Given:

● Suppliers are price takers

● Not much product differentiation

I would operationally focus on 2 aspects:

1. Reduce cost
2. Improve customer experience and service

I might add extra services to improve customer experience

-delivery at home with short lead times
-better packaging and quality check so that there’s not even minor damage to products

I would first observe and see the workings of the business.

I would conduct an exploratory research investigation, to find out any issues. I would identify the
constraints.

Break it down into step wise operations, broadly

1. Procurement: Supplier relations and deals, raw material quality, etc.
2. Production:
Whether things that can and need to work in parallel are working in parallel or if people
are waiting for that last person to finish and the constraint process is always on-going
The maintenance of machinery
In house vs outhouse production, its economics depending on core competencies will be
judged- printing on stationery, cutting and binding operations.

3. Distribution:
Where are my books being sold?

4. Quality control- Six sigma