Strategic Responses to the Emergence of the Internet: A Case Study of Jeff Bezos

Discussion

Strategic response is the collective group of actions and decisions that contribute to the implementation and formalization of plans aiming to fulfil the objectives of a firm (Lin et al. 20128). The following paper briefly examines the possible strategic responses which could have been undertaken personally, from the perspective of Jeff Bezos when the internet was emerging as a profitable business prospective.

From a personal perspective, a possible strategic response would be to keep researching on the internet opportunity on a part time basis while simultaneously ensuring existing business functioning – in this case, Jeff Bezos being a VP at a hedge fund. This can be done in the form of implementing a scenario analysis. It is a practice of evaluating the limitations and strengths of organizational decisions and establishes a base scenario which draws existing future assumptions about the target business environment. In the case of Jeff Bezos, a strategic response can be taken in the form of assuming a best case and a worst case scenario – that is, the possible consequences which can occur if the internet opportunity is profitable or wasteful for his venture respectively (Culot et al. 2020; Quiceno et al. 2019).

One of the key ways by which entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos can implement a scenario analysis is by performing a what if analysis. This will comprise of Bezos identifying all the variables which are likely to occur if he utilizes the internet for business following by running a what-if analysis to calculate possible best and worst case scenarios respectively. However, in order to undertake an effective scenario analysis, it is also important that entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos examine the targeted stakeholders – that is, the consumer demographic as well as their possible needs and expectations which have to be examined, for the purpose of ensuring that an internet venture is successful (Yu et al. 2019; Quiceno et al. 2019). For effective scenario planning, entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos must also research part time on the possible competitors and the risks associated with the target market environment respectively. For example, this can include competitors who have already established or are planning to establish an online business venture as well as the possible limitations underlying the development of an internet business – such as infrastructural costs and data security and storage systems respectively (Quiceno et al. 2019). In addition to external market factors – research on new business ventures pertaining to the internet must also be accompanied by reviewing the internal resources of the organization respectively. This can comprise of Bezos reviewing whether he and his business team have the internal human, knowledge, financial and infrastructural resources to develop a venture using the internet respectively (Robinson and Simmons 2018).

Conclusion

Strategic response and scenario analysis techniques and prevalent ways by which, entrepreneurs examine their target market and possible risk factors which can hinder their business. In conclusion, engaging in greater research and scenario analysis of the business environment – as focused upon by this paper – are useful strategic responses by which, a firm can prepare themselves for expansion or establishment of new ventures.

References

Culot, G., Orzes, G., Sartor, M. and Nassimbeni, G., 2020. The future of manufacturing: A Delphi-based scenario analysis on Industry 4.0. Technological forecasting and social change, 157, p.120092.

Lin, D., Lee, C.K., Lau, H. and Yang, Y., 2018. Strategic response to Industry 4.0: an empirical investigation on the Chinese automotive industry. Industrial Management & Data Systems.

Quiceno, G., Álvarez, C., Ávila, R., Fernández, Ó., Franco, C.J., Kunc, M. and Dyner, I., 2019. Scenario analysis for strategy design: A case study of the Colombian electricity industry. Energy Strategy Reviews, 23, pp.57-68.

Robinson, C.V. and Simmons, J.E., 2018. Organising environmental scanning: exploring information source, mode and the impact of firm size. Long Range Planning, 51(4), pp.526-539.

Yu, W., Chavez, R., Jacobs, M., Wong, C.Y. and Yuan, C., 2019. Environmental scanning, supply chain integration, responsiveness, and operational performance: An integrative framework from an organizational information processing theory perspective. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.