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Role of Operations
Management
Role of Operations Management
© 2011 Don Sykes & Kim Crawford - www.redpeg.com.au
Operations management is the core of a business and it is this aspect that makes it such an
exciting subject to study. Operations management is concerned with those business activities
that plan, schedule and control the business inputs that are transformed into finished goods and
services. Operations management is all about managing customer satisfaction. It is the aspect of
the business concerned with meeting customer needs.
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The Winner? – The business that
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Role of Operations Management
© 2011 Don Sykes & Kim Crawford - www.redpeg.com.au
Case Stu y
Using an Australian business to explain the strategic role of operations
management: Kmart
When Guy Russo was appointed CEO of Kmart, his first challenge was to correct
the worst problems the ailing retailer was experiencing. The most immediate
challenge was to refurbish the stores so that they were clean and tidy, the décor
was attractive and appropriate, the stock on the shelves was in good condition,
and employees were always courteous, friendly and helpful. Big W had already
achieved these things and this was the main reason customers were attracted to
Big W. Russo quickly corrected the worst problems and set about being as good
as Kmart’s competitors.
The next step in Russo’s strategy is for Kmart to be the best in the industry.
The focus of this strategy is staff training to ensure all employees deliver the
highest
The fourth step in the typical operations management strategy is to redefine the 5
industry’s expectations. This means that customers receive customer service
levels, value for money goods, availability and range of goods and an overall
shopping experience that is well beyond what they expected. Kmart are striving
for the sort of thing Walmart provides in the areas of costs and prices and range
of products – no competitor can match them.
Using each letter in the grid once per word, find as many words of at least four letters as you
can, always using the central letter. (No proper nouns.)
Score: 30 Good; 42 Very good; 54 or more ETR
Excellent O A P
O N I
The strategic role of operations management is firstly to implement the business strategy.
The operations function has the task of manufacturing the good or delivering the service. It
is also important for the operations manager to fully understand the strategic business plan
(what the business is trying to achieve in a dynamic, competitive environment), support the
business strategy and contribute to the decision-making process. This may seem obvious
but often the operations function is simply given the task of implementing the strategy with
little consultation.
Michael Porter (born How do you do this? There are two key strategies concerned with improving the competitive
1947) is a professor position of the business. The strategies are cost leadership and good/service differentiation. The
at Harvard Business concepts were developed in the 1980s by Michael Porter and were described in his landmark
School in Boston. book, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors.
Originally graduating with
a degree in Aerospace Cost leadership
and Mechanical Cost leadership is a strategy that aims to create a competitive advantage by having the lowest cost
Engineering in 1969, he is of manufacturing the good or delivering the service in the industry. A competitive advantage
a leading authority on is the ability to do something the customer regards as important, better than your competitors.
company strategy and The goal of a cost-leadership strategy is to be the best business in the industry by having the
competition
between lowest cost of operations in the industry.
businesses6
and geographic regions/
nations. More recently he
has applied his research
to understanding and
addressing the problems Case Stu y
of delivering health care
in the USA and the Using a global business to illustrate cost leadership in a tertiary
renewal of depressed business: Walmart
urban communities.
Porter is the author of
Walmart is the largest retailer in the world. In the year ended January 2010
eighteen books and his
Walmart sold goods and services to customers to a value of US$408 billion.
ideas are taught in
The business made a net profit of US$14.3 billion. All this from a small
virtually every university
discount store Sam Walton started on July 2, 1962.
business course in the
Sam Walton decided it would be better to make a $2 profit on each of a specific
world.
good where 100 were sold each day, rather than a higher $5 profit on sales of
only 10 of the particular good in a day. In the first instance he made a total profit
on that good of $200. In the second instance the higher profit would have
yielded a total of only $50.
Sam was the first to use a phrase widely copied today. The phrase was ‘every
day low prices’. Sam offered Walmart customers a wide variety of high quality,
branded and unbranded goods at the lowest possible prices.
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Image 1.1
Walmart in Wanda
Sam Walton also realised that, if he could get goods from the manufacturers at Shopping District
the lowest possible prices and cut the operating expenses in his stores, he Nanning, China
could make life very difficult for his competitors - Sears Roebuck and
Company, Woolco and Kmart.
