Q1. What types of decisions must Chad Thomas make daily for his company’s operations to run effectively? Over the long run? Tactical decisions or short term decisions have short term impact and consequence to the organization: 1) Layout of the manufacturing process and equipment configurations- the importance of the relayout is to reduce the setup time 2) Resource allocation-daily raw materials allocation and replenishment 3) Management of resource- manpower allocation and staff allocated for each process. 4) Job scheduling – production scheduling on how much to produce 5) Shipment scheduling –planning and organizing the number of shipments to end customer 6) Inventories management Strategic decisions or long term decisions have long term impact and consequence to the organization: 1) Develop forecasting methodology and techniques to understand the demands 2) If making the “Make” or “Buy” decision, it is important as the decision will impact on the relayout of the equipment, production 3) Reorganization of people- required to retrain people and check on their capabilities to perform the work (Cross training and flexible workforce are critical components in the organization to meet the complexity of the products) 4) “Outsourcing” or “Buy” decision- when volume is increasing at a constant rate, outsource non core activities to others. Q2. How did the sales and marketing affect operations when they began to sell standard pieces to retail outlets? Firstly, there is a need to focus on the company competitive dimensions before embarking on the decisions. In this aspect, the Competitive capabilities are the Cost, Quality, Time, and Flexibility dimensions that a process or value chain actually processes and is able to... ... middle of paper ... ...ry value. This includes profitable study, technology, layout redesign, capacity expansion and inventory levels. Distribution- work on alternatives of outsourcing the distribution network or transportation routes. Should focus on outsource this non-core business activities if it is non-profitable. It is costly by not understanding the multi distribution network in standard line delivery (Multiple drop off points through retail channel sales) Operations – To work out the right layout and work flow process in the company. The manpower resource allocation is also critical in the situation on the right balance of resource to handle the production. If possible, adopt a hybrid model to handle the flexibility in the product nature, make both the production line being able to configure standard and customized so to reduce setup and changeover time and cope with the demands.
...at support the grand strategy then the development of short-term objectives that in turn support the long-term objectives.
Outsourcing simply means acquiring services from an external organization instead of using internal resources (Butler, 2000). By using outsourced resources, organizations can gain a competitive advantage by utilizing contingent staff to accomplish strategic goals without incurring the fixed overhead. By focusing on the leading edge and highly specialized skill sets, outsourcing providers can often offer higher quality services, or at a lower price than the client organization. Typical reasons for outsourcing go beyond simple contingent staffing. Outsourcing providers are able to maintain economies of scale with regard to specialization (...
In many cases outsourcing has proven to be beneficial for businesses. It can help a business’s management by allowing executives to focus on the core structure of the firm rather than every specific element. Production, manufacturing, or additional servic...
The Goal is a book that focuses on the theory of constraints in order to improve production. Eliyahu Goldratt brings us a pleasant story that shows the important strategies that any manager or CEO should follow to be successfully productive, and capable of reaching their goals. The book easily explains and demonstrates many attainable ways for any human being to learn how to manage their industrial relations, business processes, and also, their personal lives.
Selecting a business strategy that details valuable resources and distinctive competencies, strategizing all resources and capabilities and ensuring they are all employed and exploited, and building and regenerating valuable resources and distinctive competencies is key. The analysis of resources, capabilities and core competencies describes the external environment which is subject to change quickly. Based off this information a firm has to be prepared and know its internal resources and capabilities and offer a more secure strategy. Furthermore, resources and capabilities are the primary source of profitability. Resources entail intangible, tangible, and human resources. Capabilities describe environment and strategic environment. Core competencies include knowledge and technical capability. In this section we will attempt to describe in detail the three segments which are resources, capabilities, and core competencies.
• Strategic management is fluid and complex. Change creates original combinations of conditions requiring shapeless non-repetitive responses.
These are however different to administrative as well as operational decisions as explained by Alexander (1985). This is because the former matter themselves with the organizations routine and are directed towards facilitating the implementation of strategic as well as operational decisions. On the other hand the former matter themselves with the technical decisions that are required for the execution and implementation of strategic decisions.
Further, there must have been a number of decisions which drive the direction and initiatives of any staffing strategy. These include, but are not limited to, determining staffing levels and types, current staffing resources, internal/external hiring, understanding current and future supply and demand, hiring or retaining, and short-term or long-term planning. It was important to understand the scope of each category in order to establish a strong and successful staffing
Competitive advantage is the advantage for the competitors and gained by the offerings from the consumers that have the greater value either by the low prices of the products and by providing the benefits and services to the consumers that denotes the high price. It is a set of the innovative and different features of the company and the products and services sale to the consumers so that company can achieve the targets what they have decided and it is the betterment for the enterprise in the competitive market (Porter, 2011). There are three determinants which can be used in the competitive advantage that what the company produce for their consumers, their target market that what they have to achieved and the competition from the other entity
The main stage, learning, requires workers and administrators to rearrange their schedules to elevate associations that prompt to effective answers for specific issues, to perceive and dodge broken movement and vital blind sides, and to make suitable utilization of organization together and procurement to bring new vital resources into the firm from outside sources (Teece, Pisano & Shuen,
Not only the type of the work employees are required to do changes, place, method, and environment of the work is also subject to transformation. With high turnover being common characteristic among modern organizations, people have to work in teams each time composed of different people.
In today’s world virtually all businesses are born into competition. There are situations in which multiple organizations offer similar products, a limited number of firms seek the same consumers, and other organizations offer the exact same product just at a different price or in a different variation. So how do firms attempt to outperform their competitors and sustain profits? They create a competitive advantage. A competitive advantage is a business concept that allows firms to outperform their competition by generating greater sales margins/profits or retaining a larger number of consumers. In knowing that different customers are attracted to different attributes companies use a variety of competitive dimensions in order to set themselves apart, these include: cost or price, quality, delivery speed and reliability, and flexibly and new product introduction. Each of these dimensions can be strategically used by an organization to outperform its competitors and ultimately result in giving that firm a distinct competitive advantage.
Rajagopal. "International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management." Emerald. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2014
3. WHAT HAS SEVEN-ELEVEN DONE IN ITS CHOICE OF FACILITY LOCATION, INVENTORY MANAGEMENT, TRANSPORTATION, AND INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE TO DEVELOP CAPABILITIES THAT SUPPORT ITS SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY IN JAPAN?
Predominantly, production management first selects the right product for production. Then it selects the accurate design for the product. Care ought to be taken whereas selecting the product and design for the reason that the endurance and success of the company depend on it...