Amazon Case Study

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employees. Lastly, all the stages are done then the company would need to determine and calculate the odds of victory and decide whether need to execute the strategy or not.

Philosophy 3

In Line 2.36 , “In war, it is better to go for swift victories rather than engage in prolonged military campaigns.” The purpose of raising an army is to achieve decisive and swift victory. So, the army will lose their fighting spirit and might be comatose because of prolonged for the war. The resources of the nation would be exhausted when the army is not in the best condition and the enemy will capitalize on these weaknesses in order to break down the army in a efficient way. Nowadays, the company should focus on efficiency and effectiveness to improve the internal management of the company. The company should organize event that will improve the morale and spirit of the employees in the company. According to this theory, the employees with high moral and spirit will have a greater efficiency and more advantageous working environment. A conducive environment where everyone works towards macro goals, will reduce employees turnovers and expenditure relate to human resource.

Philosophy 4In Line 3.51, “He who knows the other side (the enemy) and knows himself will not be defeated in a hundred battles”. The company needs to understand the business environment and how it operates in order to manage the company well. Business environment can be categorized into internal environment and external environment. For internal environment, the company needs to focus on the leadership, human resource management, resources and process & operation. The company should chooses the one executes their business strategies who understand the management ,process and operation of the company; the leader would need to fully utilize the human resources and resources of the company with knowledge required.On the other hand, the external environment can be giving the concept by using the Porter’s five forces which are suppliers, customers, substitutes, possible new entrants and competitors. The company should take note the things such as supplier switching costs which relative to company switching costs, customers price sensitivity, buyer switching costs, brand equity, level of advertising expense compare with others competitors and others which is related to the five forces.

Philosophy 5

In Line 7.41, “According to the Book of Military Administration, “In battles, as verbal communication cannot be heard clearly, cymbals and drums are used as commands.” Hampered, banners and flags are common used as signals as virtual communication and eye contact. However, the things that used to draw attention of the troops and focus them for combat under the direction of the commander are cymbals, drums, flags and banners. The bravers will not advance forward and the coward will retreat because of the troops are united as one body. Communication is very important in business. The company would able to use it as priority if the company has a strong understanding with the weaknesses and strength of each communications tool. A company great flexibility, faster response, shorter reaction time and promote unity can be granted by a good communication system. The communication channels that usually used by a company are e-mail, letters, telephone, internet messenger, video conferencing and face to face.

Discussion

According to the Waging War theory from Sun Zi’s Art of War, Sun Zi said that the troops to plunder the resources of the enemy, they must be motivated by material rewards. This theory implied that the compensation or remuneration of workers in an organization should be provided. While every employees are making a great efforts toward the same goals which centered on the customer (huge difference with Microsoft). Promotions fundamentally being guideline with focus on the delivery and impact but not on internal politics. The TOP performers are heavily compensated. Besides, benefits such as employee welfare benefits and allowance which by increasing their salaries, providing tuition assistant, discounted travel paid time off and vacation and retirement. Moreover, Amazon does offer decent RSU (stocks) to their employees and it will be invested in the company annually. The RSU growth will be 5%, 15% and 40% in 1st year, 2nd year and 3rd years respectively. Furthermore, there is a benefit of being an employee of Amazon which able to get a discount of 10% on any goods purchased from Amazon. The saving plan which offered by Amazon such as 401(k) saving plans with a company plan helps to safeguard employees’ future instead worrying the financial problem. Lastly, in order to relieve the stress and support their hectic work life through rest and relaxation, employees can take a vacation for continued high performance and personal well-being. Therefore, Amazon has a group of employees who is highly motivated and hyped up to work for them.

Sun Zi said that, in war, it is better to go for swift victories rather than engage in prolonged military campaigns which mean that the main purpose of the War is to WIN in the battle but not to prolong the battle due to if it takes too long to end, effectiveness of the battle will be affected as a lot of considerations have to take into account of. Amazon, the largest internet based retailer need to manage the sellers and demanders business transaction and trade daily. After that, Amazon will deliver customer’s parcel on time because shorter delivery time can save delivery cost such as petrol. Besides, the fast and efficient management can help the company to save a lot of time which then they are able to deliver more parcels and manage more business trade in a day. Otherwise, if customer’s parcel is to be delivered at a very slow speed, Amazon will lose many of their customers and eventually this causes financial problems to the company. Thus, efficiency is the core concept to Amazon.

Other than that, “to rely on rustics and not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues” said Sun Zi. The company must use speed and preparation to swiftly overcome the competition. To fully exploit the foreknowledge and deception, Sun Zi states that you must be able to act with blinding speed. Moreover, to move with speed does not mean that you do things hastily. In reality, speed requires preparations and reducing the time it takes your company to make decisions, develop products and service customers is critical. To think through and understand potential competitive reactions to your attacks is essential as well. Amazon have been well prepared and Amazon also think