Home » Operations Strategy
Questioning the Trade-Offs
With the world becoming a single global village  there has emerged a group of companies that have adopted an international perspective toward both manufacturing and marketing.
Within this global arena competition is significantly more intense due to both the greater number of  players and the tremendous profit opportunities that exist Those companies that have excelled on this global
Developing an Operations Strategy from Competitive Priorities
Factory Focus and Trade-Offs
The notion of factory focus and trade-off’s was central to the concept of operations  strategy during the late 1960 and earl 1970 The underlying logic was that a factory could excel simultaneously on all four competitive priorities. Consequently management had to decide which priorities were critical to the firmR
The Use of Information
Although the term Information Age was initially used hen the first mass-produced computers were introduced it wasn't until recently that we actually did enter the information age This is due in large part to advances in information technology that now allow large quantities of data to be transmitted and tired accurately and equally important inexpensively As a result companies are looking t
Environmentally Friendly Processes and Products
As consumer become more aware of the fragility of the environment they are increasingly turning towards products that are safe for the environment  Ford now advertises an environmentally friendly automobile The Body Shop an international retail chain headquartered in England sells various cosmetics and skin lotions that are made without harming the environment Ver
The Next Sources of Competitive Advantage?
Managers are always looking for new ways in which to distinguish their firms from the competition. Currently  two new trends in business appear to be offering firms such an advantage(a) the use of environmentally friendly processes and environmentally friendly products and (b) the use of information.
Service
With product life cycles becoming shorter and shorter the actual products themselves tend to quickly resemble those of other companies  As a consequence these products are often viewed as commodities in which price is the primary determinant in deciding which one to buy A good example of this is the personal computer (PC) industry Today the differences in the products offered among the different PC manu
Flexibility
From a strategic perspective in terms of how a company competes flexibility consists of two dimensions both of which relate directly to how the firm’s processes are designed  One element of flexibility is the firm’s ability to offer its customers a wide variety of products  The greatest flexibility along this dimension is achieved when every product is customized to meet the specific req
operations Management in Practice
ZARA EXCELS ON PRICE,SPEED, AND FLEXIBILTY
zara a retail chain of high-fashion boutique clothing stores has grown rapidly since Mancini Ortega opened his first store in Spain in 1975 Headquartered in northern Spain zara with more than 400 retail stores in 25 countries, now generates sales of more than U3$2 billion annually primarily in Europe but is now beginning to penetrateÂ
Delivery
Another market niche considers speed of delivery to be an important determinant in its purchasing decision. Here. the ability of a firm to provide consistent delivery allows it to charge a premium price for its products George Stalk Jr  of the Boston Consulting Group has demonstrated that bath profits and market share are directly Ink  to the with which a company can deliver It products relative to It
Quality
Quality can be divided into two categories product quality and process quality. The level of quality in a product’s design will vary as to the particular market that it is aimed to serve. Obviously a child’s first two-wheel bicycle is of significantly different quality than the bicycle of a world-class cyclist. The use of thicker sheet metal and the application of extra
coats of paint are som
