Amazon Inc. is an American online retailing website that is serving its customers worldwide. Amazon Inc. is one of the biggest retailers, and they are continuously growing since 1994. The founder of Amazon is Jeff Bezos. Amazon offers various products and services, and they are selling their products in more than 11 countries.
Amazon is focused on selling low-end and high-end products. Although, it was initially known as a bookstore, however, later the company diversified their offerings, and now they have a range of video games, software, electronic items, apparel, jewelry, furniture, food, toys, and many other services. The mission is focused on providing lowest prices, best options and convenience through e-commerce services to satisfy customer needs. The mission statement of the company is “We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience.”
Organizational structure
There are some tough competitors of Amazon who are also offering same services. For example, eBay, Wal-Mart, and Netflix are on the top of the list of competitors. Since, Amazon Inc. is offering online services so its customers who are interested in buying all necessities over the internet at low prices. Amazon is successfully managing the global e-commerce operations and it with the help of strong organizational structure. Within the organization, the company has a corporate culture in which managers direct and influence the operational activities. The formal organizational structure of Amazon is based on Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Director, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Also, there are different segments such as Business development, Amazon Web Services development, Retail product management and merchandising, Information technology, consumer service, Finance, Human Resources, and Legal Operations department.
The success of Amazon Inc. is considered because of the effective leadership skills of the founder Jeff Bezos who helped the entire organizational structure to build to be strong and efficient enough to witness growth rapidly. Also, his leadership style is getting famous as he delivers some inspirational speeches to its employees. It will not be incorrect to state Jeff Bezos is the real hero of Amazon who has brought the company to a new level of success. It is because of the innovative technological advancements that provided the company a competitive advantage. Bezos make sure to hire talented workforce, and then he focused on providing extensive product offerings on lowest prices. The one-click system by Amazon was hit, and it helped to attain customer focus towards their site. Thus, with the passage of time, the company managed to earn strong brand name and recognition.
Organizational culture
Since Amazon is focused on creating a positive and influential organizational culture thus, the main characteristics that the company is following are boldness, innovation, customer-centricity, and peculiarity. It will not be incorrect to state that the organization follows the culture of innovation. It is the reason that they allow their employees to express their ideas freely and maintain the competitive atmosphere. Moreover, it can be said that the culture of Amazon Inc. interprets Bezos’s personality. He has collected like-minded people in his company and energizing their abilities and polishing their skills by providing them opportunities to bring innovation and work in an innovative manner. Thus, it will not be incorrect to state that the company corporate and innovative organizational culture helped to grow more and become successful.
Threats
The two significant challenges faced by Amazon in the present scenario are the threats of the new entrants that are offering similar products at a low rate. It is considerable that many new online retailing websites have been formed where many international and national products are being sold at the promotional rate. On the other hand, with the advent of the concept of online shopping, many retailing brands have also introduced the online retailing websites which in return can have a negative impact on Amazon.
The second most complex challenge faced by Amazon is due to the supply chain management process. It is noticeable that the products that Amazon sells online are being delivered by the courier services. However, at times there are possibilities that the product may get damaged during the deliverance. Therefore, the issues in deliverance stage can have a pessimistic impact on Amazon.
Opportunities
Even after a tough competition, Amazon has strong brand name and image, and it is the reason that company is striving to maintain its position in the market with the help of expansion of the technology in the service market. Their approach for global expansion is an opportunity that they are availing to keep their game strong.
The other strong opportunity that Amazon keeps availing to reach to next level is the growth of cloud computing. With the help of strong IT system, the company can find new areas of growth.
Environmental factors
The main factors that influence Amazon’s general environment are an economic factor, social factors, and political factors. Each of these general factors has a significant impact on the company’s business’s growth and expansion strategy. Therefore, each of these factors should be analyzed in a righteous manner to maintain the reputation of the company in the marketplace. As Amazon is the largest company in the online retail market so with the increasing competition and new challenges company needs to maintain the resilience and competence. It will not be incorrect to state that the political factors are beneficial for the political stability of Amazon the reason is that government supports the growth of e-commerce and thus expansion of their operations is supported by the government. While talking about the economic factor, it can be said that it is a very important factor for Amazon as its performance depends on the situation of the current economies especially in those countries where Amazon is operating. Considering the social factor and its impact on the company it is noticed that the increasing online shopping habit among people is a positive sociocultural external factor.
Amazon’s commitment to sustainability
To find out Amazon’s efforts and commitment level on sustainability, it is noticed that Amazon is on lowest ranks because the company never tried to play their role for the sustainability. It was the reason that the company faced strong criticism for not performing their role on corporate social responsibility. Therefore, the company started to pay attention to this issue and tried to take few steps for the sustainability of the environment. Thus, they started initiating few activities for supporting local communities, energy consumption, and recycling. Now, it can be said that Amazon is performing its role for CSR and showing its commitment to the sustainability.