Amazon is an American multinational technology company founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1994, in Bellevue, Washington. It focuses on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital distribution, supermarket, e-commerce, and entertainment industries. Amazon is now the largest online retailer of books, clothing, music, and electronics from services and products offered. The company provides services such as Amazon Appstore, Amazon Music, Amazon Video, Amazon.com, Twitch, and Amazon Prime Video. This multinational company’s target market is evenly split between genders categorized under middle or upper-class consumers, the majority of which fall under the age bracket of 18 and 45 (Solanki, 2019). The majority of the sales made by Amazon get conducted online, thus targeting customers who have frequent access to the internet.
Amazon makes a lot of sales in North America, Europe, and Asia. The USA is the most preferred market for the company since over half of the population prefers online shopping (Onyusheva & Seenalasataporn, 2018). Any area with internet accessibility is a select market for the company. Amazon has grown through its corporate diversification strategy, enabling it to be majoring in different industries. The plan specifies the company’s actions to gain a competitive market from its range of products and services. Ever since the company got formed as an online book distributor, it has diversified. It now offers different product services, including movie streaming and online shopping, making it cause great competition in various fields and increasing its value.
With the organizational structure in place, the managerial control of the Amazon company is made easy. The organizational structure substantiates the plan and the system of interactions among the employees. It is classified as a hierarchical organizational structure since there is a direct chain of command from top to bottom, and senior officials make all critical decisions (Solanki, 2019). Jeff Bezos, the executive chairman, is at the very top, and immediately under him is Andy Jassy, the president and CEO (Solanki, 2019). There are several senior vice presidents referred to as the S-team. They are answerable to Andy Jassy and represent several function-based groups, including worldwide consumers, Amazon devices and digital management, human resources, Amazon Web Services, and finance.
Under the Amazon Web Services group, under which Adam Selipsky is the CEO, there are several other sub-groups with different heads. The sub-groups include new product management, marketing, grand challenge, and Worldwide Public-Sector sales, with each being led by a senior vice president who is answerable to Adam (Solanki, 2019). The Worldwide Consumer group, headed by David Clark as the CEO, has several other groups with senior vice presidents and vice presidents. The sub-departments include international consumers, physical stores, and worldwide operations headed by senior vice presidents. Other departments, such as the e-Commerce foundation and advertising and marketing, are governed by vice presidents who report directly to the senior vice president in charge of the worldwide consumer.
The organizational structure aligns with the corporate diversification strategy of the Amazon Company supporting the plan and its executions. Having a vast range of CEOs, senior vice presidents, and vice presidents makes it easy to manage its different products and services quickly and efficiently (Onyusheva & Seenalasataporn, 2018). The hierarchical organizational structure makes it easy to implement the corporate-level strategy as each provided service or product has its leader who ensures the category’s success. The company’s organizational structure fully supports the corporate diversification strategy. The hierarchical structure ensures that all services offered are correctly assigned, controlled, and coordinated, thus providing a successful corporate diversification strategy (Aćimović, MijuÅ¡ković & MiloÅ¡ević, 2020). Given its global nature, the company has geographic divisions: International and North America. In addressing the divisions, groups are utilized based on related business goals and physical location under the organizational structure (Solanki, 2019). Through these small subdivisions, the company can address region-specific issues potently. Global function-based groups are the most robust components of the organizational structure; they enable the company to successfully facilitate the e-commerce operations management plan.
Amazon’s organizational structure is very efficient in ensuring the e-commerce market is supported. Stability is a notable feature in the form, given the continuing success witnessed as the company grows (Aćimović, MijuÅ¡ković & MiloÅ¡ević, 2020). The function-based groups within the organizational structure ensure the company can efficiently carry out managerial dictates. Geographic divisions such as the international market are beneficial in assisting to focus on the online market depending on the economic conditions of these regions. With the kind of corporate organization portrayed, Amazon is known to be flexible and an adaptive market leader in e-Commerce, making it the basis of any success the company has (Onyusheva & Seenalasataporn, 2018). Groups are easier to manage; they spend less time managing timetables and spend more on beneficial things. The major drawback of this organizational structure is the limitation of responsiveness and flexibility (Solanki, 2019). Another disadvantage is the inability of the Amazon Company to respond to new problems encountered in the market due to the dominance of the global function-based groups.
Amazon is one of the few multinational companies that offer a wide range of services and products to the public worldwide. Some of these giant technological companies’ services include Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Appstore, and Amazon Music. Online shopping is one of the most preferred services by this company, especially for the North American population. The target market for this company is the population that can access internet services adequately and mainly constitutes both males and females, the majority of which range from 18 to 45 years. Amazon has a hierarchical organizational structure that provides a transparent chain of command, making the company’s managerial much more manageable. At the very top is the executive chairman, the president is the second in control, and then several senior vice presidents. Lastly, an excellent organizational structure makes managing the company easy. It provides the stability necessary to ensure success even when the company continues to expand.
References
Aćimović, S., Mijušković, V., & Milošević, N. (2020). Logistics aspects of goods home delivery: The case of Amazon company. Marketing, 51(1), 3-11.
Onyusheva, I., & Seenalasataporn, T. (2018). Strategic analysis of global e-commerce and diversification technology: The case of Amazon.Com Inc. The Europeans: Journal on Global Socio-Economic Dynamics, (1(8), 48-63.
Solanki, K. (2019). ‘To what extent does Amazon.com, Incorporation’s success be accredited to its organizational culture and ND Jeff Bezos’s leadership style? Archives of Business Research, 7(11), 21-40.