Amazon.com  (D)

Jeffrey F. Rayport; Dickson  Louie; William A. Sahlman

Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2001 (Revised November 2009)

Amazon.com (D)

by Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dickson Louie and William A. Sahlman

Abstract

At the end of 1999, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos--just named Time Magazine's Man of the Year--ponders the next moves for his company. Having expanded into numerous categories in 1999, ranging from Z-shops to Auctions to E-cards as well as increasing the number of distribution sites to seven, Amazon.com is quickly transforming itself as an electronic retailer. But does Amazon.com's strategy make sense? Critics worry that Bezos may be stretching the Amazon.com brand too far instead of focusing on a few retail categories. Bezos sees the opportunity to dominate various retail categories online--leveraging off its base of 16.9 million customers--before the brick-and-mortar retailers do.

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Online Technology; Retail Industry;

Format: Print

12 pages

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Citation:

Rayport, Jeffrey F., Dickson Louie, and William A. Sahlman. "Amazon.com (D)." Harvard Business School Case 901-022, February 2001. (Revised November 2009.)

Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2018 (Revised September 2019)

Chewy.com (A)

Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

In late 2013, Ryan Cohen, cofounder and CEO of online pet products retailer Chewy.com, faces a “bet the company decision”—whether to stay with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) for all of its e-commerce fulfillment or to take the function in house. Cohen worries that the existing 3PL may not be able to scale with Chewy’s projected growth or maintain the company’s performance standards for service quality and fulfillment. While Cohen is convinced that achieving scale is essential to making the business work, he is also keenly aware that neither he nor his cofounders have any experience in managing logistics. In addition, any move they might make to in-source fulfillment would likely destabilize the existing 3PL relationship, on which the viability of the fast-growing business depends. Cohen’s board members are concerned enough about the situation to pressure him to throttle back growth and maintain the 3PL. Cohen sees four possible options: stay with the current 3PL, add another 3PL to handle additional volume, stay with the 3PL and add a company-owned fulfillment center in a new region, or fully insource fulfilment as quickly as possible. In light of Cohen’s goal of reaching $500 million in sales by 2018, the board is divided about what to do, and the CEO is left with what appears to be a choice between two risky options as he attempts to move Chewy forward.

Keywords: Pet Food; Pet Products; retail; e-commerce; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Florida; United States;

Citation:

Rayport, Jeffrey F., and Matthew G. Preble. "Chewy.com (A)." Harvard Business School Case 818-079, March 2018. (Revised September 2019.) View Details

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Amazon.com (D)

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