Introduction and Case Summary
The pandemic has affected all businesses and industries in a most drastic way, causing a significant number of companies to exit the global market or close altogether. However, some firms managed to overcome the crisis, Amazon and eBay being among the companies that defeated the pandemic (Mahmud, 2021). Although the outcome was largely positive for both companies, the strategies that Amazon and eBay adopted in order to approach the pandemic-related challenges of the global market were drastically different. By using its online order framework and its immediate updates to the SCM process as a leverage in the pandemic-ridden market, Amazon managed to thrive in the pandemic era, which contracts with eBay’s approach based primarily on streamlining its internal technological processes.
Case Details
Reviewing the case at hand closer will show that the levels of preparedness toward the crisis of the COVID-19 were quite different at Amazon and at eBay. Specifically, despite both operating in the digital context already, eBay required an immediate update in order to respond to the challenges that the pandemic suggested.
Stakeholder Overview
Both companies have a similar range of stakeholders whose needs they had to take into account when shifting into the global market. Specifically the companies must address the needs of the global community by promoting sustainability and counteracting the effects of COVID-19. Furthermore, both organizations need to address their customers’ needs by ensuring that the quality of services remain consistent. In addition, eBay and Amazon must satisfied needs of their stakeholders within the supply chain. Finally, the demands of the organization’s’ investors must be acknowledged and met.
Compare and Contrast
Comparing the approaches that eBay and Amazon applied in their efforts to adjust to the rapid changes in the global economy and the new conditions of the target market, one must mention the core similarity that connected both organizations from the very start. Although the nature and basic principles of the firms’ functioning in the selected environment were quite different, both companies were set to operate in the digital context and, therefore, were ready to meet the challenge of removing themselves from the environment of the physical market completely. Additionally, both organizations have been seeking to introduce an innovation-driven approach in order to make e-shopping more popular (Mahmud, 2021). Furthermore, both organizations have been seeking to explore several communication channels, even though the nature of their approaches to using them remains different. Finally, Information distribution and message control are seen as important at both Amazon and eBay despite evident discrepancies between the frameworks of each company. Therefore, there are certain points of contact in the approaches that eBay and Amazon utilized in their efforts to overcome the crisis and remain sustainable in the problematic environment of the present-day economy.
Multiple Channels
However, the specified similarities are some of the very few concepts that connect Amazon and eBay in their strategy toward managing changes in the evolving digital economy in the context of the COVID-19-related restrictions. In turn, the differences between the two are quite striking. Specifically, whereas Amazon has been technological advanced and boasted a superior IT framework, eBay required an update in its approach to managing its SCM-related processes digitally (Lei, 2021). Namely, the existing evidence points to the fact that eBay had to alter its approach drastically (Mahmud, 2021). However, unlike Amazon, which had a sufficient range of tools for navigating the global digital market and, therefore, did not undergo any drastic changes, eBay experienced a massive improvement in its digital framework, which led to a major update in its SCM approach (Lei, 2021). Specifically, the focus on traffic data analysis and the nuanced reimagining of the company’s marketing approach made it possible for eBay to update its services promptly, thus, quickly regaining relevance in the new economic environment (Lei, 2021). Therefore, the extent of change that each of the organizations experienced as the COVID-19 pandemic stroke and altered the global market should be counted as one of the core difference between the two organizations.
Distribution of Information
Another crucial difference between the companies concerns their communication strategy. Namely, eBay has recently launched several initiatives geared toward collaboration, which implies that the firm has been working toward building a new communication channel. Unlike eBay, Amazon has a readily developed communication framework that functions impeccably. Specifically, its rigid approach to conversing with its customers via the preset feedback form allows enhancing data management yet increases the distance between the company and its clients.
Message Control
The public relation issues experienced by each organization also represent a substantial point of difference between them. Specifically, Amazon’s PR approach is known for its emphasis on its prepay framework as the aim selling point (Baboolal-Frank, 2021). In turn, eBay uses a traditional PR framework based on the active us of social platforms for making essential announcements.
Collaboration with Media
Finally, in their approach to managing the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the companies applied strikingly different media collaboration frameworks. Amazon has been notorious for its poor HRM strategies, which, while having been altered to an extent, continue to represent the company’s focus on customers and cost-efficiency. Specifically, the fact that a significant number of Amazon employees died during the pandemic deserves to be mentioned as a sign of Amazon’s failure to safeguard its staff (Baboolal-Frank, 2021). To its credit, Amazon did not refuse from disclosing the specified issues, being quite cooperative with multiple media types (Baboolal-Frank, 2021). Unlike Amazon, eBay has been focusing on maximizing its PR efficacy by working on its HRM approach and leaving the media to cover the specified issues accordingly (Kim et al., 2020). Specifically operating in the context of comparative anonymity regarding the identities of its customers, as well as the rest of the participant of business relationships, eBay has managed to foster trust and collaboration in its organizational environment (Kim et al., 2020). Therefore, the approaches that the companies have been applying to the context of their PR represent core differences in their philosophies.
Conclusion
Though both eBay and Amazon have managed not only to survive the pandemic but also to benefit from the changes in the global trading processes that it entailed, their approaches were strikingly different, which has led to different outcomes for each company. Specifically, Amazon utilized its existing advantages by becoming an active player in the digital economy context, whereas eBay started updating its technological capacities in order to meet the new market demands. The specified frameworks, while being substantially different, allowed both organizations to remain efficient and, therefore, relevant in the context of the global pandemic. Therefore, the frameworks that both Amazon and eBay have been adopting are worth making an example of as exceptionally successful strategies.
References
Baboolal-Frank, R. (2021). Analysis of amazon: Customer centric approach. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 20, 1-16.
Kim, H. M., Oh, K. W., & Jung, H. J. (2020). Socialization on sustainable networks: The case of eBay Green’s Facebook. Sustainability, 12(8), 3476.
Lei, T. (2021). Comparative Move Analysis of Chinese and English Product Description on eBay. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 4(10), 124-136.
Mahmud, M. (2021). Case Comparison of Major Digital Business Platforms: Amazon, AliExpress and eBay. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCOMAT), 12(3), 5801-5808.