"Supply chain integration is a major contributing factor to organizational success. The goal of supply chain integration is alignment within the supply chain. As a business leader, how can you achieve greater supply chain integration with suppliers and customers?\r\nAmazon is a prime example of a company that has successfully managed its supply chain to achieve growth and profitability. Research the progression of Amazon's supply chain integration. Write a 1,000-1,250-word paper that address the following questions:\r\n1.\tHow do sales and operations planning in supply chain integration impact the company overall? What would Amazon's medium- and long-term forecast inform the operations management department? How do logistics, transportation modes, and warehouse locations impact Amazon's competitiveness?\r\n2.\tHow does global sourcing and procurement impact the overall effectiveness of the supply chain? What are the benefits and challenges that have occurred when outsourcing logistic and other functions?\r\n3.\tHow has Amazon successfully leveraged e-commerce strategies to promote supply chain integration and boost sales and growth for the organization? Which strategies have been particularly effective and why?\r\n4.\tDo you feel that Amazon sets an example for other companies to model regarding supply chain integration? Be sure to explain your rationale. Consider the ethical implications in your response.\r\nIncorporate five to seven resources to support your paper.\r\nPrepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.\r\n\r\nSupply chain integration is a major contributing factor to organizational success. The goal ofsupply chain integration is alignment within the supply chain. As a business leader, how canyou achieve greater supply chain integration with suppliers and customers?Amazon is a prime example of a company that has successfully managed its supply chain toachieve growth and profitability. Research the progression of Amazon's supply chainintegration.Answer for Question 1: Amazon uses its rapid build cycles that allow the company to calibrate its capacity as per thecompany’s needs. Amazon has an increase in sales approximately around 35 percent everyyear and they have been always catering to seasonal and non-seasonal demands by cuttingcosts on the unused capacity due to these demand fluctuations. Amazon utilizes its capacity very carefully by thorough forecasting needed for its Sales andOperations Processes. Amazon maps all its Distribution Centres to the population density. Itsforecast and analysis have shown that the high density areas have shown a demand growth.Also, it doesn’t build new facilities to support the peak demand; rather the company usesdrop shipping and works with third-party logistics (3PL) to supplement its internal efforts.The medium-term and long-term forecasts would mainly focus on the bigger picture ofmaking profits on a long-run rather than focussing on short-term results that may seem todisappoint the investors. The main focus of these forecasts are aimed at the calibration of theSupply chain by making various decisions on the warehouses, the Procurement,transportation and the Technological support needed for the operations. The forecasts mustclearly indicate on the investments to be made on these Operational aspects. In the process of expanding the network, Amazon has built around 145 warehouses aroundthe world. The company has leveraged mainly on the 3PL’s for its transportation and logistics. The services provided by these 3PL’s include distribution, warehousing,transportation services, goods fulfilment and the import/export services. The relationshipbuilt with these 3PL’s are mutually beneficial where Amazon employees work in some of the3PL’s in order to support the 3PL’s customers to do business with Amazon.Also, most ofthe retailers rely on Amazon for their warehousing, inventory management and the orderfulfilment. Answer for Question2:Globalization is the main reason that forces organizations to focus on processes that willenable and effective and efficient supply chain integration throughout the world. Companieshave become more concerned about their supply chain activities in order to gain uniquecompetitive advantages of different locations at a global scale. The main objective of globalsourcing is to combine the competencies of the company with those of its suppliers to create acompetitive advantage. Amazon follows a similar strategy where it leverages thecompetencies of its 3PL’s and develop businesses with their customers. The key element in the integration and co-ordination of the Global Supply Chain is theprocurement. Global procurement are extensively adopted by the companies to leverage ofuniform sourcing. Global procurement creates a critical mechanism of supply chainintegration that supports the company’s globalization. The effectiveness of global sourcing and procurement can be decided based on the followingfactors:? Sourcing Responsiveness: The effect of the responsiveness impacting on the workingrelations between the company and the supplier.? Sourcing and Procurement knowledge: Global/ Local Sourcing and Procurementknowledge of the personnel and its impact on the Global Sourcing Responsiveness. "