CASE Study: Amazon - The Everything Store Fousded by encipenene Jeff Bexos in Seatle in 1994 as one of the fint dotcom firmb. Amaxn's busibess model is built entindy around energing degital tochnology. It has grown to become a $315.5 billion furnever e-conmeree mega-rotailer and clood conputing business, with a brand value that has quintupled in the pest five years (financial Times 2019 ). As it sarted life as a small bookseller, at the heart of Amapan's socress is the firm's abdity to sell books at i significantly reduced price compused with more traditional book reailers by leveruging its e-commerce platforma as a value-creating strategic resource. The more Amanon achieved inereasing econcmies of scale, the more significant the coot savings it could make so its books, which allowed Amazon to sell its product at an unmalchable price compared with its competitors. Additionally, Amwow was at helm of an emerging new tectinology, developing the Kindie, which gave booklovers the comveniesee of hundreds of book titles of a single device. Amazoo suld Kindles at a break-even price, but the additional book drwnileads fren Amaron's clood server drove the firm's marginal costs down even further, and compensated for the lack of profits gebcrated from Kindle sales. Amazon's ability 10 invest in emerging mechologies pot chormoes pressure on other bookielkers, who were struggling to compete. Had Waterstones in the UK set been able to recenfigure its activities to provide incentives for people to visit their stores rather than bay their boosks from Amawn (as diseussed in the cpeaing case studyl. Wasersones would have followed other well-known book retailers, such as Borders in the USA, into administration. Amazon remains a corstant threat to many iconic independent bookshops today, despise a rise in the number of independens bookshops in the UK is more neent yeark. Amazon has alse expanded inte new makiets. It contimues to neact to changing exiemal environments such as technological change and innevation, as well as changes in consumer tates, which has led them to expand iato grocery delivery services (Amazon Pantry) and eashistless grocery sores (Amazon Go), fashion retailing (Prime Wardrobe). movic entertainment production (Amazon Studios), everyday electronics (AmaxonBasics), voice recognition techrology (Echo- and Alexz-enabled emart speakers), and even beok publishing by exploiting the opportunities to sell more physical and digital products to a loyal customer base. Most receatly, Amanon has been experimenting with the ase of droes techaology to deliver purchases within 30 minuses of a costomer order, calling it Prime Air. It even has plans to launch thousands of satellites to provide the entire globe with beadband internet accese. Amanon has also incroased the rate of its acquietions since 2015, with ith most vignificamt acquisition being Whole Foeds, a premizm grocery retailer, in 2017 . This aequisition gives Amazon aceess to premeium retail sitts, and may allow Amazon to use Whole Foeds to cxpand its ewn food offer and ase the physical space for cushomets to pick ep their Amaxon onders and to uell isems that may be less suitable for online retailing. Hewever, Amaron has not stopped there. Although Amaron continuss to beat its competiluss? eustomer order fulfilment times, its customer's shopping experience is limined to simply beowsing a webpage. Amazoa's competiturs saw thas as a potential for coenpetitive advantape, and responded by enhasking their owa customer experience by creating 'living spaces' beyved a tradinional shoppiang experience, such as the cory eafts in Waterstenes. However, Amwered has counter-respended by disruptively epening bricks and mortar storer in a number of US cities. These stores are designed to meed the pupercharged expectations of the modern-day consumer by toeming inventory out on a weekly basis as items become mate or less popelar on their wehsile, and iseans are tagged with exclusive prices for Prime custemers, and cuatomer natings and tevicws. Through this new move, Amazon secks not just to replicate other retailers' in-stare experience, but also identify ncw ways to engags cestomen. The compary has traly become an 'eventhing store'. As Jeff Beses is fond of sayine. 'Amazan wants to continually give mote to their cestomers without charging mote", Questions for discussion: 1. What do you consider is/are Amazon's strategic resource(s)? 2.How does Amazon use these resources to create and sustain competitive advantage? 3.Do you consider Amazon's venture in physical retailing logical given the firm's source(s) of competitive advantage? If so, why, and if no, why not