Preview

Amazon.com: The Brink of Bankruptcy

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2781 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Amazon.com: The Brink of Bankruptcy
Amazon.com: The Brink of Bankruptcy
MIS 678 Case Analysis

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2
Case Introduction 3 3
Amazon.com: In the Beginning 3 3
Timeline of Events 4 4
Top Management Profiles 4 4
Vision, Mission, and Goals 6 6
Industry: Standing Tall 6 6
Business Model: Organic Growth 7 7
Competitive Positioning 8 8
Key Issue: Profitability the Key to Success? 9 9
Key Issue: “Get Big Fast” by Partnerships? 10
Key Issue: Strong Competition 11
So What’s Ahead? 11 11
References 12 12

Case Introduction

The Dot Com Bubble – a remarkable failure that claimed the hopes and dreams of countless internet pioneers as they programmed their way to fame and fortune. It has been more than a decade since the crash but from its ashes remains a select few companies who managed to hold on to their vision of internet domination. Today there is a clear winner: the undeniable champion of the internet and the world’s largest online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. Today, many have forgotten Amazon’s tumultuous beginnings and the problems it faced. Many of the company’s online partners went bust and some analysts questioned whether Amazon’s leaders could drive the company to achieve profitability before the venture capital ran out. Even as the company’s brand value rose, the stock price fell dramatically from its high of $113 on December 9, 1999, to around $15 just one year later. But Amazon rebounded from the brink of bankruptcy with a partnership with Toys “R” Us and the expansion of its service offerings to include hosting both physical and online customers and offering logistics services within its global distribution infrastructure.
Amazon.com: In the Beginning

It is like an unwritten pattern that if you want to find the next big event in the new technology era, the most likely place would be the garage, with many famous companies stepping up from there like HP and the Apple



References: List all the references used in the case. Ensure the citations are formatted in APA format. Any part of the case that has 5 words or more from a source must be appropriately quoted, cited, and referenced. Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable reference. Your case must pass TurnItIn with a 20% or lower Similarity Index Report. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-amazon-is-so-hugely-successful-2012-12 www.amazon.com http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/05/amazons-mountain-of-margin-in-cloud-services-over-80-profit/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20113292-93/amazon-to-lose-$50-on-each-kindle-fire-says-analyst/ http://investorplace.com/2013/04/the-future-of-amazon-e-commerce-2-0/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/09/the-future-of-amazon-ambitious-diverse-and-expansve/ http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-10-million-members-morningstar-2013-3 http://www.annualreports.com/Company/1755

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, who is still the head of the company at the time. Based in Seattle, Amazon started out as an online bookseller and went on to become the world 's largest non-travel e-commerce business. Once the website was established as a bookseller, it was a logical step into the sale of other entertainment products, such as music and films, and also into the hardware used to deliver home entertainment.…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Amazon.com is a publicly traded worldwide online retail company founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1995 in Seattle, Washington. The company originally began as an online bookstore as Bezos felt there was a high demand for literature, and books had a low price point and a huge selection of titles available in print. Technological innovation drives the growth of Amazon.com to offer customers more types of products, more conveniently and at lower prices. Since 1995, Amazon has significantly expanded its product selection, international retail websites, and worldwide network of fulfillment and customer service centers. Today, Amazon retail websites offer everything from toys and video games to MP3 downloads and collectible items (amazon.com, 2014). Amazons business model is fairly simple; to sell various products and goods online at an affordable cost to consumers. Amazon has managed to not only achieve this business model but they have also managed to consistently expand and become the largest online retailer to date. To keep up with global demand, Amazon had to expand its products and services offered while continuing to forecast consumer’s needs. “In 2000, Amazon.com began to offer its best-of-breed e-commerce platform to other retailers and to individual sellers. Today, hundreds of thousands of world-class retail brands and individual sellers increase their sales and reach new customers by leveraging the power of the Amazon.com e-commerce platform. Partners work with Amazon Services to power their e-commerce offerings from end-to-end, including technology services, merchandising, customer service, and order fulfillment. Other branded merchants leverage Amazon.com as an incremental sales channel for their new merchandise. Over 2 million third-party sellers participate in Amazon where they offer new, used, and…

    • 891 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In planning their business, Amazon had to take into account all internal and external factors to avoid catastrophic troubles while beginning their company. The same concept holds true, even today. Internal and external factors affect the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (four functions of management) functions of management involved in the successful and continual growth of Amazon’s company. Their company began as a planned rival to Google and Microsoft, for lead in the online retail industry. With their original focus, Amazon used four different key values to help their business off-the-ground, and stay focused on their personalized progress. Their ability to zone-in on customers, dynamic pricing, personalized service, and brand variety was their plan for success (Amazon, 2011). It became a primary goal for Amazon to make their customers’ online shopping experience easier and more enjoyable while supplying dynamic pricing options and the convenience of a ‘one-stop’ retail ordering system. The business model of Amazon included selling books, compact discs, movies, electronics, and games. Currently, Amazon has the largest online retail selection because it extends its inventory out to offer home goods,…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amazon's initial business proposal was different they it did not expect to make a profit for four to five years. This "slow" growth caused stockholders to complain about the company not reaching profitability fast enough to justify investing in, or to even survive in the long-term. When the dot-com era grew the start of the…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In 1994, Jeff Bezos was a 30-year-old hedge fund analyst with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton University. It was at this time Bezos decided to put his business plan in play. Jeff pulled up a file that had the business model he intended to use, which had been write in early that year in the passenger seat of a 1988 Chevy Blazer (A Retail Revolution Turns 10, 2005). Amazon.com opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. The company seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. Amazon.com is now a digital strip mall branching beyond books into music, DVDs, electronics and toys (Penenberg, 2000). Many people wonder how Amazon became on of the few dot-com companies to survive the dot-com bubble burst that took effect during 1997-2000. One of the best ways to evaluate Amazon’s performance is to complete a thorough review of its financial statement, pro forma financial statements, ratio analysis, return on equity, its calculated economic value added projects, and its financial policies.…

