Amazon.Com Evolution

Running Head: Amazon Evolution

Amazon Evolution

Learning Team E

December 7, 2009

University of Phoenix

Amazon Evolution

Amazon is the largest online retailer of products to consumers and businesses. Amazon started as an online bookstore in 1995 and quickly expanded to an online store that sells almost everything (Answers, 2009). The company has changed dramatically from the start, and will continue to change with time. This paper discusses whether or not the company has moved away from its core competency as a leading online retailer and describes the areas Amazon is competing with Google and Microsoft. The paper also looks at Amazon's database and possible problems, along with the relationship between the data, information, and knowledge.

Core Competency

As stated earlier, Amazon started as an online bookstore. To compete with other companies, something had to set Amazon apart from the others. The company branched out currently deals with all types of products for all types of consumers. Amazon recently has launched a couple web services to increase what the company has to offer to businesses. Amazon has created numerous tools and services to help businesses with some ordinary problems. Because Amazon has branched out to a new area, some people think Amazon may be veering off from what made Amazon a big success. But Amazon is still completely focused on serving its customers and businesses that sell products through Amazon. The Corporate Mission in the 2008 shareholder letter states "We seek to be the Earth's most customer-centric company for three primary customer states: consumer customers, seller customers, and developer customers" (Amazon, 2008). People may think that the core of the company has changed, but really, the core has been customer service and satisfaction from the start, no matter what product or service is needed.

Areas of Competition

Amazon is competing with Microsoft and Google in several areas, which include cloud...