Amazon’s Strategy Development Approach – External Assessments

Amazon is the 5th most admired company in the world. How did it become so successful so quickly? Strategy! Investing in the right plans at the right time and staying the course.

The purpose of this article is to review Amazon’s strategy development model and the external assessment tools it used in helping it to formulate and select top strategies. (Please note that external assessment tools are but a small but vital part of Amazon’s strategic planning process.)

Amazon embraced what known as a “design school model” of strategy development. Despite the title, the model is simple to understand and can be highly effective. It is the one used most by professors and consulting organizations.The diagram located at http://www.strategic-planning-resources.com/Amazon-Strategy-Development-Model.html is Henry Mintzbergs illustration of the model.

Organizations often struggle in finding a compelling competitive position. Successful organization can begin to drift away and total fail at what it takes to be successful. This tool can begin to help an organization get into the game.

EXTERNAL APPRAISALS

The design school model calls for both external and internal appraisals. An external appraisal helps an organization to understand threats and opportunities that are out there in the market. The internal assessment helps the organization to understand its strengths and weaknesses. The “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats” (SWOT) tool is one that most people are familiar with and stems from the design school model.

To do this, Amazon conducted the external analysis using the following analysis frameworks:

– PESTEL Analysis

– Industry and Competitor Analysis

– Competitor Analysis

– Global Internet Trends

– GE Matrix

PESTEL ANALYSIS

The “PRESTEL” framework helped Amazon to identify trends that could impact them in six key areas:

– (P) Political factors: areas to focus on include political direction, taxes, trade restrictions

– (E) Economic factors: includes GDP, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates and other macro and micro economic factors

– (S) Social factors: includes social trends, population growth rate, age distribution, career expectations, etc.

– (T) Technology factors: includes equipment, information technology, R&D

– (L) Legal factors: include health, safety, employment, discrimination, consumer and antitrust laws

– (E) Environmental factors: includes weather and climate

COMPETITIVE POSITION

The external appraisal includes Amazon looking at its competitive position to determine opportunities and risks and where it should focus. To do this, they use Porters 5 force tool that helps them to understand the strengths and weakness of its competitive position, and where they might consider moving forward. In simplest terms, the model looks assumes there are five important forces that determine competitive power. These are:

– Supplier Power: How powerful are your suppliers? Is it easy for them to drive up their prices and are you stuck? If there are a number of suppliers providing the same product at the quality and price you want, then the suppliers dont have much power. However, if the supplier provides a unique product that others cant compete with, then they have more power.

Earning Business Management Courses through Online Distance Learning

There are plenty of business professionals who try to get more skills and experience through an online distance learning degree. Just like in traditional modes of learning, one of the most popular is in business management courses. What a management degree does, whether earned online or not, is to fortify the resume and readies the individual for career advancement. This is done through the provision of a solid background in management theory as well as its application.

An online distance learning degree in Business Management Degree Courses from an accredited online college or online universities can make your career soar. Each school offers a slightly varied online distance learning degree. Some may focus on a particular field of industry such as health care or even culinary. What is important is to review the online structure of the degree and choose one that fits specifically to the identified career goals.

Also, the level of the online distance learning should be given attention to. Business management courses can range from a Masters degree to a PhD. In order to figure out the best online distance learning organization to affiliate with, look for an agency that is recognized by the Department of Education and/or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. It is also a good idea to meet with other students and potential students in online education forums.

All reputable business management courses are designed to meet the subject standards of the organization’s educational development program. The curriculum can include business principles such as management, finance, pertinent laws, marketing strategies, and sales. In order to complete the chosen program, the students are expected to develop the expertise through frequent discussions of concepts and skills in business management. They are taught how to plan, organize and execute business strategies.

There should also be an understanding of accounting methods such as preparing financial statements and balance sheets, evaluating accounting journals including accounts receivables and payables. These aspects make for effective business management courses. Records of the inventory, sales, purchases, and payroll should also be understood at the ends of the online distance learning course.

One of the most important aspects of business management courses is the development of marketing strategy. It should focus on the product or service such as finding the correct pricing range, how to promote it, and how it will be distributed. A description of the requirements of sales management, including the recruiting and training of sales personnel, sourcing of clients, and planning of a sales strategy is also a key ingredient of business management courses.

Visit ICI.NET.AU for affordable Business Management Certificate, Business Management Programs, Business Management Diploma, Business Management Degree Coursesand build the career of your dreams.

Anger A False Success Motivator

There is little question that anger can be a strong motivator, pushing one to great lengths. Certainly one can achieve admirable goals while motivated by an inner rage. Some of the most famous people in the world have been motivated by a personal fury. But I would not classify such people as successful. I was once angry at the world for all the chaos, turmoil, hatred and crime that I observed. It was easy to remain that way for years, but I came to learn the truth about being motivated by anger.

