According to Cameron & Quinn's framework, Amazon's dominant culture is Market Culture.

Because Amazon’s culture strongly aligns with Cameron & Quinn's Market Culture
characteristics: external focus, competition, results-driven, market dominance. We have some
evidences how Amazon's practices tie to these traits with concrete examples.

Market Culture is characterized by a strong external focus, emphasizing competition and the
achievement of measurable goals. Companies with a market culture are typically results-
oriented, prioritizing profits, market share, and customer satisfaction.

A key characteristic of market culture is its relentless focus on the external market, including
understanding and meeting customer needs, outperforming competitors, and achieving
financial success. This often necessitates constant innovation and a drive for efficiency to
maintain a competitive edge.

1. Amazon has a customer obsession, which is a core leadership principle.

Amazon is always dedicated and committed to the interests of its customers. Customer-centric
is a cornerstone of Amazon’s identity and influences every level of the organization. This intense
focus on understanding and fulfilling customer needs is explicitly stated in their leadership
principles, where "Customer Obsession" takes precedence.

All customer matters and benefits are always prioritized, and Amazon always goes above and
beyond to serve customers better. The clearest evidence is that Jeff Bezos always places an
extra empty chair in every company meeting to represent the most important person in the
room—the customer. Every decision is carefully considered based on this "character", even
though they are not actually present in the meeting room, their perspective is always taken into
account. Or during the annual training program, all levels of Amazon management are required
to participate in a 2-day practical training course with the Call Center - Customer Care Center, so
that they can listen and, most importantly, truly understand the customers.

Furthermore, Amazon creates and upgrades products to meet customer needs. The Kindle
tablet was born entirely from customer demand, not from the ideas of the engineers who
created it. The first question Amazon asks when developing a new product is always about the
benefits it brings to customers. Only when this question is answered can the subsequent tasks
be carried out.

Amazon always thinks of customers, it protects customers by giving them information to avoid
purchasing counterfeit products. In 2024, Amazon collaborated with the International
Trademark Association (INTA), to launch the 2024 Unreal Campaign Challenge about the
dangers of counterfeit goods. Amazon constantly pursue customer satisfaction by creating
initiatives to serve customers such as 1-Click ordering, Prime membership,...
2. Innovation and Risk-taking

Amazon encourages innovation and tolerates failure in pursuit of breakthroughs. Amazon's

The "Day 1" philosophy serves as the guiding compass for Amazon's corporate culture. "Day 1"
symbolizes the company's early days—youthful, curious, agile, bold enough to take challenges,
and endlessly innovative. Amazon is committed to maintaining this entrepreneurial spirit,
ensuring continuous innovation and relentless experimentation, and focusing on listening and
serving customers best. This philosophy fuels Amazon's unwavering drive and pursuit of
excellence, while also embodying the courage to embrace failure. It is this culture that inspires
and motivates Amazon employees to work with the same passion and dedication they had
during the company's foundational days. Thanks to such consistency, Amazon's corporate
culture has thrived, making it a truly admirable workplace.

Amazon never stops innovating and continually improves its own operations. Bold ventures like
Amazon Web Services (cloud computing), Alexa, revolutionizing online shopping through
Amazon Prime, and drone delivery (Prime Air) originate from this culture. All these reflect the
company’s "Day 1" mindset of being ready to experiment and embrace new challenges. This
spirit of experimentation and innovation is crucial for sustaining a competitive advantage in the
fast-paced technology and e-commerce industries. It perfectly complements the market
culture's intrinsic drive for constant innovation to outpace rivals and secure a larger share of the
market.

To shorten Amazon's operational processes and enable team members to make accurate, quick,
and high-quality decisions, several mechanisms are implemented, such as the "Two Pizza Rule."
This rule involves dividing the organizational structure into small teams, each consisting of just
enough people to consume two pizzas. This approach empowers team members to contribute
to the company's shared objectives, ensures seamless communication, and enhances overall
management and productivity. Another tool is the concept of "One-Way and Two-Way Door
Decisions". One-Way Door Decisions lead to critical, often irreversible outcomes, while Two-Way
Door Decisions involve limited, reversible results. For instance, a One-Way Decision might
involve building a fulfillment center or data center, whereas Testing A/B for a website or mobile
app feature exemplifies a Two-Way Decision.

Amazon always promotes their culture of innovation, with the aim of making customers' lives
easier. At Amazon, working backward from the customer and driving innovation is at the core of
who they are. From providing the most extensive selection in retail, producing and distributing
films, launching cutting-edge platform models with Amazon Bedrock to providing tailored
services and experiences to customers. All of which fits with Amazon's mission of serving
customers.

