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Conduct a strategic analysis of the company’s current financial operations

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Conduct a strategic analysis of the company’s current financial operations. Determine strategies for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace and increasing financial performance.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word analysis. When writing your analysis, complete the following:

• Evaluate the company’s current financial plan, including charts and/or graphs showing financial data from the struggling company, and make recommendations for improvement.
• Determine strategies for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace and increasing financial performance.
• Create a plan to implement the strategies you selected.

Include APA-formatted, in-text citations, and a reference page with at least 3 sources.

 Amazon.com, Inc.’s Competitive Advantage Leydis Fuste 4/26/2021 2 Introduction Fortune magazine annually compiles a Fortune 500 list that ranks the biggest United States (US) companies based on annual revenue (Fortune, 2019). One company listed in the 2019 Fortune 500 list that indicates a sustainable competitive advantage is Amazon.com, Inc. or Amazon (Fortune, 2019). The corporation offers customers e-commerce, digital streaming, and cloud computing services, among others (Ritala et al., 2014). In 2019, Amazon was ranked as the fifth-largest corporation in the US (Fortune, 2019). In 2020, Amazon was ranked as the secondlargest US Company in the Fortune 500 list (Fortune, 2020). The rise from position five to position two in one year indicates that Amazon is currently in a quite strong competitive position. The continued success is a clear indication that Amazon’s competitive advantage has so far been sustainable. This discussion evaluates Amazon’s sustainable competitive advantage using the SWOT analysis method. Amazon’s SWOT Analysis Diagram Amazon’s success is largely due to its key strengths. The strengths offer the company a competitive advantage. The company still has weaknesses and threats that can undermine its performance. There are also opportunities that Amazon can leverage for continued success. Table 1 below presents Amazon's SWOT analysis. 3 Table 1 Amazon’s SWOT Analysis Strengths I. A quite strong brand image II. Exemplary supply chain management III. Diversified revenue streams IV. Strong financial base Opportunities I. Expansion in developing markets II. Increased physical presence III. E-commerce’s increasing popularity Weaknesses I. Poor employee treatment II. Limited physical presence III. Easy-to-imitate business model Threats I. Negative publicity due to poor employee treatment and tax avoidance II. Increasing competition in the ecommerce sector III. Cybercrime IV. Business model imitation Internal Factors and Amazon’s Sustained Competitive Advantage Amazon’s strengths have been vital to the company gaining and sustaining its competitive advantage. Amazon’s strong brand image has helped the company continue to attract many customers for its e-commerce goods and technology services like digital streaming and cloud computing (Majed et al., 2018). A lot of purchases from the company's many clients have resulted in huge revenue for Amazon. The company’s excellent supply chain management has also been vital to Amazon gaining and sustaining its competitive advantage (Majed et al., 2018). Amazon's e-commerce customers order goods from the site, and the firm delivers the same using different delivery channels. Without effective supply chain management, it would be close to impossible to deliver goods to customers worldwide timely. Amazon's efficient supply chain management has enabled it to serve customers worldwide. Thus, attract huge revenue. Revenue stream diversification is another strength that has helped Amazon sustain its competitive advantage. Diversification has helped Amazon earn revenue from operations like ecommerce, digital streaming, and cloud computing which has helped increase the firm’s financial 4 might (Ritala et al., 2014). The financial might has been vital to Amazon’s growth. The company uses its financial might to market to customers, enhance its operations, and diversify its business (Ritala et al., 2014). Amazon’s key weaknesses are poor employee treatment, limited physical presence, and easy to imitate business model (Sudhakaran, 2020). The weaknesses undermine the firm's ability to sustain its competitive advantage. The weaknesses need to be adequately addressed to avoid the firm from losing its competitive advantage. External Factors and Amazon’s Sustained Competitive Advantage One external factor that has helped Amazon gain and sustains its competitive advantage is e-commerce's increasing popularity. The popularity is driving more people and organizations to buy online (Ritala et al., 2014). Amazon is one of the beneficiaries of online buying. Increased sales have helped Amazon increase its revenue and improve its ranking in the Fortune 500 list. Two other opportunities that can help Amazon further sustain its competitive advantage are expansion in developing markets and increasing its physical presence. Expanding to developing markets will help the company effectively target the markets and increase customers from such markets (Ritala et al., 2014). Increasing physical presence would help Amazon get closer to potential customers, and that can help increase the company's customer base. Unlike opportunities, Amazon’s threats do not contribute to its competitive advantage or help sustain the competitive advantage. Negative publicity increasing competition, cybercrime, and business model imitation can strip Amazon of its competitive advantage (Sudhakaran, 2020). The firm has to effectively address the threats to increase and sustain its competitive advantage. Conclusion Amazon was number five in the 2019 Fortune 500 list and number two in the 2020 list. The rise in the company’s ranking demonstrates that the company sustained its competitive 5 advantage between 2019 and 2020. The company has retained its competitive edge through leveraging on its key strengths. Amazon's key strengths include a strong brand image, excellent supply chain management, diversified revenue sources, and strong financial bases. The company has also retained its competitive edge by leveraging on the increasing popularity of e-commerce worldwide. 6 References Fortune. (2019). Fortune 500. https://fortune.com/fortune500/2019/ Fortune. (2020). Fortune 500. https://fortune.com/fortune500/ Majed, S. Z., Nuraddin, S. H., & Hama, S. V. S. (2018). Analyzing the Amazon success strategies. Journal of process management. New Technologies, 6(4), 65-69. https://www.doi.org/10.5937/jouproman6-19264 Ritala, P., Golnam, A., & Wegmann, A. (2014). Coopetition-based business models: The case of Amazon.com. Industrial marketing management, 43(2), 236-249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.11.005 Sudhakaran, A. (2020, September). Amazon SWOT Analysis: 2020 a Year to Remember. https://pestleanalysis.com/amazon-swot-analysis/