    • 2357 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Amazon Ceo Strategy Project

    • 4794 Words
    • 20 Pages

    Amazon is rapidly evolving and it is intensely competitive, and competitors in different industries are attempting to break into this business. These competitors include retail, e-commerce services , digital content and digital media devices, and web services. Many of Amazon’s current and potential competitors have far greater resources, longer histories, more customers, and greater brand recognition. This is a challenge to Amazon’s operation where competitors might have more viable abilities to aggressively…

    • 4794 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com had been in constant fight between each other since the explosion of online purchasing. Before the mid 1990’s online purchasing introduction, Barnes & Noble had big dominance in bookselling, as it was the largest bookstore in the world. With the entrance to the book market by Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble found a big competitor, as it represented a new and innovative way of purchasing a book.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    1. Summary statement of the problem: Even though Amazon.com implemented a viable corporate strategy by increased market share, expanded product offering, and overall sales growth, yet still faces the pressure from the stock market to continue to produce steady profits. Coming from a combination of trimmed customer confidence level and a larger unemployment rate, these two areas make the retail future of Amazon.com to seem unclear.…

    • 3537 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amazon.com: The Brink of Bankruptcy Jeffrey Bezos, formerly a senior vice president for D. E. Shaw & Company, founded Amazon.com in 1994. D. E. Shaw is a Wall Street-based investment bank, and Mr. Bezoswas assigned to find good Internet companies in which to invest. During the summer of 1994, he stumbled across a Web site that showed the number of Internet users was growing by 2,300 percent per month. He quickly realized the vast potential of the Internet, and began putting together a list of possible products that he could sell on the World Wide Web. He eventually narrowed his list to music products and books. Although music products and books both had enormous potential, he eventually selected books because he believed that he could compete more evenly in the book segment due to the lack of a very dominant player. In contrast, the music industry had only six major record companies. These companies controlled the distribution of records and CDs and, therefore, had the potential to lock out a new business threatening the traditional record-store format. To begin his new venture, Mr. Bezosleft New York and moved to Seattle. He decided to move to Seattle for two reasons: 1) Ingram Book Group's warehouse is located near Seattle; and 2) Because of the Seattle area's reputation for computer expertise. In 1995, Amazon began selling books entirely online, operating out of a rented facility and using doors laid across sawhorses for desks. He soon was able to generate several million dollars from venture capitalists, and sales were astounding. Sales for 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 were $0.5, $16, $147, $610 and $1,640 million respectively. Amazon's customer base has increased dramatically from 180,000 in 100 countries in 1996 to 12 million in 160 countries by mid-1999. In 1998, Amazon began to expand into other product categories. The companybegan to sell music products and videos, and within two months of these additions, Amazon became the number-one seller of…

    • 2500 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This report presents the results of an analysis of the Amazon.com - 2002 case (Goodson, 2003). The case provides data relevant to Amazon.com at the beginning of calendar year 2002. Financial and operational data provided in the case apply to 2001, 2000, and 1999.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dot.Com Bubble

    • 1799 Words
    • 8 Pages

    During the Dot-com “bubble”, internet firms were highly valued compared to “old economy” firms. Internet firms’ stock prices were unrealistically high. Most of those firms were operating under loses and no tangible assets to warrant those prices. Analysts justified those prices and recommended buy ratings but later a crash followed.…

    • 1799 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    The research in this report provides foundational facts and figures related to Amazon, Inc. and all subsidiaries’ current financial condition starting with the share price. Some of the most relevant information pertaining to the valuation of the company includes details from research of current financial instruments is produced along with a brief on prospective assessments for the up and coming year. In determination of the valuation of Amazon; a few key financial ratios are discussed and shown calculated…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Best Essays

    The following document provides the trend, common-size, and horizontal analysis of Amazon, Incorporated, for the fiscal years ending 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Amazon, Incorporated is a healthy company that has reached mature growth with stable returns. Overall, Amazon, Incorporated is a reasonable investment based on its historical and industry analysis and trends.…

    • 2553 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Being a Fortune 500 company, Amazon, started by Jeff Bezos in 1995, is the global leader in e-commerce. Amazon offers a wide variety of products, ranging from hardcover books to jewelry to electronics, as conveniently as possible to its customers (About Amazon, 2009). Although Amazon has begun to revolutionize retailing, the company’s competitive advantage and evolution has been put into question. The competitive advantage and evolution of Amazon can be analyzed by determining if the company if moving away from its core competency as a leading online retailer, presenting areas where Amazon is competing with Google and Microsoft, addressing the company’s databases and its uses, and describing how Amazon uses e-Business and e-Commerce for B2B and B2C.…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    nursing history

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Amazon has flourished because it had a viable and innovative business model built around a market-changing customer value proposition and a radical profit formula, which upended the staid book industry (Johnson, 2010). The adaptive nature and potential to attract customers has kept Amazon on the top. Today amazon utilized an innovational, adaptive diversified business model by catering to a broader market not limited to books.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays