Imagine being an advisor to Hank Harris. What would you suggest should be Seller’s Lab competitive strategy going forward?
1. What is the Amazon ecosystem structure? What are the different actor types involved in the Amazon.com ecosystem? What is the role of Seller Labs within the Ecosystem?
2. How would you assess the performance of Seller Labs since 2015? How do you judge the firm’s performance in terms of revenue, MRR, market share?
3. Do you believe Seller Labs currently has a competitive advantage in the market? How does the X-Chart acquisition change Seller Lab’s competitive position?
5. Focusing on the sellers, assess the benefit and challenges of competing in the Amazon marketplace. Should sellers expand beyond the Amazon marketplace?
General
For the case assignment, you will investigate the firm’s problem(s) as they relate to Information Systems and prepare a written paper for the case. The individual case must be completed by each student and submitted for grade by the due date listed in the course schedule.
The case analysis and discussion need to address the main issues in the case related to information systems. Assume you are a consulting group and are giving advice to the CIO and other senior IS managers and they are the audience for your analysis report. Read the rubric carefully and make sure you understand the requirements for “exemplary performance”.
Sections:
Executive summary – a couple of short paragraphs which summarize the remainder of the report and anticipate the answer to the question “What would you suggest should be Seller’s Lab competitive strategy going forward?”
Background – use this section to lead into your Problem Statement; identify symptoms, critical factors and the current state
Problem Statement – a succinct statement of the problem/dilemma/issue, preferably in a single declarative sentence; be careful to identify the real problem and not the symptoms of the problem
Analysis – apply models, course content, and outside research to support your position; logically discuss options, implications and tradeoffs
Recommendations and Conclusions – these should be your recommendations regarding how the organization should deal with the problem; they should be fully supported by the Analysis section
Appendices – References and Charts – does not count towards the 5 pages
PART 2
Did Facebook act in an unethical way? If you think it did, why were its actions unethical and what should it have done differently? If you think Facebook did not act in an unethical way, please explain why not.
PART 3
Amazon ecosystem of products and services is vast and it comprises retail, transportation, B2B distribution, payments, entertainment, cloud computing, and other segments. Started only as an online bookstore in 1995 by Jeff Bezos, Amazon has become the e-commerce and cloud computing tech giant consistently increasing the ecosystem of its products and services. The e-commerce giant is competent in focusing on what customers need, designing in-house innovative technology solutions and then commercializing these solutions. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a stark example for this. This is how Amazon ecosystem has evolved. Seller’s lab can use either the cost leadership, cost focus, differentiation leadership, or differentiation focus strategy depending on the situation of the company.
Weber’s (1904) ‘Formal rationality’ concept on a ‘macro’ level compared social action of ‘purposeful goal-orientated actions’ at a ‘micro’ level was observed by Weber (1904) to replace ‘traditional’ actions that formed ‘rational-legal’ authorities as ‘rationally constructed’ on the ‘principles of efficiency and calculation’ in Western society which led to the ‘rise of bureaucracy’ and ‘inherently impersonal forms of social organisations’ that were ‘more efficient’ ‘theoretically’ led to warnings from Weber (1904) of a form of ‘iron cage’ which will ‘impose rationalisation’ on individuals in the future that Weber (1904) argued could not be reversed as ‘human beings have deliberately chosen this course of action as their best alternative’ (Weber, 1904, Weiss 1987 p.159, Cockerham, Abel & Luschen, 1993). Weber (1904) ‘was convinced that’ ‘without a doubt’ the ‘process of progressive rationalisation would increase restrictions on ‘free’ ‘will’ and ‘actions’ of ‘individuals’, but Weber’s (1904) concerns were not ‘fatalistic conclusion’ of the direction ‘modern society was being ‘forced’ towards but rather was a concern for ‘individual’s freedom of action’ that was important ‘part of the overall development of a formal rationalisation process’ (Weber, 1904, Weiss 1987 p.159 , Cockerham, Abel & Luschen, 1993). However, on a critical point of view, arguably Weber’s (1904) ‘analysis appears to be more of a warning than certainty’ as a conclusion that all ‘formal’ social actions will deplete individual freedom (Weber, 1904, Cockerham, Abel & Luschen, 1993, Roth 1987, Tenbruck 1975 [1980]).
Weber (1949) also stated with evidence that ‘rationality’ would be a ‘force to enhance human freedom’ as the knowledge that brought science to the world also brought information and technology to the contemporary society that became a great source of immediate information for a healthier lifestyle, for example, via media sources that developed from ‘bureaucratic organisations’ but brought ‘feelings of freedom’ as a new ‘trend’ in contemporary western lifestyle focus on a healthier well-being in society which can ‘pursue a clear conscious’ in their social actions with the most adequate knowledge for the ‘purpose’ of ‘means-to-end’ goal as a ‘rational’ accomplishment (Weber, 1949 pp. 124-125, Cockerham, Abel & Luschen, 1993, Roth 1987, Tenbruck 1975 [1980]). Those that ‘break the iron cage’ tend to liberate themselves to control their own paths in life choices and circumstances to gain a positive ‘end’ with ‘self-responsibility’ in society by applying the ‘western bureaucratic rationalisation’ methods to gain ‘freedom’ and not ‘dehumanisation’ ends (Lowith 1982, Alexander 1987, Roth 1987, Weber 1949, Cockerham, Abel & Luschen, 1993). Roth (1987) argues that Weber (1949) considered ‘bureaucratic rationalisation’ to not ‘dehumanise’ but rather that Weber (1949) emphasised that ‘tradition and modernity’ should be combined to bring new lifestyle choices with a positive ‘rationalised’ direction instead of the ‘bureaucratic aspects of formal rationalism’ on its own, therefore, Weber (1949) warned that humanity will inevitably experience ‘dehumanising’ effects without ‘traditional substantive rational