Starting as a small book-selling company in Washington State in 1994, Amazon rose through the business ranks to become one of the biggest and most profitable internet-based companies today. Jeff Bezos was the mastermind behind the business idea, and he started the company as Cadabra in his garage (Miller & Rabolt, 2018). Later, with the support of a few employees, they built their website and the company was launched in late 1994 as a platform for helping customers buy books over the Internet. The company’s name was changed to Amazon as a part of a plan for making sure that its website appeared first when customers searched using the alphabetical order (Miller & Rabolt, 2018). When forming the company, Bezos was motivated by the idea of transforming the way businesses provided their products and services, focusing more on using the Internet to get closer to customers.
Additionally, Bezos wanted to create a business that will not only revolutionized the way people access products and services but also deliver substantial value to its customers, employees, and partners. As such, Bezos’ original idea is a great success today because the company’s share price has risen from $18 during its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to over $1,700 in 2019, and rising (DePillis & Sherman, 2019). Also, the company employees thousands of employees in its online and physical stores across the United States and globally. The company’s increased success can be attributed to its solid leadership, innovations, and a good understanding of the market and the customers’ needs. Additionally, the company has maintained consistency and commitment in meeting the unique needs of its customers, primarily by providing room for the customers to provide feedback on the areas that they believe will help in improving the company’s products and services (DePillis & Sherman, 2019). Still, the company’s original business and marketing strategies were creatively designed to ensure improved business stability and competitiveness in the highly competitive Internet and e-commerce industries.
Since launching the company in 1994, Jeff Bezos has retained his position as the co-founder, CEO, and president of Amazon (Ghez, 2019). At the same time, he has been working with a team of talented workers in various leadership positions, including financial administration, global corporate affairs, web services, technical advisor, and corporate development among others. Some of the most notable leaders in the company include Jeff Helbling, Diego Piacentini, Jay Carney, Jeff Wilke, Beth Galetti, and Brian Olsavsky who lead the technical, international retail, global corporate affairs, consumer service, human resources, and financial departments respectively (Ghez, 2019). To promote the company’s increased success and productivity, Bezos (together with the board of directors) works closely with all directors through effectively collaborated efforts and initiatives.
Also, the company’s organizational structure is based on a hierarchical model, where top leaders, make the main decisions and the information is passed down to the directors in various departments and later to supervisors and subordinate employees. Moreover, subordinate employees who would like to pass information to the top management must follow the right channel of talking to their supervisors who will later pass the information to depart leaders and later to the top management. A hierarchical model is good for the company’s operations because it helps in ensuring the free flow of information and order. Also, the use of a hierarchical leadership model helps in improving communication and coordination in all levels of the business. The future of Amazon lies in increased consistency in service delivery, and this means that more efforts are needed to understand the customers’ unique needs. Also, the company should invest more in new technologies and develop mutual partnerships with related businesses.
- DePillis, L. & Sherman, I. (2019). Amazon’s extraordinary 25-Year Evolution. CNN Business. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2018/10/business/amazon-history-timeline/index.html
- Ghez, J. (2019). Case Study: Strategizing at Amazon When Globalization Comes Under Pressure. Architects of Change, 111–125. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-20684-0_8
- Miller, J. K., & Rabolt, N. J. (2018). Amazon the Innovator. Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases. doi: 10.5040/9781474208796.0065
