Among the many organizations around the world, Amazon stands out for its scale and innovation. It is the largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. The purpose of Amazon, like any other similar company, is to maximize profit. In this regard, the organization is famous for its harsh working conditions, forcing workers to act to the limit of their capabilities. Such a policy is typical for corporations of this level; however, the executive director, Jeff Bezos, has his vision for Amazons future. According to him, it is directly connected with the prospect of all humankind. He is trying to advance promising technologies as far as possible. Bezos wants to create a safe and comfortable future for emerging generations in which they will not have to worry about anything. Bezoss distant goals include the creation and development of the space program. However, it is necessary to accumulate enough funds and collect enough technology.
Like any other organization, Amazons strengths and weaknesses can be analyzed internally and externally. In the case of Amazon, its strongest point is its executive director, as well as the accumulated capital. Due to its broad reach and a massive marketplace for goods and services, Amazon has secured a strong market position. At the same time, the entrepreneurial leader Bezos is continuously expanding the company, conquering new areas of activity. It helps Amazon steadily grow and increase its capital and influence in the international market. However, the complex internal structure is the weak point of the organization. Since Amazon currently owns many formations, managing them at the same time can be extremely difficult. Thus, the size and complexity of Amazons structure may be an internal weakness of the corporation that impedes its operation.
From the outside, a massive number of company divisions allows it to feel confident in the market. At the same time, it is not even necessary for Amazon itself to purposefully search for new contracts. However, the companys size and policy are weak points that threaten its further development. Very often, an organization is criticized because of its strict monopolization of the market, as well as of the exploitation of employees and harsh working conditions. Thus, because of its desire to achieve maximum profit, the company allows itself too much, and this is its weak point.
Jeffrey Bezos established Amazon.com in 1994 and introduced virtual doors on the World Wide Web in 1995 to start online bookstore; however, the prime goal of this company was to become the worlds largest and best service provider and develop Earths most customer centric company (focused on customers need, innovation and the idea of personalisation).
Amazons Diversification Strategy
According to the annual report 2011 of Amazon.com, the net sales revenue of this company has increased dramatically after following diversification strategy though recession affected this industry in 2009 and slowdown its profit margin; however, the subsequent table demonstrates the financial condition of Amazon.com
Key Variables
2011 ($ million)
2010 ($ million)
2009 ($ million)
2008 ($ million)
Sales Revenue
48,077
34,204
24,509
19,166
Cost of good sold
37,288
26,561
18,978
14,896
Gross Profit
10,789.00
7,643.00
5,531.00
4270
Operating Expense
47,215
32,798
23,380
1033
Total assets
25,278
18,797
13,813
Net Profit
631
1,152
902
645
Table 1: Financial Overview from 2008 to 2011 of Amazon.com
Source: Self generated from Amazon (2011, p.25) and Yahoo Finance (2012)
Diversification was one of the most effective strategic tools of this company to gain competitive advantage over the competitors; however, it started to diversify its product line, for instance, it introduced DVD, CDs, MP3 format, Kindle, software, toys, gifts and other electronics, etc. from the fiscal year 1999 (Amazon.com, 2011 and Bezos & Risher, 2000, p.2).
According to the given case study, this company provided a wide range of products at comparatively low price to the customers through retail websites; however, retail offerings of this company included
browsing, searching, review and content,
Recommendation and personalisation,
one-click technology,
secure credit card payment,
availability and fulfilment,
kindle and accessibility, and digital contents
Reyes (2006) and Kha (2000) stated that implementation of diversification strategy was complicated task to this company because it had to consider a number of limitation, such as, limited fit between market demand and offer, risk of negative risk return and the transferability of Amazons economies of scope like its customer service and security system.
On the other hand, Reyes (2006) further addressed that Amazon had not experienced huge success from the very beginning of its operation and the investors had not interested to invest more for the future; in this context, diversification strategy played vital role to increase sales volume and profit margin and reduced long-term debt.
However, Bezos & Risher (2000, p.3) pointed out that by ensuring an enjoyable buying experience, Amazon had intended to provide what the customers want, but the concept of diversification may create hindrance to offer products in accordance with customer choice, for example, the US people need to use garden furniture, but Asian people might not need this kind of goods.
Most of the companies in this industry such as eBay, Barnes and Noble, Google, Apple, etc. are highly diversified company; therefore, Amazon had concentrated on innovation, advance technology and development of some emerging products including Kindle, Amazon Web Services, and so on (Johnson, 2010).
