which it
has to change its policies, ways of branding and packaging to follow the governmental rules and
regulations because of which product placement is often affected which decreases customer
engagement.
Economical-
Amazon provide its products through the means of internet and because of which during
the events of COVID-19 company faces large increment in its organizational sales and because
of which it has achieved high economical strength which has increased the chances for goal
achievement (Goel and et.al, 2020).
Social-
Customers are changing the ways of buying products and because which their
engagement in online marketing is increased and because of which company also has to
implement changes in its working in a way to grab attention of the customers and stimulating
them to buy.
Technological-
Company provide its services with the help of technological advancement like internet
and mobile applications and because of this they are able achieve effectiveness in their
operations, however customers often have to wait for the delivery of their product due to which
company has to develop interconnected system.
Legal-

Amazon is one of the largest online retailer across the globe and because of which it is
having many employee workforces and thus it is has to develop their product working which is
able to fulfil all the employee legislation laws and customer laws.
Environmental-
Amazon has to make sure that it adopts such organizational working that reduces the
carbon footprint also to implement several steps for improving the negative impact on
environment (Simões, 2020). Through this it will be able to develop a positive organizational
image with its customers but it will increase organizational expenditures which will make
negative impact on goal achievement.
TASK 2
Managing opportunities using strength
Company ensures that they abide all the laws and policies which are established by the
government and reduce the chances of facing penalties, however company also have to comply
with the trade treaties between countries by which it can increase the chances for efficient
working in the international market because if is not able to work according to this then company
has to pay penalties. Amazon is able to provide its services through online mode and because of
which they are providing its services through the means of internet by which it is able to reduce
the organizational expenditures done in development of physical evidences. Through this focus
on strength company is able to negate its weaknesses and also company is having high brand
awareness through this means of creative marketing done through the means of internet and
traditional means. Thus, it can be analysed that company is managing its expenditures in which it
is saving capital investment in establishing physical stores and diverting this making marketing
strategies by which it is able to achieve high level of brand awareness which has increased the
chances for goal achievement for the organization. By this Amazon can reduce the chances for
goal achievement because high customer awareness is spread through this it is able to reduce the
chances for the customers to switch or change the brand (Marinova, 2017).

Task 3
Various Styles of leadership and recent style followed by Amazon-
There are various leadership style on the basis of particular situation that has occurred in the
company for example level of experience among the team members, size of the team, urgency of
project etc. To achieve the good performance all the factors are considered and the appropriate
style is selected. Following is the various types of leadership style used by the company, some of
them are discussed below -
Authoritarian leader – In this leadership style, the manager provide straight instructions to save
sufficient time. Rapid decision-making and removal of any fight/conflicts from employees. This
is style is appropriate for experience and non experience team member. Authoritarian style is
preferred for the team having many members.
Transactional – This type of leadership style is well-organized to boost the team performance
by providing motivation to them by rewarding them and is not so efficient regarding punishing
members (Cobbinah and Agyemang, 2019). Leaders use transactional style to maintain the
discipline and can introduce punishments & rewards for the inexperienced team members. This
kind of style is apt for the both the groups experience and non experience as it drives the member
to adhere to rules and policies. And it is generally chosen for all team sizes small, medium and
big.
Democratic – This leadership technique, time pressure or projects with deadline cannot be
maintained. The reason behind this is that much time is spent on discussion, in examining
circumstances and collecting ideas of everyone in the team. For the experienced team, it is the
helpful technique and for not so experience team there may be situation that they put rarely any
effort in project discussed. This leadership technique style is most appropriate for small groups
or teams as bigger team can take longer time.
Laissez- Faire – This leadership style cannot be used when their strict deadline and the leader
know that the members of the team are inexperienced. It can be used only when the leader is sure
that team is capable. If the team has the required skills and knowledge and is experienced, this
leadership style is appropriate as the inexperience members may cause trouble. Size is of the
team is not the relevant factor because can do whether the task is big or small.
Amazon Inc. utilizes Transformational leadership Style to stimulate and hold up the team which
assist to attain better performance (Wen, T.B., and et.al., 2019). Leaders and managers in the

company Amazon generally uses this strategy or style when there is urgency in completing task
and probably there are some situations when this technique is combined and used with the
authoritative style to provide clear instruction and encourage the workforce during the task. .
Company use this leadership style, also because it has influence on both experience and
inexperience members.
Pragmatist is the management approach that is used by Amazon. One of the reason is that the
pragmatist leaders are feasible and competitive which is appropriate with the level competition
that Amazon face. Pragmatist managers sets the high standards for themselves and for the team
and are always keen about striving the latest ideas, approaches & concepts and experiment
whether it is success or failure. Amazon every time positively explores innovative ideas and then
take possibility to experiment with application. This is has brought success to the company.
TASK 4
Leadership style that matches Amazon management style.
Management style adopted by Amazon is transformational management style in which
the employees of the company are encouraged to do something new and create try to incorporate
changes in the organization for the growth and success of the business. And also Amazon can
adopt Pacesetting theory of leadership in which standards are set for the employees and the
leader expects them to meet those standards. As the organization believes in getting something
new to the market and creating changes therefore this leadership theory gives a boost to their
objective (Galli, 2019). Before applying this theory the leader of Amazon ensures that the
employees are well -trained and have appropriate knowledge and expertise to accomplish the
objective. The leader of this theory are very enthusiastic and also communicates effectively, they
take the initiative to get things done. As Amazon focuses on innovating leadership in which they
concentrate on new methods, new products so to compensate this quality, pacesetting leadership
style is complementary as in this style new standards are set and the employees have to achieve
that standards and for that they focus on brainstorming to create and offer something new. It is a
suggestion to Amazon to adopt the style which motivates the employees to achieve more and
higher as it totally compliment their leadership style as it requires employees which are well-
trained, are self-motivates and have a vision to do something new (Sahu, Pathardikar. and
Kumar, 2018). In transformational style the employees are expected to think and do
brainstorming and understand what is to be done. This leadership style will add on to the growth

