Purpose of Assignment A strategic management plan addresses four different management functions: environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, evaluation and control. Weeks 3,...

Running Head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF AMAZON    1
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF AMAZON        7
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF AMAZON
Table of Contents
Internal and External Environmental Scan of Amazon    3
Internal Environmental Scan    3
External Environmental Scan    3
Competitive Advantage of Amazon    5
Evaluating Strategies Used by Amazon for Creating Competitive Advantage    5
Examining Measurement Guidelines Used for Amazon’s Strategic Effectiveness    6
Evaluating Effectiveness of Amazon’s Measurement Guidelines    6
References    7
Internal and External Environmental Scan of Amazon
Internal Environmental Scan
    At Amazon, the abundance of resources, including monetary, human and technological has given the organization a higher capacity to perform in creating quality and quantity in ample proportions. As mentioned by Newhall (2011), the availability of resources within the internal environment of an organization gives it the ability to use them for better, consistent and higher capacity performance retention, which is always beneficial for business. In addition, the internal work culture, drawing heavily on the values of multiculturalism, and the effective use of Information technology, as well as heavy investment in skilled employee retention, gives the company a very efficient logistics and inventory.
Amazon also has a very intuitive strategic approach, which can be seen from its business model that allows the locals to sell their products, through the e-portal, and courier services of Amazon, ensuing higher supply of variety of commodity, making its internal environment highly profitable. Amazon; however, is plagued by the internal issues of diversification of different country markets, which creates pricing inequalities, making the business hampered, losing out on a significant portion of the customers available, which also poses higher profitability scope and hints at internal environment optimization.
External Environmental Scan
    Amazon is found to operate on two major markets, one its local market in USA and the other is the collectively formulated global market for its businesses. The political condition of USA, although recent fluctuations that led to the trade-tie decline with its major international market China, Amazon is benefitted by it. The sellers who use Amazon’s e-commerce website and the products that Amazon has developed are also in accordance of the government norms, developed exclusively for the US customers, therefore, the government policies and the political aspects benefit its chosen...