Amazon strategy: pick the company's most pressing challenge and defend your choice

In a product manager interview at Amazon, you are asked for your own view: what is the most important challenge Amazon faces at the moment? Name the challenge, explain why it ranks above the others you considered, and support your argument with what you know about how Amazon's businesses work. ```hint Map before you pick Before naming a challenge, sketch Amazon's main businesses and what each contributes to growth and profit, then decide how you will compare threats that land on different parts of the company. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should I look at Amazon as a whole (stores, marketplace, advertising, AWS, Prime, devices) or at the business closest to the role I am interviewing for? - Does "challenge" include internal problems such as cost structure or execution, or only external forces such as competitors and regulators? - What horizon does "right now" mean: the next year or two, or a longer stretch? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - An agreed scope for "challenge" and for the time horizon, settled before any candidate is named - Candidate challenges drawn from several of Amazon's businesses, not only the shopping experience customers see - Explicit criteria for ranking the candidates, applied the same way to each - One chosen challenge supported by public facts, with the strongest counterargument answered - Why the challenge matters to Amazon's strategy and which signals would show it growing or easing ### Follow-up Questions - If you ran strategy at Amazon, what would you do about this challenge over the next year, and what would you choose not to do? - Which challenge came second for you, and what evidence would make you swap the top two? - How would your answer change if you had to stay within Amazon's retail business?