Mini Case (Amazon)Strategic thinking focuses on the longer term and on taking different approaches to deliver customer value; on choosing different sets of activities that cannot easily be imitated, thereby providing a basis for an enduring competitive advantage. Amazon is a good example. Today, Amazon offers 230 million items for sale in America—some 30 times the number sold by Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, which has its own fast-growing online business. Its total 2013 revenues were $74.5 billion, but when one takes into account the merchandise that other companies sell through its "marketplace" service the sales volume is nearly double that. Though by far the biggest online retailer in America, Amazon is still growing faster than the 17 percent pace of e-commerce as a whole. It is the top online seller in Europe and Japan, too, and has designs on China’s vast market. Last year Amazon was the world’s ninth biggest retailer ranked by sales; by 2018 it may well be in the top two. On top of its online-retail success, Amazon has produced two other transformative businesses. The Kindle e-reader pioneered the shift from paper books to electronic ones, creating a market that now accounts for more than a 10th of spending on books in America and which Amazon dominates. Less visible but just as transformative is Amazon’s invention in 2006 of cloud-computing as a pay-as-you-go service, now a $9 billion market. That venture, called Amazon Web Services (AWS), has slashed the technology costs of starting an enterprise or running an existing one. And Amazon enjoys an advantage most competitors envy: Remarkably patient shareholders. The company made a net profit of just $274 million last year, a minuscule amount in relation to its revenues and its $154 billion value on the stock exchange; its shares are valued at more than 500 times last year’s earnings, 34 times the multiple for Wal-Mart. Its core retail business is thought to do little better than break-even; most of its profits come from the independent vendors who sell through Amazon’s marketplace. Such long-termism takes investment. In its early days Amazon avoided direct competition with retailers because its lack of stores made it "capital light". Today its empire of warehouses and data centers has changed that. Now its pitch to merchants and technologists is that it will build physical assets so that they do not have to. By doing so, it keeps its competitors close and makes them depend on Amazon for key parts of their business models.
Source: Amazon - Relentless.com, The Economist, Print edition, June 21, 2014.
a) What is strategic thinking?
b) Why long-term perspective is important for strategic thinking?
c) What are the sources of Amazon’s success described in the mini case above?

Answers

Answer 1
Answer:

A person uses strategic thinking as a mental or intellectual strategy to accomplish a goal or set of goals. It causes thought since it is a cognitive activity.

Why long-term perspective is important for strategic thinking?

Long-term in strategic thinking is defined as more than five years. Most strategic plans have a three to five-year time horizon. Tracking your progress toward goals may be made possible by having a strategic strategy in place. The success of your firm may be directly impacted by each department's and team's development when they are aware of the overall plan of the business, resulting in a top-down approach to measuring key performance indicators (KPIs).

Long-term goals are things you desire to accomplish in the months or years to come. This kind of goal-setting gives your job meaning, improves your decision-making, and provides plenty of everyday drive. In this post, we provide examples to help you understand how to employ long-term objectives to achieve significant things over time.

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What is one of the advantages of buying an existing business?A.Its track record lets you know what to expect.
B. You can get it at a bargain price.
C. The previous owner will help fund the business.
D. You don't need to do any more advertising.

Answers

One of the advantages of buying an existing business is that its track record lets you know what to expect.The correct option among all the options that are given in the question is the first option or option "A". It is a fact that the new buyer will also get some cash flow already going as is not the case with new business.

Answer:

A. It's track record lets you know what to expect.

Explanation:

An account that earns a higher rate of interest when you make large deposits is _____.an IDA
a basic savings account
a money market
a savings account at a credit union

Answers

An account that earns a higher rate of interest when you make large deposits is a money market account. 

Jonah is an efficient member of the design team at Cheer Advertising. However, he is often burdened with extra work that forces him to work overtime. Frustrated by this situation, he writes an email to the head of the design department expressing the difficulties he is facing at work. In this case, Jonah is engaging in _____ A) downward communication
B) upward communication
C) horizontal communication
D) informal communication

Answers

Answer:

B) upward communication

Explanation:

Upward communication is communication from an employee in lower level of hierarchy to an employee in a higher level of organisational hierarchy.

Jonah sent a mail to the head of his department. This is an example of upward communication. Jonah engaged in formal communication.

Downward communication is communication from someone higher in organisational hierarchy to an employee lower on organisational hierarchy.

Horizontal communication is communication between employees on the same hierarchy in an organisation.

Internal control is a process designed to ensurereliable financial reporting.
effective and efficient operations.
compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Internal control is designed to ensure all of the items described in the answers.

Answers

Answer:

Internal Control is designed to ensure all of the items described in the answer.

Explanation:

Internal control refers to the control measures adopted by an entity so as to ensure compliance with legal framework, check frauds and errors and for reliable financial reporting.

Compliance procedures are the processes designed to check whether internal controls exist in an organization and if they do, whether such controls are operating effectively.

For e.g biometric authentication with regard to attendance keeps a check on the number of employees actually working during a period and eliminates the possibility of dummy names in the attendance records. This is an example of internal control i.e control measures created by organization itself.

Final answer:

Internal control in a business context refers to the procedures set in place to ensure reliable financial reporting, efficient operations, and compliance with laws and regulations. These controls help in the smooth running of the business, providing accurate financial information, and abiding by legal requirements.

Explanation:

Internal control is a crucial concept in the domain of accounting and business. It refers to the procedures and methods implemented by a company to ensure the achievement of its objectives, which include - reliable financial reporting, efficient and effective operations, and compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

The procedures for reliable financial reporting involve making sure that financial records are accurate and complete. This is important for both internal decision-making and for providing trustworthy information to investors, creditors, and regulators.

Efficient and effective operations refer to the smooth running of the business without wastage of resources, while maximizing profits. Finally, compliance with laws and regulations refers to abiding by the legal and regulatory requirements imposed by government bodies and agencies on businesses.

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Consider the following statements when answering this​ question: I. If a firm employs only one variable factor of​ production, labor, and the marginal product of labor is​ constant, then the marginal costs of production are constant too. II. If a firm employs only one variable factor of​ production, labor, and the marginal product of labor is​ constant, then ​ short-run average total costs cannot rise as output rises. A. I is​ true, and II is false. B. I is​ false, and II is true. C. I and II are both true. D. I and II are both false.

Answers

Answer:

C. I and II are both true.

Explanation:

Statement 1 states that if there is only one variable factor let us assume that is labor, accordingly it changes in total when there is change in output level, but that the change in per unit cost is NIL in variable terms and marginal terms.

Thus, this will result in constant marginal cost.

Statement 2 states that with all things similar to statement 1 the short run average total cost shall not increase, this is also correct as since the marginal product is constant, the average cost tends to decrease and cannot rise in any manner, even with the increase in output until the marginal cost increases.

Consider a perfectly competitive market described by the supply function P = 20 + 0.1Q and demand function P = 80 - 0.3Q. If the market is in equilibrium, then an individual firms total revenue (TR), average revenue (AR) and marginal revenue (MR) functions are:

Answers

The correct answer for the question that is being presented above is this one: "P = $65 and Q = 150." Consider a perfectly competitive market described by the supply function P = 20 + 0.1Q and demand function P = 80 - 0.3Q.