Discuss the new aspects for Project Management Plan for Amazon Inc;s

APA format graduate writing APA format references must 3 or more additional APA format for proper citations Must updated the table adding this part to new Table of Content for final copy References must be adjusted putting in last weel Project Management Plan (Week 5 IP) See the section for New Content below. All sources should be cited using in-text references and in the References section using APA format. New Content Your company has purchased the smaller company that was discussed in the Phase 1 and Phase 4 Individual Projects. Your input was greatly valued. Senior management believes that you have a firm grasp on how to handle the new business; therefore, you have been assigned the role of project manager. Your boss has asked you to write a Project Management Plan. Your plan should contain the following sections: Initiating Planning Executing Monitoring and Controlling Closing In addition, your plan should touch upon the following components: Integration Cost Human resources Stakeholder management Scope Quality Communications Time Procurement Risk management These components should be worked into the sections of your assignment noted above. Thanks
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
ABSTRACT
Businesses are established with the aim of accumulating profits, and satisfying the tastes, and
preferences of the clients. To increase the level of profitability firms are required to put in place
mechanisms which can adequately ensure that they maintain a high level of productivity.
Amazon is an already established online shopping company, and thus aims to increase its reach
by acquiring more client base. In this case, the management is mandated with the responsibility
of coming up with strategies which can ensure there is the expansion of the client base, and the
competitors are overpowered. In this respect, the strategy should be unique, cost-effective, and
should guarantee the achievement of the set objective. The global market is filled with many
players, and thus the evolution of a unique strategy provides a competitive advantage over the
rest of the players on the global scale. Hence, the paper aims at assessing the market structure,
and ways through the set strategies can help to improve, and increase the target population,
therefore, increasing the overall returns from Amazon Inc.
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
Business Strategy and Management Plan
Unit 4 IP
Betty Thompson
Colorado Technical University Online
IT600-1704B-01
Dr. Noel Broman
December 13, 2017
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT (Mandatory)……………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Title Page……………………………………………………………………………………….2
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………….3
Qualitative Evaluation of the Industry’s Strategic Position (Week 1 IP)………………………5
Amazon Inc’s Porter 5 Forces…………………………………………………………………..5
Competitive rivalry – High……………………………………………………………………..5
Threat of New Entrants – Low…………………………………………………………………5
Bargaining Power of Amazon’s Customers/Buyers – High……………………………………6
Bargaining Power of Amazon’ Suppliers – Medium…………………………………………..6
Threat of Substitutes or Substitution…………………………………………………………..7
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………….8
Strategic Information systems Assessment (Week 2 IP)………………………………………………….8
Amazon Information Systems………………………………………………………………..8
Forces at Play…………………………………………………………………………………10
Wiseman’s Framework for Strategy Development………………………………………….11
Michael Porte’s Value Chain Model…………………………………………………………12
Information Systems Business Case (Week 3 IP)……………………………………………13
IT Factors for Managers at Amazon’s……………………………………………………….13
Critical Success Factors…………………………………………………………………………..13
Strategy how the IT Department will determine congruent of the goals and the goals and
objective of the cast study organization……………………………………………………..15
A General Strategy of how IT Department supports the goals and objectives of the firm….16
Strategy Business Plan (Week 4 IP)…………………………………………………………17
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………..17
MarketAnalysis……………………………………………………………………………….17
Identifying a Target Base…………………………………………………………………….17
Strategy for Acquiring a Customer Base……………………………………………………..18
S . W, O. T ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………………19
Financial Statements………………………………………………………………………….20
Summary OF Porter’s Five Forces……………………………………………………………20
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………20
References…………………………………………………………………………………….21
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
Qualitative Evaluation of the Industry’s Strategic Position (Week 1 IP)
Amazon Inc’s Porters 5 Forces
Amazon Inc is an online company that has continually recognition in online retail market
across the firm. The company was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos as an online bookstore but it
eventually diversified its portfolio to grocery, furniture and apparels many other things. A
Porter’s analysis is used to carry out an analysis of the external environment of the firm. In order
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
to ensure that the online retail company remains at the top of the game it must incorporate the
issues identified by the Porter’s analysis. s
Competitive rivalry- High
The rivalry in this industry is high because the number of industry players in the industry
has exponentially grown over the years. Amazon Inc faces stiff competition from companies like
eBay and Alibaba amongst many others. The rival competition is intense because Amazon Inc
does not only fight for market attention with bigwigs but also fights for the market with small
scale retailers (Roy, 2009). The intensity of competitive rivalry is high because of high
aggressiveness of firms, readily available substitutes, and low switching costs. Online retail firms
exert strong competitive pressure on Amazon Inc. Based on this analysis; Amazon should ensure
that it strategizes on how to guarantee the incorporation long-term competence.
Threat of New Entrants- Low
The threat of new entrants is low because new entrants do not the investment level that
Amazon Inc has. The low intensity is due to low switching costs, the high cost of developing a
brand and the high economies of scale. For instance, customers can easily switch to new firms.
