RTM: Amazon Working Backwards (AWB) Approach with Aylin Ates and Kumuda Suppayah

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Resource Type
Presentation
Publish Date
08/22/2024
Authors
Innovation Research Interchange, Aylin Ates, Kumuda Suppayah
Topics
Customer Insight, Innovation, Business Model Innovation, Employee Innovation, Leadership Assessment
Associated Event
RTM: In Their Own Words Amazon Working Backwards (AWB) Approach
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Learn How You Can Apply the Amazon Working Backwards (AWB) Approach.

  • The study explores Amazon’s Working Backwards (AWB) approach for internal corporate venturing (ICV) beyond Amazon
  • Key themes identified: disciplined focus on customers, process, and people
  • AWB helps de-risk market entry and builds customer-centric innovations
  • Critical success factors include customer centricity, clear vision, cohesive teams, and effective communication
  • Potential pitfalls: rigid processes, over-reliance on leadership, competing priorities, and fear of failure
  • A framework for implementing AWB in diverse organizational contexts is presented
  • The approach requires a preparatory phase and alignment between leadership expectations and employee capabilities
  • AWB can help create order in the inherently messy innovation process