Amazon.com
A Strategic Assessment of Amazons' e-Strategies
Amazon's remarkable ascent as one of the top online global retailers can be attributed to the foresight they had in creating a comprehensive distributed order management, Enterprise esource Planning (EP), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and e-commerce series of systems. The many other e-commerce sites that rose quickly with massive infusions of venture capital just as quick exited the market, flaming out due to a lack of system and process scalability, lack of understanding of customer dynamics, and a complete loss of focus on scalable business models. All of these factors are what caused competitors to Amazon to exit the e-commerce market either through acquisition, merger or complete exist from the market.
When starting Amazon, Jeff Bezos invested heavily in the distributed order management, EP, SCM and e-commerce integration points to book distributors initially, and then expanded into a broader product mix. This allowed the enterprise to…...
mlaReferences
Amazon Investor Relations (2012). Investor Relations. Retrieved June 28, 2012, from Amazon Investor Relations and Filings with the SEC Web site: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-irhome&c=97664
AlSagheer, A. (2011). Six sigma for sustainability in multinational organizations. Journal of Business Case Studies, 7(3), 7-15.
Birkinshaw, J. And Sheehan, T., 2002. Managing the knowledge life cycle. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 43(3):75-83
Amazon.com founded by the legendary Jeff Bezos was one of the pioneers of e-commerce phenomenon when it launched the world's biggest online book store. Thereafter it went on to upscale its business to offer music, software, office products, electronics, health products and much more. Although Jeff Bezos did not have enough experience about the dynamics of the retailing business, the exponential growth of the Internet made him envision a huge growth opportunity waiting to be tapped. He opted to start the company from Seattle as it was a repository of a huge talent pool and also nearer to one of the largest book wholesalers operating from osenberg, Oregon. From very humble beginning within the confines of a garage, to becoming the largest virtual bookstore, Amazon.com has seen it all. (Kotelnikov, 2011)
(1) (i) Identification and evaluation of Amazon's Strategic position in the context of its internal and external environment:
Strategy is associated…...
mlaRivalry: Amazon faces competition from small regional stores as also large national chains like Wal-Mart which is its most formidable challenger. Internet being an enabler, Amazon is fully dependent on consumer's ability to access the Internet. Presently, 56% of U.S. households are online implying that Amazon can be accessed by a sizeable population. However the explosive growth witnessed in the 1990s will be far from present and growth will largely be incremental. In Amazon's case, persistent profits appears negligible given the low barriers to entry, moderate bargaining power of buyers, high threat of substitutes and high rivalry. But Amazon's strong brand name and its predominant Internet retailing presence will ensure that it will corner any profit that the industry will earn. A graphic showing Porter's Five Forces is shown in Exhibit-I. (McAfee, 2003)
Product and Technology Life Cycle: Amazon apart from running the world's largest virtual bookstore and allied products has immersed itself in the product life-cycle chain through its launch of the Kindle e-book Reader in 2007- a year later than Sony. Sony being the pioneer launched the product at a price point of $349 but later slashed it to $299. Amazon's Kindle launched in Nov'2007 was priced at $399 which is higher than Sony. It is interesting to note that although Sony's product was priced cheaper and it had the First Mover Advantage -- FMA, it was Amazon's Kindle that became the preferred purchase and caught buyer community's fancy in the U.S. Hence being cheap did not become the route to wining market share for Sony, but presenting a superior value offering by Amazon was. Although both Amazon and Sony relied upon e-ink Corp technology, Amazon quickly offered a differentiated product to be ahead of the technology curve by launching 3G downloads of books. (Tim, 2010)
Amazon went on to offer Kindle DX at the global level with more feature rich capabilities including increased storage. Sony users still had to download their books through their PCs. The year 2010 changed the dynamics when Barnes and Noble launched 'Nook' followed by Apple's revolutionary iPad. Nook was priced cheaper at $149, but iPad's price range from $499 to $829 surpassed everybody with more features, unique User Interface and added benefits than the competition had to offer. Although prices on entry-level products tend to ease with the evolution of new product categories, newer player do not have to compete at entry
Amazon's cloud computing (AWS, EC2) solutions; paper analyze competitive position Amazon's cloud computing solutions industry recommend strategies strengthen firm's competitive position international context.
