Question

I need 2-3 pages Analytical essay about Amazon on the topic below.

Identify aspects of the company’s business-level, corporate-level, and international strategies. This should include an assessment of the generic strategy the company is using in their business, the extent and relatedness of diversification, the modes (e.g., M&A, alliances, internal development) of implementing recent diversification initiatives, and the type of international strategy implemented in various global markets. Evaluate whether these strategies fit with the company’s organizational goals, and external and internal environments and suggest changes wherever thought to be necessary.

Answer 1

answer-

Amazon.com, Inc, is an American multinational technology company based in Seattle, Washington that focuses in e-commerce, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

Amazon is the largest e-commerce marketplace and cloud computing platform in the world as measured by revenue and market capitalization.Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1994, and started as an online bookstore but later diversified to sell video downloads/streaming, MP3 downloads/streaming, audiobook downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. The company also owns a publishing arm, Amazon Publishing, a film and television studio, Amazon Studios, produces consumer electronics lines including Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo devices, and is the world's largest provider of cloud infrastructure services (IaaS and PaaS) through its AWS subsidiary.Amazon has separate retail websites for some countries and also offers international shipping of some of its products to certain other countries. 100 million people subscribe to Amazon Prime.

Amazon’s generic corporate strategy can be described as concentric diversification. This strategy is based on leveraging technological capabilities for business success and following a cost leadership strategy aimed at offering the maximum value for its customers at the lowest price in addition to wrapping its business around the customers wherein they find Amazon to be the go-to portal for their online shopping needs.

Indeed, this strategy has paid off well as can be seen from the fact that it is the world’s largest online retailer and has consistently been the leader in the market segments in which it operates. Having said that, it must also be noted that cost leadership can follow the law of diminishing returns wherein firms following this strategy find that they are unable to sustain growth or increase profitability once the “low-hanging fruit” are plucked.

The specific measures taken by Amazon in pursuit of this strategy include steep discounts for is regular members through the Amazon Prime program, ensuring timely and even express delivery and at times, waiving off the shipping charges, passing on the benefits of avoiding state taxes to the customers thereby lowering the price even further, and an overall strategy based on making the customer experience as seamless and as smooth as possible.

Apart from this, Amazon’s strategy is driven by its sources of competitive advantage wherein it is focus on technology, actualizing the benefits of economies of scale, and leveraging the efficiencies from the synergies between its external drivers and internal resources have been the cornerstones of its business model. Further, Amazon uses Big Data Analytics as a tool to map consumer behavior. Indeed, Big Data has been embraced to such an extent by the company that it is now in a position to market this as another service offering.

Anyone who has shopped on Amazon encounters a list of recommended products that are picked according to the browsing history and the mapping of their purchases with that of likely purchases in the future. This has meant that Amazon can sense and intuit what consumers want and tailor its strategies accordingly. As mentioned throughout this article, Amazon uses technology to the fullest, which is not surprising considering it is after all an internet-based company.

However, Amazon’s overall cost leadership with little product differentiation means that its business model has been copied by “me-too” competitors in a cutthroat price war that has left everyone bruised. Further, its focus on cost reduction at the expense of product differentiation means that its products are available on other portals as well and there is no product line that is exclusive or unique to it.

Apart from this, Amazon does not stock products that appeal to the need for “instant gratification” wherein consumers make impulsive purchases and who are impatient and need quick fixes. For instance, except for its movies and other digital items, the other product lines are all not in the category of those that provide this gratification to the customers.

Having said that, it must be noted that Amazon’s current strategy is also built around the convenience aspect wherein customers need not go to a physical bookstore or even wait for their purchases to arrive after some time as it has introduced same day delivery in many countries and is even toying with the idea of using Drones for near instantaneous delivery. Apart from that, its focus on non-retail product lines such as cloud based services means that it is addressing the issue of differentiation as well as its overreliance on cost leadership

Mergers and acquisitions-

Amazon has aqcuired many business in order to achieve its expansion strategy to grow its business. follwoings are some of its aqcuired businesses.

Whole Foods Market: $13.7B

One of Amazon’s acquisitions is not like the other — the Whole Foods acquisition dwarfed the company’s second-largest acquisition nearly by a factor of 8 and dramatically expanded Amazon’s brick-and-mortar footprint. In the long run, the acquisition gives Amazon a much stronger position in grocery delivery that capitalizes on Whole Foods’ large and loyal customer base.

Ring: $1.8B

Smart home technology could become ubiquitous in the near future. Amazon is poised to become a leader in the sector with its ownership of smart doorbell manufacturer Ring and as Alexa integrates with a diverse and growing suite of other smart devices.

Zappos: $1.2B

Amazon’s first $1B+ acquisition went to a company that built its brand on customer centricity and a unique culture. Zappos fit neatly with Jeff Bezos’ relentless customer-focused approach and brought an online competitor into the fold.

PillPack: ~$1B

The latest jewel in Amazon’s increasingly heavy crown costing supposedly just under $1B, the acquisition of PillPack is noteworthy because it confirms Amazon’s long-rumored entry in healthcare. The markets reacted accordingly, with share prices for incumbent pharma companies diving nearly 10% on the news.

Twitch Interactive: $970M

Amazon’s nearly $1B acquisition of Twitch raised eyebrows at the time, but since then, Amazon has capitalized on its fiercely loyal fanbase to provide a competitive advantage as major tech companies zero in on cloud-based gaming as their next big market.

Kiva Systems: $775M

Amazon’s purchase of Kiva, a robotic fulfilment system manufacturer, was the company’s 25th M&A deal since 2007 and one of the most impactful to its long-term business — no e-commerce competitors have come close to replicating Amazon’s warehouse automation.

Souq.com: $580M

By acquiring the Middle Eastern e-commerce firm Souq, Amazon gained a beachhead in a growing market before entries by its competitors like Walmart and Jet.com. International expansion remains a focal point of Amazon’s forward-looking strategy, particularly in emerging markets.

Conclusion-

Amazon has been a company which has adopt strategies like merger and acquisitions in order to expand its business and market share and diversification to increase its product line from consumer products to web cloud computing. and have low cost generic strategy as business level strategy.Company sells online in order to be be internationalize its brand and set warehouses and customer service support offices to make its business in another countries.these strategies helped the company to achieve its organizational goals. the only thing i would suggest is to make some physical appearance in the form of offline stores of amazon to make it more big and leading towards the more growth of its business.