Proposed Strategy for Amazon and Justification
The given case scenario presented the Amazons study from 2007 to 2009 when the world economy has evidenced the greatest global financial crisis, although the case has presented a picture of financial growth by this period.
However, DeMaagd (2009) pointed out that the global financial crisis has seriously affected the ICT and ICT enabled service-providing companies by lowering their investment, reducing sales while Amazon may not secure it from the devastating impact of the crisis if it does not take any appropriate strategy to coup with the upcoming challenge.
Undoubtedly, Amazon is the most diversified company with advanced innovation that assisted the company for not to have any serious impact on the financial position, but the shifting norms of the global economy lead to suggest Amazon a new strategy to drive to the Asian emerging market with discriminated price to increase sales volume and to reduce operating costs.
Under the new strategy, Amazon needed to shift its market focus from North America and Europe to the Asia emerging countries.
Although Amazon claimed that, it always integrated lower price and this concept may be true for the western markets, but for Asian people with lower income level, Amazon needs to offer its digital products at least one fourth price of the westerns and for the manual product for physical delivery at half price. Without such discriminated pricing strategy, it would be difficult for Amazon to penetrate in the emerging market.
On the other hand, the new strategy would suggest Amazon to reducing the number of high cost executives and hire them from the low cost talents from the Asian emerging especially from Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka to hire merchandising and logistics system, supply chain systems from this region.
At the same time, the ICT sector of this area has gained sufficient advancement to take any challenge of the global market. Such a new strategy would facilitate Amazon with greater competitive advantages that would ultimately provide enhanced revenue generation with tremendous market growth by improved efficiency, lowering operating cost.
Amazon is one of the most successful projects in todays world. It started in 1994 as an online bookstore, and since that time, its core business model has substantially developed and expanded. Indeed, the introduction of Kindle digital technology in 2007 was a massive success as early adapters bought their first revolutionary e-reader within five and a half hours (Junata, 2019, para. 1). Nowadays, the Kindle e-reader remains the leading product line of the company. Such an achievement relies primarily on the companys ability to predict and respond to consumer behavior effectively. Therefore, Amazons marketing strategies require careful consideration.
Main body
First of all, it is relevant to conduct the situation analysis of Amazon in general and the Kindle product line in particular. The development of a strong brand is one of the essential prerequisites of Amazons success. Sustainable client support, efficient delivery, and a system of discounts create a reliable foundation for customers trust. Besides, the company has a well-developed cloud computing infrastructure, represented by Amazon Web Services. At the same time, one must remember that Amazon has numerous strong competitors, such as eBay, Netflix, iTunes, and others, who can significantly affect the companys profit. However, Amazon manages to hold steady due to its high adaptability and flexibility. In other words, an undeniable strength of Amazon is its ability and readiness to diversify its products. Hence, the companys gradual expansion embraces but is not limited to selling CDs and DVDs, producing toys, electronics, and even foods.
At present, Amazons Kindle is the oldest product line, which the brand continuously develops and sells. Moreover, it is considered the most successful line of e-readers ever made (Kozlowski, 2019, para. 1). Indeed, the Kindle e-reader dominates the American market, with an estimated 75% market share in the US (Kozlowski, 2019, para. 1). It is only natural that this product has competitors in other countries, such as Barnes & Noble in the UK, Bookeen in France, or Tolino in Germany. However, Amazons Kindle still enjoys its reputation as an evolutionary step forward for e-readers (Kozlowski, 2019, para. 2). What is more important, this is inherently a global line, which the company continues to refine.
It is also highly relevant to define the products target market profile. As to Amazons Kindle, its target audience embraces people with Internet access. Moreover, the Kindle e-reader is a perfect option for customers with the means of online payment, such as credit cards. As a result, the company can effectively function and expand its influence in the international arena. However, it is crucial to determine the specific features of the target market profile. These essential characteristics include gender, age group, income level, location, occupation, hobbies and interests (Matelski, 2018, para. 4). Hence, the target market profile must embrace and take into account all these features.
Furthermore, the target market decision-making process is also of paramount importance. In this context, Amazon applies a proactive method based on rapid response to customers needs. In particular, the company uses a working backward approach (Perkin, 2018, para. 10). That is to say, the starting point of the companys decision-making process stems back from the customer rather than starting with a product idea and trying to find a justification in a customer need (Perkin, 2018, para. 10). As one can observe, Amazon does not try to squeeze its product into the customers ostensible demands. The target market decision-making process follows the four-stage outline. These stages include: (1) posing the consumers question, and (2) approaches to answer this question. In the third and fourth stages, the following issues are addressed: (3) how is the suggested answer different? and (4) whats in it for the customer? (Perkin, 2018, para. 8). It is evident that this process starts with a customers potential question (or a need), develops in the course of the companys attempts to answer this question, and concludes by evaluating the overall impact of the product and the extent of satisfying the clients requirement. Thus, Amazon prioritizes the customers and their problems, aspiring to find appropriate solutions and welcoming feedback at each stage of decision-making.
