What Is Amazon's Competitive Advantage?

The core competency is a unique characteristic which cannot be easily replicated by competitors. It is defined as the main strengths or strategic advantages of a business. Core competencies are the combination of knowledge, ability, and expertise which contributes to continue growth of the organization and the commitment to deliver value to the customers. Therefore, core competence in healthcare is essential; it is the bridge to quality of care, opportunities for developing and improving skills to be successful.

Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer that was launched in 1995 (Rouse, 2014). Amazon was mainly a book selling company that has enlarged its’ business by selling a variety of goods. The company sells all types of technology devices such as cell phones, games, televisions, movies, cameras, computers,

Analyzing Amazon’s strategy will identify internal and external forces that Amazon must consider when deciding how to navigate the online market. Conducting both internal and external analyses is vital to the survival of any business, let alone the first online retailer. To accomplish this, looking at Amazon’s past behaviors, as well as conducting a PESTEL analysis, analyzing Porter’s Five Forces, and a SWOT Analysis as it pertains to Amazon will give further clarity on their position in the e-commerce market.

In addition, we have analyzed Amazon’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in a SWOT analysis. Based on this analysis, and research, we have recommend a course of action as to how Amazon should respond to their weaknesses and threats and how best to leverage strengths to take advantage of available opportunities.

Core competencies are the capabilities that are critical to a business achieving competitive advantage. The starting point for analysing core competencies is recognising that competition between businesses is as much a race for competence mastery as it is for market position and market power. (Prahalad and Hamel)

Core competency is a unique skill or technology that creates a distinct value for customers. For example, the basic efficiency Federal Express (former Fed) is the logistics department. Unique organizational capabilities are created primarily in the collective knowledge of people as well as the organizational system that influences the way staff interact. As the organization grows, develops and adapts to the new environment, so core competencies also adjust and change. Thus, core competencies are flexible and develop over time.

Analysis the core competencies is a major step into defining a company's strategy. No company should forget what are its capabilities and competencies. A company should always take these matters into account to shape a strategy and to achieve profitability.

Amazon.com has successfully managed to make its customers to feel that anything they could possibly want could be found on their website. Additionally, its products are marketed at a competitive price. Another important factor is their speedy delivery with their usage of UPS and FedEx (United States) and Royal Mail (United Kingdom). The company also caters for people that prefer online shopping with extra services such as Amazon Prime - a service with a yearly payment, customers are eligible for free next day delivery. Even though Amazon.com is known to be an online seller of most things, it still excels in its original market of book selling. Evidence of such is

Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 company that has revolutionized the retail industry. In recent years, Amazon has faced increased competition in the highly competitive online retail space as competitors invested heavily in their online storefronts and infrastructure. Positioned in a highly fragmented industry, Amazon must find solutions that can sustain its long term profitability and maintain its market share. To that end, Amazon should grow the Amazon Prime membership base and expand on its media and mobile offerings.

According to Griffin & Pustay (2005), a core competency is a distinctive strength or advantage that is central to a firm¡¦s operations, and by utilising its core competency in new markets, the firm is able to increase

Core competencies are capabilities that provide a firm with competitive advantages, which differentiates them from its competitors and defines its personalities (Hanson et al., 2014). There are three criteria to identify core

Core competencies are the most significant value creating skills within a company and key areas of expertise that are distinctive to a company and critical to the company's long-term growth. Core competencies are the pieces that a company is superior than its competitors in the critical, central areas of the company where the most value is added to its products. These areas of expertise may be in any area from product development to employee dedication. A competence which is central to business's operations but which is not exceptional in some way is not considered as a core competence, as it will not generate a differentiated advantage over rival businesses. It follows from the concept of core competencies; resources that are

Amazon desires to be “Earth’s most customer centric company”. And this determines that Amazon’s strategic position will be more concentrate on the growth of the group and enable it to be a great enterprise rather than a money maker.

Amazon has been able to maintain sustainable competitive advantage because the company has adopted cost leadership, differentiation and growth strategies.

Core competencies are those capabilities that are critical to a business achieving competitive advantage. The starting point for analysing core competencies is recognising that competition between businesses is as much a race for competence mastery as it is for market position and market power. Senior management cannot focus on all activities of a business and the competencies required to undertake them. So the goal is for management to focus attention on competencies that really affect competitive advantage. You can read more about the concept of Core Competencies here.