Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

Case Questions

1.

Describe Amazon’s product–service mix. Which

areas of Amazon’s operations are characteristic of

a manufacturing organization? Which areas are

characteristic of a service organization? How do

both areas relate to the marketing of Kindle and

Kindle-related products?

2.

Describe the role of technology in both Amazon’s

manufacturing and service operations.

3.

Discuss the nature of Amazon’s supply chain in

terms of control, purchasing management, and

inventory management. At what points in the supply

chain does Amazon outsource or contract activities

to outside parties? How does Amazon’s supply chain

management affect its revenues and costs?

Chapter 15: Managing Operations, Quality, and Productivity

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4.

Log on to Amazon.com and select an item that

comes from Amazon itself rather than from a

drop shipper. What kinds of purchasing decisions

were necessary to make this product available at

Amazon’s price? What kinds of inventory-control

decisions were necessary?

5.

What facets of Amazon’s operations allow it to

create and control quality, both as a manufactur-

ing organization and as a service organization?

What facets of its operations allow Amazon to

control productivity (again, both as a manufactur-

ing organization and as a service organization)?

Give two or three examples of ways in which

Amazon’s

operations

contribute

to

high

productivity.

Case References

Mark Brohan, “Amazon Sales and Profits Boom in

2010,” Internet Retailer, www.internetretailer.com,

accessed on January 2, 2014; Robert Hof, “Amazon’s

Brighter Horizon?” BusinessWeek, April 26, 2006,

www.businessweek.com, accessed on January 2,

2014; Jeff Cogswell, “Amazon Simple DB a Solid

Choice for Simple Web-Based Data Storage,”

eweek, www.eweek.com, accessed on January 2,

2014; Steven Levy, “The Future of Reading,” News-

week, November 26, 2007, www.newsweek.com,

accessed on January 2, 2014; Amy Martinez,

“Amazon Says Kindle Sales Top Its ‘Most Optimistic’

Projections,” Seattle Times, April 17, 2009, http://

seattletimes.com/html/home/index.html, accessed on

January 2, 2014; Joseph Galante and Peter Burrows,

“Amazon.com Kindle Sales Are Said to Exceed

Estimates,” Bloomberg, August17, 2012, www.bloom

berg.com, accessed on January 2, 2014; and Claire

Cain Miller, “E-Books Top Hardcovers at Amazon,”

New York Times, July 19, 2010, www.nytimes.com,

accessed on January 2, 2014.