Leadership and Innovation at Amazon: A Comprehensive Analysis Report

This report examines leadership and innovation at Amazon, focusing on the company's business case for innovation, leadership challenges, and organizational issues. It highlights the importance of recognizing employee contributions, fostering work-life balance, and addressing challenges related to employee motivation and empowerment. The report analyzes specific challenges like insensitive management and the disregard for employee needs, offering recommendations such as recognizing great work, encouraging time off, and promoting retail and data transparency. It also explores Amazon's framework for innovation, including starting with the customer and reinventing office meetings. The conclusion emphasizes Amazon's focus on fulfillment, Prime subscribers, and the next steps for continued innovation and growth, including logistics and drone systems.

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LEADERSHIP AND INNIVATION AT AMAZON
System04121
3/22/2020

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Contents
The business case for innovation...............................................................................................2
2. Disregarding employees' need for work-life balance..................................................4
Recommendation to overcome...................................................................................................5
1. Recognize great work..................................................................................................5
Innovation challenges.................................................................................................................6
Main challenges the organisation is facing in relation to innovation.................................6
2. Innovation Takes Place in One Group Alone..............................................................7
3. Lack of Collaboration..................................................................................................7
What needs to change.................................................................................................................7
1. Starting With the Customer and Working Back..........................................................7
2. Reinventing the Office Meeting..................................................................................8
A framework for innovation.......................................................................................................8
Recommendations to address the organisational challenges.....................................................9
1. Retail pricing transparency..........................................................................................9
2. Embrace data transparency..........................................................................................9
Next steps and conclusion..........................................................................................................9

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The business case for innovation
With a headquarters in Seattle, Amazon.com, Inc.(/-æm-z in its present location), is an
American international electronics corporation with 750,000 employees. This is known as
one of the four largest technological companies, along with Google, Apple and Microsoft.
China is recognised as "one of the economic and cultural factors most powerful in the world"
Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation now head office in Seattle
with 750,000 employees. Amazon.com is headquartered in Seattle, Germany. That, along
with Twitter, Apple and Microsoft, was one of the four largest technology firms. China is
recognized as "one of the world's most important economic and cultural factors"
In Bellevue, Washington in July 1994 Amazon was created by Jeff Bezos. In the outset, the
business became an electronic books market but eventually grew into electrical appliances,
electronics, video games, shoes, machinery, food, toys and jewelleries. Amazon has been able
to purchase Whole Foods Business for $13,4 billion, and has expanded Amazon's brick and
morter store footprint tremendously in 2017. In 2018, Bezos revealed that Amazon Prime's
today distribution program, which is over 100 million worldwide subscribers.] As the United
States ' most coveted seller, Amazon's revenue capitalization was exceeded in 2015 by
Amazon Prime (Davidson, de Araújo, Artaxo, Balch, Brown, Bustamante, Coe, DeFries,
Keller, Longo, and Munger, 2012).
Being one of the most creative companies of 2017, Amazon is deemed not without a cause.
But Amazon stands out in respect to creativity; thanks to certain very special cultural factors
make it the best place to foster innovation. The organization has transformed people's way of
life and industry.

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Leadership challenges
Main leadership challenges
1. Insensitive management:
Employees that recovered through tremendous medical challenges— like illness,
failures in treatment and other health problems — were wrongly judged or forced out
of preparation with their failure to heal to succeed.
A stillborn kid's mother told NYT, "I've witnessed the most traumatic incident of my
life." Shortly after she was notified that "my priority on my career" was tracking her
results (Govindarajan, and Euchner, 2012).
Amazon's Craig Berman said NYT's "not our policy or procedure" was this sort of
approach to workplace emergencies, and "if we knew something about it, we'd take
immediate steps to address it."