However, the high cost of investment to ensure that a brand meets the standards of Amazon
makes it difficult for new market entrants to gain market share. Amazon is successful because it
enjoys high economies of scale and so therefore new market entrants have to gain the same
economies of scale in order to be successful.
Innovation and creativity makes Amazon to retaliate to new market entrants. New market
entrants do not have the expertise and access to distribution channels like Amazon Inc does. The
time of entry in new market entrants is significant because the increase in popularity makes the
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
industry to be saturated. A saturated industry is detrimental to new market entrants because
unlike Amazon, they struggle to carve a niche for themselves. New market entrants are therefore
of no major threat to the company.
Bargaining Power of Amazon’s Customers/Buyers- High
The management of the company under Jeff Bezos is focused on guaranteeing customer
satisfaction. Jeff Bezos is obsessed with ensuring that customers get their deliveries in a timely
manner, the deliveries are the exact ones ordered and the customer service is efficient. The
factors that support the degree of the influence of bargaining power is the high quality of
information readily available, the high availability of substitutes and the low switching costs.
With the advent of technology, consumers can readily gain more information regarding Amazon.
Customers can easily read reviews about a company, compare, and contrast the platforms and
decide according to the pricing, tastes, and preferences. Amazon should ensure that it focuses
more on how to be customer centric so as to improve the customers bargaining power.
The Bargaining Power of Amazon’s Supplier – Medium
The bargaining power of Amazon’s supplies is moderate because there is a small
population of suppliers. The limited size of suppliers could directly affect a company as any
change a supplier instigates directly affects the operations of a company.
Threats of Substitutes or Substitution- Strong
The number of readily available alternatives affects Amazon. The threat is high because
of the high availability of alternate products, the high availability of substitutes and low
switching costs. Low switching costs means that customers have the option of buying from
Amazon’s competition. The problem however rises when substitutes are lowly priced because
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
customers tend to prefer goods they can afford. Amazon should therefore consider how to deal
with substitution so as to gain both comparative and competitive advantage.
Recommendations
Amazon should create strategies that will address the issues highlighted by the Porters 5
model analysis. For instance, it should strive to reduce competitive rivalry by maximizing on its
strengths. It should take advantage of the opportunities available, mitigate weaknesses and
counter the threats (Dobbs, 2014). The company should invest more in improving its brand
image so as to continue being appealing to its customers. The company should work on
guaranteeing total customer satisfaction so to improve the customer experience. A satisfied
customer usually remains loyal to a company and most of the time; they recommend friends and
family to the company. Amazon should work on the issue of readily available alternate goods by
improving on the quality of goods and services offered. The pricing should be favorable in order
to attract all market segments. In as much as Amazon Inc is already successful, the company
needs to keenly adopt recommendations stated above so as to enjoy long term success in the
industry.
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
Figure 1: Strategic Evaluation of Amazon’s Porters 5 Forces
Strategic Information Systems Assessment (Week 2 IP)
Amazon’s Information Systems
The main systems used by Amazon are the ones they developed themselves, which are
the Amazon Web Service (AWS), and Simple Storage Service (SS) (Al Imran, 2014). These
systems are essential as they enable Amazon to be able to maintain, and monitor its large
numbers of products as well as the millions of customers who actively use the sight. There are
different types of information systems which serve different functions that enable Amazon to be
more accessible, and user-friendly to the people. The different systems are put in place to ensure
that the different services are available. The recommendation system is an intelligent system that
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
acts to recommend items to customers based on their history of purchases. The interactive
searching system works by allowing customers to select desired items catalogs in order to find
the item they want (Al Imran, 2014).
The supply chain system acts to ensure the warehouses are automated, and all activities
are controlled by the customer relation management system. Enterprise management system uses
Oracle which has a huge database that ensures the customer’s order is sent to the nearest
distributing center essential for delivery. The customer relationship management system collects
information on the customer, and through their feedback, and ordering patterns are able to
integrate consumer sales, services, and communication (Al Imran, 2014). The design of this
information systems has played a significant role in making Amazon a global leader in online
selling as they appeal to all the needs of the customers. The strength of the system is that it has a
smart analysis which is useful in tracing fraudsters that enable it to protect its customers from
falling prey through analyzing behavioral patterns. The systems also help in creating
personalization of the customers so that the services offered will be client-specific, and tailored
to meet their specific needs. Weaknesses of the system include that it bases its recommendations
on the client’s past orders which is not necessarily the correct thing as preferences vary, and
change over a period of time implying what may be of interest to a person now may not be
interesting later. However, the advantage is that the system accords the organization the
opportunity to collect valuable information which can be used to predict future demands, and
trends. This information will help them to be able to stock the goods beforehand so as to be able
to meet the demands when the time comes.
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
Forces at Play
There are five forces that govern competition for Amazon which work either to their advantage,
or disadvantage. They include bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, the
threat of substitute products, the threat of new entrants, and rivalry in the industry (Amrollahi,
Ghapanchi, & Najaftorkaman, 2014). The bargaining power of the suppliers is low since
Amazon has the upper hand in the supply chain, and thus they have to do business based on rules
which Amazon has set. This is a big advantage to Amazon as it puts them in the controlling seat.