Amazon's cloud computing (AWS, EC2) solutions
Cloud computing services which are accessed directly over the internet are gaining popularity in this technology age. Industry experts have referred to it as a game changer and it has been shown to give companies competitive advantage through giving them a unique selling point as well as other macroeconomic advantages such as changes in outputs and inputs which increase the profitability of the company. Cloud computing has many advantages above the traditional computing models. Cloud computing helps to create a dynamic world characterized by fast changes in the business world through agile business environments and globalization.
Amazon Web Services is a strong player in the cloud computing industry with 80 to 90% of the market share and the company deploys about 80,000 new computers…...
mlaReferences
Adams, D.A., Nelson, R.R., & Todd, P.A. (1992). Perceived Usefulness, Ease of Use, and Usage of Information Technology: A Replication. MIS Quarterly, 16(2), 227-247.
Bianco, J.S. (2009). Social Networking and Cloud Computing: Precarious Affordances for the "Prosumer." Women's Studies Quarterly, 37(1/2), 303-312.
Business Wire. (2011). Future of Cloud Computing Survey Reveals New Drivers for Cloud Adoption Retrieved November 7th, 2012, from http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110622006602/en/Future-Cloud-Computing-Survey-Reveals-Drivers-Cloud
Dunning, T.H., Harrison, R.J., Feller, D., & Xantheas, S.S. (2002). Promise and Challenge of High-Performance Computing, with Examples from Molecular Modelling. Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 360(1795), 1079-1105.
Amazon
Facts Recap
The rivalry between Amazon and Barnes & Noble has taken another turn. Barnes & Noble announced that it would not sell books from Amazon's print publisher in its stores. Amazon has taken away significant business from brick-and-mortar book stores, something that Barnes & Noble has countered with a number of different approaches. The move into print publishing for Amazon represents that company's continued vertical integration efforts, which includes digital publishing and the Kindle. Amazon's move into the offline sphere represents a shift in the dynamics of the bookselling industry. Amazon has dominated, causing problems for bricks and mortar retailers. However, some like Barnes and Noble and a number of independent book stores are continuing to survive and even thrive in this competitive environment.
Assessment
It was a good idea for Amazon to extend into print publishing. The business is not dead, and Amazon still sells a lot of physical books in…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Haq, H. (2012). Barnes & Noble refuses to sell Amazon-published books. Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved December 3, 2012 from http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0201/Barnes-Noble-refuses-to-sell-Amazon-published-books
Turner, K. (2012). Independent retailers turn page on business. Toledo Blade. Retrieved December 3, 2012 from http://www.toledoblade.com/Retail/2012/02/05/Independent-retailers-turn-page-on-business.html
AMAZON VS. EBAY
eBay vs. Amazon
Both Amazon and eBay have carved out significant niches in the online retailing world but they have done it strikingly different ways. However, despite these differences they are very similar in many ways including the legal, political and other struggles they face. This report will cover all of those in fairly deep detail. Topics to be covered will include a profile for each, stock performance in the recent past as well as with the initial public offering, three news events that the companies are facing, an overall financial analysis of each company, the accuracy/reliability of the data and lastly a recommendation of which company is in a more solid position financially and is best built for future performance (Yahoo Finance, 2012).
Company Profiles
Amazon and eBay are certainly both in the online-only retail sector, but they approach the sector through very different business models. Amazon sells many to…...
mlaReferences
Connecticut joins calls for Amazon to pay sales tax. (2011). International Tax Review,
22(9), 29.
