Innovation has been described as the process of implementing new ideas that will elevate a company dealing with any kind of business to a new level. Companies rely on innovation for better performance and long-term benefits. A company that is innovative is probably one of the best performing companies globally because there are benefits that come with innovation. There is one aspect of innovation that makes companies desire to be innovative in the entire business strategies; this is the use of technology to advance all the activities taking place in the company. It is important to note that technological advancement triggers innovation and that is the reason most companies strive to embrace any technological idea that is beneficial. Innovation is important because it gives a company an opportunity to come up with new products and services that will impress customers and the long run result will be more profits for the company. However, a company has to analyze the cost-benefit of the innovation process, to determine the challenges and the benefits of the process before initiating the innovative phase (Salerno et al., 2015) .
We are going to analyze the innovation at Amazon; Amazon has been rated the top most innovative company in the world. The company has relied on innovation to propel success, and it has emerged as the top company that utilizes the opportunity that comes with technological advancement. According to Bezos, the CEO at Amazon, he quotes that “Our customers are loyal to us right up until the second somebody offers them a better service,” and this is the reason as to why Amazon continues to be innovative. Customers are the most important aspect of any business, without customers, the business will not thrive; a company that gives room for innovation will experience customer loyalty and will develop long-term relations with most customers. It is important to note that customers are always expecting new ideas, new products, and services and therefore it is the responsibility of the company to meet customer’s expectations by embracing new innovative ideas that will boost the company’s products and services.
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Amazon company deals with cloud computing, and it is rated the largest electronic commerce company in America, and also globally. The company began by selling books online through their website and later with innovative ideas turned to an electronic commerce platform that allows people to purchase and sell items through its website. From the inception of Amazon cloud computing company, customers have experienced a series of innovations that have excited customers and enable them to continue shopping at Amazon.
The latest innovation by Amazon is on Prime Air delivery service. This is the trending innovation that uses internet and drones to deliver small items ordered through the website to the customers. This innovation has emerged the top because most people have been yearning for a delivery service that is convenient and fast. According to Dolata, (2017), Amazon recently partnered with the United Kingdom to explore the safety of using Drones to deliver a package to its customers. This innovation has seen the world embrace it as the most technological advancement that will ease congestion and will allow timely and fast delivery of parcels to customers. With the increasing rate of Electronic commerce usage, most people have opted to purchase and sell products and services online. Therefore there is a need for a delivery system that will be faster and will ease the congestion that comes with many people ordering products online. This is one of the main reasons as to why Amazon embraced the innovation of using Drones to deliver products to its customers.
When there is innovation, a company will experience some impacts. For every innovative idea, there must be the positive and negative consequence; therefore before a company embraces new ideas, there should be thorough analysis on the internal and external environment to determine the impacts and weigh whether the company is ready for the innovation. The company also calculates the cost benefit associated with the innovation. However, every innovative idea is expected to spark positive results and therefore, Amazon has always believed in innovation as a cornerstone of its continuous competitive services.
Further analysis of the innovation at Amazon brings us to the effects the industry has regarding its speed in innovation. There are town major impacts encountered by the industry, and these are; human factors and the retail industry. The impact on human factors is attributed by the fact that the company will require fewer people to work at Amazon; this is because technology will be used as the cheap source of labor and hence replacing the human resource. Also, there is a price to pay about using Amazon service, this, therefore, means that any customer who uses the services has to be a higher income earner to be able to access Amazon services, the question is what about those people who cannot afford the service? It’s clear that you cannot expect drones to deliver you a package if you are a low-income earner, or cannot find accessible internet service. When it comes to the impacts on retail, we find that most retailers will now have to access Amazon App to conduct any retail business with Amazon Company. This is costly for most retail companies who are still venturing into the technological world. There is also another impact in regards to the failure of the delivery system due to a technical issue; this will cost the company as well as the customer who rely on the delivery system (Zott, & Amit, 2015) .
Ethical and moral consideration during innovation phase is important for any company that undergoes innovation. Taking a look at Amazon, the innovation phase has to be accompanied by strategies to mitigate the negative impact that comes with the new idea. It is important o first understand the main agenda for Amazon, which is to provide products and service to the customer through an online enabled hopping platform. With the impacts in regards to the innovation, Amazon strictly operates its business in electronic commerce platform; therefore there are ethics that the company complies with the process of doing business. Privacy and confidentiality of the customer information are one of the ethical considerations that are highly prioritized when it comes to conducting business on an electronic platform. Amazon ensures that all information regarding the clients, customers, stakeholders, and retailers are private and confidential; this is for risks such as failure of the system. Secondly, the company observes the moral ethics when dealing with its customer and even employees; this is where all the customers and employees are treated with respect and that the company acknowledges their support and efforts. Therefore with every innovation that could result in the layoff of some staff, the company ensures that few staff will be affected.
With a strong and competent CEO Bezos, the company has seen revolutionary innovations through his leadership. Bezos prepares his employees before the launch of the innovation; this has enabled the company to mitigate the impacts that come with any change. Being a competent leader, he ensures that every innovative idea has gone through tests that will guarantee its validation; this has helped the company to embrace innovations swiftly without any inconvenience to the customers.
Reference
Dolata, U. (2017). Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration-competition-innovation strategies (No. 2017-01). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Organisations-und Innovationsforschung, SOI Discussion Paper.
Salerno, M. S., de Vasconcelos Gomes, L. A., da Silva, D. O., Bagno, R. B., & Freitas, S. L. T. U. (2015). Innovation processes: Which process for which project?. Technovation , 35 , 59-70.
Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2015). Business model innovation: Toward a process perspective. The Oxford handbook of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship , 395-405.
