• Can any firm beat Amazon in the marketplace? If not, why not? If so, how can they best do so? How formidable a competitor is Google for Amazon? What are Amazon's major strengths? Does it have any weaknesses? Is Jet.com a potential concern for Amazon? Why or why not?
• Given the importance of understanding the external environment, why do some firms fail to do so? Provide examples of firms that did not understand their external environment. What were the implications of the firm's failure to understand that environment?