Management Information Systems

Information Technology (IT) refers only to the information processing software programs of a computer system: True or False

Amazon.com, INC. opened its online retail website in 1995, and has now become one of the largest online retailers in the world grossing over 88 billion dollars in sales in 2014 (Business Insight, 2014). With ten different online markets across the world including the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and several other countries. Amazon.com, INC. sells a variety of merchandise from electronics, apparel, books, and an assortment of other general merchandise items. Their variety of merchandise, The convenience of ordering online, and Amazon’s ability to ship millions of packages every year is why they have become such a powerful company (Rosenblum, 2014).

The story of Amazon.com is a marvelous successful one. A company ́s biography which since the foundation in 19941 (followed by webpage launch one year later in 19952) became the world’s market leader in e-tailing by fully focusing on customer satisfaction and consequently aligning all organization activities, such as for example corporate strategy as well as technological portfolio, towards the consumer needs.

Amazon.com operates in the Online Retail Industry. The sector is one of the fastest growing globally and is outperforming the ordinary retail marketplace. It was created after 1995 and it was only the Internet that made it possible for such an industry not only to be established but to become one of the most flourishing sectors in the business environment. What is interesting is that Amazon.com, together with eBay is the pioneer in the field. Both companies were launched in 1995 and are still extremely successful. The creation of e-mail in 1996 had a huge impact on the development of online retail by introducing a fast and easy way to communicate with customers. For this two-year period Internet usage

While the e-Books industry posed a serious threat to the retail books industry, Barnes and Noble jumped into a new market too soon and unprepared. In order to prove itself equal, Barnes and Noble has sacrificed its biggest advantage – physical bookstores which catered to book lovers’ impulsive need of selecting books from the shelves. The company launched its own dedicated e-reader device – Nook to get itself into the e-books game which cost them a heavy R&D investment especially when their core business has always been low tech. While the features offered in Nook are almost similar to Amazon’s kindle, it is still far behind the Kindle’s 60% market share.

The bookstore chain has been decreasing in profit in the US over the past 20 years. Most of the books retailers are shutting down their operations and only a few are still operating in the country. Barnes and Noble has become the largest bookseller in the book retailers industry. The firm has integrated its business philosophy into web presence though eBook marketplace. This business strategy assisted the firm to be able to reach a large scale customers and remain as a strongest competitor in the book retailing market.

The bookstore chain has been decreasing in profit in the US over the past 20 years. Most of the books retailers are shutting down their operations and only a few are still operating in the country. Barnes and Noble has become the largest bookseller in the book retailers industry (1). The firm has integrated its business philosophy into web presence though eBook marketplace. This business strategy assisted the firm to be able to reach a large scale customers and remain as a strongest competitor in the book retailing market.

With the advent of the information technology, specifically the internet, it is said that more and more companies are existing in the online world. The changes in the business market also allows customers to change and become more dependent on online stores and online shopping than go and find something in shopping malls or retail store. One of the existing and considered as the largest and competitive online shopping in the world is Amazon. In this report, the goal is to analyse Amazon based on the case study provided. The analysis includes the discussion of Amazon’s s strategic intent, main resources and capabilities. In addition, this will also include analysis of the resources and capabilities that give

 The purpose of this report is to evaluate E-commerce structure and strategy of Barnes & Noble and Amazon. As e-commerce market is highly competitive, it is important for the company to develop an effective strategy in order to gain customer’s loyalty, remain profitable and maintain the company’s image

To attain a competitive advantage over Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble needs to develop a proper strategy and implement a successful marketing plan.

Amazon and Borders books history and the core business of each company will be discusses. A comparison of the companies will be done to analyze each company’s management approach they took to internet marketing, and sales. At least three reasons will be given as to why Amazon is successful. Three reasons will be given as to why Border’s ended up in bankruptcy although they were initially successful. How Amazon and Borders books management adapted to changing marketing conditions will be analyzed. To sum everything up at least three recommendations on how a company should build in flexibility to back up its decision making process so they can adapt to changing market conditions.

Amazon¡¦s idea of selling books online on such a grand scale, though, has brought online retailing to a new level. Following is a look at Amazon¡¦s online retail process and how information systems played a role in the overall process.

Due to Amazon.com building their business model around their customer 's ever-changing tastes and preferences, they were able to avoid the dot-com bust - a period between 2000-2002, where many dot-com companies went bankrupt (Dot-com bust, 2012).

Amazon has transformed its business from direct sales to a sales-and-service model by opening up its storefront to other retailers that were essentially competitors. This has aggregated many sellers under one virtual roof and has received commissions from the other companies' sales. In 2009, 2010, and 2011 revenue grew by 27.9%, 39.6% and 40.6% respectively (Amazon 2012). This is proof that the strategies been brought about are of benefit towards increasing the revenue of the company.

Barnes and Nobles is one of the biggest bookstores that has a brick-and-mortal store concept. In the past they were know as a “big bully” that drove small book stores to close down because of their aggressive tactics to have competetetive advantage over them. Nonetheless, with the evolving circle of technology they have had a hard time in keeping up with the E-book era. In 2014 E-books increased its reader subscription by 28% compared to 23% in 2013. This number will continue increasing because 50% off American’s have access to devices that are either an e-reader or a tablet. B&N changed its business model to adjust to this new setting before it suffered a