Zappos History (Zappos, N.d.) Zappos Core Values (Zappos, N.d.)

The Secretes to Zappos' Success (Palmer, 2010)

Here's Why Amazon Bought Zappos (Parr, 2009)

The first two sources are from the company's website and talk describe the founding and culture while the second two sources give independent accounts of the culture and why it is effective. Since this paper will focus on the strengths of the culture and why this might be an issue for the Amazon acquisition, the sources are relevant. The sources could also be cross checked by finding more accounts of the culture within Zappos. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act could help by providing public financial records that can attest to the company's success. I am confident that a cultural clash between Zappos and Amazon is entirely possible.

Business Overview

Business Idea

In 1999, Zappos founder Nick Swinmurn was walking around a mall in San Francisco looking for a pair of shoes and for a hour could not find the right combination of size and style that he was looking for (Zappos, N.d.). After the disappointment with the mall experience, Nick also tried his luck online with no avail. Nick realized that there was a consumer need that existed in the market and quickly decided to quit his day job and start an online shoe retailer at which point Zappos.com went into business (Zappos, N.d.). The original business model was to create a web site that offered the absolute best selection in shoes in terms of brands, styles, colors, sizes, and widths. This model was so successful that the brand and aspirations have evolved, and in addition to offering the best selection the organization is also striving to offer best service online and the company has also added a full lineup of consumer goods beyond that of just footwear.

Core...

Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change

3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness

4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded

5. Pursue Growth and Learning

6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication

7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit

8. Do More With Less

9. Be Passionate and Determined

10. Be Humble

Strengths

Zappos.com has developed a plethora of strengths that have all contributed to the company's success and rapid growth over the last decade. A strength that Zappos possesses is that the organization focuses on the company culture and hiring passionate high-quality employees. This has undoubtedly led to the organizations ability to provide a high level of customer support which in turn is closely related to customer satisfaction. They also believe the importance and impact of "feeling good," for both the employee and customer, is key. Thus the company believes that customer satisfaction is driven, at least in part, by employee satisfaction. Making sure that the employees are more than satisfied with their positions in the company will allow the organization to maintain world class service.

Weaknesses

A weakness that has recently emerged for Zappos is that they were recently acquired by Amazon for about $1 billion. Although there may be various opportunities for the company to take advantage of Amazon's enormous amount of resources, it is likely that the ownership by…