Diekmann, F., Roe, B.E., & Batte, M.T. (2008). Tractors on eBay: Differences between
Internet and In-Person Auctions. American Journal Of Agricultural Economics,
Amazon v. Borders
Borders Group filed for bankruptcy protection in early 2011 (ahba, 2011) and began liquidating its assets in July of the same year (Khouri, 2011). The company was founded in 1971 and operated an expanding network of stores until 1992 when the group was bought by Kmart and later merged with aldenbooks. The combined entity was spun off with an IPO in 1995. Flush with capital, by 1997 the company announced an ambitious plan to grow the chain rapidly. In launched its online site in 1998, three years after Amazon entered the business. In 1999, the company made an ill-advised purchase of a toy retailer that hurt its liquidity and was forced to seek options to recapitalize. It signed a deal with Amazon to run the Borders e-commerce site. The company continued to have problems in the late 2000s, including another liquidity crisis, job reductions and it finally gets…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Funding Universe. (no date). Amazon.com, Inc. FundingUniverse.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011 from http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Amazoncom-Inc.-Company-History.html
Hitt, M.; Keats, B. & DeMarie, S. (1998). Navigating in the new competitive landscape: Building strategic flexibility and competitive advantage in the 21st century. Academy of Management Executive. Vol. 12 (4) 22-42.
Khouri, A. (2011). Borders bookstores to liquidate. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 21, 2011 from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/22/business/la-fi-0722-borders-closing-20110722
Wahba, P. (2011). Timeline: A short history of Borders Group bookstores. Reuters. Retrieved October 21, 2011 from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/us-borders-timeline-idUSTRE71F3AT20110216
Amazon
Situation Overview
Distribution channels can often create interesting situations when there are vertical or horizontal consolidations. Amazon has recently integrates backwards with the intent of attracting suppliers and the expectation of utilizing other outlets for full distribution of its products. The company can now publish an author's book and push it through traditional distribution channels that are not under Amazon's control. For example, if Amazon publishes a book for a client, it can then push this through the distribution channels of its competitors, such as independent bookstores. This significantly expands Amazon's control over the industry and it already has incredible power as the industry leader.
However, such a move to vertically expand backwards has not come without controversy and resistance. Barnes and Noble, the largest traditional bookstore chain, which also has a significant online business, has decided not to stock Amazon's products in the hope of discouraging authors from signing publication contracts…...
mazon's eBusiness Model
ssessing the Potential of mazon.com's E-Business Model
mazon.com continues to expand well beyond the boundaries of its initial business model that focused only on books to today including merchandise, suppliers for businesses, and consumables. The common thread that unifies all of these elements together however is the unique customer experience that mazon.com strives to deliver, all in the context of responsive service (Pine, Gilmore, 2008, et.al.). For mazon.com to successfully expand into entirely new markets it must stay focused on and continually committed to its customer-driven innovation, which over time has become part of its brand (Crosby, Masland, 2009, et.al.). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate whether or not mazon lost part of its identity by expanding into markets beyond books, and recommend how mazon can continue to protect its brand as well. Recommendations for Barnes & Nobile and Borders are also included based on the analysis…...
mlaAmazon has mastered electronically enabling their supply chain to a level no other online retailer can match today, traversing supply chain optimization to reverse logistics electronically better than many distribution companies (Logistics Today, 2004). The cost efficiencies they have attained through process automation are formidable and make up a large part of their brand when considered at the user experience level (Hausman, Siekpe, 2009, 5). It would be a fatal mistake to move into a distribution model comparable to Dell, as Amazon has defined the underlying technologies, processes, systems and performance that paradoxically have helped Dell grow and survive as a company over time. Amazon needs to continually be concentrating on its core strengths of scalability, website and web application performance and pursue the next major goal of being the dominant Cloud computing platform the Internet, which is heavily discussed in their annual report and SEC filings (DataMonitor, 2010, pp, 7, 23, 24, 25).
Conclusion
The indication of any e-commerce company moving beyond their product focus to embrace platform initiatives is one that also signals a dominance in their chosen markets. Amazon.com has
Amazon as an Innovator and a Competitor
E-Commerce is today considered a necessary element of a firm's business strategy. In many ways, the model for its importance may be attributed to the enormous success and sustainability of Amazon.com. It was with the pouplar inception of what first began as an online bookstore that retailers of all forms began to understand the true capacity of the internet to reach wide purchasing audiences, to display and market items without the use of physical space and a wide spectrum of additional benefits to be explored more thoroughly in this text. In the ensuing years, and particularly since the transition into the 21st century, all manner of consumer item from butter knives to airplane tickets could be purchased with a credit card and a few mouse clicks, owing largely to the model established and refined by Amazon.
