12:34 4 MBA 638 Case Study 4: AmazonFresh: Rekindling the Online Grocery Market Note: This is a group assignment. You should write one report per group which should not exceed seven pages (excluding any appendix/reference pages). Make sure you write the names of your group members. Your written report is due on November 22th and one group member should upload it on Blackboard before class. Please use the following questions as a guideline to structure your analysis of the case and prepare your report (single-space, 12 pt) You are expected to write one full report instead of using question-answer format. As detailed out in the syllabus (posted on Blackboard), you can purchase the case (HBR Article; Product # 615013 PDF-ENG) directly from the website of Harvard Business School Publishing where a coursepack has been created (at https://hbsp.harvard.edu/import/984419) be accessed after registering. 1. What is your assessment of online grocery opportunity? In your view, is this a "good bet"? 2. Why haven't others been able to successfully enter this market? (e.g. Webvan) 3. What is different this time around and what makes Amazon think they can pull this off? 4. What are the key operational challenges in online grocery? What do you think is meant by "the number of possible routes tops the number of atoms in known universe"? (p.6. of the case). Can you relate this comment to well-known "traveling salesman problem" and explain using examples? Why is this even harder for AmazonFresh considering the nature of their business? 5. How would you characterize Amazon's learning process? What are the most important things they have learnt and how did they revise their business as a result of these learnings? 6. How would you compare AmazonFresh's operating model to Instacart's? 7. Should they continue to refine the model in Seattle or should they expand to a second city (either L.A. or NYC)? -xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com