Moreover, it is necessary to analyze personal and social influences on buying behavior. In particular, Amazon has a competitive advantage in terms of customer relationship management, which gathers and analyzes data on consumer buying behavior. Hence, this system interacts with both current customers and potential. Furthermore, it is essential to understand the customers changing interests to target the audience effectively. In this context, Amazon obtains customer insights by using buyer data. As one can observe, the history of previous purchases is closely monitored, including demographic data, such as age, gender, occupation, and shipping destinations. Thus, Amazon uses its customers account data to influence their buying behavior. As a result, the company manages to respond to customers needs faster than competitors (Rubin, 2017, para. 7). That is to say, Amazon knows its customers, their preferences, and their requirements. Another vital outreach of Kindle was the introduction of Kindle Direct Publishing. Indeed, this self-publishing technology attracted a new group of customers as it gave authors a new route to reach millions of readers (Rubin, 2017, para. 12). In other words, Amazon actively uses both personal and social aspects to influence buying behavior.
Psychological influences on buying behavior are no less important. For instance, the Prime subscription is of critical importance to Amazons business model, since it promotes customers loyalty and allows them to buy more products. As to the Kindle e-reader, the company employs an unlimited subscription. In particular, Kindle Unlimited enables readers to read over 1.4 million books available in Amazons library. Although the subscription costs $9.99 per month, the low price creates an impression of providing free access to reading (Kizer, 2017, para. 2). Indeed, people who are avid readers who buy books every month are likely to spend much more money.
As a result, Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read an unlimited number of books per month. In this context, customers demonstrate remarkable behavior patterns. For example, over 71% of KU subscribers read 5 books per month or more , as compared to only 57% of non-KU readers who read 5 books per month or more (Kizer, 2017, para. 7). As one can observe, KU subscribers have a strong incentive to read more books since they pay $9.99 per month for this service and therefore want to get their moneys worth. Hence, the psychological influences on buying behavior are significant.
Conclusion
Thus, Amazons Kindle is a successful product line, which confidently retains its leading position since its launch in 2007. However, several steps are necessary to reinforce the achievement of the Kindle e-reader. Marketing strategy recommendations for Amazon include a further expansion on a global basis. In other words, the international outreach of Kindle e-reader is relevant. For this purpose, regulatory challenges may arise since some countries may not tolerate buyer data analysis. Furthermore, Amazon needs to prioritize the issues of cybersecurity. For instance, Kindle e-reader can be subject to hackers attacks. Therefore, protecting the customers credit card data and personal information is also of primary importance. Another recommendation is investing in physical stores. The focus on physical stores will increase the brands presence throughout the world and attract new groups of customers, especially those who prefer paying cash or cannot access the Internet. By following these recommendations, Kindle will remain one of Amazons most prosperous product lines.
Amazon is an American multinational technology company founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1994, in Bellevue, Washington. It focuses on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital distribution, supermarket, e-commerce, and entertainment industries. Amazon is now the largest online retailer of books, clothing, music, and electronics from services and products offered. The company provides services such as Amazon Appstore, Amazon Music, Amazon Video, Amazon.com, Twitch, and Amazon Prime Video. This multinational companys target market is evenly split between genders categorized under middle or upper-class consumers, the majority of which fall under the age bracket of 18 and 45 (Solanki, 2019). The majority of the sales made by Amazon get conducted online, thus targeting customers who have frequent access to the internet.
Amazon makes a lot of sales in North America, Europe, and Asia. The USA is the most preferred market for the company since over half of the population prefers online shopping (Onyusheva & Seenalasataporn, 2018). Any area with internet accessibility is a select market for the company. Amazon has grown through its corporate diversification strategy, enabling it to be majoring in different industries. The plan specifies the companys actions to gain a competitive market from its range of products and services. Ever since the company got formed as an online book distributor, it has diversified. It now offers different product services, including movie streaming and online shopping, making it cause great competition in various fields and increasing its value.