Unlike his competitors, Sam Walton always shared the lower prices he With vendor-managed
received from his suppliers with his customers. Walmart’s products were inventory the inventory
usually 20% cheaper than his competitors. on Walmart shelves is
managed by the supplier,
Sam Walton understood the importance of volume in generating profits and who automatically replaces
lowering costs. ‘By cutting your price, you can boost your sales to a point where items sold
you earn far more at the cheaper retail price than you would have by selling the
item at the higher price. In retailer language, you can lower your mark-up but
earn more because of the increased volume,’ Sam explained.
H METHINK
Research the dynamic history and operations of Walmart. Construct a 6-
point timeline of the most significant changes in Walmart’s development.
Remember Kmart USA
and Kmart Australia have
no connection except the A business may choose a cost-leadership strategy when it offers its customers a relatively
name standardised product and the features or
characteristics of the goods being sold are acceptable
to their customers. You go to Kmart to buy goods such
as a handbag, or perhaps a dress or shirt, because the
good represents value for money. You are expecting
the minimum level of differentiation. Indeed if you
A handbag from the well want differentiation, you will buy the Louis Vuitton
known luxury French handbag at $1500 rather than paying the $40 cost at
fashion house Louis Kmart.
Vuitton.
RedPeg Publishing HSC Business Studies
Role of Operations Management
© 2011 Don Sykes & Kim Crawford - www.redpeg.com.au
Again, it is important to understand that several businesses are competing to sell you the
standardised product. In our previous example it is not just Kmart, but also Big W, Target and
indeed businesses like Myer, all competing to sell you the handbag. If Kmart is going to be
successful in implementing a cost-leadership strategy, the managers will have to build a highly
efficient, large-scale supply chain. Remember it is this aspect that Walmart was able to do so
well
– sell a lot at small profits with very low costs.
Case Stu y
Using an Australian business to illustrate the concept of cost
9
leadership: Kmart
So far Guy Russo has been remarkably successful, but there is little doubt
his competitors are also striving to be the winner.
10
Businesses that succeed with a cost-leadership strategy must have access to a great deal of
capital. This is because highly efficient manufacturing facilities with high levels of the latest
technology can provide an effective barrier to entry to competitors. Capital can also be used
to create very efficient distribution channels that make it difficult for competitors to match
prices. Woolworths, for example, used this strategy during the 1990s. Woolworths’ managers
spent more than a billion dollars restructuring their warehouses and distribution systems with
the very latest in logistics technology and were consequently able to put enormous pressure on
Coles. From 1995 to 2007 Coles lost market share to Woolworths.
Good/service differentiation
A good/service differentiation strategy is a very different way of developing a competitive
advantage. A good/service differentiation strategy is concerned with developing products
that are different from their competitors because they have benefits or attributes a customer
values. The customer is then prepared to pay more for the differentiated product.
A typical example of the good/service differentiation strategy is the Apple iPod. At the time
of the iPod’s introduction, most competitors were pursuing a cost-leadership strategy and the
prices of mp4 players were falling rapidly as manufacturers incorporated a raft of cost-saving
strategies. Apple incorporated attributes such as a cool design and intuitive technology. The
strategy was responsible for
Apple’s spectacular growth during
the early 2000s.
Another important aspect of the good/service differentiation relates to cost increases from
suppliers or component part manufacturers. Cost increases from suppliers can be of great
concern where a business is pursuing a cost-leadership strategy, but when the product has been
successfully differentiated the business is more likely to be able to pass the cost increase on to
customers. The business is also able to resist the demands from large buyers to lower prices
because that buyer has no real alternative. Have you noticed that, when electrical goods retailers
have sales with greatly discounted products, the sale rarely includes Apple products?
12
Of course most of you would immediately answer that it is a good. But did you know that when
pineapples were first introduced into Europe in the seventeenth century, they were such a status
symbol that poorer middle-class families would hire a pineapple to impress visitors when they
entertained? The pineapple was returned to its owner when the visitors left. In this case is the
pineapple a good or a service?
4. The parents of a new baby pay a weekly charge to have cotton nappies
laundered. Are they buying a good or a service?
Another way to look at the difference between a good and a service is by placing the
product on a scale that sees the difference as a continuum. Would you agree with the
placing of these products?
Different industries provide very different goods and services. Kmart, for example, is typical
of the retail industry. Kmart provides a service that could be called a ‘shopping experience’.
