Good The Amazon Of Innovation Case Study Example

1. In what ways does Amazon, as a company, evidence the willingness and ability to collaborate? Amazon evidenced the willingness and ability to collaborate through the effective design of effective strategies which enabled them to forge successful and productive alliances with third parties. As such, the move assisted in helping these organizations sell their products (or services) through Amazon’s expertise and resources. Their networking skills prompted generation of returns and minimized risks through collaborative efforts.
2. In what ways does Amazon, as a company, evidence the willingness and ability to experiment? Amazon evidenced the willingness and ability to experiment through tapping opportunities and innovative ventures. From the major innovations listed in Figure 1 – 8, it could be deduced that Amazon was able to venture into new endeavors where there are manageable risks and high returns. As such, some of the evident ways to experiment included launching of new products (Kindle), willingness to forge with third party investors who intended to sell their products online (using Amazon’s platform and business model), and delving into research and development to revolutionize new applications that tap the online medium.
3. In what ways do you think the employees at Amazon must be able to perform systems and abstract thinking? The employees at Amazon would sustain effective and productive performance through implementation of a motivational (or incentives) program. Case facts revealed that Amazon drives its employees hard where there is severe pressure through heavy workload. Amazon’s management should, therefore, reward their employees who exhibit exemplary performance through encouraging creativity, innovation, imagination, and sharing of information that are deemed beneficial for the organization.
4. Describe, at a high level, the principal roles played by each of the five components of an information system that supports order fulfillment. The five components of an information system that supports the order fulfillment are: hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. Hardware comprises the equipment needed by the organization in performing information technology tasks and applications. Software includes the programs installed in the organization’s hardware (computer system) that collects, stores, updates, and manages the information according to the users’ specific purposes. Data is the collection of information stored according to the organization’s needs. For Amazon, it contains all relevant information regarding personal and professional details of stakeholders: clients, third-party business partners, supplies, investors, management, employees, government agencies and other institutions the organization gets to interact with. Procedures are the policies and guidelines pertinent to information system (particularly on order fulfillment) that are designed by management to ensure that personnel follow and adhere to facilitate the achievement of explicitly defined goals. Finally, people are the users of information system: management and employees, who use the data stored therein towards the performance of delegated and assigned responsibilities, especially towards order fulfillment.
5. Choose any five of the innovations in Figure 1-8 and explain how you think Moore’s Law facilitated that innovation. From the innovations listed in Figure 1-8, one strongly believes that the following five of the innovations were facilitated by Moore’s Law: (1) Amazon.com Associates Program; (2) Marketplace; (3) Amazon.com Associates Web Services; (4) Kindle; (5) Kindly applications for iPhone and iPod Touch. These innovations confirmed that the overall processing power of the computers double every two years, consistent with Moore’s Law, and enables various stakeholders of Amazon to access, transact, and avail of their products and services in increasingly efficient (faster) manner.
6. Suppose you work for Amazon or a company that takes innovation as seriously as Amazon does. What do you suppose is the likely reaction to an employee who says to his or her boss, “But, I don’t know how to do that!”? If I work for an organization that takes innovation as seriously as Amazon does, I am sure that the reaction to an employee whose way of thinking seems to be restricted or confined is one of disbelief. First and foremost, management would have openly promoted the culture and philosophy of innovation as the lifeblood of the organization. As such, all employees who are hired should have exhibited skills and competencies for creativity and innovativeness. Given this as a basic requirement, an employee is expected to be open to envision doing familiar things differently. As such, there is encouragement to experiment and innovate. Therefore, I think the response of the employee is totally uncalled for in an innovative organization, like Amazon.
7. Using your own words and your own experience, what skills and abilities do you think you need to have to thrive at an organization like Amazon? To thrive in an organization like Amazon, I believe that the skills and abilities needed are as follows: creativity, innovativeness, imagination, skills of introspection, effective communication, cultural competency, responsible risk taking, self-discipline, and strong adherence to ethical, moral, and legal standards. Since Amazon is an innovative organization, employees are expected to possess creativity and immense imagination to generate new ideas which would effectively tap opportunities from the external environment.