With the organizational structure in place, the managerial control of the Amazon company is made easy. The organizational structure substantiates the plan and the system of interactions among the employees. It is classified as a hierarchical organizational structure since there is a direct chain of command from top to bottom, and senior officials make all critical decisions (Solanki, 2019). Jeff Bezos, the executive chairman, is at the very top, and immediately under him is Andy Jassy, the president and CEO (Solanki, 2019). There are several senior vice presidents referred to as the S-team. They are answerable to Andy Jassy and represent several function-based groups, including worldwide consumers, Amazon devices and digital management, human resources, Amazon Web Services, and finance.
Under the Amazon Web Services group, under which Adam Selipsky is the CEO, there are several other sub-groups with different heads. The sub-groups include new product management, marketing, grand challenge, and Worldwide Public-Sector sales, with each being led by a senior vice president who is answerable to Adam (Solanki, 2019). The Worldwide Consumer group, headed by David Clark as the CEO, has several other groups with senior vice presidents and vice presidents. The sub-departments include international consumers, physical stores, and worldwide operations headed by senior vice presidents. Other departments, such as the e-Commerce foundation and advertising and marketing, are governed by vice presidents who report directly to the senior vice president in charge of the worldwide consumer.
The organizational structure aligns with the corporate diversification strategy of the Amazon Company supporting the plan and its executions. Having a vast range of CEOs, senior vice presidents, and vice presidents makes it easy to manage its different products and services quickly and efficiently (Onyusheva & Seenalasataporn, 2018). The hierarchical organizational structure makes it easy to implement the corporate-level strategy as each provided service or product has its leader who ensures the categorys success. The companys organizational structure fully supports the corporate diversification strategy. The hierarchical structure ensures that all services offered are correctly assigned, controlled, and coordinated, thus providing a successful corporate diversification strategy (Aimovi, Mijuakovi & Miloaevi, 2020). Given its global nature, the company has geographic divisions: International and North America. In addressing the divisions, groups are utilized based on related business goals and physical location under the organizational structure (Solanki, 2019). Through these small subdivisions, the company can address region-specific issues potently. Global function-based groups are the most robust components of the organizational structure; they enable the company to successfully facilitate the e-commerce operations management plan.
Amazons organizational structure is very efficient in ensuring the e-commerce market is supported. Stability is a notable feature in the form, given the continuing success witnessed as the company grows (Aimovi, Mijuakovi & Miloaevi, 2020). The function-based groups within the organizational structure ensure the company can efficiently carry out managerial dictates. Geographic divisions such as the international market are beneficial in assisting to focus on the online market depending on the economic conditions of these regions. With the kind of corporate organization portrayed, Amazon is known to be flexible and an adaptive market leader in e-Commerce, making it the basis of any success the company has (Onyusheva & Seenalasataporn, 2018). Groups are easier to manage; they spend less time managing timetables and spend more on beneficial things. The major drawback of this organizational structure is the limitation of responsiveness and flexibility (Solanki, 2019). Another disadvantage is the inability of the Amazon Company to respond to new problems encountered in the market due to the dominance of the global function-based groups.
Amazon is one of the few multinational companies that offer a wide range of services and products to the public worldwide. Some of these giant technological companies services include Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Appstore, and Amazon Music. Online shopping is one of the most preferred services by this company, especially for the North American population. The target market for this company is the population that can access internet services adequately and mainly constitutes both males and females, the majority of which range from 18 to 45 years. Amazon has a hierarchical organizational structure that provides a transparent chain of command, making the companys managerial much more manageable. At the very top is the executive chairman, the president is the second in control, and then several senior vice presidents. Lastly, an excellent organizational structure makes managing the company easy. It provides the stability necessary to ensure success even when the company continues to expand.
References
Aimovi, S., Mijuakovi, V., & Miloaevi, N. (2020). Logistics aspects of goods home delivery: The case of Amazon company. Marketing, 51(1), 3-11.
Onyusheva, I., & Seenalasataporn, T. (2018). Strategic analysis of global e-commerce and diversification technology: The case of Amazon.Com Inc. The Europeans: Journal on Global Socio-Economic Dynamics, (1(8), 48-63.
Solanki, K. (2019). To what extent does Amazon.com, Incorporations success be accredited to its organizational culture and ND Jeff Bezoss leadership style? Archives of Business Research, 7(11), 21-40.
One of the main problems that have serious consequences for the company is the instinct and extinct motivation of employees. It leads to such issues in the companys operation as dissatisfaction among employees and a high rate of turnover in the company. This problem comes from the perspective of workers suffering from working conditions. Hence, they are dissatisfied with the working conditions, which include the fear of losing the quota, too strict security measures, and the fear of losing pay due to the inability to visit the workplace (Langton et al., 2012). This becomes a problem because it broadly violates the rights of people working for the company and does not comply with work standards.
