1. Explain the impact of Jeff Bezos being the leader of Amazon since its beginning. How does this compare to organizations that change their CEOs during times of challenge?
2. Discuss the role of experimentation and learning from failure in Amazon's approach to organizational change. Research and develop another example of where an organization has learned from failure and ultimately succeeded.
3. Discuss how the acquisition of Whole Foods helped Amazon executives learn how to disrupt the grocery industry. In your opinion, will they succeed in the retail grocery market? Why or why not?
4. In addition to an obsession with the customer, what are the other keys to Amazon's success in implementing organizational change?

industries. If there is one guiding principle at Amazon, it is that the customer is always first. Lessons from Amazon's successful change manage- ment include the following: CEO Bezos uses symbolic acts to reinforce customer obsession, such as the famous "empty chair." Bezos . Innovation fuels success, especially in today's leaves one seat open at a conference table to inform all digital economy. attendees that they should consider that seat occupied . Speed is the ultimate weapon. by their customer, "the most important person in the room." Ultimately, these symbolic gestures are highly Those who resist organizational change can calculated and often repeated in messages created to easily get left behind. reinforce Amazon's leadership principles. Discussion Questions 1. Explain the impact of Jeff Bezos being the leader 3. Discuss how the acquisition of Whole Foods of Amazon since its beginning. How does this helped Amazon executives learn how to disrupt compare to organizations that change their the grocery industry. In your opinion, will they CEOs during times of challenge? succeed in the retail grocery market? Why or why not? 2. Discuss the role of experimentation and learning from failure in Amazon's approach to 4. In addition to an obsession with the customer, organizational change. Research and develop what are the other keys to Amazon's success in another example of where an organization has implementing organizational change? learned from failure and ultimately succeeded. Sources: Denning, S. (2019). How Amazon became agile. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2019/06/02/how- amazon-became-agile/#73e8223d31aa; Smith, C. (2019). Amazon: The ultimate change management case study. https:// change.walkme.com/change-management-case-study/; Sources: Son, S. (2017). 5 case studies about successful change management. https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/sk-case-studies-successful-change-management; Rosoff, M. (2019). Amazon will be the most important company of the 2020s. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/amazon-will-be-the-most-important- company-of-the-2020s.htmlCASE STUDY 15.1: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AT AMAZON Amazon has reinvented itself again and again and free 2-day delivery. Changes continue as Amazon thrived on organizational change. Since the company explores delivering packages by drones in 30 min- went online in 1995, the e-commerce giant has evolved utes or less. Amazon's logistics and shipping opera- under the leadership of one person-Jeff Bezos. When tions have become almost impenetrable moats that Amazon Web Services (AWS) started out, most inves- few other companies will ever have the resources or tors didn't take it seriously. However, 10 years later, it ability to match, and the company said in April 2019 was the largest cloud retailer in the world. It now has it was spending $800 million in a single quarter to more capacity than its nearest 14 competitors com- offer free 1-day delivery for all Prime customers in bined, but this shouldn't come as a surprise. the United States. When the company first launched its website, all it Regarding hardware, Amazon learned from a failed sold was books. Amazon was viewed as being like phone launch (the Fire Phone) in 2014. They piv- eBay or Craigslist-a website you went to for a spe- oted and released an entirely new gadget: the home cific purpose. It wasn't a daily habit like using Goo- assistant. Alexa was fully developed, turning Apple's gle or Instagram. Gradually, they expanded Amazon's Siri into a legacy technology and leaving Google- offerings to include CDs and DVDs. Kindle was one the self-proclaimed artificial intelligence experts- of Amazon's biggest innovations. This revolutionized playing catch-up. the book publishing industry and changed how books are read, sold, and distributed. Some estimates have Amazon now produces its own video, television placed Kindle e-book revenue at over half a billion series, and films, winning three Academy Awards in dollars per year. But Amazon never really stopped 2017. After acquiring Whole Foods, Amazon began changing. making changes to the grocery store chain, include ing price cuts, adding Amazon products, integrating The products offered on the website expanded and Whole Foods and Amazon Prime, and restructure new products emerged, and the company now sells ing. Other programs include food delivery from over 200 million products to customers all over Whole Foods, rewards for customers using Ama- the world. Amazon has a market valuation of more zon credit cards, and discounts for Prime members. than $440 billion. It has become the second-larg They seek to further disrupt and dominate retail est employer in the United States, with more than 750,000 full-time employees, mostly in its fulfillment grocery stores with Amazon Go, which is a physical centers and warehouses, up from less than 34,000 at grocery store with no checkout lines, no hassles, and high convenience. the end of 2010. Amazon drastically changed product delivery and Amazon's defining trait has been its willingness to automation in their warehouses. For instance, cus- change. What started as an online bookstore has tomers with Amazon Prime memberships can enjoy become a multi-industry giant. Amazon dominates non-innovative competitors and changed several 430 SECTION V . LEADERS AS CHANGE AGENTS