ASSIGNMENT 1: VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS 2
Assignment 1: Vice President Of Operations, Part 1
The student’s name,
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Introduction
An operations strategy refers to the way in which an organization executes its business strategies. Development of an operations strategy involves changing competitive priorities to operational capabilities through making a number of trade-offs and choices for operating decisions and design (Collier, 2009). Simply put, an organizations operations strategy must align with its competitive priorities. The main aspect of an organization is business operations since this involves direct labor. In a service or production industry or organization, operations are usually task-oriented and follow very clear steps until the production has been completed. In the production and manufacturing industry, business operations follow clearer steps as compared to service industries and a product is followed from basic resources up to the completion unit.
This paper will focus on operations strategy in the Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company is one of the best and leading companies in the beverage industry. This company is an American multinational corporation that manufactures, retails, and markets nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. This company is popular due to its main product Coca-Cola that was invented in 1886 by John Smith in Atlanta Georgia. This company makes the concentrates that are then sold throughout the world to various bottlers that hold Coca-Cola franchise.
Key elements
A company’s operations strategy is mainly based on its vision. Coca-Cola’s vision works as a framework and a guide to every aspect of the business by describing the things that are meant to be accomplished in order for the company to achieve quality and sustainable growth. The vision of the company is focused on people and it works towards ensuring that Coca-Cola Company is a great place to work and also a place where people get inspired to bring out their best. The company’s vision is also focused on portfolio and mainly in bringing into the universe quality beverage brands that will satisfy the needs and desires of the people. The company’s vision also focuses on partnering with suppliers and customers by creating a winning network. The company’s vision is to be responsible of the communities around and make a difference through building and supporting sustainable communities. The main vision of the company is to be a highly effective and fast-moving company.
One of the basic elements to ensure operations efficiency is the people. People are very important in the success of a business but they should be the right people. Companies must work towards ensuring that they take care of their employees, customers, suppliers and other partners.
Another element is the position of the production system. This involves choosing the type of product design, type of inventory management and policy, and the production system.
The third element is specialization of the production. Specialization is very important since it assists companies to be able to provide products at a lower price, delivery the products on time, and provide quality services (Collier, 2009).
Other elements include product design and development, process development and technology selection, resource allocation, and facility planning.
Tasks that do not align with the operational strategy
Among these elements one of the elements that do not align with the operational strategy of the Coca-Cola Company is technology selection. In terms of technology, this company has been left behind since it has not embraced technology and incorporated it in their operations like their competitors.
Another task that does not align with the operational strategy is recruitment and maintenance of the right people. Coca-Cola Company has had a number of issues with their employees and customers due to poor maintenance of the right people.
The third task is on sustainability. Even though the company claims to be involved in community programs, the sustainability projects are not usually implemented.
A new operations strategy
Cost: the company will ensure that customers get the product at an affordable price. The products will be sold at a price that is affordable to all.
Quality: produce quality products that satisfy the needs and desires of the customers. The company also looks forward to providing the best products and ensures customers are served well and that their needs are met.
Time: the company will ensure that products are delivered to the customers on time. The timely delivery of the products will also lead to reduction of speculative activity and ensure a constant delivery time is kept. This will help in the reduction of delivery time and costs.
Flexibility: in terms of flexibility the company will ensure that demand and design flexibility is maintained.
Structure of the competitive priorities and infrastructure of the production process
Competitive structure focuses on the things that a company places strategic emphasis on and the operational capabilities within them. Understanding the competitive structure of a company is important since it helps in determining the company’s priorities. Every company focuses on sustaining and building a competitive advantage in the market that it works in (Mahadevan, 2009). Some companies have a very strong competitive advantage that makes it very difficult for other companies to copy. Competitive advantage is achieved in many ways such as on quality, price or cost, quick response to the needs of the customers and delivery.
The Coca-Cola Company has kept its recipe a secret and this secret remains heavily guarded. Today, the Coca-Cola recipe is the most heavily guarded secret in the world. There is no company that has been able to come up with this recipe up to today. The company has been able to ensure that the production process does not cost a lot of money. In fact, the manufacture of their product costs only a fraction of the selling price and yields a high profit.
Another competitive priority of Coca Cola is flexibility. This company has a large product portfolio that makes the company to be strong. There is a wide range of brands and products in which 20 brands are worth millions.
Infrastructure involves the non process capabilities and features of a company including the compensation systems, quality control, innovation systems, operating plans, and the workforce (Collier & Evans, 2012). A company’s infrastructure should support the process choice and offer managers timely and accurate information in order for them to make the right choices.
New enablers
One of the new enablers of the long-term plan of the Coca-Cola Company is acceptance by young people. Young people today have accepted the Coca-Cola flavors. Recently, the advertisements made by Coca-Cola regarding their products involve young people. The advantage of this enabler is that it increases the customer base while the disadvantage is maintaining this acceptance and young people change their preferences fast.
Another new enabler of the long-term plan of this company is a better distribution network. This company has a better distribution network than it had before making it easy to sell products to many people. The advantage of this enabler is that the company is able to reach a wide area easily. The disadvantage is that the cost of distribution will increase.
Another enabler is the transfer of production in areas with lesser labor costs. This company has been able to transfer its production to areas that are cheaper than the United States. The advantage of this new enabler is it reduces the cost of production thereby increasing the profit margin. The disadvantage is that this kind of transfer can lead to ethical issues.
References
Collier, D. A., & Evans, J. R. (2012). OM3: Student edition. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
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Collier, D. A. (2009). OM: With review cards and bind-in printed access card, 2nd ed (9780538745567). South-Western College Pub.
Mahadevan, B. (2009). Operations management: Theory and practice. New Delhi: Pearson.
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