Strategic Management Assignment Evaluating Strategic BehaviourOf Amazon

Question

Task: Your strategic management assignment brief is to evaluate strategy in AMAZON or TOYOTAMOTOR organization under following headings:
Part 1: Strategic Behavior - Eight different Mintzberge and Waters strategic behaviours.

• Discussing with examples of your chosenorganization

Part 2: Emergent or Deliberate organization’s strategic behavior.
• Drawing on your previous answer of strategic behaviour, discuss whether your chosen organization exhibits more emergent or deliberate strategicbehavior.
Part 3: Emergent or Deliberate environment’s strategic behavior.
• Discuss with supporting evidence, whether of your chosen organization’s operational environment (industry and local and/or international markets exhibits more emergent or deliberate strategicbehavior.
Part 4: Overall performance.
• Drawing on your answers to the previous answers, critically assess with supporting evidence of strategic behavior of your chosen organization.

Answer

The study prepared in this strategic management assignment is based on evaluating the strategic behaviors and other factors that play a massive part in strategic management. In this case, the company selected is AMAZON for conducting appropriate evaluations. AMAZON is a multinational organization that significantly impacts the market of e-commerce, and it was established in 1994 (Amazon. in, 2022). The first part will consist of the strategic behaviors related to "Mintzberg and Waters" principles. The analysis will be applied in the organization AMAZON with different examples. The organization's behavior is discussed in the next part, revealing factors regarding the organization's environment. Then the overall analysis of the organization is conducted to understand the strategic behavior of AMAZON. The recommendations will also identify the problems and the solutions required.

Part 1: Eight different “Mintzberg and Waters” strategic behaviors
In an organization, strategic management has been valued as it helps an organization have a planned process. According to Ahammadet al. (2020), strategic management is essential for an organization to make it more useful for a better future. In strategic behaviors, eight different aspects belong to the "Mintzberg and Waters ."The strategic behaviors consist of eight of them, described in detail and their application to the company AMAZON. Alenzy (2018) opined that the importance of the eight strategic behaviors makes an organization more efficient to run in a planned way.

Planned strategy
The strategy falls under the deliberate strategy, and it can control all the actions in an organization. The behavior present in the planned strategy is setting up goals and designing the steps required for an organization to grow (Grimes et al. 2020). The main aim of AMAZON is to provide the best facility to the customers and also to enhance their revenue. Hence, the planned strategy behavior is necessary for AMAZON and accordingly designs the required steps. Due to the pandemic, AMAZON has started the application of "same-day delivery" with no shipping for the customers and the competition of goals (Dayarian and Savelsbergh, 2020). It is one of the examples of the planned strategic behavior of AMAZON, which is applied for the execution of the plans.

Figure 1: “Mintzberg and Waters” strategic behavior
(Source: Zeyada, 2018)

Ideological strategy
The strategy in the case of ideology belongs to a broadly deliberate strategy, and the system of belief is the main factor here. According toMinja (2020), the external environment of the business can be understood in the strategy of ideological behavior. AMAZON follows the ideology of globalization, and the following actions are taken to complete the goals. It is another example of strategic behavior related to ideology.

Entrepreneurial strategy
Strategic entrepreneurial behavior belongs to the idea of establishing relationships within the environment. The controls of all the actions are either taken by the top management, and on the other hand, the opinions of all the employees are taken. The example in the case of AMAZON reveals that the evaluation of the prices, and the range of the products are evaluated by all the employees belonging to the specific department.

Umbrella strategy
The strategic behavior in the case of an umbrella belongs to the idea of setting up boundaries that are not strict and also it is realistic. The example for this behavior in the case of AMAZON is that the development needs to be done by the training process and customers are the main.

Process strategy
The organization's goal is the mandatory factor to be achieved by applying the proper methods and exemplary leadership. In the case of AMAZON, the proper use of the latest technology and the enhancement of the economics are examples in process strategy (refer to appendix 1).

Unconnected strategy
The strategic behavior, in this case, believes in the idea of the creation of an "own strategy" by the different units in an organization. AMAZON has various units, and each unit applies its plans for the specific process, and it is an example of this strategy.

