PGBM156 Strategic Management in an International Context Assignment Sample

Module code and Title: PGBM156 Strategic Management in an International Context Assignment Sample

Introduction

Global emergencies have been dramatically shifting the routines on a regular basis, for the organizations to react quickly for changing the way in which they provide support to the customers and the employees. Covid-19 seemed to have changed the way in which Amazon.com seems to be working inclusive of the space of the contact centre. In spite of the benefits of the contact centres of the cloud, several organizations do not seem to be having the solutions for supporting the virtual contact centres (Aguinis et.al., 2020).

Question One: Managing Complexity in Covid-19 Environment

This leaves the organizations helping in the maintenance of the buildings, which seem to be housing the infrastructure of the contact centre and the employees. Contact centres that are traditionally legal typically seem to be running into the challenges of flexibility and agility for which the AWS Global Cloud Infrastructure was designed for leapfrogging. Set-up time can usually seem to be taking months involving in the prevention of the business from responding to the customers.

The pandemic of covid-19 has not only killed more than 1 million people on a global basis on a global basis, it has also seemed to have devastated the economy on a global basis, bringing industries to a complete standstill, spurring the mass layoffs and as per the case of the retail, accelerated the slow demise of the chains of the store departments that are already ailing. Amazon.com is among the few exceptions. The e-commerce giant with the seemingly endless selection along with the drive for delivering the low prices and the convenience taking the place of a default retailer, as well as a necessary service for majority of the customers at the height of the crisis of the coronavirus. Facing the closures if the stores and the empty shelves, shoppers seemed to have turned to the Amazon company first for the products for protecting them from the pandemic of Covid-19 including the hand sanitizers, facing the masks as well as disinfectants. They seemed to have stocked up on the products of household, along with groceries, then along with the increase of the crisis, people ordered supplies for their offices and fitness products for adjusting of staying indoors.

Between the month of February and March, the sales of the toilet paper jumped to around 186% on Amazon from a year ago, while sales of cold and cough medicine surged around 860% year over year as per the providers of the e-commerce services Commerce IQ (Watanabe et.al., 2021). The online order floods seemed to have propelled Amazon for recording sales during the second quarter. It then seemed to have spent billions on the investments related to coronavirus like the gear of safety for the workers along with the internal initiative of testing known as Project Ultraviolet.

Question Two: Management Control versus Organisational Chaos

In the past, organizations have chosen between faster innovation along with maintaining control over the cost, security and compliance. With the governance and management services of Amazon Web Services, customers do not seem to be having to choose between control and innovation, they can have both. With the Amazon Web Services, customers can help in operating, enabling and provisioning the environment for both the agility of business, along with the control of governance (Baboolal-Frank 2021).

The inventory management system of Amazon is specialized software, which can be used for keeping the track of the levels of inventory, along with the sales, deliveries, as well as orders that originate from the sales channels of Amazon. The inventory management system of Amazon has become more essential if the sales is done with the help of Fulfilment by Amazon, or the onsite of the FBA. The FBA of Amazon is considered to be providing the sellers to have accession to the expansive network of distribution of Amazon.  Even though Jobs battled this drive toward professionalism and called professional managers “bozos,” new structures and procedures were vital for efficiency and control. Jobs fought against this push toward professionalism. They prevented the world from descending into chaos, which otherwise would have been inevitable(De Wit,2014).. Throughout Amazon’s history, new norms of behaviour that are considered acceptable and those that are not have been formed. The culture of the organisation changed as a direct consequence of the increased challenges that it faced. Understanding what performs well and what does not is essential to business success, regardless of whether you work for Amazon or any other firm.

Figure: Region wise COVID  data

The chaos theory is considered to be a scientific principle that describes the unpredictability of the systems (Liguori et.al., 2020). Most of the organizations that are entirely explored and recognizes during the mid-1980s along with the later period. the premise is that the systems sometimes help in residing in chaos involving the generation of energy; however, without the predictability and direction. The specific complex systems might include the ecosystems, patterns of the weather, flows of water, anatomical functions, and organizations. Though the chaotic behaviour of the systems might seem to be appearing randomly at first, the systems that are chaotic can be described with the help of mathematical formula and they are not without any kind of finite boundaries.According to Senge (1990), a leader can’t learn on their workers’ behalf; instead, they should urge their staff to continue educating themselves.