Identified Causes
Personal factors influencing the problem are the values-the theory of X/Y and needs. Therefore, the company fully respects the values regarding the work of employees and does not pursue their needs to ensure a comfortable workplace. Regarding the situation factors, the main one becomes motivational, since, despite the high salary, the staff is dissatisfied with the workplace conditions. To solve the problem, it is necessary to establish a climate of fairness in the company, ensuring an even and respectful attitude toward employees work. This becomes the main reason, as dissatisfaction with the workplace climate becomes a demotivator to activity.
Recommendations
To solve the problem, it is necessary to transform the policies that relate to the highlighted problems of the company. Henceforth, the first point of the action plan is the study of the needs of employees. Then, based on the information received, the staff remuneration policy for the work performed becomes revised. The following steps are essential to change the policies regarding sick leave and compensation for missed work shifts due to them. Moreover, employees should become the primary value for the company, and not achieving the title of the best organization due to awards for productiveness.
The demand for infrastructure as a service (IaaS) services is growing worldwide due to its cost-effectiveness and simplicity of use. While the competition in the sector is high, the sphere is dominated by major providers, which may hurt the competition in the future (Osborne, 2019). The present paper aims to describe the IaaS services provided by Amazon and revealing its advantages and flaws in comparison with its competitors. Even though the growing demand may cause the emergence of new IaaS service providers, Amazon will remain the leader in the industry in the nearest future.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a promising technology, which serves as an alternative to traditional IT systems. It can be characterized as a pool of resources, including both hardware and software, that can be accessed using a web interface from any geographical point. Accruing to Freet, Agrawal, John, and Walker (2015), the method of computing is characterized by accessibility, availability, and scalability. Cloud computing is especially popular with small businesses that cannot afford capital investments and maintenance costs associated with traditional computing. However, the method is associated with increased security risks and a lack of direct access to servers and networks (Freet et al., 2015). Therefore, the method is not likely to replace traditional computing entirely.
There are three types of cloud computing, including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and IaaS. SaaS is a service delivery model that provides access to applications over the Internet (Freet et al., 2015). One of the most successful providers of SaaS is Google through applications called Google Docs. The model is an easy-to-use way of managing small amounts of data that does not require specified training for set-up and maintenance. At the same time, the possibilities and means of controlling SaaS are somewhat limited. PaaS is similar to SaaS, except it delivers a platform for creating applications, instead of an application (Freet et al., 2015). This method allows increased flexibility; however, it presupposes that the user has some coding skills. One of the most famous examples is Google App Engine.
IaaS is the most flexible model of cloud computing since it provides the infrastructure that can be used for accessing and monitoring computers, networking, storage, and other services. IaaS providers usually give their clients access to cloud servers through a dashboard or an application programming interface (API). However, the method implies that the management of the information stored in these virtual servers is under the complete control of the customer. Table 1 provides information for comparing customers control over different layers in the described service models.
Table 1. Levels of Control.
Aspect
SaaS
PaaS
IaaS
Access Control
V
V
V
Application
X
V
V
Data
X
X
V
Operating System
X
X
V
Servers
X
X
X
Network
X
X
X
Amazon as an IaaS Service Provider
One of the most significant players in the IaaS service provision is Amazon Web Services (AWS). According to Osborne (2019), AWS dominates the IaaS market with total revenues of $15,495 million and yearly growth of 26.8%. Even though the market share of the company decreased by 1.6% in 2018, AWS is still far ahead of its competitors with 47.8% of the market share. The primary competitors of AWS are Microsoft, Alibaba, and Google, which are also experiencing tremendous growth taking the market from small service providers. However, despite the growth of other companies, Amazon is not likely to lose its position in the nearest future.
AWS offers an incomparable variety of services, servers, and networks around the globe. The company has 22 data centers in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia, with three more coming up in Milan, Jakarta, and Cape Town (AWS, n.d.). The company offers round-the-clock customer support in 15 languages about more than 200 services divided into 23 categories (AWS, n.d.). AWS can serve any client due to pricing flexibility beyond comparison. According to Bernstein (2015), Amazons top priority is innovation in all spheres, which is vital for the majority of cloud service users.
However, AWS is going beyond the traditional IaaS services for its customers. In 2014, Amazon introduced a new toolchain, new middleware, and several avant-garde programming models (Bernstein, 2015). In other words, it has aggressively entered the PaaS market since it has developed CodeCommit, Code Pipeline, and CodeDeploy (Bernstein, 2015). The introduction of the new platform has enabled the company to provide hybrid services for its customers, ensuring its leading position in cloud computing.
