Organizational planning is one of the most important managerial functions. It establishes a foundation which managers can follow as they strive towards meeting the goals of the organization. Through proper planning, the management can prepare for the future of the company. Adequate planning provides a roadmap for both managers and executives to follow to ensure the success of the company. Amazon’s success can be largely attributed to its proper planning. The company’s planning can be analyzed through its vision and mission statements, goals, strategies, and decision-making.
Vision and Mission Statements
Amazon’s vision is to be a company that satisfies every consumer in the largest and most varied of selection of items available online or in other places at an unbeatable price. The company strives to offer the largest selection of products and services that can be found in almost every part of the world. The vision has made Amazon find several new ways which it can expand its businesses in other parts of the world as it prioritizes on surpassing the expectations of its customers. Amazon is today a top choice for many people when it comes to purchasing products from different parts of the world.
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Amazon’s mission is to extend and solidify its brand and customer base through the sale of a large number of goods and services at prices lower than its competitors (Farfan, 2018). The company strives to achieve this by minimizing operating expenses and maximizing on a positive customer experience. The mission has seen Amazon expand its business in almost every direction. However, in every business expansion, the company has centered its investments and expansions on the provision of adequate service to the consumer. Amazon is one of the top internet retailing companies due to its unwavering commitment to its vision and mission.
Goals
Amazon’s main goal is to prioritize loyal customers as an important part of the company. Everything is done in the company in order to ensure the highest benefit of shareholders and customers. Amazon understands that it is the shareholders and customers that ensure the success of the company. The firm thus to undertake several measures which ensure the satisfaction of these parties. Additionally, one of Amazon’s main goal is to sell more items at affordable and very low costs. The company strives to maximize sales instead of selling fewer items at high costs. Amazon strives to cut operating costs in order to meet the customer expectation and its goal of selling items at the cheapest and most affordable price.
As a pioneer in the technological industry, Amazon strives to stay informed on the latest technological trends. The company aims at producing quality products and services that adopt the best technology in the market. Amazon also aspires to expand more geographically and to open up more locations in order to offer better services to its customers. The plan of Amazon is to keep improving its infrastructure in order to retain a competitive advantage (Boss, 2018). Amazon also seeks to offer the finest working environment for its employees and to provide career growth opportunities.
Strategies
Proper business strategies can play a big role in the future and development of a company. These strategies become especially important in the ever competitive e-business organization like Amazon. Amazon strives to gain a competitive advantage through the use of customer-centric strategies. As such, Amazon has built a successful business through a relentless focus on customer relationship management. The company has undertaken several measures to improve customer satisfaction such as the provision of low-priced products and providing a unique shopping experience for its customers.
Amazon also uses the strategy of innovation and technology to ensure that their products are of high quality. The company makes of innovative and state of the art tools that create better business administration. The use of advanced technologies and information systems has enabled Amazon to offer low-priced products, have a large convenience and selection, and to maximize opportunities that exist within its customer base. The vision and passion with the use of technology have led to an increase of 22% in annual revenue every year from the year 2011(Lane, 2018). Repeat orders in Amazon are incredibly high amounting to 67% as compared to the industry average of 10% (Domingues, 2018).
Decision making
Amazon has ensured that its decision making procedure is fast and effective. The company uses different guidelines for its decisions. One guideline is that decisions can be carried out with 70 percent of the information. According to the company CEO, waiting for 90 percent of the information in order to make a decision will make the entire process slow (Larson, 2018). The company ensures that its employees are well-trained to be able to differentiate good decisions from bad ones.
The decision-making process can be difficult and Amazon notes that healthy disagreement can be good for creating a wide range of ideas. The company makes of the phrase “disagree and commit” when employees are faced with a challenging decision-making process (Oleg, 2018). In case one of the disagreeing parties is deeply convicted about a particular direction, the two can disagree and commit towards one direction. In case one is a leader, they can do this through disagreeing with the decision but commit to ensuring its success. The decision to commit should go beyond mere words and the parties concerned should actually commit. This creates a culture of decision-making based on consensus where all stakeholders are first aligned before moving forward with a decision (Rossman, 2016).
References
Boss, J. (2018). Amazon's Competitive Advantage Isn't Cost Or Convenience, It's This. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2017/06/20/amazons-competitive-advantage-isnt-cost-or-convenience-its-this/#2d666ccc4958
Domingues, F. (2018). Four companies owning the future: The Four: the Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google (Scott Galloway).
Farfan, B. (2018). Here Is a Look at the Mission Statement of Amazon.com. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/amazon-mission-statement-4068548
Lane, R. (2018). Bezos Unbound: Exclusive Interview With The Amazon Founder On What He Plans To Conquer Next. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2018/08/30/bezos-unbound-exclusive-interview-with-the-amazon-founder-on-what-he-plans-to-conquer-next/
Larson, E. (2018). How Jeff Bezos Uses Faster, Better Decisions To Keep Amazon Innovating. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriklarson/2018/09/24/how-jeff-bezos-uses-faster-better-decisions-to-keep-amazon-innovating/#da9cf8f7a65e
Oleg, P., & Girault, A. (2018). Understanding the Impact of Managing Flexible Workers on Managers’ Motivation: A Case Study of Amazon. com, Inc.
Rossman, J. (2016). The Amazon way: 14 leadership principles behind the world's most disruptive company (Vol. 1). Clyde Hill Publishing.