He believes that the most effective technique to pique a person’s interest in furthering their education is to offer them with a compelling future vision while also maintaining a creative tension between the two.

Stacey (1993), who contends that employees should be allowed to explore ideas outside the boundaries of the company’s preset [cognitive map] paradigm, agrees with his point of view. His viewpoint is consistent with that of Stacey (1993).

As a natural consequence of the continuing growth and success of the firm, several necessary modifications were made. It began by increasing in size. As a direct consequence of this, structure and organisational systems were included.

Company  began as a firm that just sold one product when it was founded in 1976. Since then, the company has evolved into one that offers a number of products in markets that are increasingly competitive. Prior to making this shift in strategy, the focus had been placed exclusively on a single market. Amazon had a wide range of clients it served, from individual consumers in their homes to institutions of higher learning and commercial enterprises. As a direct consequence of this shift in strategy, the organization’s structure, as well as its staff, its culture, and its most critical operations, will need to be reorganised. When it came to Amazon, strategies that were successful for a more manageable and specialised business were no longer enough. The management team needed to be capable of re-aligning the organisation to ensure that it is aligned with the strategy in order for them to be successful throughout this period of growth (De Wit,2014).

Question Three: Managing the Paradox of Profitability and Social Responsibility

From the perspective of profit and growth, the unparalleled trajectory of Amazon has been considered quite exemplary. However, as the annual revenue of the company seems to be continuing to out space the gross domestic product of several nations, the scale of the operations has not been considered to be coming without any kind of controversy. Till date, much of criticism has been centred on the policies of Amazon regarding the sustainability of the environment, transparency of the supply chain, rights of the employees along with the outreach programs of the community in the cities that are headquartered. Responding to the specific critique, Amazon has been steadily expanding the efforts of corporate social responsibility along with prioritizing the positive impact of environment and society into the model of business (Azizi et.al., 2021). Some of the significant initiatives of the corporate social responsibility of Amazon seems to be currently undertaking the enhancement and the expansion of the social accountability are given in the following-

• Environmental Sustainability Programs of Amazon

Amazon launched the major programs of the corporate social responsibility, The Climate Pledge, in the year 2019 partnering with the Global Optimism urging the companies for the achievement of the emissions of net-zero annual carbon by the year 2040. For further promotion of the specific initiative, Amazon made commitments of around $2 billion in the year 2020 for helping the nations in the development of innovations and products, which help in supporting and sustaining a low economy of carbon. In conjunction with the Climate Pledge, Amazon.com seemed to have established the Right Now Climate Fund making contributions of around $100 million for financing the projects of reforestation, along with other initiatives for the mitigation of the change in the climate. Adding to the investments of the finances, the sustainability efforts of Amazon seem to be reflecting a number of constant initiatives inclusive of the following-

• Adoption of a program of 100% renewable energy by around 2025
• Ensuring 50% of every shipment reaching net zero carbon by the year 2030
• Placement of 100,000 electric vehicles for delivery on the road by the year 2030
• Implementation of programs of FFP (Frustration-Free packaging), which promote the low waste of the 100% recyclable materials of packing that are considered to be easy to open (Seetharaman 20202)

• Supply Chain Transparency of Amazon

Reaffirmation of the commitment of placing the people and the environment first, Amzon.com seems to be continuing to work in the direction of building a supply chain that is both transparent as well as equitable on a global basis. In the year 2020, Amazon seemed to have expansions of the policies of the company for the governance of the processes and standard of the supply chain for including requirements that are more comprehensive as well as rigorous. Specifically, the changes seem to be reflecting the directives that are decisive and clear aimed at the protection of the wage equity, transparency of the vendor, safety of the workers, equality of the gender, as well as the sustainability of the environment.