Consensus strategy
The benefit of teamwork plays an important role here in achieving goals, and the main outcome can be derived. AMAZON by the demand of the customers and the right application of time for implementing a plan is an example.

Imposed strategy
The last strategic behavior mainly focuses on the effect of external forces or markets and influences the environment.

Part 2: Pendulum Metaphor for strategic organizational behavior
The strategic behavior can be evaluated with the help of the "Pendulum Metaphor," which consists of emergent and deliberate behavior. The main aim of "Pendulum Metaphor" is to predict the necessary changes in the business, and the movement can be done accordingly (Ramani et al., 2019). AMAZON is more inclined to the emergent strategy as it has helped the company grow its business worldwide. According to various researches, the emergent strategy helps set up goals for the long run, and the managing of the goals can be done. The strategy's implication has helped AMAZON identify the needs of the customers and accordingly make the right prices and products.

Figure 2: “Pendulum Metaphor”
(Source: Acheson and Schneider-Bean, 2019)

There is various evidence where it is seen that AMAZON has faced some problems due to the effect of the emergent behavior. The issues faced are the factor of unconnected features has happened, and as a result, the short-term profit of AMAZON has been affected (Nunes et al. 2020). In the case of customer satisfaction, AMAZON has been the best eCommerce platform for the general public. Profits can be achieved by implementing the policy of emergent strategic behavior. Hence, the emergent strategic behavior has helped in the sustainable rise of AMAZON. The environment also plays a part in the emergent strategic behavior as it affects the organization. The leader's ideology in Amazon reveals a balanced aspect that includes the satisfaction of the customers and the generation of income. The detailed analysis of all the factors is evaluated in the next section.

Part 3: Pendulum Metaphor for environmental behavior
The environment analysis will be done for AMAZON with the help of a table to understand the strategic behavior of the organization. It will also help to understand the involved risks that are influencing the company. The competitive market can also be analyzed and discussed to know about its influence of it on AMAZON.

Table 1: External environment behavior in a strategic way
(Source: Created by author)

The above table shows the aspect of both deliberate and emergent, and each of the aspects will be discussed clearly. The decrease in product life cycle hurts the sales where the sales become less, resulting in loss of an organization's profits. The organization AMAZON must also focus on the opposing sides of applying the more emergent strategic behavior. On the other hand, increasing stakeholder number is beneficial as it will help AMAZON generate more income. The enhancement of the competition in the e-commerce market is another challenge which is another disadvantage as a competitive market for AMAZON. The other factor to this is that the prediction about the behavior of stakeholders and the competitive market cannot be recognized. It is one of the risks involved in the emergent aspect, and on the other hand, in the case of deliberate, it can be forecasted. The evidence is provided in the next part to analyze the subject better.

The emergent strategy behavior is implied in an organization for the satisfaction of customers, which has been an added advantage. On the contrary, the uncertainty present in the factor of emergent has led to a decline in customers' satisfaction (Kuma et al. 2020). AMAZON has to enhance its sales and look after the target market by applying the best methods needed to control the decline. There are also various political risks involved, such as tax regulation and trade policies faced by AMAZON, such as political advertisement. The situation has led to a smaller number of customers, and also the demand for the app has declined, and actions have also been taken by the law (Mestanza-Ramón et al. 2022). The risk that has occurred in AMAZON includes the environmental risks, which have been solved through sustainable goods. The other issues that have been identified in AMAZON involve uncertainty in profit, growth in revenue, and a decrease in share price (Yang and Metallo, 2018).AMAZON has been a challenging factor in the international market and opened the way for other e-commerce organizations.

Part 4: Critical analysis of strategic organizational behavior
The above discussion shows that AMAZON has grown into one of the largest e-commerce platforms and facilities for the people. It has been successful due to implementing the emergent strategic behavior, which involves planning and steps needed to avoid uncertainty (Wang et al., 2019). The analysis also consists of the disadvantage of being more emergent following AMAZON. The organization faces a problem regarding losing customers and risks involved in political factors. The share market and the profit generation have also been affected due to the strategy of emergent aspects in AMAZON (de Souza Sampaio et al., 2019). In the case of deliberate strategic behavior, the factors are more satisfactory and balanced, which can be an advantage for AMAZON in the long run. It can also be said that both of the aspects can be used by identifying the right changes that are required.

