May 2011
Your task
Your company is to prepare a report for the Board of Directors covering the following areas: • A critical review of its overall operations strategy. (15%) • A comprehensive evaluation of its service delivery system. (25%) • A detailed analysis of its operations management system. (25%) • Proposed changes to its operations strategy, service delivery system and operations management system for operational improvements. (35%)
Contents
1. Introduction (business profile, vision, mission) 2. Corporate strategy 3. Operations strategy 3.1 Cost 3.2 Quality 3.3 Delivery speed 3.4 Delivery reliability 3.5 Demand management 3.6 Variety 3.7 Innovation 4. Service Delivery System 4.1 Design of service delivery system 4.2 Service blueprint 4.3 Evaluation of service delivery system
5. Analysis of operations management system 6. Proposal for operational improvements 6.1 Business process reengineering (BPR) 6.2 Total quality management (TQM) 6.3 Lean 6.4 Six sigma 7. Conclusion References
Corporate Strategy
• The organization’s action plan to achieve its mission • The corporate strategy translates into more detailed strategies for each functional area (i.e., Operations, Finance, Marketing) • Generally speaking, these strategies seek to exploit (external) opportunities and (internal) strengths, neutralize (external) threats, and address (internal) weaknesses
Defining the Corporate Strategy
Responsiveness (Reliability; Quickness; Flexibility; e.g., Dell, Overnight Delivery Services)
Competitive Advantage through which the company market share is attracted Cost Leadership (Price; e.g., Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines, Generic Drugs)
Differentiation (Quality; Uniqueness; e.g., Luxury cars, Fashion Industry, Brand Name Drugs)
OM’s contribution to Corporate Strategy
Differentiation Cost Leadership
Responsiveness
Design & Volume Flexibility Fast & Dependable Delivery
Quality
Low Cost