Amazon Buys Whole Foods

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. PAGE LIMIT AND FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS – Your midterm assignment should
be a maximum of fourteen (14) typed pages including EVERYTHING (i.e. bibliography,
etc). The formatting allowed is as follows:
• Font size: 12 point
• Font style: Times Roman
• Line Spacing: 1.5
• Margins: 1 inch margins (or 2.54 cm margins)
• Other: On every page of your assignment you should note your name,
student # and page #. This can be done under “Headers and
Footers.” (No title page is required.)
2. CONTENT – Read the articles and answer all questions. Number each question. Answer
all four (4) questions separately in as much detail as possible. Extensive use and visible
reference to course theoretical content and case examples are expected and necessary
for a satisfactory grade. An introduction and conclusion, however, are not required in this
assignment. Just answer the questions, like a take-home exam.
3. WRITING STYLE – A formal writing style is expected. Spelling, grammar, punctuation,
sentence structure and writing style will be part of the evaluation of the assignment.
Point form is NOT acceptable.
4. ACADEMIC CITATION – Proper academic citation of sources is required when using
“another person’s ideas or writings as ones own”
5. External research for this Assignment is optional but not required.
TURNITIN is the tool you will be using to upload your Assignment into Moodle. Turnitin
is also used to detect plagiarism; that is, using ideas that are not your own and not
properly referenced. Students caught not referencing (i.e. plagiarizing) will receive a
mark of zero (0).
6. ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION AND DUE DATE – The mid-term assignment must be
submitted on-line in Turnitin in Moodle no later than Friday, February 6, 2018 by 10
a.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST). See below for submission method.
7. SUBMISSION METHOD – Please submit your assignment through Turnitin in Moodle
in Word file format. If your document file cannot be read, it will not be marked and will be
considered late, so please do not use alterative file types.
8. TECHNICAL ISSUES: If you have problems using Turnitin you may contact the Distance
Education. Please give yourself extra time to submit your assignment (in advance of the
due date and time) to anticipate any potential technical problems. It is still the student’s2 | P a g e
responsibility to ensure his or her assignment is submitted on time. Emailed
assignments will not be accepted.
9. PENALTIES – Late assignments will incur a 10% penalty per calendar day, unless a
medical note is provided due to illness. A medical note must be provided to the
Professor within three (3) business days of the assignment due date. Page Limits: There
are no penalties for going over the page limit. However, I will not read, comment or mark
beyond 14 pages.
10. MARKING RESULTS – The turn around time for grading papers is about 2-3 weeks. You
will be able to access your graded paper in Turnitin once marked. An Announcement will
be posted in Moodle when papers and marks are available in Moodle.
Case: Amazon Buys Whole Foods
Required articles readings:
1. Freschi, Framcesca. The Successful Story of America’s Healthiest Grocery Store: Whole
Foods Market. September 9, 2016. LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/successful-story-americas-healthiest-grocery-storewhole-freschi
2. Aaker, David. How Whole Foods Market Created the Ultimate Successful Subcategory.
May 5, 2014. LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140505213925-2171492-how-whole-foods-marketcreated-the-ultimate-successful-subcategory
3. Halzack, Sarah. Whole Foods has a big, basic problem it desperately needs to solve.
The Washington Post. April 12, 2017.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/04/12/whole-foods-has-a-bigbasic-problem-it-desperately-needs-to-solve/?utm_term=.4cf3c4e1f97e
4. Halzack, Sarah. Amazon’s Price Cuts Won’t Solve Whole Foods’ Problems. August 28,
2017. Bloomberg.
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-08-28/amazon-s-whole-foods-pricecuts-won-t-solve-its-problems
5. Pisani, Joseph. Amazon officially takes over Whole Foods, cuts grocery prices. August
28, 2017. The Star/The Associated Press.
https://www.thestar.com/business/tech_news/2017/08/28/amazon-officially-takes-overwhole-foods-cuts-grocery-prices.html
6. Rigby, Darrell K. The Amazon – Whole Foods Deal Means Every Other Retailer’s ThreeYear Plan is Obsolete. June 21, 2017. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2017/06/the-amazon-whole-foods-deal-means-every-other-retailers-threeyear-plan-is-obsolete3 | P a g e
https://myessaydoc.com/2018/01/29/amazon-buys-whole-foods/
QUESTIONS: (80 MARKS)
Question 1 (20 marks):
Based upon the articles provided, describe how the seven (7) external forces may have
impacted Whole Foods in the last several years. Discuss in detail the nature of each force
separately, with examples.
Question 2 (20 marks):
Explain and discuss which one management philosophy would likely be most suited to the old
company, Whole Foods (before acquisition by Amazon): The Classical School of
Management or the Behavioural School of management. (Pick only one and support your
answer with examples from the articles).
Question 3 (20 marks):
Explain which organizational structure would likely work best for Amazon today. Consider the
characteristics of the following as part of your analysis:
a. Traditional bureaucracy versus modern organizations (8 marks)
b. Work specialization: functional versus social (4 marks)
c. Mechanistic versus organic (8 marks)
Question 4 (20 marks)
Discuss what type of business-level strategy the old Whole Foods company (before
acquisition by Amazon) was likely using? Why does this business-level strategy make sense
given the nature of its industry?4 | P a g e
Midterm Assignment Tips#1 – Guide For Analysis
Guide for analysis:
Begin with the question Answer the specific question being asked. Nothing more.
Introduction Do not include. None (No marks awarded)
Theory
identification
Did you identify the theory correctly, pertaining to the question that is being asked?
Theory
definition and explanation
Did you define/explain the theory enough to demonstrate your understanding of
what it means? Some theory will require more explanation than others simply due
to its complexity.
Case examples Are you able to identify any examples from the case/articles? The more the better.
Why? Like a lawyer in a trial, the more evidence you provide to support your
position, the stronger your case. And the better the mark. Detail, detail, detail is
what helps you get from an A- to and A++.
If there are few to no case examples, can you explain why you think the theory
applies to this company and why? Is there anything about the company or the
industry that you can infer from the case? Meaning: what assumptions or best
guesses sound reasonable that makes it more likely for this theory to be relevant and
apply? Why is another theory not relevant here?
Explain why the case examples are
relevant to the theory.
Are you able to tie back the case example to the theory? Does it make sense?
Explain why.
Conclusion None (No marks awarded)
Guide for organization:
Use subheadings, sentences and paragraphs accordingly to organize your answer.
Guide to editing:
If your paper is too long and you need to edit, try to remove any repeated ideas. However, make sure
you keep in important key words that are relevant to the theory and case. Try to be concise where
appropriate.

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