With reference to one or more organizations that you have studied, discuss the

importance of ethical strategies when working with different stakeholders.

Amazon Inc. is an extremely well-known multinational corporation that operates in

the e-commerce industry. Arguably one of the largest online shopping giants, Amazon’s rise

to power is something that is envied by smaller firms. However, Amazon has received

backlash regarding its ethical practices which possibly impacts how they operate with

different stakeholder groups. Ethical strategies refer to the moral implications that are

considered when making business decisions. Stakeholders refer to any group of individuals

that are interested in a business and therefore may be affected by any of their decisions.

One of Amazon’s ethically questionable strategies is growth through the domination

of the retail sector. This growth strategy involves the exploitation of the dependence of other

small retailers that need to work with Amazon’s platform and then undermine them as rivals.

As Amazon is capable of capitalizing consumer convenience, they are able to win market

share over other smaller firms, thus completely eliminating competition. This growth strategy

can be referred to as market penetration which allows Amazon to effectively incorporate it

without bearing much risk. This brings about positive and negative impacts towards

Amazon’s major stakeholders as consumers benefit from the convenience of purchasing

products off of Amazon, but other smaller firms do not as they are unable to compete at all.

Secondly, Amazon’s work environment is another example of a practice that many

may consider to be unethical. This practice involves mistreatment of white- and blue-collar

workers that include forcing them to work overtime, extremely low wages, and lack of

enough breaks (to the point where the employees are too afraid to go to the toilet). As these

practices are unethical, the staff who work at these environments will experience decreased

motivation and morale, thus promoting ethical practices. However, consumers often overlook

this and prioritize the convenience, which benefits Amazon as they are able to continue with
these practices. These practices may benefit Amazon in the short term, but maybe not in the

long term as they will eventually lose too many employees.

Thirdly, Amazon’s claim regarding their value towards consumers says one thing, but

their pricing algorithm says another. Amazon has a pricing algorithm that convinces

consumers to purchase goods on their websites that costs significantly more than their

alternatives without making them realize it. This practice is unethical as they are exploiting

consumers in a way that not only negatively impacts them but other competing firms as well.

Although this may benefit Amazon’s sales in the short run, it may pose to be a long run threat

that may prompt Amazon to practice ethical strategies. Currently, Amazon’s pricing

algorithm favors the stakeholders who profit off of them but not their other stakeholders such

as consumers and competing firms.

In conclusion, Amazon’s unethical practices promotes the importance of ethical

strategies as although they are able to implement the former effectively in the short run, long

term conflict between different stakeholders will arise if nothing changes. Other firms can

avoid this issue by practicing ethical strategies in the first place.

Using an organization that you’ve studied, discuss the impact of changing innovation

upon growth and evolution.

Nintendo is a large multinational corporation that is most commonly known for its

operations in the video game industry. As Nintendo’s primary consumers are video gamers,

they must be consistent with innovative products in order to further grow as a company and

maintain their audience. Change refers to a business’ method of adapting to competition, new

technology or change in consumer trends by adjusting their objectives, strategies and

operations. Innovation refers to radical improvements towards business ideas or products as a

result of internal or external influence. Nintendo’s changing innovation is staple towards their

growth as they must constantly adapt to changes in consumer trends.

 The first example of Nintendo’s attempt on changing innovation was the invention of

the Nintendo Switch. The Switch was Nintendo’s attempt on combining portable gaming

systems with video game consoles to create a two-in-one. This resulted in the invention of

one of the most innovative gaming consoles as Nintendo was able to adapt to changing

consumer demands due to the growing popularity of both handhelds and consoles. The

invention of the Switch can be identified as Nintendo’s way of diversifying in order to grow

as this was a completely new product in a new market of mixed gaming platforms. Although

this had very many risks, Nintendo reaped many rewards from it due to its major success,

thus resulting in the growth and expansion of the business. The stakeholders that were

affected from this business decision were the consumers who had trouble deciding between

handhelds and consoles as Nintendo provided a solution to them.

Nintendo further innovated on the Switch by inventing the Switch Lite. The Switch

Lite was essentially a Nintendo Switch with a few of its features stripped off in order to lower

the price and cater towards a lower-income audience. This strategy can be identified in the

Ansoff matrix as product development as Nintendo capitalized on the already successful

Switch and altered it a bit to cater towards a different audience. Nintendo also utilized

technical economies by using specialized technologies that were already present for the

original Switch to produce the Switch Lite, thus experiencing increasing returns to scale.

Ultimately, this cut a lot of costs for Nintendo which allowed the company to grow.

However, there is a risk that Nintendo will experience diseconomies of scale if Nintendo

continues to mass produce the Switch Lite and expand even further. Consumers who are of

lower-income levels benefit from this innovation as they are able to purchase a cheaper

product while still experiencing many of its crucial features.

Finally, a service that was innovated by Nintendo was the online service where

consumers were able to purchase games that would be saved on their device rather than
actual physical copies. Their intention was to make consumers pay in order for them to

access online features. Nintendo made use of risk-bearing economies which was a highly

risk-free strategy as consumers who purchase their physical devices such as the Switch will

tend to purchase this online service as well. This negatively impacts consumers as they have

to pay an extra $20 per year which may lead to conflict between consumers and the board of

directors.

Even for a company as big as Nintendo, innovation that diversifies the market is an

extremely risky but often necessary move to make in order for a firm to grow and evolve. In

the short run, changing innovation may not have a positive impact towards growth and

evolution as customers may not get used to new products. However, in the long run, growth

and evolution of a business may prosper due to the rewards reaped by the risk that has been

taken through changing innovation, which is evident through the invention of the Nintendo

Switch.