How Amazon uses metrics to drive success

Abstract

Purpose

The author explains how an obsession with delivering customer value at Amazon is enabled and driven by customer-driven metrics.

Design/methodology/approach

The article describes how at Amazon, metrics are established in advance of every activity and specify what actions are expected to happen in ways that can be measured in real-time.

Findings

By virtue it’s action metrics, every activity at Amazon is in effect a genuine scientific experiment focused on whether it is delivering the value to customers.

Practical implications

Everyone is expected to be obsessed with knowing about and enhancing the impact of what they do for the customer.

Originality/value

The article offers a detailed view of the synergy between Amazon’s dedication to real-time measurement of its activities and its obsession with using those activities to deliver customer value.

Citation

Denning, S. (2019), "How Amazon uses metrics to drive success", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 47 No. 6, pp. 9-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-08-2019-0121