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2. Disregarding employees' need for work-life balance.
Past Amazons agree that nursing supervisors or fairly sluggish units shield them from
unmanageable pressures; furthermore, some claim the society allows them to erase
limits in working life. Of starters, workers sometimes work hours at night and on the
weekend from their residences. We could be required to attend Easter Sundays and
Thanksgiving conferences and be blamed by bosses on holiday for providing bad
internet access.
Dina Vaccari, telling NYT, "One day I didn't sleep straight for four days. Ms’ Vaccari
started offering gift certificates to other businesses at Amazon in 2008. The study
suggests that once, without seeking an permission, she used her own money to recruit
a freelancer to join details in India to operate more rapidly. "My kids were such
companies, so I have done all that I could to help them."
Another staff claimed that her fiancé is so worried that she travels to the Amazon site
at 22pm. He's not running. So again, once she has decided to go home that night, ring
her mobile. She used the free internet every day on a trip to Florida at Starbucks to
operate, the study states (Dahlander, and Gann, 2010).

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Recommendation to overcome
1. Recognize great work
How well the diligent work of workers is remembered is one of the most significant
variables that lead to motivation. 70 percent of workers believe that with improved
appreciation from supervisor’s morale and morals would rise dramatically (Manso,
2011).
After all, if an individual takes a massive effort to achieve excellent outcomes in a
project without acknowledging their diligent work, why will they aspire to be a top
performer?
Not only is excellent research necessary to remember. The way you consider the
efforts of the colleagues has a big influence. At the end of the year employee
compensation will not only be an annual incentive, it should be granted meaningfully
and regularly.
2. Encourage time off
The US Sociological Association reports a higher amount of holidays due to a
reduction in people's social suffering.
Vacation is not a privilege, it's a requirement. A holiday from work gives the workers
the ability to log off and have fun. This is vital that you advise your employees about
it, increase employee morale and concentration as they come to the workplace. they
are an ideal chance to rebound from the crisis (Aghion, Van Reenen, and Zingales,
2013).

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A compulsory scheme where employers are expected to utilize their entire annual
leave regularly is an efficient way to motivate their workers to take time off.
Innovation challenges
Main challenges the organisation is facing in relation to innovation
1. Employees are Not Motivated or Empowered
Much management wrongly assume that creativity is more of an challenge than a
support for the organization in terms of organizing its workers, and that progress
would divert it from its everyday activities. Consequently, workers cannot invent.
Employees must feel able to take chances and/or pursue innovative things, but
without help from supervisors and others, such internal creativity cannot be done.
We continue to be inspired because workers are encouraged. Creativity inspiration
can take several types, such as tournaments, invention reward schemes or merely
allocated time for unstructured workers creativity.
2. Innovation Takes Place in One Group Alone
Often organizations, such as product production or research and growth, assign the
task of invention in one cohesive community. Many people have the misconception
that one of the functional classes that impede organizational creativity lies in the most
creative ability. Growing department provides unique viewpoints on issues within an
organization. Unless a leader fails to utilize all tools within an enterprise
appropriately, he or she is at risk of sacrificing potentially productive business
progress in a sole cohesive entity performing the position of progress.

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3. Lack of Collaboration
Cooperation–internally and externally–is the secret of creativity. All should be used to
promote the advancement of a business in the market through clients, market
stakeholders and rivalry.
What needs to change
1. Starting With the Customer and Working Back
Amazon's six-page memo is essential to the creativity needed at the outset of a new
program. The layout of the paper itself does not make it more successful, but is just
how it is used to direct the attention on the consumer from the first day onwards.
Amazon staff was struck with this early in their careers.
The first stage was to compose a press release in the production of Prime Now. Not
only was the paper of Landry a summary of the company, also the response of
potential consumers.
2. Reinventing the Office Meeting
The way meetings are held is another special feature of Amazon's society. In the last
years, the amount of meetings conducted is such an overwhelming one, a frequent
criticism around the company's universe that it is impossible to do much job.
Evidence from MIT has found that executives spent about 23 hours a week versus
fewer than 10 hours in the 1960s in sessions.
But the six-page report in Amazon decreases the number of sessions. You should not
immediately start sending out invites as the idea hits you because you have to waste a
week composing a report. Similarly, the custom of the organization to limit