Conclusion
The demand for cloud computing is proliferating due to its cost-efficiency, scalability, and simple management. Three primary models of service provision are SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, which are meant for varying tasks. Amazon is the largest provider of IaaS services due to its flexible pricing policies, a wide variety of products, and the companys orientation on innovation. Even though the competitors are also experiencing unprecedented growth, Amazon is not likely to lose its leading position in the nearest future.
References
Amazon Web Services. (n.d.). Cloud products. Web.
Bernstein, D. (2015). Is Amazon becoming the new cool software company for developers? IEEE Cloud Computing, 2(1), 6971. Web.
Freet, D., Agrawal, R., John, S., & Walker, J. J. (2015, October). Cloud forensics challenges from a service model standpoint: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Management of Computational and Collective intElligence in Digital EcoSystems (pp. 148-155). Caraguatatuba, Brazil: ACM.
Amazon is one of the leading competitors and players in the online-based retailing industry. Amazon Web Services is a complex digital infrastructure that supports this corporations business model. It has a database that contains sensitive or confidential information, including credit card details and customer profiles. This makes it an attractive target to phishers, hackers, and scammers. With the increasing cases of cyber insecurity, there is a need to improve the level of database security. This paper gives a detailed description of the best strategies and initiatives to maintain the security of data and services that reside on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure.
Strategies for Improved Security of Services and Data
The cybersecurity confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) triad is a powerful model for guiding Amazon to maintain the security of services and data that reside on its AWS infrastructure. This means that every proposed action plan needs to maximize confidentiality of information, promote integrity, and ensure that it is available to users on-demand (Malik & Patel, 2016). The first strategy for improving security is by promoting the use of database firewalls. Since this is a digital corporation, there are unique servers that workers access to gather information and fulfill the expectations of different customers.
The use of firewalls will deny hackers from accessing the system. Such technologies will protect existing EBS volumes and databases from launching unneeded outbound connections. These EBS volumes are block-level and durable devices that are attachable to EC2 instances (Alqahtani & Gull, 2018). Web application firewalls are also capable of preventing any SQL injection attack (Malik & Patel, 2016). The combination of the two preventative measures will deliver positive results.
Database hardening is a powerful initiative that can improve the security of Amazons critical data. This strategy resonates with the attributes of the CIA triad. This can be achieved by disabling different services and features that are not in use. Passwords and login patterns need to be changed frequently (Alqahtani & Gull, 2018). Unused accounts should be deleted to decrease the chances of phishing activities. The company can go further to support the auditing of the hardened configuration. Any change in the existing configuration should be monitored continuously to prevent compromise.
Amazon can consider the importance of minimizing value for its EBS volumes. This evidence-based strategy means that such devices should not contain unnecessary or underutilized data. This objective can be achieved through continuous management of the collected information. Technicians will delete unwanted information from such volumes. Similarly, databases can be improved by transferring critical information to more secure devices or systems within the wider infrastructure (Vukaainovi, 2018).
These measures will ensure that the databases are not susceptible to unwanted threats or attacks. Server and installation histories should be deleted immediately. This is the case since this kind of information is usually valuable to cybercriminals, attackers, and hackers.
The encryption of the information and data stored on this companys website is a common practice. Similarly, the same process is essential for protecting information contained in EBS volumes. Since data is moved or transferred continuously via the local network, the company can maximize the level of confidentiality through encryption in an attempt to minimize any form of security threat (Malik & Patel, 2016). After this is done, there is a need for Amazon to consider the importance of having backups in different databases. This temporary data also needs to be encrypted.
Controlled database access is a powerful approach for improving the security of the information contained in WBS infrastructure. The company can achieve this aim by limiting the number of people or administrators who have minimum authority or privileges regarding the use of the available data. The organization can ensure that such professionals access information only when they need it. Vukaainovi (2018) supports the power of automated access, which revolves around the implementation of powerful software.
Managers and administrators should avoid sharing passwords and cards with other employees in an attempt to increase the level of accountability. Password hashes should always remain encrypted and protected. There should also be powerful procedures for monitoring workers who are being moved from division A to B. Every account should be locked if the system records more than three login attempts.
Finally, Amazon can implement a powerful model or strategy for auditing and monitoring every activity on the existing database. This can be achieved by reviewing logs and detecting any unwanted access. With this kind of practice, it will be possible to identify workers who might be engaged in various malpractices. The company can go further to install a database activity monitoring (DAM) software to guide administrators when tracking potential hackers (Vukaainovi, 2018). The model will inform authorities whenever a new account is created without the permission of the lead database administrator.
