Answer to question number 1

Heritage Furniture (Gulshan)

Heritage Furniture is similar in the way to Ikea that it also allows its customers to customize
their own furniture according to their specifications just like Ikea does. They focus on market
requirement and carry on with their operations according to the needs of the customers. The
most stand out ground for Ikea over Heritage Furniture is Ikea’s self assembly flat packs that
falls under operations resources perspective, which reduced production and transport cost and
its ‘showroom-warehouse’ concept that allows customers to pick their product from the
warehouse itself reducing retail outlet costs. On the other hand Heritage Furniture failed to cut
down on the production and transport costs resulting in an increased selling price. Moreover
Heritage Furniture has to maintain both a warehouse and a retail outlet adding more monetary
value to their finished products. Adding to that Ikea manages a smooth process from parking to
picking up their products to driving away, which falls under bottom up perspective as it is
determined on their day to day activities but on the other hand Heritage Furniture fails
miserably due to their inadequate space for parking and the lack of customer attendees in their
store. Such is not the culture in our country but Ikea provides a supervised kid zone, a cinema
and a baby zone for infants whereas Heritage Furniture fails to provide any of it.

Star Bakery

Star bakery does not have any resemblance to Pret A Manger in how they implement their daily
production and business. Pret A Manger strictly maintains and supervises their production and
ensures they provide fresh quality products to their customers on a daily basis, which falls
under bottom-up perspective. Whereas bakeries in Bangladesh tend to compromise their
quality when they become popular. Pret A Manger is very strict in their ethics and values in
maintaining quality, which falls under top-down perspective. As for the market requirement
perspective Pret A Manger prioritizes customer requirement for everyday fresh products
whereas Star Bakery completely ignores the fact and often serve leftovers.
Answer to question number 2

The four perspectives of operations strategy are:

a. Top-down perspective
b. Bottom-up perspective
c. Market requirement perspective
d. Operations resources perspective

Although both Ryanair and Flextronics operates in two completely different industry but the
four perspectives of operations strategy can be applied similarly in both of these organizations
as they look to follow identical operations strategic decisions and somewhat have similar
market requirements.

Ryanair

First, Top-down perspective can be applied to determine what the business wants to do in a
successive manner in the coming years, which sector the business wants to operate in, how to
allocate resources and so on. Decisions such as the company’s corporate strategy directly
influences Ryanair’s economic, social, political environment and determines the company
values and ethics that is to maintain complete clarity to their customers about their business.
Business strategy guides Ryanair to continue efficiently with the airline’s operations, which
helps the company maintain its low-cost market position. Functional strategy determines how
well and effectively the operations are executed i.e. turnaround times at airports are reduced;
all aircrafts are identical making it easier for maintenance and servicing and more.

Second, Bottom-up perspective is considered based on the day-to-day experience and suggests
the operations team accordingly. The daily efficiency of the operations team allows Ryanair to
maintain its low-cost market position and helps design their operations strategy accordingly.

Third, Market requirement perspective is determined based on the demand of the consumers
and strategies are designed accordingly. Consumers all over the world are attracted to
discounts and always are in hunt for better quality products and services at low prices. That is
where Ryanair has hit the jackpot by providing Europe’s largest low-cost airline and maintaining
their market position as the market leader.

Fourth, Operations resources perspective identifies constraints to satisfying some markets but
it can also identify capabilities, which can be exploited in other markets. As all aircrafts are
identical in Ryanair it means a large sum of order to a single supplier, which helps to negotiate
prices down even more. Also Ryanair often uses the secondary airports where landing and
service fees are lower.

Flextronics

First, Top-down perspective can be applied to determine what the business wants to do in a
successive manner in the coming years, which sector the business wants to operate in, how to
allocate resources and so on. Decisions such as the company’s corporate strategy directly
influences Flextronics’s economic, social, political environment and determines the company
values and ethics and balance between customer’s need for low costs with their need for
responsive and flexible services.

Second, Bottom-up perspective is considered based on the day-to-day experience and suggests
the operations team accordingly. Flextronics operate in a fiercely competitive market and to
maintain their position in the market their efficient workforce on a regular basis maintain an
extensive network of design, manufacturing and logistics facilities in the world’s major
electronic markets.

Third, Market requirement perspective is determined based on the demand of the consumers
and strategies are designed accordingly. The customers need for low costs along with their
need for responsive and flexible services are maintained effectively and efficiently by
Flextronics.

Fourth, Operations resources perspective identifies constraints to satisfying some markets but
it can also identify capabilities, which can be exploited in other markets. Positioned in low-cost
regions yet close to all major world markets Flextronics industrial parks can significantly reduce
the cost of production.