Customers have expectations about the service they are purchasing. They expect the products
they are purchasing to be in good condition, the surroundings to be clean and pleasant and
- most importantly - a high level of customer service. In addition, they expect goods to
be available when they want them and to have access to the shops when they want to
shop.
14
Railcorp also provides a service and is typical of an industry that involves the movement of
people. When customers purchase a ticket to
go from one destination to another, they also
have a set of expectations about the service
they are purchasing. They expect the trains to
be clean and a reasonable degree of customer
service but, most of all, they expect the trains
to be reliable and run to the timetable. They
also expect the timetable to make trains
available when they want to travel.
The Ford Motor Company provides a product. The Ford factory is typical of goods and services
produced in the manufacturing industry. There is a
good component, the car, and a service component,
the after sales aspects of maintenance and warranty.
When the business purchases products such as
engines or brakes from its suppliers, Ford expects
the parts to be manufactured to the specifications it
gave to the suppliers. This determines the reliability
its customers expect from Ford. Ford customers also
expect the car will be well designed and be
available
when they want it. Customers will also expect a degree
of customisation in terms of things like the colour of
the vehicle and accessories.
RedPeg Publishing HSC Business Studies
Role of Operations Management
© 2011 Don Sykes & Kim Crawford - www.redpeg.com.au
Finance is also important. Employees have to be paid. Raw materials and component parts
must be purchased. Bills for rent and electricity must be paid. The money from the sale of
products or services must be collected and records must be kept. This is the finance function.
There is a clear interdependence between the operations function, marketing function and
finance function.
These are the three basic functions in a business and as a general rule the success of the
business is determined by how well they work together.
Market research guides new product development. The marketing function will design a
product that is competitive in the market place because it meets the needs of customers better
than competing products. The operations function works with the marketing function during
the development stage to determine the most efficient and effective design from the operations
function. The finance function works with both to ensure the money needed to develop and
manufacture the product is available and the appropriate financial systems for the sale and
collection of the money are in place.
Imagine you were Guy Russo, CEO of Kmart. Your company (Wesfarmers) has just purchased
a business that is declining because it no longer effectively meets the needs of customers as
well as Big W. You need to do three things. The first is to design a product (a shopping
experience) that is better than Big W. You give this task to the marketing function. The
marketing function develops a product based on wider aisles, refurbished stores and new
merchandise with higher profit margins, lower costs and high levels of customer service.
You give the task of creating this product to the operations function. The operations function
will transform the store with teams of carpenters, painters, shop-fitters and so on. The
operations will examine every aspect of the supply chain from the factory in China, the
container ships, warehousing to the final delivery to a Kmart store. The operations function will
also be responsible for effectively training the thousands of employees to deliver the highest
levels of customer service.
People are very important. A business gets so much of its competitive advantage from the
quality of its people. The business that effectively manages its human resources in terms of the
way it selects, trains and rewards employees usually provides better products and services in
the marketplace. It is the role of the human resource function to achieve these goals.
None of these things can happen without money. You give the task of working out how much
money will be needed and the most efficient way of providing the required money and the
payment of wages and so on to the finance function. The business functions of operations,
marketing and finance are interdependent.
16
Pr cessing the rk f r the unit n the
R le f perati ns management
At the outset, focus on your HSC. Carefully review the unit of work. Practise potential multiple
choice and short responses. Most importantly learn from business. Adopt the basic principles
the most successful businesses have adopted.
Russell and Taylor (2005) have set out the following principles for implementing a continuous
improvement effort:
1. Create a mind-set for improvement. Do not accept that the present way of doing things
is necessarily the best.
2. Try and try again. Don’t seek immediate perfection but move to your goal by
small improvements, checking for mistakes as you progress.
3. Think. Get to the real cause of the problem. Ask why - five times.
4. Work in teams. Use the ideas from a number of people to brainstorm new ways.
5. Recognise that improvement knows no limits. Get in the habit of always looking for
better ways of doing things.
Mem ry rk
Carefully review the work you have done in this section.
1. Cost leadership that aims to create a competitive advantage by producing the good
or service at the lowest cost
5. Which of the following best describes the strategic goal of operations management in
a business like Kmart?
(a) Redefine the expectations of customers in the industry
18 (b) Be the best in the industry
(c) Be as good as competitors
(d) Refurbish the stores so they are clean and tidy.
Sh rt resp nses
1. Outline the strategic role of operations management. 5 marks
2. Explain the difference between cost leadership and good/service differentiation. 10 marks