Amazons Acquisition Of Whole Foods

Running head: Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods 1

Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods

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AMAZON'S ACQUISITION OF WHOLE FOODS 2

Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods

Would Whole Foods Employees Still be Allowed to Function as a Family?

Whole Food organizational culture is centered on teams, participation, semi-formal

interactions and transparency (Rowland, 2017). The organizational culture enables the firm to

strengthen its human resource management and provide quality services. Amazon, on the contrary, is

reputed as a tough, relentless, unforgiving and hyper-competitive place of work (Wartzman, 2017).

Undoubtedly, Amazon being the acquirer, will emulate some competitive advantages from Whole

Foods but will be cautious to discard its own which have economic impacts like profitability to gain

on the former. Amazon will emphasize more on its capitalistic model and not social cohesion.

What Wild and Forward-Thinking Ways Could an Industry Leader Like Amazon use to Make

Their Store see Profits it had Never Imagined Possible?

Amazons are now primarily focusing on providing more of the services that make the lives of

their customers better and easier. One of the great ways that Amazon can profoundly maximize their

profits is by implementing wallet-less payment technology. Palm vein authentication identifies a

person using the unique pattern in their veins (Computer Business Review, 2017). Implementation of

this technology means the customers won’t be bothered by the painful and slow process of check out.

In grocery chains today, self-checkout is a lengthy process. Amazons competitors have this weakness

and thus, rectifying this weakness will attract many buyers to start buying in their stores. Technology

as asserted by Bilchy, creates operational efficiency (2014).

Whether the New Acquisition Would Allow Them to Remain Independent and if so Would the

Companies still Benefit from it?

AMAZON'S ACQUISITION OF WHOLE FOODS 3

The new acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon will be focused on expanding the e-

commerce business for fresh food. The acquisition will allow more comfortable coverage of at-home

market target. The partnership will bring an opportunity to maximize the value for the shareholders of

Whole Foods while at the same time extending its mission of delivering the highest experience,

quality, innovation and convenience to its customers. According to the CEO of Whole Food, Amazon

will not change its organizational culture. According to Edgar Schein organizations can’t adopt the

culture in a single day (2016). Organizational culture is formed in due course of time because the

employees have to undergo significant changes, solve problems and adapt to both internal and

external environment.

Both companies should consider the three levels of organizational culture, which include

artifacts, values and assumed values of each one of them to set a healthy culture which is fit for all

employees. Artifacts refer to the organizational processes and structures which are visual, and easily

discerned but have to be evaluated and understood. Values are the organizational conscious

philosophies, goals, and strategies. Assumed values are the unconscious assumption, perceptions,

feelings and thoughts which are taken for granted in a firm. Amazon is interested in acquiring Whole

Foods because they recognize and appreciate the value of people, their brand, and their unique style

(Schein, 2016).

There is a big chance that these two companies will benefit because their partnership will help

solve problems like the previous inability of Amazon to provide and manage fresh foods at a cheaper

cost and their lack of knowledge on how to operate grocery stores. Through important strategies like

wallet-less payments, growing grocery delivery business, focusing on exotic customer experiences, a

better keeping of customer data and optimizing on Whole Foods customers, the companies will be

AMAZON'S ACQUISITION OF WHOLE FOODS 4

able to maximize their profits. Organizational strategies should be in line with the organization's

culture.

Kim Cameroon and Robert Quinn derived a system inclusive of four types of a firm’s culture,

which are clan, market, adhocracy, and hierarchy (The Tipster, 2017). Clan culture employees live

like a family where they share much of their personal information. Tradition and loyalty hold the

company together. People see the leader as their mentor, and there is much importance attached to

morale and cohesion. In the adhocracy culture, people make their place of work to be creative and

dynamic. Leaders are seen as risk takers and innovators. The long-term goal of the company is based

on acquiring new resources and growth. The market culture is a type of culture where the

organization's primary focus is on getting the job done. Employees are goal-oriented and competitive,

and the leaders are seen as competitors. Finally, hierarchy culture, the place of work is made to be a

very well-structured and formalized place. The firm's long-term goal is performance and stability

with smooth and efficient operations. The analysis enables an organization to graph their current

position, where they want to be and appropriate strategies on how to reach there.

Amazon and Whole Food should use this competing values by Quinn and Cameroon to

enable them to understand their companies for better performance. By using this system, both

companies should come up with organizational culture assessment instrument comprising of the four

categories of culture. The questionnaire will help establish the dominant organizational

characteristics, the best leadership style to employ, how to manage their employees, strategic

emphasis and finally the criteria to use to achieve their set goals (Maximini, 2015).

AMAZON'S ACQUISITION OF WHOLE FOODS 5

AMAZON'S ACQUISITION OF WHOLE FOODS 6

References

Bilych, G. (2014). The Theory of Justice and Profit Maximization. The Theory of Justice and Profit

Maximization.

Computer Business Review. (2017, 12 3). Pay with your palm? Fujitsu develop biometric tech for

walletless payments. Retrieved from Computer Business Review:

www.cbronline.com/cybersecurity/business/pay-with-your-palm-fujitsu-develop-biometric-

tech-for-walletless-payments-5002568/

Maximini, D. (2015). The Scrum Culture: Introducing Agile Methods In Organizations. Cham:

Springer.

Rowland, C.. Whole Foods Market’s Organizational Culture Analysis. Retrieved from Panmore

Institute: http://panmore.com/whole-foods-market-organizational-culture-analysis, (2017, 12

Schein, E. H. ( 2016). Organization Culture and Leadership. John Wiley & Sons Inc.

The Tipster. 4 Types of Organizational Culture. Retrieved from ARTSFWD: www.artsfwd.org/4-

types-org-culture/ (2017, 12 3)

Wartzman, R. (2017). Amazon and Whole Foods Are Headed for a Culture Clash. Fortune.

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Amazons Acquisition of Whole Foods

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