$3\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}1$ Pre$-$planned Tactical Change at Amazon: From the World$$s Largest Bookstore to the Everything Store to Top$-$tier Provider of Web Services Early on$,$ founder Jeff Bezos had a long$-$term plan for Amazon. He wanted to build a large business using the internet technology that was emerging in the $1990$s$.$ Very deliberately, he explored various business propositions that would allow him to do so$.$

Book sales seemed most auspicious because books were popular items for purchase, and he could gain a cost advantage over incumbent brick$-$and$-$mortar bookstores with their considerable inventory expense. So he moved to Seattle, home of Microsoft and other IT providers, with one of the world$$s largest book distributors nearby. Bezos took advantage of the large local pool of high$-$tech workers to help create $$The World$$s Largest Bookstore$$a virtual operation that could position Amazon for early success in online sales.

Through a carefully plotted, sequential strategy, the company then began offering a broader array of products and services, including music, videos, clothing, household goods, and other items so varied that Bezos deemed Amazon $$The Everything Store$$the first virtual superstore. Many of the new products came from outside suppliers, with Amazon helping customers find what they were looking for and then connecting them with vendors.

Each of these incremental steps arose from Bezos$$s original top$-$down plan. By

$2006$ the company had expanded even further by creating Amazon Web Services

$($AWS$).$ The new business unit offered Amazon$$s secure cloud services, computing

power, database storage, and content delivery capabilities to other organizations.

While the impetus for this change arose from within the organization rather than at

the top, it received Bezos$$s blessing and support. Analysts reported AWS would

achieve a highly profitable $$10$ billion in $2016$ annual revenue. So although the

company was shifting away from top$-$down tactical change, the succession of new

initiatives continued apace.

$1.$ Why was change needed at Amazon?

$2.$ What design decisions $($scope and origin$)$ were made in this case?

$3.$ What was the type of change described in this case?

$4.$ What were the advantages and disadvantages of those decisions?

$5.$ Was the change initiative successful?