Conclusion
The above suggestions and strategies are capable of improving the safety of Amazons databases and EBS volumes. Such measures are guided by the CIA triad and create a new opportunity for minimizing unnecessary access, deleting unwanted histories, and improving management. Those in charge should also maintain the existing databases tightly, install firewalls, and terminate unauthorized accounts. Such measures will protect clients sensitive data and eventually support this companys business model.
References
Alqahtani, A., & Gull, H. (2018). Cloud computing and security issues A review of Amazon web services. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 13(22), 16077-16084.
Malik, M., & Patel, T. (2016). Database security Attacks and control methods. International Journal of Information Sciences and Techniques, 6(1/2), 175-183. Web.
Vukaainovi, M. (2018). Cyber security measures in companies. International Journal of Economics and Statistics, 6, 125-128.
At first sight, Jeff Bezos preference of narratives to PowerPoint presentations may seem to violate some principles of good writing. According to Bailey (2008), a well-written material has to be easy to read, meanwhile, a six-page memo is not. Neither is such a writing likely to attract the reader, which is also essential. However, it is not the best idea to rely upon a theory without applying it practically. In the real world, readers are different, and the ways to attract them as well.
Bezos addresses the stakeholders of Amazon, the online shopping platform most famous for selling books. A person willing to take part in a project of that kind needs to be a careful reader. Whether they wish to buy a book, to sell one, or to write a review, reading skills are crucial for them. So, there is no wonder in Bezos decision to replace slides with texts to be read silently for about half an hour. Those who work with books should not have problems with perceiving information in a textual form, and a fairly keen reader will find this form most attractive.
In addition, careful reading is considerably more useful for concentration than looking at visual materials. At a meeting, this becomes a great advantage as long as the participants need to analyze and memorize a lot of information in real time. Silent reading helps to form a habit of doing so much sooner and more effectively than watching presentations. While slides contain reduced and systematized information, a written text needs processing, making the brain work more intensively and efficiently. The ability of reading to improve the readers productivity may be one of the reasons why Bezos opts for memos rather than presentations.
Reference
Bailey, E. P. (2008). Writing and speaking. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Modern economic theory, both at the micro and the macro level, ever more complex economic processes have led to the need to create and improve unique methods of study and analysis. At the same time, the use of modeling and quantitative analysis has become widespread. Based on the latter, one of the areas of economic research, econometrics, emerged and developed for the purpose of in-depth analytics of financial indicators. Econometric models and methods are now a powerful toolkit for obtaining new knowledge in economics and a widely used apparatus for making practical decisions in forecasting, banking, and business (Asteriou & Hall, 2015).
The development of information technologies and special applications, and the improvement of methods of analysis have made econometrics a powerful tool for economic research. Often, in economic matters, they resort to mathematical models and systemic and statistical analysis.
Polynomial regression is a type of regression analysis in which the independent and dependent variables are represented as a polynomial of a certain degree. As a rule, the order ranges from the second degree, which is a special case of quadratic regression in the form of a parabola, to the sixth degree. The conditional mean of the dependent variable is most often nonlinearly dependent on the independent variable. The end function is linear, even though the data model itself is not. Multiple linear regression is also a special case of polynomials, due to the fact that the degree of the base variables increases (Ostertagová, 2012). Classification tuning and least squares are most commonly used to fit a model of this kind of regression. This method is one of the fundamentals in statistics and is often used in econometrics to predict various financial indicators.
Polynomial regression can be applied in mathematical statistics when modeling trend components of time series. A time series is essentially a series of numbers that depend on time. In this case, these are the years over which Amazons financial performance is measured. Among these indicators are sales and the ratio of net profit and loss. Amazon is an American organization, one of the largest globally among companies that sell all kinds of goods and services over the Internet. It is also a leader in the field of sales of consumer goods through the system of Internet services (Smith & Linden, 2017). At the moment, the company is the leader in its market, and its founder is in the ranking of the wealthiest people in the world.
The polynomial function is used in cases when it is impossible to describe the function sought for by certain indicators linearly or quadratically. The need for use is determined by the number of extremum points, as well as the complexity of the trend line drawn from the points. A higher degree of the full function better describes the initial data but loses the properties of predictability and generalization. The purpose of building a polynomial regression model in the field of time series is forecasting.