While most organizations focus on maintaining their strengths in core areas, Amazon takes a
different approach, diversifying its business in all directions. It is an unusual organization, yet it
achieves remarkable success. Amazon expands its culture of innovation, challenges traditional
business conventions, and leverages its innovation and operational excellence across various
fields it enters. True to its name, Amazon is like a vast river with tributaries branching out in all
directions. Its domains continue to grow, encompassing roles as a device manufacturer, a film
studio, an artificial intelligence developer, and a web service provider.

3. Competitive aggression and the focus of market share

Amazon's figures and growth highlight its exceptional ability to thrive and dominate the market,
aligning seamlessly with the competitive spirit of market culture. Its mission, centered around
customers at the highest priority (“earth”), subtly reflects an ambition to lead the online retail
space on a global scale. Jeff Bezos' leadership style, often compared to that of Steve Jobs ,
another leader associated with a strong market-driven approach, further reinforces this notion.

The relentless focus on outperforming competitors and continuously expanding its reach into
new markets and product categories is a defining characteristic of Amazon and a key trait of
market cultures that prioritize winning and dominating their respective industries. Amazon’s
tactics (e.g., undercutting prices, acquiring competitors, and expanding into new industries)
reflect a Market Culture’s focus on winning. Example: AWS (Amazon Web Services) was built not
just to innovate but to corner the cloud-computing market.

4. High-Performance Work & Data-Driven Metrics

Amazon operates with a clear emphasis on performance and achieving results, a hallmark of
market cultures. The company is known for its data-driven approach, meticulously tracking
metrics to assess productivity and efficiency. (e.g., tracking customer behavior, delivery times,
and inventory turnover).

Amazon relies heavily on metrics and data to operate, evaluate, amd drive decisions, for
example, it use "Anytime feedback tool" for continuous peer assessments and data-backed
performance management. Employees are evaluated on quantifiable outcomes tied to
customer satisfaction and business growth, fostering a culture of accountability. However, this
also puts great pressure on employees.

Some reports describe a "purposeful Darwinism" in the workplace, where employees face
immense performance pressure and lower performers may be culled annually through
Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs). This intense focus on output and results directly reflects
the results-oriented nature of market cultures, where meeting quotas and targets is a top
priority

The leadership principle "Insist on the Highest Standards" reinforces this expectation of
excellence and continuous improvement in products, services, and processes. Even the "two-
pizza rule," limiting team sizes, is aimed at fostering agility and speed in decision-making and
execution, ultimately contributing to greater efficiency and faster results.

Amazon is known for its "Pivot of Doom" performance reviews, stack-ranking (though softened
in recent years), and high expectations. The New York Times (2015) reported a "bruising
workplace" with long hours and intense pressure. Employees describe a "Darwinian" culture
where underperformers are quickly managed out.

All of the above evidence strengthens our argument and also confirms that Amazon embodies
a market-oriented culture. However, there is some ambiguity here, and it might cause
confusion as to why Amazon is classified as a Market Culture ( according to Cameron &
Quinn's framework) when the company's core principles and actions are always customer-
oriented and always for the customer, which seems different from the typical characteristics
of a Market Culture. Therefore, we want to clarify a few things about this and how they are
connected.

We can see that Market Culture is more about competition and results, but Amazon's focus is
on customers. How do these connect? The key here is understanding that in Cameron & Quinn's
framework, Market culture includes external focus, stable, competitive, results. Customer focus
is part of external positioning and Market Culture includes customer focus as a means to
achieve market dominance. So even though they emphasize customers, the underlying drive is
to outperform competitors and secure market leadership.

While Market Culture is competitive, focusing on customers is a way to achieve that

Understanding customer needs and meeting them is crucial, as what customers want aligns
with what the market demands. By prioritizing customers and delivering solutions that fulfill
their needs, Amazon is effectively preparing to meet the future needs of the market. This
relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction, often at the forefront of strategic initiatives, mirrors
the customer emphasis characteristic of a market culture, where understanding and catering to
customer needs is paramount for achieving market dominance.

Additionally, other aspects of Amazon, such as innovation and high performance, also fit into
the Market Culture. While they have elements of Adhocracy (innovation such as Alexa, drones,
1-Click ordering; risk-taking like "Day 1" philosophy) and possibly Hierarchy (because Amazon
has a hierarchical system, Six Sigma processes, etc.), the dominant culture is Market because
every innovation ultimately serves market expansion and their primary motivation is external
competitiveness and measurable results.

From a different perspective, Amazon's leadership principles, including Customer Obsession, are
integrated into various cultural aspects. However, the overarching driving force is the pursuit of
marketplace success, positioning Market Culture as the dominant type. No company fits
perfectly into one culture type, Amazon might have elements of others, but in the specific
framework, Market Culture is dominant. The evidence includes their competitive practices,
aggressive pricing, and the focus on market leadership through customer satisfaction.