Still, it has been incumbent upon Amazon to remain…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Amazon Strategies (AS). (2011). Amazon Earnings and LivingSocial. Channel Advisor.
Huang, G.T. (2010). How Amazon Innovates: Lessons in Strategy for Microsoft and Others. Xconomy.
Johnson, M.W. (2010). Amazon's Smart Innovation Strategy. Bloomberg Businessweek.
THE SITUATION
Amazon has quickly grown from an online retailer to a global platform for e-commerce, e-commerce hosting, cloud computing, logistics and 3rd party e-commerce services, in addition to its core business of online retailing. The multi-faceted success of Amazon can be traced to Jeff Bezo's prescient insight into the future of e-commerce to the foundational level. Mr. Bezos defined three criterion for choosing the location of Amazon's corporate headquarters. These included having the necessary programming talent to develop software, closeness to a major book wholesaler, and a state with little or no sales tax. He found all three in abundance in the Seattle, Washington area and launched his company there. These three factors also gave Amazon the ability to accomplish another key objective Jeff Bezos, had and that was to get big fast, at all costs. He believed that scale would prove to be a significant differentiator over time, and…...
Within four years it is anticipated at Amazon.com will, by capitalizing on their extensive it infrastructure, be able to manage the development of entirely new DRM approaches to profitably selling many forms of digital content from their many sites. Finally, with the extensive it infrastructure the company has today, the natural extension of their business model is into the area of Web Services. This projection of the Amazon.com business model is entirely consistent with the theories of how knowledge can change an organizations' structure as defined by Grant (1996, pgs. 110-121) in addition the creation of competitive advantage through the use of better system and information integration (De Wit & Meyer, 2005, pgs,. 120-140). The concept of distributed order management Web Services, in conjunction with their approach to managing and propagating selling sites globally through their Merchant Services that is being tested today will lead Amazon.com to be one…...
Amazon's growth pattern has been simple. The company has grown in two main ways since its inception. The company has added more products to its lineup over the years and it has expanded internationally as well. The company has grown rapidly as the result of these additions to its lineup and organic growth within its core books business. The pros of this approach are that it allows the company to maintain a strict focus on what it does best, to control its costs and it allows Amazon to retain an innovator status. The company also experiences lower costs as the result of having no bricks and mortar presence. The cons of this approach however are that it is entirely dependent on the Internet and this limits its total growth potential.
There is little that Amazon should have done differently. The company started in 1994 and is now the largest online retailer…...
Amazon and Border's Books
The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the history and core business of Amazon.com and Border's Books, comparing and contrasting their respective management approaches related to Internet marketing include fulfillment, which each does significantly different from the other. Three factors that contributed to the success of Amazon are provided in addition to three factors that led to Border's eventually going bankrupt despite having a flourishing and profitable retail business. In analyzing each of these businesses, the innate ability of each management team to anticipate and react successfully to changing market conditions is also assessed. Finally, three recommendations are made for how each company could build greater flexibility into its decision making process to stay more agile and able to adapt to changing market conditions.
Comparing the History of Amazon and Borders
Both Amazon and Borders began with the goal of being a global leader in book selling and…...
mlaReferences
Scott Cook. (2008, October). THE CONTRIBUTION REVOLUTION: Letting Volunteers Build Your Business. Harvard Business Review, 86(10), 60-66+.
Crosby, L., & Masland, J.. (2009). Customer Experience Innovation. Marketing Management, 18(2), 10.
DATAMONITOR: Amazon.com, Inc. (2010). Amazon.com, Inc. SWOT Analysis, 1-9.
Feigenbaum, J., Parkes, D., & Pennock, D.. (2009). Computational Challenges in E-Commerce. Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, 52(1), 70.
