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Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version


In a December 1, 2013, interview on American television program 60 Minutes, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon would soon change the future of online shopping by enabling customers to receive items within thirty minutes of ordering. This delivery service, Bezos said, would be powered by unmanned autonomous drones and could be offered as soon as 2015. The market reaction was instantaneous and positive. Still, Amazon needed some answers before it could launch autonomous delivery services: Were customers ready to embrace and pay for this type of delivery service? Would regulators allow it? Should Amazon make or buy its drones? Would it be too risky for Amazon to wait to launch this service? If it decided to go ahead, how should it launch, and to whom?

Authors :: Russell Walker, Rafique Jiwani

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Innovation, IT, Operations management, Productivity, Risk management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version" written by Russell Walker, Rafique Jiwani includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Amazon Unmanned facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, IT, Operations management, Productivity, Risk management and Strategy & Execution.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Amazon Unmanned, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Amazon Unmanned operates in.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.




SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix


SWOT analysis of Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Amazon Unmanned
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Amazon Unmanned




Strengths Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Amazon Unmanned in Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study are -

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Amazon Unmanned in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Amazon Unmanned is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Amazon Unmanned in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Amazon Unmanned digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Amazon Unmanned has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Amazon Unmanned to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Amazon Unmanned to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Amazon Unmanned has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Amazon Unmanned are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Amazon Unmanned has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Amazon Unmanned to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Amazon Unmanned has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Amazon Unmanned has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Amazon Unmanned is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Amazon Unmanned has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Organizational Resilience of Amazon Unmanned

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Amazon Unmanned does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.






Weaknesses Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Amazon Unmanned 's lucrative customers.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Amazon Unmanned has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Need for greater diversity

– Amazon Unmanned has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Amazon Unmanned has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Amazon Unmanned has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Amazon Unmanned has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Amazon Unmanned even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Amazon Unmanned needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Amazon Unmanned is planning to shift buying processes online.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Amazon Unmanned supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Amazon Unmanned vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Amazon Unmanned has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Amazon Unmanned is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.




Opportunities Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Amazon Unmanned has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Amazon Unmanned to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Loyalty marketing

– Amazon Unmanned has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.

Manufacturing automation

– Amazon Unmanned can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Amazon Unmanned to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Amazon Unmanned to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Amazon Unmanned can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Amazon Unmanned can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Amazon Unmanned can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Amazon Unmanned can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Amazon Unmanned is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Amazon Unmanned to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Amazon Unmanned has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Amazon Unmanned to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version case study. Amazon Unmanned can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Amazon Unmanned can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.

Buying journey improvements

– Amazon Unmanned can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Amazon Unmanned can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.




Threats Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Amazon Unmanned has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Amazon Unmanned needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

Regulatory challenges

– Amazon Unmanned needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Strategy & Execution industry regulations.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Amazon Unmanned business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Amazon Unmanned

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Amazon Unmanned.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Amazon Unmanned.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Amazon Unmanned is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Amazon Unmanned in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version, Amazon Unmanned may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Amazon Unmanned will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

Aging population

– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Amazon Unmanned can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Amazon Unmanned in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.

Environmental challenges

– Amazon Unmanned needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Amazon Unmanned can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants. We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –

First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.

Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.

Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery, Spanish Version is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Amazon Unmanned needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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