Right Focus on the Right Market

Amazon understood firsthand that the competitive advantage of a company originates immediately from how distinctive the organization's resources and competencies are. Amazon is able to both engage in production at a lower cost and generate a superior product at a standard cost. This is accomplished mostly via Amazon's strategy of having a wide variety of goods and competitive pricing. Customers know they can find basic products at slashed prices or high quality goods at standard prices and this is all achieved via the enormous range of products and product brands and types available on their massive marketplace. For example, the depiction displayed in the case study which shows how growth was related directly to: lower cost structure- lower prices customer experience traffic sellers -selection and convenience. While this is a grave oversimplification of the Amazon business model, it demonstrates how many aspects of the strategy reinforced one another.

➢ Mission: Amazon’s mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible price[1].

Due to the growing competition and diminishing market share, companies are opting for different strategies to achieve their survival objectives as well as growth. Companies are thus executing grand strategies to provide their businesses with a clear direction for its strategic actions. These strategies, therefore, aim at both short term and long term sustainability and growth, and they include innovation, market development, product development, and concentration.

Amazon is a company we all know and love. The company is widely known for its online retail shopping, it’s popular Kindle Series with e-bookstore, along with their cloud and order fulfillment services amongst many other things. Amazon has become a great example of a perfect collaboration system and utilizing all of its information systems. With the vast history of Amazon we can begin to ask certain questions that would help understand Amazon and its continual success in innovating: How does Amazon, as a company show their ability and willingness to collaborate, experiment, perform systems and abstract thinking? These questions and more will be further explained in this case study.

Diversification strategies involve broadening the scope of an organization across different products and market sectors. It requires an organization to explore new experiences and knowledge outside its existing markets and products (Business Case Studies). Strategic management is a business concept that consists of strategy analysis, creation, implementation and monitoring, used by organizations in order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage (as cited by Jurevicius, 2013). The following parts discuss Amazon’s strategy with a focus on the company’s competitive advantage and its customers.

Strategy formulation has been acknowledged as one of the most crucial factors of ensuring the long-term growth of the business. However, the manner in which strategy is formulated, and most importantly, the nature of the strategy chosen for the company determines its future position in the marketplace (Grant, 2005).

These objectives are reasonable. However, objectives should be specific and measurable. Some alternative objectives would be to focus the Company's resources toward achieving profitability by the fourth quarter of 2000 (an annual objective), and to increase profitability by 5 percent per year for the next 3 years (long-term objective). These objectives would give meaningful, measurable goals that management would need to obtain, or it would require management to re-evaluate the Company's objectives or the Company's strategy to achieve the objectives. With the aforementioned objectives in mind, the Companyneeds to implement a strategy to achieve the desired results. It is necessary to evaluate alternative strategies before selecting the actual strategy to implement. The SWOT or TOWS, SPACE, Grand Strategy, IE, and QSPM Matrices are tools to help in the evaluation and selection of alternative strategies. The matrices indicate that Amazon is in a strong competitive position, and that the Companyshould build and grow. The matrices indicate that, despite Amazon's financial position, the Companyhas some distinct competitive advantages in a high-growth or unstable industry. Some strategies for companies that fit this profile are backward, forward and horizontal integration, market penetration, market development, product development and joint venture. One strategy that would fit into

As discussed in the case study, the advertising and marketing strategy of Amazon have been focusing on how the products would gain interest from their target market and how they can be able to generate sales with their products. This is Amazon’s stronghold where it continues to yield strong sales revenue by leveraging off its excellent online shop in different locations, such as in UK and other country, strong brand name and excellent reputation among customers. Amazon has also been continuing to create affiliate websites to expand their business market among various consumers.

Amazon’s core competencies are in its ability to effectively use and develop technology to drive site traffic and enhance the customer experience. Their distinctive use of website real estate coupled with their ability to leverage their brand and effectively use that leverage to deliver low prices and high quality products, makes them a leader in online retailing. Their partner brands and their ability to adapt and recognize deficiencies enable them to effectively cut out the middle man, or at the very least, partner with them.

