The Amazon Paradox: Balancing Competitive Success and Employee Dissatisfaction

Introduction

The current business environments demand organisations to focus on strategies of both gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage. Although realising competitiveness for global organisations appears challenging, a number of organisations have managed to utilise technologies to gain competitiveness. This essay focuses on a BBC News article, “Amazon Workers Launch Protests on Prime Day,” to capture the contradictions in the success of Amazon as the largest online platform and the leading US online retailer. The article explains the dissatisfaction of thousands of Amazon employees in aspects of both compensation and the working conditions, who chose to protest during the organisation’s largest annual sale period to air their complaints. Therefore, the essay will focus on the complex issues of employee dissatisfaction in relation to globalisation, technology, and conflict and collaboration. It will examine the contribution of suppliers and stakeholders in positioning Amazon as the global market leader. It will also evaluate the use of technology to promote Amazon services, enhance customer experience, and evaluate the performance of employees. Lastly, the essay will examine the conflict resulting from technology used for employee monitoring, its contribution to their dissatisfaction, and measures that could be implemented to promote collaboration between Amazon and its employees.

Globalisation; Amazon in Global Market and Tax

Scholars describe globalisation as market integration at international levels contributing to international economies interconnectedness (Potrafke, 2015). The term has gained significance in varying disciplines with the increased association to factors of free trade, communication, technology, and transportation. For example, the factors of communication, technology, and transportation have been significant in promoting free trade. With efficient transportation methods, the world has become increasingly interconnected allowing business organizations to penetrate international and multinational markets easily. Globalisation has enabled the formulation of trade agreements that allow international organisations to invest abroad. Amazon’s investment around the globe was influenced by the existence of favourable trade agreements between the United States and other nations.

Further, the development of technological innovations that favour easier communication has advanced free trade more so the online markets (Potrafke, 2015). Globalisation has eased the capabilities for companies to undertake business in different global regions without necessarily having to make direct investments. Evidently, investing in global markets poses significant challenges for global organisations that are contributed by trade policies in some markets. However, with globalisation, companies have learnt to appreciate the idea of utilizing suppliers or even partnering with other organizations for business. For example, Amazon has managed to penetrate markets in Western nations and around the globe through the use of suppliers and using other organizations to sell its products.

The company became the most valuable organization around the globe in January 2019 after recording about $12.4 billion operating profits in 2018 (Wells et al., 2019). The success could be largely associated with high sales, which are an outcome of effective consumer services leading to satisfaction, as well as a huge market base. Basically, Amazon runs the Amazon Marketplace allowing other stores to offer their clients products (Winn, 2016). For example, an electronic store could sell its products as a retailer at the Amazon Marketplace without having to supply to Amazon for purposes of reselling. According to Winn (2016), Amazon has managed to realize success in becoming a leading online platform through ensuring the satisfaction of its customers.

Globally, the aspect of consumer satisfaction plays a significant role in enabling business organisations to realise and maintain business success. The satisfaction of customers through effective service delivery is linked to improved sales as it influences positive consumer behaviours such as brand loyalty. When an organization manages to promote the satisfaction of its customers through improved service delivery, customers gain loyalty to the brand, which further translates to increased sales (Su, and Tong, 2016). Amazon has managed to set up effective logistic systems for its products around the globe and offers logistical support for the satisfaction of the clients. Amazon’s logistical support is associated with factors that include efficient payment processing, order fulfilment, web hosting services, as well as delivery services, which apply to the Amazon Marketplace Sellers as well (Winn, 2016). The organization’s focus on the satisfaction of consumers is rolled to the suppliers as well as retailers that sell their products at Amazon and other stakeholders (Winn, 2016). The organisation’s ability to promote positive relations with the customers has been effective as Amazon managed to triumph other global companies in value. Focusing on customer satisfaction has created a form of assurance among Amazon clients who worry little about the local consumer protection policies since Amazon has managed to create a reputation of fair consumer treatment (Winn, 2016).

