Getting Started
Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 company and one of top retailers in the world. In the past year, Amazon has pulled in a reported $95.8 billion which is impressive considering the mounting competition from brick and mortar retail shopping stores like Walmart and Target. In the growing world of e-commerce, Amazon is turning the retail world on its head. How are they doing this?
Customers log onto amazon.com to purchase a variety of products from books, electronics, clothing, jewelry and much more. The company has grown over the past 20 years to become a juggernaut retail business surpassing the likes of Walmart in market shares. Today, Amazon sites are run from Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom.
There are a growing number of shoppers that prefer to skip the lines and crowds of traditional retail stores and shop online. Websites like Amazon are often in direct competition with department stores in terms of price and variety of products.
Amazon is looking to begin opening retail stores in select markets in an effort to give their loyal customers a brick and mortar option. The top executives at Amazon need your help figuring out their position in the market and what this move will mean for the brand that was built on the strength and loyalty of online shoppers.
You are to break into a small group and work on the behalf of Amazon to determine their level of readiness when it comes to competing in the field of brick and mortar retail stores. According to your research, does Amazon have a competitive advantage in the retail market? Is it enough to compete on a brick and mortar level?
Instructions
Step1: Create a powerpoint answering the questions in the slides.
Step 2: Identify the distinctive competencies of Amazon.com?
Step 3: Identify Amazons basic factors of production.
Step 4: Identify Amazons advanced factors of production.
Step 5: Create a VRIO framework for Amazon.com. Determine the quality of Amazons resources to include value, rarity, inimitability, and organization.
Step 6: According to your research, does Amazon have a competitive advantage in the online retail market? Is it enough to compete on a brick and mortar level?
Step 7: Create a 15-20 slide Power point presentation answering the questions in the slides. Submit it and be prepared to present it to the class.