Amazon Value Chain Analysis

Suggest and evaluate one possible strategy for Amazon.com, using the Value Chain methodology.

According to Webb and Schlemmer (2008) the firm’s infrastructure related to Amazon.com is that they consist of having the utilisation of technology so that they can connect with services in worldwide locations which cut costs and investment. Customer data is stored in warehouses where details can be saved in their data banks, although there has been a case when customer data has been lost so it’s not too reliable (Webb and Schlemmer, 2008).

According to the Amazon strategic plan of the value chain, for the Human resources, Amazon grant their employees fringe benefits such as holiday pay, relocation allowances health insurance etc. This means that these types of benefits has the capability to be a focus for workers who have an ambition of working for Amazon that are vastly experienced, and also the hourly wage of an average of $10 dollars would also appeal to them (Webb and Schlemmer, 2008).

In the technology department there have been huge investments in different markets such as the Kindle e-book which has been a huge success with customers. Also the Kindle Store which enables consumers to search for any book titles and also on Amazon.com by using the ‘’search inside the book’’ service. It uses hardware such as HP to make maintenance and compatibility more efficient and effective.

Furthermore Webb and Schlemmer (2008) argue that in the procurement department Amazon uses Book Surge which is a strategic business unit that holds on to many stocks of digital book copies, which are always accessible immediately so it makes deliveries more effective. There are distribution centres that speed up the process of delivery orders which avoids...

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... has moved from bars and restaurants to retailers and wholesalers.

In the competitive rivalry, there are many competitors in the brewing industry that battled with each other for market share and also there were alliances and acquisitions such as the alliance of Inbev and the acquisition of Foster’s European brand rights to Scottish and Newcastle. I concluded that there is a growth of power in supermarkets where they are selling alcoholic beverages and also competitors have been restructuring by changing their strategy and culture as a result of the recent happenings that have occurred.

To conclude this assignment I already had the knowledge of these strategic management models but now I have developed and strengthened my understanding of them. It has ensured me of how each model bases its views on what has happened before, during and after events have taken place.