Perhaps anger is good for the professional athlete; as far as physical exertion and athletic accomplishment are concerned, anger could be positive to a large extent. But winning the sports game is not the same as the lifelong success game.

There are lessons to be learned from being angry. Rage or fury is very often used as a substitute for confidence, or perhaps a replacement for insecurity or fear. But ultimately anger is a false motivator; although it can bring about some level of achievement, anger clouds judgment and skews perception. Anger makes one totally subjective and does not allow for the possibility of objectivity. Therefore, any goal achieved at the hand of anger, is not a success to be enjoyed in the long term. One cannot truly enjoy anything if angry.

A strong Abundant Life Coach will suggest that mental Preparation (having our emotional house in order) is a necessary step within sustained success. But like all mental/emotional barriers, we must realize and accept its existence in order to eliminate. Illumination leads to elimination. Anger is an enemy of love and therefore an enemy of success in life. To overcome anger is to remove one obstacle from a pathway to success.

Expert help for your business – Conversion and Online Business Management

Conversion management is the technique of transforming conversion rate from being just a figure that is reported, to improved and strategically managed information. There is major expertise required to effectively manage conversion rate. The choice of test tool for conversion management, who supports the tool, testing and executing strategies in conversion management are the factors which decide on benefits received by a business. Internet Marketing Bangkok and marketing audit will apply effective conversion management strategies to get fantastic results for your company. There are Bangkok SEO companies taking care of these functions for you. They carefully analyze web analytics data and past performance of your company, so that they can test the most profitable pages. These Internet Marketing Bangkok companies have the expertise to identify the best variants to test. They ensure that the tests are done on time and on the lowest cost possible. Internet Marketing Bangkok and marketing audit includes functions such as research and tracking, measuring and controlling. Through tracking results they try and achieve maximum benefits for their customers. The results are analyzed and information is used to achieve greatest benefit for the campaign’s success. Marketing activities and campaigns are streamlined for best results, based on information taken from tracking and analysis. Through results of these tests, investments on poorly performing targets are reduced and budget is focused on actions that generate results. Therefore impact of marketing budget is increased. Relevant issues are reported on a regular basis to the customer, so that they remain up to date with market trends. Benefit of Bangkok SEO is that the results are available almost immediately. The effect of marketing audit, campaigns and activities can be immediately tracked and evaluated. Marketing audit is an evaluation tool in which a company examines its strengths in comparison to current market. This covers all aspects of marketing climate – demographic, technological, political, as well as customers, competitors, distributors, etc. Marketing audit will include analysis of companies marketing strategies, productivity, marketing systems and marketing organization. Marketing audit should be done by other independent companies and organizations, objectivity and authenticity of the audit is ensured. Marketing audits should be done periodically in order to solve problems before they arise. If it’s not just a testing tool, but an excellent management service that you are looking for, you should look at hiring one of these companies, which are experts on Internet Marketing Bangkok and marketing audit.

Employee Training 101

Although it may feel like a waste of valuable work time, new employee training will ultimately save your business time and money. Without such a focused experience, employees will be lagging in their understanding, drifting in their interest, and dragging in their productivity. Of course, proper training does not have to be massively time-consuming. There are three simple goals that should be met in any employee training program. New employees should

1. Learn about the business, it purpose, and the means by which it attends to that purpose
2. Learn about their own purpose within the business
3. Learn about the means by which they can attend to that purpose

Now, for an employee to effectively learn these points, it will take more than a PowerPoint presentation. But that doesnt mean it has be boot camp, either. If you follow the recommendations below, you can execute a functional training program without spending an excessive amount of time and effort in doing so.

Prioritize. You can maximize the impact of a training experience by focusing upon matters that relate directly to the new employees position. Boil the employees function down to about 3 primary tasks, and spend the majority of the training sessions focusing on these areas. This will save you time and will help place emphasis on the knowledge that really counts.

Delegate. As you choose a trainer, be sure that this individual is well experienced in the tasks being taught. Also be sure that the trainer is patient, clear, and personable.

Schedule. Since it doesnt always flow with the normal office routine, training time can often get lost in the shuffle. But the best way to introduce a new employee to your company is by demonstrating your commitment and resolve to properly instruct all team members. So lock in a set date or collection of dates during which the training will occur, and avoid rescheduling!

Evaluate. Before taking your employee to the next level, make sure that the previously covered information is well understood. Progressing hastily is often as useless as not progressing at all.

Re-evaluate. Employee training should be an ongoing effort. Whether one has been a member of the business for 6 months or 6 years, it never ceases to be important that the employee is consistently stimulated and challenged to progress in the quality of their work.

To maintain a well-functioning business that strengthens and grows with each passing year, it is imperative that managers plan for the consistent training of employees both old and new. If you train with care and strategy, you will find that the time invested in training cannot compare to the time and productivity saved in the long run.