Supply Chain Integration

Response to Q1

Amazon’s rapid growth over the years can be greatly attributed to sales and operations planning in supply chain integration at the firm. The organization’s complex and unique sales and operations planning success have enhanced innovation and change in a dynamic business environment (Jin, Cedrola, & Kim, 2019). Instead of changing their business strategies, sales and operations planning at Amazon have forced other companies to try and adopt Amazon’s evolving business strategies.

Furthermore, the company has successfully managed to shape the demand for its services, execute growth programs, and penetrate new markets because of its mature sales and operations planning process in the integration of its supply chain. The company’s medium and long-term forecast will play an instrumental role in enabling the firm’s operations management function to come up with a way of increasing customer satisfaction. Such a forecast promotes the identification of what is needed by the consumers and the best ways of delivering such needs.

The ability of the operations management function to predict product demand by the consumers will help deliver the products as and when needed by the customers. Moreover, medium and long-term forecasts will also help the company minimize inventory stock-outs as arrangements for supplies can be made early enough. The company’s medium and long-term forecast will also help the operations management department schedule production purchases appropriately (Bastiège, 2019). Such ability is important, especially in a competitive environment that the company operates, given that inadequate forecasting can lead to underproduction or overstocking, which implies additional costs to the company.

Logistics strategies like one-hour delivery or same-day delivery have played an important role in putting the company in an advantaged position in the market over its industry rivals. Similarly, Amazon’s transportation modes that entail the use of drone technology to move goods to the customers according to their orders have been instrumental in shaping how customers the country access their acquired products (Aćimović, Mijušković, & Milošević, 2020). Unlike in the case of other companies, customers can now access the product they buy from Amazon with a lot of ease because of the unique transportation mode and sophisticated technology that Amazon has adopted.

In addition, the company also has various warehouse locations next to residential premises and town centers. Such a strategy has ensured that the company’s customers can access their orders on time as and when they need them. This has significantly helped attract more customers to do business with the company as they are assured of timely delivery and better customer service.

Response to Q2

The supply chain’s overall effectiveness is impacted by global sourcing and procurement through all-times quick delivery. Global sourcing and procurement have made it necessary for firms to ensure that distribution centers run on a continuous fulfillment schedule to meet immediate delivery requirements. The two have also minimized cut-off times and queueing packages for late carrier pickups that characterized the traditional supply chains (Bilovodska, Syhyda, & Saher, 2018). Thus, despite the perceived complexity, global sourcing and procurement have been instrumental in enhancing the sustainability of the supply chain for many organizations.

Amazon has managed to achieve a competitive edge in the market by outsourcing logistics operations and other functions. Outsourcing logistics and other functions have enabled Amazon to focus its time, energy, and resources on its co-business functions. It has also helped to reduce operational costs, enhance the company’s ability to meet its customers’ demand, and attain better visibility, security, and control into such areas as inventory levels, lead times, quality, and compliance (Elhoushy, Salem, & Agag, 2020). Nonetheless, outsourcing of logistics and other functions comes with such challenges as integration difficulties between the company and the logistics service providers as well as adverse impacts of the quality of the company’s products, especially when the supplier opts for a cheaper material (Elhoushy, Salem, & Agag, 2020). All these may adversely affect the business’ successful operation.

Response to Q3

Amazon is one of the companies across the globe that has been successful in leveraging electronic commerce strategies to maintain its competitive position in the market. The company employs the use of e-commerce strategies to support its supply chain management and ensure efficiency in operation and growth. E-commerce strategies have been instrumental in enhancing most Amazon customers’ online shopping experience (Qin & Liu, 2022). The company’s Ad strategy has managed to help the company achieve significant success by enabling it to sell most of its products online.

The company’s Ad platform, which comes after Facebook and Google in terms of market share, has made Amazon grow tremendously. In addition, the company has introduced Alexa, a voice assistant that has been of great help in enabling the company’s customers to make their orders online swiftly (Qin & Liu, 2022). Furthermore, the company has also managed to dominate the market over its competitors by targeting potential customers through websites and e-mail. Such strategies have seen the company enhance its sales and expand tremendously (Qin & Liu, 2022).

Response to Q 4

I feel strongly that the company’s supply chain integration is one that other businesses should model. The consumer market continues to experience rapid changes driven by changing customers’ purchasing and demand patterns. Amazon’s adoption of modern technology has been instrumental in ensuring its success (Trivedi & Madan, 2018), thus, making it necessary for other businesses that want to attain success to embrace. The organization’s supply chain integration model can be described as ethically and morally upright from an ethics perspective. The company’s act of outsourcing some of its activities or functions has significantly helped to enhance the global economy and create employment. That notwithstanding, globalization has been instrumental in transforming the historical supply chain management model that focused on outdated concepts. Other companies should consider coming up with ways that will enable them to become competitive or embrace Amazon’s supply chain integration model to enable them to gain a competitive edge in their industries. Amazon indeed sets an example for other businesses that can be embraced to enhance competitive advantage.

Response to Q 5

Conscious capitalism primarily seeks to please consumers. It opines that businesses should be human and consider consumers as their primary stakeholders. Organizations should also consider pricing their products consciously while considering the consumers’ needs. For example, during the Covi-19 pandemic, Amazon prioritized shipping essential products water over any other nonessential items like clothes. In conscious capitalism, the consumers’ love for the business is unconditional. Christian worldview and conscious capitalism will impact the firm in a positive way since the organization has prioritized the consumers’ needs. Apart from being fully customer-oriented, Amazon works to enhance its customers’ retail experience.

References

Aćimović, S., Mijušković, V., & Milošević, N. (2020). Logistics aspects of goods home delivery: The case of Amazon company. Marketing, 51(1), 3-11.

Bastiège, M. (2019). How Amazon is totally Changing the global supply chain in the New Era, where companies are fighting to dominate the vision of business. International Journal of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management.

Bilovodska, O., Syhyda, L., & Saher, L. (2018). Supply chain management: world’s companies experience. MIND Journal, (5), 1-17.

Elhoushy, S., Salem, I. E., & Agag, G. (2020). The impact of perceived benefits and risks on current and desired levels of outsourcing: Hotel managers’ perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 91, 102419.

Jin, B. E., Cedrola, E., & Kim, N. L. (2019). Process innovation: Hidden secret to success and efficiency. In Process innovation in the global fashion industry (pp. 1-23). Palgrave Pivot, New York.

Qin, Y., & Liu, H. (2022). Application of Value Stream Mapping in E-Commerce: A Case Study on an Amazon Retailer. Sustainability, 14(2), 713.

Trivedi, S., & Madan, M. V. (2018). Amazon Supply Chain Management: A Case Study. NOLEGEIN-Journal of Supply Chain and Logistics Management, 23-27.

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