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participation to about the amount of individuals who may split two pizzas always
promotes (Allen and Roberts, 2011).
A framework for innovation
Organisational priorities in relation to leadership and innovation
Amazon prioritizes innovation over leadership. Amazon is not based on architecture of
tightly built interlocking software and utilities, as compared to Apple and Microsoft.
Bezos emphasizes instead the idea that every platform better and easily supports its own
customers (Zhang, and Brundrett, 2010). "If someone gives them a great deal, our clients
remain committed to us," he added. "And that's what I want. This impulsion has generated
an amazing wave of innovative firsts. It's super-motivating for us. In this last year,
following the Grand Tour release in November Amazon's most-watched show, Prime
Video came into being in over 200 countries and territories. In its freshly built research
facilities, Twitch, Amazon's video sharing network bought in 2014, released the first three
original songs. Amazon has invested millions in start-ups that would develop Alexa's
virtual assistant voice interaction software and offer her thousands with innovative
abilities. Two dozen new centers were built, the firm was India's biggest online retailer and
first distributed via autonomous drone in the United Kingdom (Duden, 2011).

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Recommendations to address the organisational challenges
1. Retail pricing transparency
The quality and usability of Amazon is highly economical, not just size. Yet the
continuous review of price strategies & proposals by the client starts to generate
uncertainty over the exact meaning of the product. Amazon will render the pricing
history clear if not wanted, enabling consumers to see how many they spend in real
time and over time for a particular commodity. Heck, Amazon has the insightful
statistics to demonstrate just how often the commodity is available elsewhere. This
will develop a buyer satisfaction level that could only boost revenue for the product
(Hanson, 2013)
2. Embrace data transparency
The voice-powered speaker from Amazon Echo is tight, but useful, actually better
than most competitors. Although it's a little shy, too. It is hard enough to watch every
order and every transaction, but it is pretty much the same with every digital seller
(Stead and Elliott, 2013).
3. Implement short breaks
The human body was not intended to look hours on end without some rest on a light
computer. In order to counter this, it is essential that the workers encourage frequent
breaks during the day (Jiménez-Jiménez, and Sanz-Valle, 2011).
Why not imagine building in your workplace a recreational place where people can
move away from their desks and avoid working?
Try promoting moderate activity to divide the day. Perhaps outside the workplace or a
lunchtime running group you might hold walking meetings. Some leading businesses invite

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meditators to host internal seminars to enable workers to learn the most efficient stress
reduction techniques, particularly during busy periods
Next steps and conclusion
Focusing on fulfillment. Amazon now offers its consumers the facilities including
collection, packing, delivery and storage. In the Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International
Airport, Amazon is still focusing on a cooperative design of an air freight center.
Feinseth suggests that the air center is the next phase in Amazon's transformation as an
individual distribution and logistics sector. Amazon is now developing its land logistics and
drone systems (Moore, Grabsch, and Rotter, 2010).
Prime subscribers are key. Much of Amazon's long-term strategy to grow and distribute the
goods involves growing the amount of Amazon Prime subscription subscribers. Amazon
Prime subscribers now enjoy free or discounted delivery prices for $99 a year.
The business has this week announced the new Prime Subscription Enhancement Plan.
Amazon also signed a $50 million offer for the Prime Video site to broadcast 10 NFL
Thursday Night Football Games. Just Prime Members can connect the feeds.
Provide practical next steps (Edwards, Elliott, -White, and Schedlitzki, 2013).
In addition, Amazon completed the three measures with a competitive plan under the
guidance with Jeff Bezos. First of all, the emphasis on customers gives the organization a
pragmatic solution to tackle the need to increase the customer base. The company's customers
' minds made electronic goods through strategic partnerships and technical advancement cost-
effective, easy and convenient for customers. Second, Amazon's approach is in line with the

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role of the online retail industry. Being the first leader of the e-commerce sector, Amazon has
succeeded not only to make things comfortable but yet safe and efficient by having a head
start to flawless online shopping.