According to Chapter 10 in the book, - Strategy is the art of matching the resources and capabilities of a firm to the opportunities and risks in its external environment for the purpose of developing a sustainable competitive advantage. - To stay one step ahead of the forces of competition, a firm can adopt one of three strategies: cost reduction, product differentiation, or reduction in the intensity of competition. In this case, the "resources and capabilities" are the internal physical and intellectual assets or STRENGTHS of the company used by managers to develop strategy. And the "opportunities and risks" are, respectively, the externalpositive factors/possibilities (=OPPORTUNITIES) and the external THREATS that managers must take into account when developing strategy. This means that to formulate strategies, savvy managers can match strengths with opportunities (i.e., take advantage of business opportunities by using their existing strengths or developing new strengths), and they can match strengths with threats (i.e., use their strengths to fend off existing or potential threats). One common type of strategy is the S-O Strategy, where one or more strengths can be matched to one or more opportunities. INSTRUCTIONS 1. Complete the table below by entering three S-O Strategies for Amazon.com, Inc.: one for cost reduction, one for product differentiation, and one for reduction in the intensity of competition. 2. Do this by matching one or more Amazon strengths to one or more Amazon opportunities. For a sample of the product, you can refer to these S-O Strategies for Redbox . To get credit, you must start every S-O strategy with an action verb (such as "Generate," "Acquire," "Develop," "Partner with," "Create," etc.) and indicate the number(s) and letter(s) that you combined/matched from the table below to formulate each S-O strategy statement, as in the Redbox example. 3. Answer Question 1 and Question 2 below. 4. Reply with substance and critical analysis to at least one post from your classmates. Strengths and Opportunities for Amazon.com, Inc. S-O STRATEGIES FOR AMAZON (Enter here three S-O strategies) - Cost Reduction S-O Strategy: - Product Differentiation S-O Strategy: - Reduction in the Intensity of Competition S-O Strategy: Question 1: What was your rationale for each of the three formulated S-O strategies? (Explain why you made the combinations) Question 2: Which of the three S-O strategies deserves the highest priority for implementation to support Amazon's business growth/sustainability, given the current economic environment