Group 11: Agastya Sood, Pranav Murali, Divya Debashrita, Romain Bidard, Abhay Ka

Major
market
segments

Strategic
positioning
(differentiati
ng USPs or
strategic
objectives)

Operations
Objectives/K
PIs
Operations
Practices that
fit well with
strategic
positioning

Operations
practices that
did not fit
with strategic
positioning (if
any)
 Operations Strategy Assignment 1

up 11: Agastya Sood, Pranav Murali, Divya Debashrita, Romain Bidard, Abhay Kasera

ACC
• Geographic Segments: Only the US Market
• Economic Segments: Quality seekers (higher price for better
products)
• Market segments: B2B
• Segments based on purchase drivers: Preference for broad product
range and customized offerings

• Overarching Strategy: Differentiation

• USP:
Customization
Broad Product Range
Higher Quality

• Manufacture to order (for customized products): the operations

process needs to adapt to the briefs given by the marketing team
• Broader variety of SKUs: so that the customization/unique
requirements of the customer can be met
• Flexible Facilities: as observed in the production layout, the
production process is quite modular, where different sets of machines
are optionally used to ensure customization
• Smaller lot sizes: This will enable them to produce a broader variety
of SKUs
• PPC coodination: This is how a complex and dynamic production
process (once again, this is evidenced in the production layout) is
managed
• Techincally skilled workers: the higher labour costs allude to this
(10.2$ against 4$ per 1000 units). Additionally, dynamism is expected
in the production process, so technically skilled workers will be
required
• Adequate capacity cushion / utilization: Operating at lower capacity
utilization to meet customization requirements

• Excessively high lead times, leading to delays in delivery time and

reducing the manufacturer's reliability inspite of a superior product
• High finished goods inventory: Even though products are
customized, finished goods inventory is kept high
ategy Assignment 1

Abhay Kasera

DJC
• Geographic Segments: Presently, only operate in the Japanese
market. However, expected to enter the US market.
• Economic Segments: Value seekers (low cost preference)
• Market segments: B2B
• Segments based on purchase drivers: Preference for higher relative
volumes at lower cost

• Overarching Strategy: Cost leadership

• USP:
Faster delivery times
Lower prices

• Low cost/high efficiency of operations - reduce labour costs,

material costs, production costs: We observe in the cost structure
from the late 90s that all these costs have been kept lower in DJC.
Additionally, the degree of reduction in these costs is also higher in
DJC as compared to ACC
• Low lead times/faster delivery - reduce number of changeovers,
ensure higher capacity utilization, focus on shorter production cycle:
keep them as low as possible to ensure faster delivery
• Revamping product design to reduce product costs: an example
expliitly mentioned in the case is emphasis on standardization to
reduce raw material costs. This seems to be have achieved, as
evidenced by the lower raw material product cost at DJC (~7.2 against
9.5$ per 1000 units), even after we account for the possibility the RM
costs might generally be lower in Japan.
• Process automation and lower labour cost: this helps improve
efficiency of labour and the process overall
• Lean manufacturing: this is evidenced by the streamlined
production layouts
• Large lot sizes: since the product is standardized and the focus is on
low cost, larger lot sizes are preferred
• High capacity utilization: high capacity utlization to reduce costs
• In-process inventory management: Keeping in-process inventory
low at any given point in time

-
• Higher proportion of overheads in the cost structure, inspite of ACC
having higher overheads due to resource sharing