Linear regression, in this case, is insufficient since the trend line does not take into account the relief dynamics on the chart, when, for example, in the difference between losses and profits, the chart goes into negative territory. It is possible to complicate the function to quadratic if the trend line is similar to a parabola and is closest to the specified data. However, a polynomial regression with a degree of 3 will be applied in this case since this trend line best matches the indicated data on the scatter plot. The information for charting is taken from the Macrotrends website, which contains the current financial indicators of the largest companies (2021). The graphs are shown in Figures 1-2.
Figure 1. Amazon sales 1995-2015 with trend line.Figure 2. Amazon incomes and losses 1995-2015 with trend line.
The process of defining the polynomial model was as follows. If the number of extreme points on the Income / Loss scatters plot is determined, it will be seen that there are at least two of them before the function goes up. There is only one extreme point on the sales chart; however, in comparison with the complete second and third degrees, they show different results, within which the third is more accurate.
Such improvements are not observed with a similar comparison of the third and fourth-order polynomials. A polynomial of the third degree can have only one or two extremum points. Therefore, the definition was correct. Higher exponents of the polynomial model degrade the prediction function and only perform well on the original dataset. In practice, it is not recommended to make the degree of the approximating polynomial higher than the fourth sixth since the errors of the regression implementation significantly increase.
How adequately and well defined the model data and equations can be shown by the prediction function. The absence of outliers and their handling, scaling, and transformation functions of the model can confirm its robustness. If the continuing trend line for the coming years coincides with the companys actual growth, the model can be considered valid. Below are charts with an extended trend line for both financial indicators of the company. The graphs are shown in Figures 3-4.
Figure 3. Amazon sales 1995-2015 with extended trend line.Figure 4. Amazon incomes and losses 1995-2015 with extended trend line.
Below are the charts that have been compiled from sales data and loss-to-earnings ratios up to 2020. The information was also taken from the resource Macrotrends (2021). In general, these functions almost correspond to the forecast based on polynomial regression, although the function describing the new trendline is significantly different from the previous one. The graphs are shown in Figures 5-6.
Figure 5. Amazon sales 1995-2020 with new trend line.Figure 6. Amazon incomes and losses 1995-2020 with new trend line.
Polynomial regression describes Amazons chosen metrics reasonably well. The forecasting function has been tested and compared with similar indicators for 2015-2020, which are already in the public domain. The direction of the trend line is indicated correctly; however, in the forecast, the indicators are slightly underestimated relative to the real ones. Nevertheless, the function starts tending to infinity, and the companys financial indicators are going uphill, which means stable growth without additional emergence of extremum points. If new extreme points are not inclined to appear both in the forecast and in reality, this model can be successfully used further without increasing the order, making a discount for a certain amount of inaccuracy downward. For a more detailed assessment of the company, it is necessary to analyze other financial indicators that take into account taxes, assets, liabilities, shares, and various kinds of margins.
References
Asteriou, D., & Hall, S. G. (2015). Applied econometrics. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Macrotrends. (2021). Amazon 24-Year Stock Price History | AMZN. Web.
Ostertagová, E. (2012). Modeling using polynomial regression. Procedia Engineering, 48, 500-506.
Smith, B., & Linden, G. (2017). Two decades of recommender systems at Amazon. IEEE Internet Computing, 21(3), 12-18.
According to labor law, independent contractors are guaranteed multiple rights such as the right to contract, choose where to work, how to work, and manage their own business. As an independent contractor, Amier enjoyed working for Amazon and was appalled when the company banned his account without any apparent reason. Since Amier would like to restore justice, he can sue Amazon for wrongful termination, though doing so would be harder than if he were Amazons employee. In North America, independent contractors have more limitations than employees, which makes it more difficult to prove that an end to the partnership was unfair.
Yet, it is possible as evidenced by Sarnelli v. Effort Trust Company where a locksmith filed a wrongful dismissal claim against a private business owner. The plaintiff had been working for the respondent for ten years and was fired without any notice. The court ruled that the termination was indeed wrongful; however, the plaintiff was mainly able to win the case due to one specific nuance: he was a dependent contractor. During the investigation, it has been established that the plaintiff depended on the employer for the lions share of his yearly income, and the employer was his main source of work.
Amier may want to prove that he too is a dependent contractor. Alternatively, if the status of a dependent contractor does not quite apply, he can prove that he did not violate any clauses of the contract leading to termination. Amazon may ban for selling poor-quality products, selling illicit items, breaching copyright laws, late shipments, and other types of misconduct. The case description does not contain any information about whether Amier did any of that. If he can prove that he did not, he might as well win the case or at least has it settled by Amazon.