Amazon’s interest in penetrating other regions has been enabled by the organization’s ability to embrace technology. Technology has played a crucial role in enabling Amazon to maintain a competitive advantage more so through promoting service delivery. Currently, consumers around the world have appreciated e-commerce, which is favoured by increased internet accessibility, together with the availability of computerized gadgets (Ristovska, and Ristovska, 2014). For example, with the existence of tracking systems, Amazon has managed to liaise with logistic teams to ensure that clients receive their products in time and in good condition. Even as Amazon records significant profits and satisfaction expressions are documented from the customers and stakeholders, the employees and suppliers argue negative views of dissatisfaction (Wells et al., 2019). For example, Amazons tend to dictate the price of commodities by evaluating certain factors of the supply chain, which fails to incorporate the suppliers' demands contributing to losses.

Although neo-liberalism favoured Amazon’s success at global levels, the unrestricted growth, coupled with the initial lack of taxes for online business, destroyed traditional businesses significantly. Amazon’s improved position at the global markets over the competing firms has been enhanced by the lack of tax sales for products sold in online platforms (Baugh, Ben‐David, and Park, 2018). The tax advantage has played a significant role in enabling organizations like Amazon to sell at lower costs, which have played a role in pushing away local retailers out of business. As states incurred losses over the tax evasion while online retailers made huge profits, states pushed Amazon to ensure the collection of tax sales at checkout, thus the creation of Amazon Tax laws (Baugh, Ben‐David, and Park, 2018). The laws take the Amazon title since it was the primary target, and of all the online retailers, Amazon was largely affected as it dominates the market.

Moreover, globalisation attracts environmental impacts relating to emission and solid waste that has, for the past decades, attracted significant concerns. For example, Amazon utilises the Prime Day sale to send clients millions of packages around the globe, creating some hidden environmental costs related to both solid waste and emissions (Nguyen, 2018). During the specific day that runs for 36hours, the organization expedites its shipping process due to the higher number of purchases. To ensure that the products are delivered within time, there is limited time for consolidating packages, and Amazon is therefore forced to send different packages which increase the demand for delivery vehicles meaning increased environmental pollution from emissions. Further, increased packaging increases the number of wastes that have been linked to increasing air pollutants, cardboards in landfills, and congestion within the cities (Nguyen, 2018).

Technology

Technology plays a significant role in supporting the growth of business organisations and the promotion of competitive sustainability around the world. The challenging business environments characterized by increasing competition and highly changing trends require organizations to develop strategies for ensuring long-term success sustainability. The globalisation hyperglobalists aspect has been evidenced in technology appreciation, given its significant use to promote world interconnectedness. Amazon is among the organizations that have appreciated technology to promote business competitiveness. According to Smith, Rupp, and Offodile (2017), Amazon utilizes technology in different aspects to meet its intentions of evaluating and developing solutions to existing problems as well as increase customer satisfaction. The efforts have seen Amazon focus on the continuous website improvement for both monitoring the website visit rates and undertaking the necessary modifications.

At Amazon, technology has been a crucial tool for promoting service delivery through options that include effective customer tracking (Smith, Rupp, and Offodile, 2017). Amazons have largely invested in ensuring the collection of customer data after one visit to the company’s web pages. The company utilises the information to direct the potential client to the product they have shown interest in or a related product. The idea of utilizing customer data to send them products depending on availability enhances service delivery by minimizing the need for consumers having to search for products. According to Smith, Rupp, and Offodile (2017), Amazon sends customers products if they are searching for the product if specific products relate or is what the person has searched previously, or when a product is purchased by a high number of customers who had searched a similar product. Nevertheless, concerns relating to customer data collection have presented, especially in the wake of globalisation, where security threats relating to identity theft and fraud continue to increase (Hussain et al., 2017). Customers are worried about the security of their data and whether Amazon has control over the data, which is realised through encryption technologies.