• Programs of Employee Hiring and Training of Amazon

Dedication to the cultivation and the promotion of a workplace that is diverse and driven to equality, Amazon seeks out the candidates actively from the institutions and schools serving population that are equally diverse, as well as organizations making commitment to the promotion of the minorities in technology. Adding to the practices of hiring, Amazon seems to be continuing the expansion of the opportunities of employment for the people with the disabilities both at home as well as abroad. The commitment of the corporate social responsibility of Amazon to the employees also seems to be including a number of constant opportunities for trades and education for both the technical as well as non-technical positions.

• Community Outreach Programs of Amazon

The community outreach programs of Amazon make the focal point on resolving the issues of the day that are mostly pressing inclusive of the food and housing security, support of education along with relief of Covid-19. For providing help in easing the strain of the chronic homelessness, Amazon.com has made investments of around $100 million for the establishment of a new shelter for the homeless situated inside the campus of downtown Seattle (Liguori et.al., 2020). Opened in the year 2020, The Mary’s Place Family Centre is a facility of the state-of-the-art equipped for the provision of supportive and safe housing for hundreds of families every year. Understanding the insecurity of food and housing usually seem to be going hand-in-hand, Amazon seemed to have made partnerships with the local schools and food bank for delivering the 12 million meals on a global basis. For helping in the alleviation of the regular challenges of the instability of housing, Amazon also awarded $2 million helping in the administration of basic supplies with urgency to the students of Seattle in need. Over the course of a longer time of success, there will undoubtedly be other shifts. These shifts may be brought about by technological advancements, the demands of competition, consumers, legislation, or even new strategies and methods for competing. When a product category matures, the foundation for competition also matures along with it. In the early stages of a product class, competition centres on the diversity of items; in later stages, however, the competition is on the features, effectiveness, and price of the products that are available on the market. This might be likened to the IBM Personal Computer and other copies of it over Amazon’s history(De Wit,2014).

Question Four: Personal reflections and reflexions on learning

After answering all the questions above I acknowledged that for helping in tackling the impact of the far-reach of the pandemic crisis of the 2020, Amazon made investments of around $4 billion in the initiatives related to covid aiding both the workers along with the community at large. In line with the initiatives, around 1 million inhouse tests of Covid-19 were considered to be administered across the United States for helping in tracking along with containing the spread of the virus. A relief fund of $25 million was also taken for establishment of support independent partners for delivery service, seasonal workers, along with other stakeholders financially affected by the pandemic. Throughout the crisis, Amazon seemed to have made an extension of a helping hand to numerous communities grappling with the unprecedented pandemic strain.

Conclusion

 Amazon has been utilising both its physical and digital networks in order to assist those who have been most adversely affected by the Covid virus pandemic. This assistance has taken many forms, including the distribution of millions of meals to families in need, the provision of more than 8,000 laptops, and the support of distance learning for students in the Seattle area.

Reference

Aguinis, H., Villamor, I., & Gabriel, K. P. (2020). Understanding employee responses to COVID-19: a behavioral corporate social responsibility perspective. Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management.

Azizi, M. R., Atlasi, R., Ziapour, A., Abbas, J., & Naemi, R. (2021). Innovative human resource management strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic narrative review approach. Heliyon, 7(6), e07233.

Baboolal-Frank, R. (2021). Analysis of amazon: Customer centric approach. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 20, 1-16.

Baryshnikova, N., Kiriliuk, O., & Klimecka-Tatar, D. (2021). Enterprises’ strategies transformation in the real sector of the economy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production Engineering Archives, 27.

Baryshnikova, N., Kiriliuk, O., & Klimecka-Tatar, D. (2021). Enterprises’ strategies transformation in the real sector of the economy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production Engineering Archives, 27.

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De Wit, B. (2014). Strategy: An international perspective.

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Liguori, E. W., & Pittz, T. G. (2020). Strategies for small business: Surviving and thriving in the era of COVID-19. Journal of the International Council for Small Business, 1(2), 106-110.

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Watanabe, C., Akhtar, W., Tou, Y., & Neittaanmäki, P. (2021). Amazon’s New Supra-Omnichannel: Realizing Growing Seamless Switching for Apparel During COVID-19. Technology in Society, 66, 101645.

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