Strategy is a tool in the armory of groups fighting over a set of resources. In our present world this cannot be truer given the intensity of competition among firms on a truly global scale (Barney, J. B., Barney, J. B. 1986). There are a lot of firms in the world who are competing for the same resources (customer base) and competition is nowadays based on more than just trading blocs and products, it requires strategic thinking that focusses on understanding the key drivers of the economy with a specific intent of creating new opportunities that add value. Following the global financial crisis that was offset by the bursting of the housing bubble in 2008 in the USA and later followed by the global financial crisis in 2010, a lot of firms have adopted measures to deal with the reduced revenue and sales yield amidst growing competition from other firms and many of the firms have adopted competitive business strategies.

Retailers have adapted to the online marketplace out of necessity and opportunity. The great recession placed many retail companies in financial hardship and while some failed, others innovated and became some of the largest companies in America such as Amazon. A recent trend is consumers are buying more products online than ever before. As a consumer, I enjoy shopping in the convenience of my home and having the items delivered to my doorstep in 48 hours or less. Global internet access continues to increase, with mobile devices and affordable internet for the home, consumers will continue to shift and buy products online rather than in retail brick and mortar locations. Online sales in the United States have increased over 250% in the last ten years, accomplishing $250.0 billion in 2012 (Tehrani, 2014). Therefore, Amazon is in a solid market position to capitalize on the future trends and booming ecommerce

The company has many strengths. First, Amazon is the world’s leading online retailer. According to the 2016 Annual Report, Amazon had total net sales of US $135, 987 million in 2016. These total net sales include three segments which are North America, International, and AWS. Second, in comparison to many companies, Amazon has a superior logistics and distribution system, which allows the company to actualize improved customer fulfillment. Third, with its prolonged strategic drive on low-cost, differentiation, and focus, Amazon offers a wide range of product at low prices to customers. Fourth, Amazon enjoys global recognition from its customers. As stated earlier, Amazon built a strong brand in very little time. Finally, the

Now understanding the exploitation and exploration strategies as separate equals the combination of the two as an ever-evolving and ongoing process enlightens the analyst on the company’s strategic information systems framework. This simply occurs through Amazon.com’s incorporation of their process of constant knowledge acquisition and evaluation that allows the company to continually change their management strategy toward a more successful outcome regarding potential endeavors. Currently, their focus is technological innovation, which allows their customers to find a wider variety of the products they want, more conveniently, and at lower prices. This progression from website to e-commerce associate to a comprehensive platform for software development solidifies the overall agility of the company’s information system which has become an essential part of the company’s disposition (Amazon.com, 2011). Although, this approach may provide success for years to come, the company is ultimately willing to undergo whatever metamorphosis is required to maintain the intended user of their information systems an optimum answer toward better service as their overriding goal. According to Amazon.com, “e-commerce is still in its infancy. In the years to come, you'll see Amazon create new technologies, expand into more geographies and continue to improve the lives of shoppers and sellers around the world” (Amazon.com,

Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 company that has revolutionized the retail industry. In recent years, Amazon has faced increased competition in the highly competitive online retail space as competitors invested heavily in their online storefronts and infrastructure. Positioned in a highly fragmented industry, Amazon must find solutions that can sustain its long term profitability and maintain its market share. To that end, Amazon should grow the Amazon Prime membership base and expand on its media and mobile offerings.

The reaction to Amazon’s marketplace initiative in the financial markets had been generally positive. Indeed, Amazon’s stock was up 52% for the year (as of mid-September 2002) versus a 35% drop in the NASDAQ index. Still, doubts clearly remained in some observers’ minds. For example, Holly Becker, an equity analyst at Lehman Brothers, had reservations about Amazon’s model. In a report issued in February 2002 she said, in part: The used business appears to be an excellent complement to Amazon’s core retail offering. The used business allows Amazon to participate in a growing market that leverages all of the inherent benefits of the Internet . . . a truly virtual model, used eliminates a large portion of fulfillment costs and inventory risk, and therefore provides higher margins . . . but . . . we believe used is detrimental to Amazon’s franchise in the long term. The company’s point of difference, market share, and service capabilities are far greater in new products than used . . . we believe cannibalization is likely in the longer term.1 While the company had made dramatic strides in expanding the range of products it offered, there were still many categories in which it participated little or not at all. Thus, a key element of enhancing selection was to constantly expand the range of