Amazon And Whole Foods Case Study

1. Based on your research, how would you describe the merger or acquisition of Amazon and Whole Foods? Provide data from your research to support your conclusion.

The acquisition of Whole Foods and Amazon closed on August 28, 2017 with Amazon purchasing Whole Foods at $13.7 billion. There were employee fears about Amazon’s automation strategy replacing the workforce on the Whole Foods side, however, an Amazon spokesperson quelled those fears during a press release where they stated, “that it has no plans for layoffs or to use automation to replace Whole Foods' cashiers” (Thomas, 2017). In general, Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods was a beneficial move for each organization. Each organization has features that could potentially contribute

Leadership alignment is crucial to the future success and smooth transition for both organizations. If the leaders in both organizations are aligned in leadership principles and practices, there would be less resistance to adapting to the leadership style of the acquiring organization. Implementing and harmonizing the new strategy of the new organization since the acquisition of Whole Foods, should be smooth since the leadership practices are aligned between both companies. Leadership principal similarities include customer obsession, hiring and developing the best talent, having courage to commit and disagree, and “being right, a lot” (Amazon Leadership Principals and Whole Foods Leadership Principals).

Culturally and from a human resource perspective, Whole Foods makes up for what lacks in Amazon. Amazon has been known for being ruthless in setting performance measures in past. Amazon is known to be a white male dominated organization having a high turnover rate. Whole Foods on the other hand has a fantastic reputation for employee satisfaction, a strong emphasis teamwork and human resource management. Amazon and Whole Foods are complimentary organization and has the potential to be even more successful if they leverage each other’s