of the organization as with innovating they will also be focusing on setting high standards which
will give them a competitive edge over and help Amazon grow faster.
TASK 5
The accountability and duties of Amazon in regard to CSR.
Responsibilities of Amazon are consists of the economic responsibility in which the company is
responsible to produce goods and services in a way that gives the company profits and also it has
a responsibility to create job opportunities.
Amazon also have legal responsibility in which they have a responsibility to follow rules and
laws for operating their business in the market. Ethical responsibility also covers to work as per
the norms and culture which is present in the society. Providing the employees a workplace
which is safe and healthy is a responsibility and duty they consider on their part apart from the
business objective.
They are focusing on encouraging women to do new things and also helping them. They are also
taking steps to eradicate poverty and helping the poor with monetary and non-monetary
resources.
They are also providing computer education as this is the basic necessity to live a better life and
responding to this issue as they feel it ethical and consider it as socially responsible.
Amazon has the obligations to conduct the business in a lawful and ethical way (Groot, 2020).
They also have an obligation to promote a sustainable future. They also have an obligation to
discourage behaviours which are not ethical and not in favour of their customers, suppliers and
other stakeholders.
They also feel that sustainable is the obligation towards them as they are operating in the society
and using resources of the planet therefore it is the obligation to return the same to the planet
and making it a healthier and safer place to live in.
The response of Amazon was affirmative which was shown by their processes and shifting to
depend upon the sources of energy which are available naturally and can be made again and
again such as solar and wind energy for their processes. They feel its their obligation to secure
and sustain the planet and environment therefore they took a step which is ethical and socially
responsible for installing 50 fulfilment facility rooftops worldwide.
They are also indulging in the reduce, reuse and recycle practices and also taking the use of
environmental friendly packaging material (Drugan. and Tipton, 2017).

The company has made certain centres which have a quality to recycle the water which is done
by collecting the rainwater. They also indulge in using direct evaporation technology for cooling
their data centres.
TASK 6
Outcomes of undertaking the research and application in a practical scenario.
The analyses done by me and the knowledge acquired during the journey of this research
is that Amazon have certain strength which helps the company in their growth and success. As
the company uses social media platform to reach wider range of customer and also due to this
brand awareness about the company is also created this adds in growth and success of company.
I believe that the company can utilize their strength to attract the customers by highlighting their
key areas. By becoming aware about the weakness the company can focus on overcoming it as
they mostly use technology to provide services therefore people who are literate and have
internet can only access their services therefore company can get some solutions for this
problem. By launching new products they get the opportunity to charge higher prices on the
products. And by identifying the threats company be prepared to face the future challenges. All
these practices can help the company to know where they do well and can make efforts to
overcome their weakness. To gain the competitive advantage they can make use of the
opportunities and by identifying threats in advance the company can minimize the risks. It also
helps the company to match their internal strength and external opportunities to make a maxi-
maxi strategies.
By undertaking this research the I observed that all the external factors of the company impacts
its functioning and working and helps in taking minor and major decisions. By conducting the
PESTLE analysis the company will be able to create a deeper understanding of unnoticeable
facts that can greatly impact the business. This analysis is also helpful in planning and
monitoring the ways in which the business can meet their objectives. This practices helps in
cutting cost and exploiting opportunities. By undertaking all these practices the company can
manage their opportunity by using their strengths and there various leadership styles such as
authoritarian, transactional, democratic, laissez faire etc that the company can utilize as per the
situation. But mainly they follow transformational leadership style and pragmatist management
style as their focus is to innovate and committed relationship between the company and the
employees. Their objective is to plan and deliver results through creativity. To grow further the

company I recommend Amazon to include pacesetting leadership style with their existing one
this will help the company to boost their sales and expand in varied aspects. Also there are
certain responsibilities, responses and duty in company's CSR which they undertake. I feel
Amazon is taking responsibilities and responding in a positive way and taking actions that helps
in sustaining the environment and their processes too. They are supporting local communities,
educating and empowering women. I also came to know that they are planning to shift to
renewable source of energy by 2030 and using environmental friendly packaging. They are also
taking steps to achieve zero carbon for 50% of all shipments. During this research I came to
know that the company is planning to install 50 fulfilment facility rooftops worldwide.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that there are various strength, weakness, opportunity and threat of
Amazon. Factors like political, economical, social , technological, legal and environmental do
impact the functioning of the organization. Various leadership style like authoritative,
democratic etc. were compared and contrasted. A recommendation was made to adopt
pacesetting leadership style that can matched with their transformational leadership style which
they are currently adopting. Also certain accountability which the company has on the part of
environment and society is also determined.

REFERENCES
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