Equally, Amazon has been utilizing its video streaming service identified as Amazon Prime Video that enables the organisation to offer its customers a chance to access thousands of videos (Robertson and Riley, 2018). The service available for its members allows those eligible for Prime membership to access more without incurring extra costs. This offers the members eligible for prime membership, an advantage that keeps them committed to the Amazon brand, and due to the associated satisfaction, most of them offer positive reviews that promote the creation of a positive brand image. The use of the technology for the purpose of offering Amazon existing/ upcoming customers an entertainment platform meets their entertainment needs giving them a chance to retain engagement with the company. Further, the use of Amazon Prime Video offers the company a chance to penetrate other markets other than the retail industry alone. The technological success has proven the efficiency of Amazon in utilizing technology for business competitiveness.

Scholars continue to emphasize the need for utilizing customer satisfaction as a tool for sale increment, which further translated to improved corporate performance (Castelli et al., 2017). For organizations like Amazon, who focus more on online businesses, the satisfaction of its customers is a significant success indicator. At Amazon, technology use has played a significant role in setting the Amazon Prime day that offers the prime members a chance to purchase products at discounted prices on the specific 36 hours (Nguyen, 2018). The company offers non-prime members free subscription trials to enable them to enjoy similar discounts on purchases. Although Amazon faced different challenges such as limited technology availability while penetrating the global markets, especially within the West, where it is well established, current advances continue to favour its operations to other regions. Technology innovation has favoured the organisation ability to penetrate different markets around the globe.

More so, Amazon has managed to utilize technology as a tool for managing and monitoring their employees. Workers play a significant role in enabling organizations to promote positive customer experiences. Although organisations invest in significant options such as the training of employees to increase their expertise in customer handling, some organisations face difficulties, especially when the management of employees in implementing the learned skills proves challenging (Gloor et al., 2017). In extremes, companies could incur if the workers are unable to meet the customer demands resulting in reduced competitiveness. As a result, Amazon has resolved to the utilisation of the tracking wristband technology to monitor the performance of their workers (Nair, 2019). The technology plays a significant role in ensuring that Amazon workers remain productive and help in achieving the company objectives.

Although Nair (2019) acknowledges that tracking wristband technology has played a significant role in promoting improved employee performance thus facilitating the achievement of company objectives, the technology has received significant criticism. According to Nair (2019), Self-Trucking Technology (STT) utilized by Amazon poses significant threats to humans. The technology that includes the wearables given to employees tends to reconfigure the human body to data, which could affect the autonomy and personhood of individuals. Some scholars argue that the utilisation of the STT could present ethical issues in enforcing the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) (GDPR) (Nair, 2019). Nair (2019) advises on the need for business organizations to focus on utilizing technology for employee monitoring to consider ethical issues. The issue of human monitoring technology to monitor the performance of workers at Amazon has created a conflict of employee dissatisfaction with workers complaining about poor pay and mistreatment.

Conflict and Collaboration

Despite Amazon’s global success, there is evidence that its employees are dissatisfied (BBC News, 2019). The BBC article reports protests or stoppages organized by workers in the US, UK, and Germany to push for reliable and safe employment. Amazon utilises technologies that monitor the performance of employees with targets of ensuring that each picks 332 items per hour while working for 10 hours with workers arguing it contributes to mental and physical injuries. Even as companies focus like Amazon focuses on developing robots to boost the performance specific duties, robot technologies threaten employment for thousands of employees (Ford, 2016). Further, an article focusing on Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices confirms that disposable and cheap workforce exists in temporary agency workers, and they are required to work intensively but increases cases of labour coercion (Briken and Taylor, 2018).

Another conflict sets in regard are as a result of employees being deprived of their wages of the Prime Day sale that offers customers more discounts increasing purchases (BBC News, 2019). As the purchases increase, the employees are expected to increase their working speeds to meet the new demands and face serious consequences in case of failure to meet the standards. According to the BBC News article, the UK compensation rates appear to be relatively high at £9.50 hourly, the employees like those in Germany and the USA are demanding better treatment (BBC News, 2019). The idea to target Prime Week seeks to motivate the customers purchasing through the discounts to appeal to Amazon for equal and respectful treatment of employees. The article highlights that “We're not calling for economic damage for Amazon," he said. "What we're asking for is for people to be aware. Leave feedback on Amazon” (BBC News, 2019). Unfortunately, Amazon appears to have failed to keep its employees who are crucial in maintaining smooth operations and drive the company’s success. Amazon workers are positive that the organization would meet their demands to promote positive customer and employee satisfaction after they complain about poor treatment.