E-Commerce and the User Experience
Amazon.com was able to scale and grow its e-commerce strategies as a result of the strength of its e-business platform. The use of real-time pricing updates and the targeting of BarnesandNoble.com continue to be one of the key strategies Amazon.com uses, to the benefit of B2C customers (Chevalier, Goolsbee, 2003). As the number of Amazon.com sites has grown, including those in place globally, so has the need for scalability across millions of users. This aspect of e-commerce has benefited the company in its Amazon Web Services Strategy and makes its B2B services more reliable as a result (Feigenbaum, Parkes, Pennock, 2009). E-commerce as the basis of the company's B2C strategy has transcended the website and online stores to now also include distributed order management systems sold to other companies, along with Amazon Web Services and consulting services (Cenfetelli, Benbasat, Al-Natour, 2008). From these examples it's clear…...
mlaReferences
Ronald T. Cenfetelli, Izak Benbasat, Sameh Al-Natour. (2008). Addressing the What and How of Online Services: Positioning Supporting-Services Functionality and Service Quality for Business-to-Consumer Success. Information Systems Research, 19(2), 161-181,239.
Judith Chevalier, Austan Goolsbee. (2003). Measuring Prices and Price Competition Online: Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 1(2), 203.
Joan Feigenbaum, David C. Parkes, David M. Pennock. (2009). Computational Challenges in E-Commerce. Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, 52(1), 70.
Darren Filson. (2004). The Impact of E-Commerce Strategies on Firm Value: Lessons from Amazon.com and Its Early Competitors. The Journal of Business: Supplement to Volume 77 Issue 2, 77(2), S135-S154.
Amazon Strategic Plan
What began as a web-based retailing book sales site company in 1995 with revenues of $511,000, has grown into "the world's largest online retailer and one of the nation's biggest book sellers (New York imes. May 20, 2011), and is considered "one of the iconic companies of the Internet era" (New York imes. May 20, 2011). he company has blossomed not only because of the vision of founder Jeff Bezos, but a commitment to sound strategic planning which "perfectly aligns the long-term interests of shareholders with the interests of customers" (Amazon.com. Shareholder Letter. 2010).
Amazon.com occupies the number one spot in the internet services and retail industry with revenues of 34.2 billion in 2010 (CNNMoney. 2011). Amazon's main rivals include Google, E-Bay, Yahoo and Microsoft. he company has transformed itself dramatically from its inception as a publically traded company in 1997 with a focus on e-retailing books. he late…...
mlaThe exogenous elements which an organization cannot control are the opportunities and threats which comprise their environment. For Amazon the opportunities are boundless in the constant development of the web, applications, and computing dynamics. As Bezos indicates in his letter to shareholders; "we live in an era of extraordinary increases in available bandwidth, disk space, and processing power, all of which will continue to get cheap fast" (Amazon.com. Shareholder Letter. 2010). The threats of course come from industry rivals and the competitive marketplace. Google, Yahoo, IBM and others are constantly innovating and attempting to garner market share in some of Amazon's most profitable areas. That said the focus for Amazon is not based on "who the competitors are, what kind of technologies are available, and so on-those things are going to change so rapidly" (Murphy, S. November 22, 2008). Instead the company confronts threats by identifying their core competencies and effectively harnessing energy to implement them.
Long-Term Objectives
For Amazon the long-term focus is on innovation, adaptability, and driving value to the customer. Bezos has an interesting perspective on this issue, indicating that the company's strategy is based on "things that won't change" (Murphy, S. November 22, 2008). To this end he emphasizes the importance of identifying "what's not going to change in the next five to ten
If you can only have three web pages, you might want to do those first to get them out of the way. You can search for books that are related to your topic and use them in your bibliography. Google Books and Amazon are good places to search. Also try Google scholar (scholar.google.com), where you can search for journal articles to use. Another way to find research articles and books is to find the Wikipedia entry on your subject, and scroll to the bottom. See what sources are used there, and see if you can find those sources online or....
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