MGT450 3

Introduction

The following project deliverable will focus on analyzing an international company of our choice on a strategic management scale, in order to give us the opportunity to get a better understanding on the reasoning behind its success. The company that we decided to focus on is called Amazon, which in an international e-commerce business that specializes in offering everyone around the world any product imaginable. The following deliverable report will be divided into several sections, where each section will focus on a specific topic. Firstly, we will begin by providing an organization overview, in order to give us more information on the company and its background. Following, we will be discussing the mission and vision of the organization, and the factors that motivated them to achieve the success that they have today. Next, we will be conducting a brief comparison with two direct competitors of Amazon in terms of their vision and mission. The penultimate section will look into the core competencies of the organization, which is a preliminary analysis that is required to be completed, which will serve use to us in the upcoming deliverables. Lastly, the final section of the report will provide us with an overall strategy, which will provide us with the tactics and decision-making reasonings that have helped the organization reach the success that it has today.

Company Overview

The organization that we decided to focus on for the first project deliverable of the Strategic Management course is Amazon.com Incorporated. Amazon is an American multinational company that focuses on providing the highest level of e-commerce business to individuals across the world. Amazon as an organization offers several different business products and services, which are as follows: - • E-commerce; • Cloud Computing; • Artificial Intelligence; and • Digital Streaming The company known as amazon is considered to be amongst the top 5 information technology giants, which control the online market across the globe. Within the top 5, you are able to find organizations such as: Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft, which are some of the largest companies that have ever existed. In the year 2015, Amazon was considered to be the company that had the highest influence and cultural impact in the world, as for the most part it has been considered to be a member of every household today. The company was founded in the year 1994 by today billionaire Jeff Bezos. The company has grown extremely over the last couple years, and has recently achieved a revenue count of $386.064 Billion for the year 2020. Amazon as a company serves all the markets around the world. No matter the country that you live in, you will be able to purchase a product from Amazon.

Mission and Vision

Amazon.com is considered to be one of the most successful, if not the most successful company in the world. According to online information about the company, its company vision is “We aim to be Earth’s most customer centric company. Our mission it to continually raise the bar of the customer experience by using the internet and technology to help consumers find, discover and buy anything, and empower businesses and content creators to maximize their success.” (Amazon Staff, 2021). The mission of amazon on the other hand is to “serve consumers through online and physical stores and focus on selection, price, and convenience.”. According to the information that we were able to gather on Amazon, we were able to identify that they are able to acquire the success the vision and mission that they set out to achieve.

Comparison

When looking at Amazon.com as a company, it is important to identify the direct competitors of the company, and the companies that continuously compete with them in attempting to be the biggest online e-commerce business that exists. The two major competitors of Amazon are: eBay and Ali Baba. Both Ali Baba and eBay are e-commerce giants in their own ways. They have managed to find major success in their own fields, and that is what helped them achieve the growth and size that they have today. The following will be a brief comparison conducted between the two major e-commerce giants Amazon and eBay. When comparison both firms, we are able to identify that Amazon is a company that has their own brands, while eBay does not. As a result, eBay is a company that is considerably less competitive that Amazon. Amazon is a type of website that allows firms to sell directly through them, and gives them the opportunity to directly ship their products through Amazon’s warehouse. If a seller sells their products through eBay, they are required to go out and ship the product to the customer on their own, as eBay does not offer a hub that can store and do the necessary shipping for each individual seller. When it comes to selling products on eBay and Amazon, on eBay anyone can sell their product with ease, whether being new or used. In the case of Amazon, you are required to receive an approval from Amazon, in order to sell your product on their website. In terms of fees, the fees of Amazon are lower, and they offer great opportunities for receiving products in as little time as possible. In terms of eBay, they have higher fees, and the shipping time depends on the shipping method selected by either the buyer or seller. Overall, when it comes to using both of these websites, you will able to find pretty much everything. However, as a customer, you will be able to find more trustworthy sellers and products on Amazon, which as a result, increases the trust level on Amazon

Core Competencies

When looking at the core competencies of Amazon, it is important to look into this in order to identify the reasoning behind the success of Amazon. When purchasing from Amazon, you care about the ease of use, and the overall customer experience. In terms of the customer experience, the ever-growing technological advancement gives Amazon the ability to offer their products in a time effective manner. The relationship and customer service offered by Amazon is second to none, which is due to their appropriate form of management. As well, Amazon is able to offer products to their customers at a price range that is considerably lower than what is offered in physical stores today. When identifying the core competencies of Amazon, we are able to identify the fact that they are able to offer their products all over the world, in different markets. The size and influence that they have on the market has made it difficult for competitors to imitate and replicate. Those are just some of the core competencies of Amazon, which have allowed to gain the success that they have today.

Overall Strategy

In a recent letter that was sent out to the shareholders of Amazon, it has been mentioned that Amazon follows four specific principles, which provide them guidance for the overall organizational strategy. The four principles are: passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, long-term thinking, and lastly competitor focus. As a company, Amazon focused a lot on ensuring that they are the number one in the market. They ensures that they continuously work towards inventing new inventions to better their operational ability, as well as their attempt to operate at a level that is considered to be excellent. As a result, the strategy behind Amazon, and its success, has allowed them to become the techgiants that they are today. Having an organization strategy is key, and it is important to ensure that everyone in the organization is up to date and aware of the strategy, to ensure that everyone is working together towards achieving the ultimate company goal.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is apparent that Amazon’s success did not happen overnight. However, due to the sheer focus and determination of the organization’s management, they were able to ensure that they did the necessary to ensure that they achieve the organizational success that they have achieved today. By having a strong and goal-focused strategy, to having well-planned out core competencies, Amazon was able to grow and become one of the major 5 organizations that exist today.