Labour standards are also illuminated by Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) based on crowd sourced digital labour services (Bergvall‐Kåreborn, and Howcroft, 2014). Like other crowd labour sourcing platforms, the need to earn an income push people to accept work that lacks national labour standards or statutory minimum pay, collective wage agreements, unionisation, and collective bargaining. As such, it is agreed that MTurk is a platform seeking to allow companies to reach digital labour to undertake tasks at reduced prices without accompanying moral obligation or social protection (Bergvall‐Kåreborn, and Howcroft, 2014).

Legacies have influenced global labour sourcing at Amazon in countries like Welsh, coupled with high unemployment rates (Briken, and Taylor, 2018). Amazon’s technology appreciation through aspects that include the MTurk platform has managed to overcome the issue that complicates employment. Nevertheless, the Amazon has been accused of coercion labour contributed by the focus on markets struggling with de-industrialisation, “where segmented labour sub-markets appear to operate and the backdrop is uncertainty regarding some existing permanent, full-time employment” (Briken, and Taylor, 2018, p. 442). Employees from such regions feel coerced to uptake positions due to the need for earning a living, although Amazon disregards crucial factors of employment. The coercion of employees explains the idea behind workers feeling exploited as a result of globalisation more so among those who are evaluating globalisation from a transformationalists perspective (Hirst, & Thompson, 1999).

Synthesis / Discussion

Amazon has managed to penetrate the global markets creating notable business success through high technology innovations. The success could be largely linked to its ability to invest in the future through the promotion of research and development initiatives that contribute to innovativeness (Smith and Linden, 2017). Nevertheless, as the organization seeks to sustain its global market position, the developed technologies pose concerns relating to data security, especially in relation to cloud data computing. Continuously, the organization has been forced to deal with issues of legal and environmental accountability due to tax evasion and environmental pollution concerns, respectively. Amazon focuses on using technology to develop solutions to the issues and to focus on promoting consumer satisfaction. However, as Amazon continues to invest in promoting the satisfaction of the customers through technology in global markets, different key stakeholders, including suppliers and employees, are dissatisfied. The dissatisfaction of workers has gained media attention as a result of protests and stoppages in Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom during the organizations Prime Day sales week.

Conclusion

Business environments are changing continuously, demanding organizations the need to adopt strategies to promote gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage (Meyer, 2017). Meyer highlights that the changes have been largely contributed by globalisation, technology advances, and increased customer awareness, demanding organizations to promote responsibility. Amazon, a leading online retailer, managed to appreciate technology to sell in different countries at a cost advantage contributed by the lack of online market taxation allowing notable success. Although the organization struggled while penetrating the global market due to limited technology that only favoured the development of physical stores, globalisation has favoured the development of technologies that create online stores that favour Amazon growth coupled with efficiency in both communication and transportation. Amazon continues to utilize the technologies to boost service delivery and gain profitability from cost reductions gained from large-scale shipments. Nevertheless, the organisation faces different legal commitments due to tax evasion in online sales leading to the development of Amazon laws governing the taxation of e-commerce.

Again, even Amazon continues to thrive through its Prime technology; people are expressing concerns in the hidden environmental costs, especially contributed by expeditated shipping on Prime Day sales. The costs related to environmental pollution from increased solid waste from packages and pollution from the vehicles transporting the shipments. While employees play a significant role in contributing to offering improved services to customers, those working in Amazon are complaining. The employees are urging Amazon to treat them as humans highlighting that the monitoring technology used to evaluate their performance has turned them into artificial robots (BBC News, 2019). Highlighting the mental and physical injuries contributed by the working condition, Amazon workers seek to utilize the Prime Sale Week to highlight their issues through work stoppages and protests in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.

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