The bargaining power of customers, on the other hand, is high due to the fact that customer
satisfaction is important to Amazon. This is due to pressure from retailers, and other sites which
makes the customers have an upper hand since they have a variety of options, and thus Amazon
has to make sure they are satisfied, and content. The threat for substitute products is also high
due to the presence of many retailers, and entrants to online retail (Henderson & Venkatraman,
1989). The advantage it has here is its brand name, and good customer service but will face
increasing challenges over time. The threat of new entrants is low due to the fact that it has
already established itself, and changes dynamically with technology. However, the growth in
technology has made it easier for people to enter into online retailing which will mean the
number of entrants will continue to increase but will face a huge challenge in trying to get to
where Amazon is. However, the approach by Alibaba is different as it does not retail but joins
customers, and suppliers, and may attract several suppliers since they claim that Amazon
shortchanges them due to the wide variety of suppliers it has. Rivalry in the industry is quite high
as it faces competition from both the physical retailers, and the other various online retailers.
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
Wiseman’s Framework for Strategy Development
Strategic thrusts are initiatives which are high-level that arise from a vision that is
strategic, and act as a guide to the action plans to some goals put in sight. There are moves which
can be either defensive, or offensive usually directed at a specific target. It is an approach which
acts to link IT, and strategy (Hemmatfar, Salehi, & Bayat, 2010). It is thus helpful to Amazon as
their business set up incorporates both IT, and strategy. Information systems have thus gained
use in acting as a competitive weapon through which one business can gain an advantage over
another. There are five strategic thrusts which are differentiation, cost, innovation, growth, and
alliance (Hemmatfar, Salehi, & Bayat, 2010).
For Amazon, they need to employ these thrusts so as to continue having a large
competitive edge as compared to their competition. Cost thrust is a kind of thrust which puts its
focus on minimizing its cost while at the same time increasing the cost of the competitors
(Hemmatfar, Salehi, & Bayat, 2010). This means that Amazon will have to come up with
systems, and methods that will enable it to reduce its costs which in turn will result to reduced
prices to the customers that will act as a catalyst of attracting new customers, and the customers
of their competitors. This may be through negotiation with the suppliers, or cutting costs on their
end by coming up with better alternatives. Innovation thrust if employed by Amazon will also go
a long way to giving them a higher market value. This thrust focuses on ways through which
things can be done differently by making of new products that have features which stand out, or
different specifications (Hemmatfar, Salehi, & Bayat, 2010). Therefore, this means that apart
from Amazon getting their products from suppliers, they will also create their own products
tailored to the feedback they receive from their clients which they will sell back to them. The fact
that they have information systems which give them their clients wishes, and needs implies that
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
any product that they set out to make would potentially meet their client’s specifications, and
needs, and to a large degree will be tailored to them. These thrusts are thus important strategies
in business which should be constantly implemented in order to ensure that the businesses
continue to grow.
Michael Porte’s Value Chain model
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Amazon Inc’s Business Plan
Information Systems Business Case (Week 3 IP)
IT Factors for Managers at Amazon
Organizations are set up with the main objective of increasing the profits, and
maintaining a high-ranking profile in the global business. In this sense, many organizations tend
to find ways through which they can increase the overall productivity, and maintain their
standards in the global ranking. Various schemes are used in the current economic world, and the
enactment of technology is the common aspect which many companies have opted to partake,
and Amazon corporation is no exception. Technology has aided in increasing the total work
output, increase the quality level of customer service, and overall increase the effectiveness of
operations in the institution. Additionally, technology has brought forth many aspects of
production, and firms have used the growing technology to create a competitive advantage over
the rest of the players on the global scale. The incorporation of technology in Amazon Inc. has
been accredited to the efforts played by the management. Hence, this essay seeks to examine the
various roles played by the IT manager, the strategies used to effect the changes, and how the
technology will aid in supporting the goals, and aspirations of Amazon Inc.
Critical success factors for the IT manager
Proper leadership can be observed as one of the core elements which bring about success
in any given institution. Ritala notes that the type of management, or leadership plays a critical
role in deciding the type of activities to undertake, and the specific times which they should be
carried out within the schedule (Ritala, Golnam, and Wegmann, 2014). The author further notes
that the activities which are undertaken should be in line with the prospects of the company. In
this case, Amazon Inc. has been placed in a situation where the manager decides which is the
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best type of technology to undertake. In this case, a flexible leadership which recognizes the
inputs, and the opinions of all the players in the institution has helped in the overall growth of
Amazon Inc.
The development of clearly defined plans, and objectives is also one of the factors which
have helped prove the success of the IT manager in Amazon Inc. Wagner notes that the presence
of a fully functioning working framework is essential in guaranteeing the success of any given
facility (Wagner, and Thompson, 2017). From the sentiments, it is clear that the leadership role
plays a critical part in the overal …
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