AMAZON can identify the required changes but apply the proper strategic behavior necessary for the organization. The other changes needed to implement the proper strategic behavior can be an advantage for AMAZON. The negative aspects of the emergent policy have to be checked upon by the organization, and then a different process can be done. In the making of strategic management, the essential thing is to keep everything planned, and also the risks also can be solved. These are some of the changes required to be followed by AMAZON to have a better process of the organization and for running the business. The environmental factors have been done through the help of a table which will help in further research on this topic. It is also beneficial for AMAZON to eradicate the proper steps.

References
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Alenzy, M.Z. (2018). Strategic approach of Saudi small and medium-sized enterprises: More of emergent or deliberate. International Business Research, 11(3), pp.110-117.
Amazon.in.(2022). Company Details. Amazon Website. Accessed from: https://www.amazon.in/ [Accessed on: 07.02.2022] Dayarian, I. and Savelsbergh, M. (2020). Crowd shipping and sameday delivery: Employing in store customers to deliver online orders. Production and Operations Management, 29(9), pp.2153-2174.
de Souza Sampaio, D., Tagliaro, C.H., Schneider, H. and Beasley, C.R. (2019). Oyster culture on the Amazon mangrove coast: asymmetries and advances in an emerging sector. Reviews in Aquaculture, 11(1), pp.88-104.
Grimes, M.G., Williams, T.A. and Zhao, E.Y. (2020). Beyond hybridity: Accounting for the values complexity of all organizations in the study of mission and mission drift. Academy of Management Review, 45(1), pp.234-238.
Kumar, B., Aswani, R. and Seema, M. (2020). A study on consumer behavior towards Amazon products post-pandemic. J. Interdisc. Cycle Res, 12(9), pp.728-735.
Mestanza-Ramón, C., Cuenca-Cumbicus, J., D’Orio, G., Flores-Toala, J., Segovia-Cáceres, S., Bonilla-Bonilla, A. and Straface, S. (2022). Gold Mining in the Amazon Region of Ecuador: History and a Review of Its Socio-Environmental Impacts. Land, 11(2), p.221. Minja, D. (2020). Strategic Philosophy and Competitive Advantage: Conceptual Understanding and Application in Public Sector Organisations. East African Journal of Business and Economics, 2(1), pp.10-19.
Nunes, S., Gastauer, M., Cavalcante, R.B., Ramos, S.J., CaldeiraJr, C.F., Silva, D., Rodrigues, R.R., Salomão, R., Oliveira, M., Souza-Filho, P.W. and Siqueira, J.O. (2020). Challenges and opportunities for large-scale reforestation in the Eastern Amazon using native species. Strategic management assignmentForest Ecology and management, 466, p.118120.

Ramani, S., Könings, K.D., Ginsburg, S. and van der Vleuten, C.P. (2019). Twelve tips to promote a feedback culture with a growth mind-set: Swinging the feedback pendulum from recipes to relationships. Medical teacher, 41(6), pp.625-631. Soliman, S., Anchor, J. and Taylor, D. (2019). The international strategies of universities: deliberate or emergent. Studies in Higher Education, 44(8), pp.1413-1424.

Wang, X., Lin, X. and Spencer, M.K. (2019). Exploring the effects of extrinsic motivation on consumer behaviors in social commerce: Revealing consumers’ perceptions of social commerce benefits. International Journal of Information Management, 45, pp.163-175.

Yang, J.G. and Metallo, V.N. (2018). The emerging international taxation problems. International Journal of Financial Studies, 6(1), p.6.

Zeyada, M. (2018). Organizational culture and its impact on organizational citizenship behavior. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(3), pp.418-429.

Appendix 1: Process Strategy

(Source: Nunes et al. 2020)